Visiting Dundalk

Dear Joe: 

Thank you for your post to the Ireland Reaching Out message board.  We have a very knowledgeable volunteer in that area and I'm copying this post to him.  He will respond to your query and will be able to direct you further. 

I hope that you have a wonderful trip here in May,and please let me know if you have any further questions. 

Kind regards, 

Jane

HI Joe, I am the nearest volunteer that i am aware of living about 25 miles south of Dundalk. My Dundalk knowledge is not great but what do you need to know and what period. Both the library research centre and archives are in Dundalk .

Dundalk is now a very large town, 7th largest in Ireland so the outskirts have expanded and there has been a lot of development in the town, however there are various aspects of buildings and of course the layout still the same.

If you can give me a handle on your interest I will endeavour to find some information for you at least. In case you have not located this here is an interesting Louth site here: http://jbhall.clahs.ie/

Look forward to hearing from you.

Pat

Thanks, Pat! I am a descendant of Peter Connolly (son of Patrick Connolly and Anne Hoey), who lived on Seatown in Dundalk during the 1840s and 1850s. He
came to the U.S. in the 1860s. I am coming to Dundalk in early May and
was wondering if there was information on what buildings on Seatown
are from that era? Also, I see there is a Seatown Graveyard. Is that
located at St. Leonard's Garden? And is there information on who is
buried there? We’ll be staying in Trim for 2 nights and exploring the area  

Hello Joe, well there is good news and bad news. I looked into Griffiths Valuation done between 1848 and 1864 and Dundalk was completed in 1854 and about 19 Patrick Connolly's but only 2 in Dundalk and one of them in Seatown, 2nd one on the list, only heads of house and landlords are listed, in this case the landlord is a Catherine Connolly, no idea if a relation though. More good news is there are maps attached but in case the news appears too good the maps on this free site are from circa 1880. The originals are I understand on the subscription site Find My Past. The site I am using is here http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameS… Now it gets tricky but I will endeavour to find out what it means, on icon you click you get a pop up window explaining what it is so you see the names etc and then there is a site number, in this case 1 58 not 158 so I am not sure what the first 1 is, it is unusual to have a plot number 158 and I cannot see one either on the two maps, icons to the right, plot 58 is there in the marshes area, this area has been developed, there is a Marshes Shopping Mall near by built about 15 years ago, we call them shopping centres but assume you are in the USA. When the map icon opens you can enlarge it and see plot 58, appears to have a foundry on it but a large plot. On the map icon there is bar to the top right and if you bring the cursor left it becomes a modern map and you can see a version and plot 58 appears to have a supermarket on it, Dunnes Stores, national brand here. 

If you have the time and inclination you can walk into the valuation office in Dublin (near city centre) and see what happened to plot 58 up to about 1970, it is free but you do your own searching, once you ask with the address they will give you a handwritten record book and a brief talk on how to use it. It can be confusing but if you do intend visiting I can tell you a little about it but it takes time and is in the city centre. Before you come you can mail the local library in Dundalk and the archives to see if they have any information on the site, the library is close to the actual plot 58. There are some period houses around. I know there are a few Facebook pages you might join and there may be some I  am not aware of, Louth Genealogy is one and Dundalk North end is mainly photos but you are not north end but centre.  There some photos here from the National Library Digital collection and search Dundalk, a few old ones of Seatown Terrace and Seatown Castle (misnomer) later Seatown Tower. https://www.nli.ie/digital-photographs.aspx You should ask the library if Seatown graveyard is transcribed, I have a few but not that one or try Find A Grave online. You could also ask the library. By the way this is from the time I would imagine as it is in a lovely old building done up now.

I will continue to look for the grave yard inscriptions and see if I can figure 1 58, you are staying near Trim Castle I assume home of the family of the Duke of Wellington, he of Waterloo fame and Napolean's final battle. There is a line of local thought that he was born there and taken to the Dublin family home his official birth place. When going to school in England he was being teased for being Irish giving rise to his riposte "Been born in a stable does not make one a horse" 

Enough for now, I live 27 miles from Trim and 25 from Dundalk but your journey will not be this direction as it is shorter to go direct to Dundalk, if you have any other queries on local stuff let me know.

If you are into maps etc and have the time you should be able to look at them all here https://www.osi.ie/ 

Regards

Pat

Pat,

That famous comment is often attributed to the Duke of Wellington but I don’t think he actually said it. My understanding is that it was Daniel O’Connell speaking about him. If you follow the link below there is a report in which O'Connell is reported as saying (on 1 October 1843, at a dinner speech after the Munster Meeting earlier that day), "The poor old Duke! What shall I say of him? To be sure he was born in Ireland, but being born in a stable does not make a man a horse."

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1154775.html

Elwyn

Hi Elwyn that was certainly informative and it appears I am  in good company too, well well known company at least. Pat

Joe by the simple expedient of looking at another icon and the original page of the ledger there is only 58 preceded by a hyphen. The house value for rates was 10 shillings, less than a dollar in todays money. While the address on the Griffiths is Seatown, Townparks it is close but not on top of Seatown Road etc now, see this site for a good map, check Louth under Townparks, Dundalk and you can look at a better map of the area just to give you an idea there. https://www.townlands.ie/louth/upper-dundalk/dundalk/townparks/ 

Did you check the site for the Chronicles to see if anyone has posted on the area and also see what other Dundalk queries there are that may relate if any, also look at the ledger page to see if any of the neighbouring names ring a bell.

Regards
Pat

Joe did you pick up on the reply above, jsut asking as I am aware the site automatic notification by email had failed for a period and I do not know if it caught up or just started again.

Just in case you missed it.

regards
Pat

Thanks, Pat. Sorry about the delay. I’ll check the chronicles and I’m going to contact the Louth library too. I appreciate all the help!