Part III. History of the County of Clare
Chapter 18. Inquisitions relating to county of Clare—Time of Commonwealth, James II., and William and Mary: Inquisitions—Time of Commonwealth

James Martin of Castlekeale

Inquisition, taken at Sixmilebridge, on the 16^th of October, 1656, before Henry Ingoldsby, Esq., by the oaths of good and lawful men, which say, that James Martin, late of Castlekeal, near Newmarket-on-Fergus, merchant, being by birth a Dutchman, did, in the third year of the reign of Charles I., purchase a Charter of Denizenship for himself and his wife Eleanora, with power to acquire lands. They find that Martin employed Alderman Pierce Creagh fitz Andrew, member of Parliament for the city of Limerick, to procure his naturalization. Creagh deputed that duty to one Richard Parsons, another member of Parliament, and, by a letter received from Parsons, it was shown that application had been made to the committee to effect the desired object. The jury further find that Martin, by Deed of 21^st June, 1641, purchased from Conor Clancy, and Murtagh Clancy, late of Urlan, gentlemen, for £605 sterling, the following lands, viz.: Trian Urlan, Ranaghane, Trian MacVihill, Cahermigan, Camcorcagh, Gurtaneir, and Cahergall; that Martin was to give to Conor Clancy and his heirs the milk of four cows yearly, a house and a garden in Tynanragh free; and the sum of £20 a year was also promised to said Conor but that no writing existed to prove the last article of the agreement. They find that in November, 1639, Martin took a lease of 74 years, from the year 1648, from Donogh MacNamara, of Cratloe, gent., deceased, for the sum of £116, of the lands of . . . . . , which had been already for many years in his possession as tenant thereof. They find, that Mahone MacInerney, of Ballysallagh, gent., together with his feoffees, Donogh MacNamara of Kilkishen, and Donogh MacMahon of Clenagh, gents., by Deed, dated 2^nd April, 1635, in consideration of £600, paid by Giles Bowdens, of Sixmilebridge, merchant, ^[1] did grant to the said Giles, for ever, the six quarters of land in East Ballysallagh, with conditions of redemption; that the said Giles, being possessed of the premises, did, by Deed of assignment, bearing date the 10^th of May, 1637, convey his interest in them to said James Martin, by virtue of which assignment Martin continued to hold them until the rebellion of 1641; that John MacInerney, and Mahone MacInerney, of Ballykilty, gents., did, by statute staple defeazanced, acknowledge to owe to said James Martin, the sum of £44 yearly, until the sum of £330, lent by Martin to the MacInerneys, together with interest at ten per cent. should be repaid; that, in case of failure of payment of this rent-charge, it should be lawful for the obliger to enter into the two ploughlands of Ballykilty, and the two mills thereon standing, and retain them until his claim should be satisfied; that Dermot O’Brien, late of Dromore, did sell to Mahone MacInerney, of Bernegghy, gent., the west half plough-land of Drominmuckilagh, in the barony of Islands, for the sum of £80, with condition of redemption; that all the said lands and mortgage by mesne assignment came to said James Martin; that Shane ne Corkie (of the Corcass), MacInerney, Thomas ne Corkie, and Mahone MacShane ne Corkie, all yeomen, of Ballysallagh, did, by Deed of 10^th June, 1624, in consideration of £22 sterling, received by them from John M‘Inerney, of Ballysallagh, gent., grant to the said John, for ever, the lands of Craganepad and Kiltyneskeha, in all the sixth part of a quarter of land in Ballysallagh, with condition of redemption; these lands, by mesne assignment, came to the said James Martin, and were by him possessed till the rebellion; they further find that, by bond under seal, Mahone MacNamara, of Ballinouskney, acknowledged that he had mortgaged to said James Martin the half plough-land of west Ballysallagh, called Ranaghan Iragh, and Caher-i-grady, in consideration of £60 sterling, with power of redemption, which lands were possessed by Martin up to the beginning of the rebellion; that Edmond MacInerney, of Caher-i-grady, mortgaged to said Martin, Corcaghlana, Rinelaheemore, and Ranaghan for the sum of £25 6s., with condition of redemption; the lands were occupied by Martin until the rebellion; that Murtagh Finn Clancy did, by Deed of December, 1632, demise to Martin, for a term of thirty-one years, the plough-land of Kilmaleery, at the yearly rent of £10 10s.; this he held up to the date of the rebellion; that said Martin was, in his lifetime, possessed of the lands of Island-mac-Nevin, and another parcel of the Earl of Thomond’s estate called Corcaghreagh, by lease long since expired; that being in his lifetime, and until the beginning of the rebellion, possessed of all the said lands, by virtue of the several interests here recited, he was forced away and compelled to leave the said lands to Dermot O’Brien, Donogh MacNamara, Conor Clancy, and Mahone MacInerney, on condition that they would redeliver them to him, upon payment by him, of five shillings to any one of them; that he soon after, i.e. in 1642, died, leaving his property in the possession of these men, who continued to hold it until the county was reduced to English obedience. Then, under the Act of Settlement, part of it—to wit, the half of east Ballysallagh, called Craganpadrine, was granted to Colonel Henry Ingoldsby, and he was to become owner from May, 1665. The lands of Kilmaleery and Drominemuckalagh . . . . . . . . That all the rest of the premises, except Island-mac-Nevin and Corcaghriagh, are now possessed by Thomas Field, of Castlekeale, and those under him, by virtue of an . . . . . . unto him granted . . . . the goods and chattels of the said James Martin, and that all the premises are worth £60 sterling yearly above all charges. ^[2]