Mullaghlea

Mullaghlea (from Irish: Mullach Liath meaning ‘The Grey Hilltop') is a townland in the civil parish of Templeport, County Cavan, Ireland. It lies in the Roman Catholic parish of Templeport and barony of Tullyhaw.

Geography

Mullaghlea is bounded on the north by Moherloob and Moherreagh townlands and Finaghoo townland in Swanlinbar parish, on the west by Gortullaghan, Tawnagh and Prospect, Corlough townlands, on the south by Brackley, Templeport townland and on the east by Mullanacre Upper townland in Tomregan parish. Its chief geographical features are Brackley Lough, Polldoo pothole (from Irish: Poll Dubh meaning ‘The Black Hole'), sinkholes, forestry plantations, waterfalls, a stream and dug wells. It forms part of the Slieve Rushen Bog Natural Heritage Area.[1] Mullaghlea is traversed by the national secondary N87 road (Ireland), minor roads and rural lanes. The townland covers 529 statute acres.[2] A sub-division of the townland is 'The Baron's Field', named after Baron de Trent who lived in Brackley House in the 1850s.

History

The 1609 Baronial Map depicts the townland as part of Aghalough (Irish 'Achadh Locha' meaning "The Field of the Lake".[3]

The 1652 Commonwealth Survey spells the name as Mullaghlyah.

The 1665 Down Survey map depicts it as Mullagh.[4]

William Petty's 1685 map depicts it as Mullagh.[5]

On 19 January 1586 Queen Elizabeth I of England granted a pardon (No. 4813) to Teig Oge M’Teig M’Tirlagh O Dollan of Aghholagh for fighting against the Queen's forces.[6]

In the Plantation of Ulster by grant dated 26 June 1615, King James VI and I granted, inter alia, one poll in Aghalough to Sir George Graeme and Sir Richard Graeme to form part of the Manor of Greame.[7] An Inquisition held at Cavan Town on 31 October 1627 found that George Greames was seized of one pole in Aghowlogh and he died 9 October 1624. By his will dated 1 May 1615 he left his lands to his son and heir William Greames, then 30 years old (born 1594) and unmarried.[8]

The Grahams fought on the Irish side during the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and, as a result after the end of the war, the Cromwellian Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 confiscated their lands in Mullaghlea and distributed them as follows-

The 1652 Commonwealth Survey lists the proprietor as Mr Henry Pigott and the tenant as Caffeira O'Dolan.

In the Hearth Money Rolls compiled on 29 September 1663[9] there were four Hearth taxpayers in Mulaghlea- Farrell McBrien, Neale McEtire, Thomas McGawran and Ternan McKelaghcher.

By grant dated 9 September 1669 King Charles II of England gave Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, inter alia, the lands of Mullaghleagh with an area of 51 acres at an annual rent of £0-13s-9d.[10]

The Tithe Applotment Books for 1827 list twenty seven tithepayers in the townland.[11]

The 1836 Ordnance Survey Namebooks state- There is a light soil intermixed with sand & lime stone (the latter of which is burned and used for manure).

An 1838 map of Mullaghlea is viewable online.[12]

The Mullaghlea Valuation Office Field books are available for November 1839.[13][14][15]

Griffith's Valuation of 1857 lists fifteen landholders in the townland.[16]

Mullaghlea Hedge-School

In the 'Second Report from the Commissioners of Irish Education Inquiry, 1826' there is a description of Mullaligh hedge-school. The teacher was a Roman Catholic, William Major, whose salary was £16 per annum. The schoolhouse was described as good and was valued at £100. There were 180 pupils, of which 90 were Roman Catholic and 90 were Church of Ireland. There were 130 boys and 50 girls on the roll. The school was supported by the Kildare Place Society (formally, The Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in Ireland).[17]

Brackley School

The book Bawnboy and Templeport History Heritage Folklore, by Chris Maguire, gives the following description of Brackley school, which was actually located in the townland of Mullaghlea, not Brackley- Brackley National School 1826-1966: Teachers- Mrs. Mealiff ca. 1900; Miss Harkness 1903-'4; Robert Hall 1905-'7; Robert Smith 1907-'8; Mr. Close 1908-13; Maudie Kells 1913-14; Maud Stewart 1914-18; Isabella Hall 1918-20; Mrs. Foster 1921-29; Mrs. Coffey 1929-53; Miss Lattimer, short time; Miss Byers 1954-56; Mrs. Coffey 1 year; Miss Byers 1957-58; Mrs Knott 1958-1966 when Brackley School closed.

The roll number was 11,778. In 1890 there were 65 pupils.[18]

A description by a schoolboy of Brackley School in the 1930s is viewable online.Water Under The Railway Bridge

Census

Year	Population	Males	Females	Total Houses	Uninhabited
1841	70	36	34	7	0
1851	49	29	20	10	1
1861	45	22	23	9	1
1871	40	19	21	8	1
1881	37	20	17	8	1
1891	34	15	19	6	0

In the 1901 census of Ireland, there are ten families listed in the townland, [19] and in the 1911 census of Ireland, there are only eight families listed in the townland.[20]

Antiquities

The chief structures of historical interest in the townland are

1. Toberpatrick (St.Patrick’s Holy Well) which was used as a place of pilgrimage until the 1890s.[21][22][23]
2. A late Bronze Age penannular bronze bracelet.[24]
3. A stone axehead [25]
4. Brackley National School
5. Stepping stones over the stream

References

1. Book (eISB), electronic Irish Statute. "electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB)". www.irishstatutebook.ie.
2. "IreAtlas". Retrieved 29 February 2012.
3. "National Archives Dublin" (PDF).
4. Trinity College Dublin: The Down Survey of Ireland.
5. "Down Survey Maps | The Down Survey Project". downsurvey.tcd.ie.
6. The Irish Fiants of the Tudor Sovereigns: During the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Philip & Mary, and Elizabeth I. Éamonn de Búrca for Edmund Burke. 11 April 1994. ISBN 9780946130085 – via Google Books.
7. Chancery, Ireland (11 April 1800). "Calendar of the Patent Rolls of the Chancery of Ireland". A. Thom – via Google Books.
8. "Inquisitionum in Officio Rotulorum Cancellariae Hiberniae Asservatarum Repertorium". command of his majesty King George IV. In pursuance of an address of the house of Commons of Great Britain (an Ireland). 11 April 1829 – via Google Books.
9. The Hearth Money Rolls for the Baronies of Tullyhunco and Tullyhaw, County Cavan, edited by Rev. Francis J. McKiernan, in Breifne Journal. Vol. I, No. 3 (1960), pp. 247-263
10. "Commissioners of Public Records in Ireland : fourteenth and fifteenth reports with appendix, 1824-25". HMSO. 11 April 1825 – via Internet Archive.
11. "The Tithe Applotment Books, 1823-37". titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie.
12. "Search Results - tullyhaw". catalogue.nli.ie.
13. "Valuation Office Books". census.nationalarchives.ie.
16. "Griffith's Valuation". www.askaboutireland.ie.
17. "Bawnboy and Templeport History Heritage and Folklore - Past and Present". www.bawnboy.com.
18. "Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers On Ireland". www.dippam.ac.uk.
19. "National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911". www.census.nationalarchives.ie.
20. "National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911". www.census.nationalarchives.ie.
21. Site number 1773 in "Archaeological Inventory of County Cavan", Patrick O’Donovan, 1995, where it is described as- Marked on all OS eds. Small circular well (int. diam. 0.9m) on the N shore of Lakefield Lough. Used as a place of pilgrimage up until the 1890s.
22. "Bawnboy and Templeport History Heritage and Folklore - St Patrick's Wells". www.bawnboy.com.
23. "Templeport Development Association - History - St Patricks Well". www.templeport.ie.
24. Recent Finds from County Cavan by Christiaan Corlett, in Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Third Series, Vol. 59 (2000), p. 89
25. National Museum of Ireland: Archaeological Acquisitions in the Year 1962 by A. T. Lucas, in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol. 94, No. 2 (1964), p. 85.

External links

• The IreAtlas Townland Data Base