Life on Lord Hawarden's Estate

Places evidence was taken

     Lord Hawarden,  whose property in South Tipperary was mainly in
Ballintemple, Clonoulty, Donohill and Kilpatrick parishes, was the sort of landlord tenants loved to hate.  He did things like refuse to give his tenants leases, things like evicting elderly men who had occupied the land for decades and made innumerable improvements.  I know this because I read it in Report from Her Majesty's Commissioners of Inquiry Into the State of the Law and Practice in Respect to the Occupation of Land in Ireland -- Volume 3 published in 1845.  You can too  at google books.com along with volumes 1, 4 and 5. read report

     The report contains the testimony of many men from various walks of life, large farmers, medium farmers, magistrates, parish priests and landlords themselves.  Volume 3 covers a large part of Munster, see list above right for specifics.  It has wonderful descriptions of what life was like at that time and place, though naturally the opinions vary depending on the station in life of the individual testifying. Even if the exact spot your ancestors came from is not on the list, looking at testimony given in the area closest to their home will give a good idea of conditions in the vicinity.

Townlands on Lord Hawarden's estate

     I became interested in Lord H because unfortunately, he was my third great grandfather Cornelius Ryan's landlord in Goldengarden, South Tipperary per Griffith's Valuation.  

Excerpt from the testimony of Father Mackey

    There was something interesting other than the dates and names in the baptismal records of Cornelius' children -- the changing addresses.  There were three in all, Churchfield, Goldengarden and Alleen.  This made it clear to me that Cornelius did not have a long term lease, quite possibly no lease at all and was a tenant at will meaning he had no security of tenure and no legal recourse should a disagreement arise between him and his landlord.  It also made it clear that this needed to be investigated.  Reading the report it became obvious I was right about the tenancy at will.  In the testimony of Father John Mackey, when asked if the tenants were at will, he answers in the affirmative and goes on to state that scarcely a lease has been given in the last 10 years.  In fact Lord H was notorious for evicting his tenants in order to enlarge his personal holdings which he then farmed himself or used for grazing.

     It's wonderful how much can be discovered about life in Ireland and elsewhere with a simple search of google books.  I would bet many other landlords and reports can be found there in obscure volumes we wouldn't have found in a hundred years, or thought to look in even if we did have access, if not for the amazing internet.