On my visit to Cleaheen at the beginning of March 2020 I went to take a look at the land that my Great Grandfather (x3) Owen Moraghan (1800-1870) farmed and which was taken over by his youngest son Patrick (1846-1926). While I was there, I met a local lady who had just picked up her grandson from nursery school and she directed me to a cottage hidden behind a hedgerow that was once inhabited but now abandoned, except for cows seeking shelter, and in very poor condition. I ascertained, using the Census records from 1901 that this was a 3rd class house with stones walls, thatched roof, two rooms and two windows at the front of the house. Transposing its position onto the maps of the 1858 Griffiths Valuations it looked as though the house may have been inhabited by the Kielty (Keelty) family. Surprisingly the Kielty’s were still living there on the 1901 Census and there were 6 people living in the house. I thought it might be interesting to post a set of photos to show what the cottage looked like in the 1800’s and early 1900’s, before the building collapses.
