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Provided by the author(s) and University College Dublin Library in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite the published version when available. Title The Blakes of Ballyglunin: Catholic merchants and landowners of Galway town and county in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Authors(s) Walsh, Philip Publication date 2017 Publisher University College Dublin. School of History Link to online version http://dissertations.umi.com/ucd:10142 Item record/more information http://hdl.handle.net/10197/8652 Downloaded 2021-10-03T19:43:34Z The UCD community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters! (@ucd_oa) © Some rights reserved. For more information, please see the item record link above. The Blakes of Ballyglunin: Catholic merchants and landowners of Galway town and county in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Philip Walsh 96052619 This thesis is submitted to University College Dublin in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of History. Head of School: Dr Tadhg Ó hAnnracháin Supervisor: Dr Eamon O’Flaherty Doctoral Studies Panel: Dr Declan Downey & Dr Ivar McGrath January 2017 Table of Contents Abstract v Statement of original authorship vi Acknowledgements vii List of Abbreviations viii List of Maps and Tables xi List of Appendices xii Chapter 1: Introduction p. 1 i. Historiographical overview p. 3 ii. The Catholic ‘New interest’ p. 8 iii. The Penal Laws p. 10 iv. Blakes of Ballyglunin’s family genealogy p. 15 Chapter 2. Martin Blake Fitz Andrew and the establishment of the Ballyglunin estate, 1652-60 i. Introduction p. 19 ii. Martin Blake Fitz Andrew of Cummer, County Galway p. 19 iii. Internal transplantation within County Galway p. 24 iv. The ’49 Officers p. 36 v. Conclusion p. 39 Chapter 3: Martin Blake Fitz Andrew and the establishment of the Ballyglunin estate, 1660-85 i. Introduction p. 41 ii. The Restoration land settlement in Galway, 1660-6 p. 41 iii. The court for hearing the claims of transplanted persons in the Province of Connacht and County of Clare, 1676-7 p. 45 iv. Martin Blake Fitz Andrew’s establishment of the Ballyglunin estate: the accumulation of land and property, 1652-85 p. 52 v. Mortgages: a long established method of estate accumulation p. 58 vi. Conclusion p. 62 Chapter 4: Martin Blake Fitz Peter’s securing and maintaining of the Ballyglunin estate, c.1685-1737 i. Introduction p. 66 ii ii. The Blakes of Ballyglunin in Jacobite Galway p. 66 iii. Martin Blake Fitz Peter and Williamite Galway p. 70 iv. Management of the estate, 1685-1737 p. 79 v. Conclusion p. 84 Chapter 5: The Management of the Ballyglunin estate 1737-77 i. Introduction p. 87 ii. The Blakes of Ballyglunin’s financial affairs, 1737-77 p. 89 iii. The extent of the Ballyglunin estate p. 101 iv. The improvement of the estate, 1737-77 p. 105 v. Conclusion p. 110 Chapter 6: ‘The Cannibal Popery Laws of Ireland’: The Blakes of Ballyglunin under the penal laws i. Introduction p. 113 ii. The Blakes of Ballyglunin’s religious experience under the penal laws p. 114 iii. Inquiry about gavelling made by John Blake Fitz Martin p. 118 iv. The settlement of the estate p. 122 v. The Blakes of Ballyglunin’s experience of the penal laws in the wider world p. 131 vi. Conclusion p. 136 Chapter 7: The Blakes of Ballyglunin’s experience as Catholic merchants in Galway town in the seventeenth and eighteenth century i. Introduction p. 139 ii. The urban property of the Blakes of Ballyglunin in Galway town p. 143 iii. The expulsion and re-establishment of Martin Blake Fitz Andrew in Galway town p. 148 iv. Catholic merchants under a Protestant corporation p. 152 v. The return to Galway town p. 159 vi. Conclusion p. 165 Chapter 8: ‘What right has an elder son to a large fortune and annual settlement and a younger son begrudged even necessary’: The effect of younger children on the Ballyglunin estate, c.1700-77 i. Introduction p. 168 ii. Peter Blake Fitz Martin’s younger children p. 174 iii iii. Martin Blake Fitz Peter’s younger children p. 181 iv. Edmond Blake Fitz Martin’s younger children p. 192 v. Conclusion p. 197 Chapter 9: Conclusion i. The Blakes of Ballyglunin from 1777 to the end of the nineteenth p. 200 century ii. Conclusions p. 201 Glossary p. 206 Appendix p. 208 Map appendix p. 240 Genealogy p. 247 Bibliography p. 253 iv Thesis Abstract This thesis examines the experience of the Blakes of Ballyglunin from 1641 until 1777. It presents a reinterpretation of a minor gentry Catholic landowning and merchant family from the mid-seventeenth century until the eve of the repeal of the penal laws. It places the family firmly in its local and national context in terms of landownership, economic affairs and confessional identity. Two themes dominate the text: in the second half of the seventeenth century the family became part of the Catholic ‘new interest’, those who prospered under the Restoration land settlement; and in the eighteenth century they survived and consolidated their estate in the face of the penal laws. It examines the defeat, transplantation, survival, expansion, consolidation, resistance and endurance of a Catholic landed family in the period c.1641-1777. Chapters 2 to 5 present a chronological examination of the family in relation to its wealth and landownership. Tracing the family’s expulsion from Galway town, transplantation to County Galway, the re-establishment of their wealth and land during the Restoration and their survival and consolidation during the penal era. Their religious identity and the effects of the penal laws on the estate and the family are explored in Chapter 6. The family remained ‘Galway townsmen’ at heart and this is examined in Chapter 7. While they were expelled from Galway town in the early 1650s, they returned to trade and live in the town as early as they could in the Restoration and, ultimately, purchased a house in the town in 1677. They were again forced to leave Galway town in the early 1690s but they never completely severed their ties with the town. The changing experience of urban Catholics under the penal laws is illuminated and eventually their changed situation by the mid-eighteenth century enabled the family to return to live, for part of the year, in the town. A vital role in the survival of Catholic landownership was played by younger children and they are surveyed in Chapter 8. v Statement of Original Authorship I hereby certify that the submitted work is my own work, was completed while registered as a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and I have not obtained a degree elsewhere on the basis of the research presented in this submitted work. vi Acknowledgements I am indebted to my supervisor Dr Eamon O’Flaherty for his guidance and dedication over the years of writing this thesis, as well as to the members of my Doctoral Panel, Dr Ivar McGrath and Dr Declan Downey. I owe many thanks within U.C.D., above all to the staff of the History Office, Kate Breslin, Dr Sarah Feehan and Dr Emma Lyons. My gratitude is also due to the staff of the various libraries in which I have conducted my research, particularly those of the National Archives of Ireland, National Library of Ireland, U.C.D. Library and Dublin City Library and Archive. Finally, I could not have completed this thesis without the constant support of my family, in particular, my mother and father. Dedicated in memory of my mother, Jo Walsh. vii Abbreviations Anal. Hib. Analecta Hibernica Arch. Hib. Archivium Hibernicum A.T.G. Archives of the town of Galway, ed. J.T. Gilbert, in H.M.C. Tenth Report, Appendix V (London, 1885), pp 380-520 Blake, I Martin J. Blake, Blake Family Records 1300 to 1600 (London, 1902) Blake, II Martin J. Blake, Blake Family Records 1600 to 1700 (London, 1905) Burke, Landed Gentry Sir Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland (London, 1912) C.J.I. Journals of the House of Commons of Ireland (3rd ed., 20 vols, Dublin, 1796-1802) C.S.P.D. Calendar of State Papers, Domestic C.S.P.I. Calendar of State Papers, Ireland D.I.B. Dictionary of Irish Biography, eds. James McGuire and James Quinn (9 vols, Cambridge, 2009) & online edition http://dib.cambridge.org E.C.I. Eighteenth-Century Ireland. Iris an dá chultúr Galway Corpo. Mss James Hardiman Library, N.U.I. Galway, Galway Corporation Mss (microfilm, N.L.I. p.399 & p.400) viii Hardiman James Hardiman, History of the town and county of the town of Galway from the earliest period to the present time (Dublin, 1820) H.M.C. Historical Manuscript Commission I.H.S. Irish Historical Studies I.R.C.R. Irish Record Commission, The eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth reports of the commissioners appointed by his majesty to execute the measures recommended in an address of the House of Commons respecting the Public Records of Ireland (Dublin, 1821-25) J.G.A.H.S. Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society L.J.I. Journals of the House of Lords of the Kingdom of Ireland (8 vols, Dublin, 1779-1800) N.A.I. National Archives of Ireland N.A.U.K. National Archives of the United Kingdom N.H.I. New History of Ireland N.L.I. National Library of Ireland M6931-6 National Archives of Ireland, Ballyglunin Papers, M6931-6 Ó Bric, ‘Galway Breandán M.