Introduction

Up to the middle of the 17th century the Slieve Aughty region was thinly populated. This changed dramatically after with Cromwell’s famous “To Hell or to Connacht” edict in 1654. From then on, there was an upsurge in the population in Connacht. People moved into the Slieve Aughties and took land wherever they could get it. The 18th century was relatively peaceful and the old pastoral system gave way to a more settled system of agriculture. By the late 1700s, small mountain farms such as Loughnaheilla had become numerous. The holdings typically included some tillage, meadow and pasture. They also included areas of unproductive mountain land used for rough grazing in summer. Peat was cut from shallow banks on the hills for fuel.

This project looks at the heritage of one small farm in the low foothills of the Slieve Aughty mountain range. The farm in question is the only holding in a district called Loughneheilla in the West of Derrainy Townland. The holding has been occupied by the Egan family and their descendants since 1830 and probably decades earlier. At least generations, including the present owner, have lived in the old farm house until the family built a new bungalow in 1964.

Aims and Objectives
The aim of the project was to see what links to the past that are still preserved on the holding.

The objectives were

Methodology
The methods used included:

The Heritage of Loughnaheilla

Background
There is a small farm in the low Slieve Aughty hills at the western end of Derrainy townland. The townland itself is located in the parish of Clonrush. It is shown on the original Ordnance Survey Map of 1840 as Loughnaheilla and described a sub-division of Derrainy. The adjoining districts of Reynvromy in the north and Lough Hill towards the centre of the townland were also classified as sub-divisions. The Ordnance Survey Notes written around 1838, described Loughnaheilla as “A small portion of the townland under cultivation with a farm house on it, also a small Lough from which it most probably derived this name.”

Elements of Heritage
There are number of elements to the heritage of Loughnaheilla. These include the extent of the holding, continuity of ownership and of occupation. The current owner and at least four previous generations of Egans, his mother’s people, were born and reared in the small farm house marked on the ordnance Survey Map of 1840. An earlier ancestor, Thomas Egan, was the occupier of the land in1830 according to the Tithe Applotment Books of Clonrush Parish. The old house is still there but has been empty since 1964 when the family built a new bungalow on the holding.

In 1810, Thomas Burke of Meelick House leased the House and Demesne of Meelick to Matthew Yelverton. The lease included “the bog and Mountain Farms” of Derrainy and Ballyhinch. It is very likely that Loughnaheilla was one of these farms. At the time of the Ordnance Survey, in1838, it was described Loughnaheilla as “A small portion of the townland under cultivation with a farm house on it, also a small Lough from which it most probably derived this name."

A survey known as Griffith’s Valuation established the valuation of each holding of land in the country and provided a reference number on the accompanying Ordnance Survey Map. Loughnaheilla is shown on the Griffith’s1855 map as Number 14 in Derrainy. The area was given as just over 32 acres (13 hectares). Both the area under production and the mountain land have remained unchanged since then. The landscape, too, has remained largely unchanged except for the fact that the peat has been cut away from the hill tops. Only a few examples of cutaway banks remain.

Links to Past Centuries

The farm house dating from before 1840
The original dwelling-house was a low, thatched, structure comprising a room and a kitchen. The site was cut into a hill with a trench around the foundation to take the water. Notable features include thickness of the walls and the large size of the stones that were used to build them. At some stage, a second, smaller, bedroom was grafted on to the west gable. The roof was lower than that of the existing building. The house was re-roofed with galvanize in 1964 but, by then, the roof of the annex had collapsed and was not replaced. Other features of the house are the small size of the two windows to the front and the low height of the door. The traditional half-door is still there.

Farm buildings
At the time of Griffith’s valuation, in 1854, John Egan was the occupant of “house, offices and land”. The older ‘offices’ or farm buildings arew still attached to the east end of the dwelling house. They were covered with a galvanized roof in 1939 when an extension was added. Other out-houses were built separately. These include a cow-house, pig-house, hen-house, and turf-shed. The age of these buildings is not known but they reflect the activities that took place in the farmyard throughout the nineteenth century and into the late 20th century.

The Lough
The small Lough mentioned in the Ordnance Survey Notes was drained by James Egan in late 1890s. The drain runs underground through a ridge that reaches a height of 3.5 metres above the bottom of the lough. There is a stone at the mouth to the channel where it leaves the lough. This is used to regulate the volume of water in the hollow by closing or opening the outlet. For this reason it is known as ‘The Canal’. How a drain of this depth was made and backfilled, with the implements available to him, remains something of a mystery.

Lime Kiln
A “Topographical Dictionary of Ireland”, by Samuel Lewis, was published in 1837. He described the soil of the Slieve Aughties as; “generally composed of moor or bog of different depths, from two inches to many feet, over a ferruginous or aluminous clay or sandstone rock.” This would have been true of the holding on Loughnaheilla. Consequently, fertilisers were required to improve fertility of the land. Burned lime was commonly used for this purpose. The lime was made by burning limestone rocks in a kiln until they were reduced to a powdery material which was then spread on the land. Burned lime was also mixed with sand to make mortar (for plastering) and whitewash for painting houses. The ordnance survey map shows that there was a lime kiln on the holding and it is still there today. It is located on the side of the road and is set into a steep hill side. The front cavity has been filled with stones for safety reasons but otherwise it is intact.

Corn Drying Kiln.
There is a site across the hill from the Lime Kiln at 52* 58’49”N; 8* 23’40”W. The symbol on the Ordnance Survey map is unclear. Inspection reveals the chamber and flue of a Key-hole type of Corn Drying Kiln. There is no trace of the covering structure. The chamber is 2.92 metres in diameter at the top, 81.3cm at the bottom and 1.52 metres deep. The flue is 40.6 cm high and 43 cm wide. The length of the covered flue still extant is approx. 1.4 metres. The site of the external fire is not discernible. When the corn was dry corn was dry it was ground for household use or saved for seed.

There was a history of poteen-making in the vicinity of Loughnaheilla in the late 19th century. A man from the neighbouring townland was fined and given 3 months in Galway jail in 1892 for this activity. Tradition has it that the corn drying kiln may have been used for part of the process.

Handstone
The top stone of a hand mill is to be seen in the farmyard and it shows that corn was once ground by hand on the farm.

Links to Pre-History

A Recent Find
A small stone artefact was recently found near the corn drying kiln. It is 12 cm long by 10cm across. It is 6.35cm thick at one end, tapering to 2.54 cm at the other. From its shape and the smoothness of the surface, it looks as if it was a bronze-age tool for burnishing the ornaments of that period.

Bullaun Stone
There is a small Bullaun T 52* 58’48”N; 8*23’48”W. This is a stone with a bowl-like depression made into it. The stone is 33 cm high. The ‘bowl’ is 22.9 cm x 20.3cm and 3.8cm deep. Bullauns are said to have originated in the Bronze Age which lasted from 2500 BC to 500 BC. They are most frequently found at early monastic sites but their purpose is not known. This monument was not marked on the Ordnance Survey Map.
Photographs of the Bullaun Stone

Megalithic Tomb
There is a boulder burial site at 52*58’52”N; 8* 24’ 0”N. The cap stone is just over 2 metres long. The surface is 1.6 metres wide at the back, 1.2 metres in the middle and 0.84 metres at the front. This dates back four or five thousand years to Neolithic era (4000-2000 BC) and shows that the area was inhabited in those far-off times. The Neolithic people of this era were the earliest farmers. They introduced agriculture, wheat and barley, and domesticated animals such as cattle, sheep and pigs. This tomb was not marked on the Ordnance Survey map but is shown on the current National Monuments’ Map.
Photographs of the Megalithic Tomb

Field Names
According to Samuel Lewis; “The system of cropping adopted on poorer holdings was first burning or manuring for potatoes. These were set two or three years in a row, then one crop of wheat was planted and then repeated crops of oats until the soil was completely exhausted.” Burning, in this context, meant burning the surface to produce ashes which then served as manure.
The burned surface was called a ‘baitin’, from the Irish word ‘béitín’. One of the fields in Loughnaheilla is still called by this name.

Another field is called the ‘Black Ground’. This was where the surface of the turbary, called black bog or moreen was cut. It was carried home, spread over the yard and mixed with dung, clay or gravel to make manure.

There is also a place called ‘tui seasc’. The words mean withered sedge or thatch (used on the roofs of houses).

The drain from the hollow that was formerly a Lough is called ‘The Canal’ because the mouth can be blocked or unblocked to regulate the level of water.

A name that smacks of the past is a spot called the Slough. This may be the English ‘slough’, meaning a hole filled with mire, or the Gaelic ‘sloch’ which has the same meaning.

When the turf in deep bogs ran out, the family turn to the peat-covered hills for fuel. Turf cut from shallow banks and was called wiggy which gave the Wiggy Hill on the holding its name.

Conclusion
Based on the results of the project, as described above, it is safe to say that the holding in Loughnaheilla holds a rich heritage with strong links to the past centuries and to pre-history.

Acknowlegements: Sincere thanks to Tony who permitted me to explore the holding and provided much useful information. Thanks also to Dympna for her hospitality and to all who helped me with the project.

Martin Perrill
19/10/16

Summary of Links with the Past in Loughnaheilla