Ardmore NamesPeople & PlaceCarved in stone

John Tierney

0872312107

john@eachtra.ie

http://goo.gl/HMqYDB

July 2013

In Thiepval my great grandfathers name is carved in stone overlooking that N French landscape - here my father sees his grandfathers name - the first family member to do so since John Mahers death in July 1916.

Names carved in stone are powerful connectors to place.

Context by 2

• Community Genealogy– The Gathering– Ireland XO– Historic Graves• Over 30,000 historic grave memorials in last

3 years• Working with community groups in heritage

surveys

www.historicgraves.ie

In the past three years we have learned many lessons in community heritage projects focussed on historic graveyards.

Powerful technologies are now available to communities and can be leveraged for community-led purposes

The first Historic Graves work was done here in Ardmore, with Gerry O’Mahoney, Tommy Mooney and Billy Harty participating

Geotagged datasets

• Buildings– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monmouth_Heritag

e_Trail– Bridges– National Schools– Secondary Schools– Shops/shopfronts– Factories– Forges/smithys

• Places with family names attached – rich memories

We now aim to apply the lessons learned in geotagged surveys of graveyards to other heritage sites and places

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Modern smartphones with GPS built-in allow us develop immersive heritage tourism experiences -walk in the footsteps of our forebears

Audio recorder

Zoom H2

GPS CameraSony HX GPS

Digital tools for local historians

We can take the Who was Who approach and make a record of every Waterford person appearing in the historical record

We have built a digital system at www.reyndr.com to enable groups and individuals to publish their local histories - watch us build Explore Ardmore http://reyndr.com/group/2170

Family names carved in stone are primary historical sources - here we see the names of Ardmore families

Grange family names

Grange family names continued

Names & genealogical heritage and tourism

Local• Family names• Placenames• Crossroads• Bridges• Kilns• Rivers & streams• Cliffs & rocks

International• Soldiers• Teachers• Nurses• Police• Coastguard• Miners• Clergy

Goldmines for genealogy and local history - there are many free resources which can be used

National Archives - Sources

National Archives – Calendar of wills

Down Survey late 1600s – following the 11 year war

James Fitzgerald – Waterford properties

James Fitzgerald – Kildare properties

Landed Estates Project- Sources

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml

Griffiths ValuationArdmore ParishApprox 1860N=1350

A simple frequency analysis - the bigger the surname the more frequently it occurs in the dataset (using wordle.net)

Griffiths ValuationGrange ParishApprox 301

Griffiths ValuationClashmore ParishApprox 517

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

National Archives – Census 1901 -1911These are the Gradys of Curragh in 1901

National Archives – Census 1901 -1911Location of Gradys rocks – seaweed bed?

Local knowledge combined with digital datasets - the red cross marks the location of Gradys rocks -remnant of 19th century seaweed cultivation

1901 CensusLissarow townland

1901 CensusBallynagleragh (Clarkstown) townland

1901 CensusCrushea townland

1901 CensusCurragh townland

1911 CensusCurragh townland

1901 Census Monea Townland14 houses (excluding convent – 5 names)

1901 CensusKilknockan townland

1901 CensusArdmore villageCoI religious denomination

Is this a barracks?

Des Fitzgerald confirms PH is his great grandfather P Hassett and that this is the Constabulary Barracks (RIC)

Stories & NarrativesDo not shirk the hard questions.

1918 Flu Epidemic1920s epidemic TB?-Poverty and health

War of Independence

Religious differences - cooperation and conflict.Sectarianism? Class?

The ruined dwellings of our Irish countryside are a resource for local history and genealogical tourism - bring the diaspora back to see the home place

Griffiths Valuation tells us Keanes and Barrons lived in these structures in the 1860s

Patrick Keane

Duffcarrick1860

Do this for all ruined houses in the parish - local families know who lived in many of these homes

Aspire to do this for every historic structure in the parish

add the layers of family names attached to each home

eg. 2013-1950 – Whelans1925-50 – Grady1870-1919 - Troy

Other sources – UK National Arhcives

Ardmore men who joinedThe Royal Navy in late 1800sN-25

Coastguard station built early 19th century Griffiths Valuation of

approx 1860s seems to indicate the following were living adjacent to the station in Duffcarrick. Combined with their surnames does this indicate these are the coastguard families?Peter GreeneSamuel PyleAnne LawlerJohn JonesAlbertine ZehenderThere is a headstone in the roundtower graveyard erected by Samuel Pile, chief boatman of the coastguard, to three of his children who died in the 1840s. 

Born in Ardmore, preceded by sisters who died young and are buried in Ardmore graveyard. Sandy hair, blue eyes and 5.6 in height. Samuel Pile died, perhaps drowned, in the Medway River in Kent in 1890

The headstone erected in Ardmore graveyard by Samuel Pile’s father for his deceased daughter. Very high quality memorial stone.

Other families with links to the British Royal Navy.

Michael Mulcahy died on the Indefatigable in May 1916 when she was sunk during the Battle of Jutland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Indefatigable_(1909)

Every page in Tommy Mooneys book on the War of Independence in West Waterford has details of people and places where events took place.

Placenames

We can follow established methodologies - like this field naming project in Co. Kilkenny

or a county-wide survey in Meath involving local historical societies

I always took this to be a farmer’s pumphouse but it seems to be the site of Tobarnaveakle

Picnic spot at the tea flag

Site of most name cuttings

Visick?

Appears to be K Gallagher 53 - possibly done by local journalist

The Musgraves were very big landowners in 19th century Waterford

The O’Briens and Mulcahys were local mixed farming & fishing families

The Merricks had a shopping arcade in Youghal -are there from that branch of the family? We need to double check the date - is it 1858 or 1958?

Great grandfather to Tommy Mooney (author of Cry of the Curlew)

A family group of Foleys - where are they all now?

1797 may be the earliest date

The e and the i of Tierney are reversed. There is a hint of a cross used as a punctuation - could this be a memorial inscription?

A key figure in the War of Independence - George Lennon is believed to have been recuperating in Ardmore around 1922.

Local historian Siobhan Lincoln

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Connect with Waterford’s Diaspora

– A shared geolocated multimedia historical/genealogical database• Using state, county and local datasets to list people

(collaborate)• Linking the data/people to places such as memorial stones,

parade grounds, barracks, factories, schools• Enriched with video and audio stories

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Tourism Markets– A decade of people focused commemoration – Irish Diaspora

• By taking genealogical datasets into the real world we open up the chance to follow in our forebears footsteps

– Commonwealth Diaspora • Garrison Records have tens (and tens) of thousands of names

linking back to the UK and out to the broad Commonwealth• Bring the Commonwealth Diaspora to Waterford to follow in their

forebears footsteps• Phased extension to Irish diaspora related datasets

– Home• Census Records

– Extract family names from the address records

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A Collaborative Strategy– A collaboration between partners; local

authority, statutory authority, County Museum, communities

– Personalise  the story and differentiate the experience. Engage communities and visitors alike

– Local stories, local voices – a rich belonging and a common heritage

Conclusions

• Heritage media creates a sense of place and identity for community & visitor

• Build our own digital dataset using a Core spreadsheet

• Quality matters – medium quality images will suffice for websites but you need high-quality photographs and audio files for broadcast or print publication.

• Store all media (text, audio, video) in nested folders by county/town/street

• Publish datasets for a variety of social media and tourism oriented sites.

Conclusions•Names carved in stone

•And printed in ink

•Local knowledge

•Genealogical datasets

•Leverage technology

•Community led

Ardmore Names - People and Place St. Declan's Ardmore Pattern Festival is over a 1000 years old. Mid-Summer festivals like this take place all over Ireland, and some even have their origins in prehistoric times. Such long-running festivals are rooted in the community and the continuity in observance of the importance to St. Declan goes hand in glove with other continuities. It is highly likely that a high proportion of the population of Ardmore and the surrounding Drum hills have been living in this part of west Waterford for a very, very long time.By exploring the family names, where people lived, schooled, worked, died and are buried we can develop a rich understanding of who we are as a community. For example, who are the Quinns of Ballyquinn? Where are the Martins of Ballynamertinagh? Who was the Aodh remembered in Crushea? John Tierney, local digital archaeologist, will present some answers to these and other questions but also looks to the community for help in recording the knowledge they have, aiming to pass it on to future generations.As people lived within this coastal landscape what names did they give to their fields, farms, hills, streams and beaches? Have the old names survived and to what extent? What names do the farming families of Ardmore and surrounding area give to their places of work? This talk is part of an ongoing exploration of the Ardmore landscape and its people. It builds on the work of a previous generation of local historians but also aims to collect new information today. We will attach the documentary evidence of placenames and family names to the landscape and augment this paper record with the rich knowledge of the local people.During the Pattern festival week John Tierney aims to work with members of the community to record the names of places and the people of Ardmore, Grange and even deeper into the Drum Hills. The data will be collated in an offline archive but will also build a freely available public database on www.reyndr.com/exploreardmore. The broad range of evidence will be investigated at 6.00pm in the Ardmore Round Tower Hotel on Thursday 25th July.