THE HYLANDS OF CLONMORAN: AN ENTERPRISING CATHOLIC FAMILY IN COUNTY KILKENNY, 1816-1917 by RICHARD JOHN BOSCO HYLAND THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF PHD DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, MAYNOOTH HEAD OF DEPARTMENT: Professor Marian Lyons Supervisor of Research: Mr. John Bradley October 2014 CONTENTS CONTENTS ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF APPENDICES v LIST OF CHARTS vi LIST OF PLATES vii LIST OF TABLES xi INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: Entrepreneurship and the Ormonde Slate Quarry, 1816-38 12 CHAPTER 2: Home, Farm and Distillery, 1816-43 47 CHAPTER 3: Distilling, the Spirit Trade and Politics, 1843-58 89 CHAPTER 4: Theatre and other Investments, 1853-1917 123 CHAPTER 5: Estate and Farm, 1855-79 157 CHAPTER 6: Landlord and Estate, 1880-1917 202 CHAPTER 7: Tenant and Farm, 1880-1917 232 CHAPTER 8: Politics 265 CHAPTER 9: Culture, Religion and Society 296 CONCLUSION 332 BIBLIOGRAPHY 336 APPENDICES 366 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would not have been possible without the assistance of many friends, relations and colleagues, too numerous to mention. I wish to thank my supervisor John Bradley for his sure guidance and friendship throughout the four year process. Thanks to the many institutions and archives that I have accessed, especially to the many volunteers at the Kilkenny Archaeological Society Library, Rothe House, particularly Michael O’Dwyer and the late Edward Law; thanks too to Damian Brett of the Kilkenny Library Local Studies Department. Since my return to education in 2004 I have made many friends, both students and staff at the Kilkenny campus of N.U.I.M. I wish to acknowledge especially Chris Reid, Mairead McQuaid, Dr. Proinsias Ó Drisceoil and Dr. William A. Smyth. The administrative staff at N.U.I. Maynooth have been unfailing in their kind assistance to me, to Ann Donoughue and Catherine Heslin - my thanks. I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Jacinta Prunty and Professors: Jacqueline Hill, Raymond Gillespie, Terence Dooley and Marian Lyons in the History Department for their tutelage and solicitude. Thanks to Fergal O’Donoughue for his helpful assistance and companionship on some long journeys from Maynooth. I received wonderful support from Professor Vincent Comerford to whom I am truly indebted. Since he supervised my minor thesis he has been a constant source of encouragement. The friendship and camaraderie of my fellow students is something that I will always treasure. My thanks to my post-graduate colleagues: Catherine Bergin, Avril Burbridge, Alan Carthy, Luke Diver, Alice Hughes, Jim McCafferty and Bronagh McShane. I greatly appreciate the invaluable assistance that my brother Seán provided in tirelessly proof-reading the thesis. I wish to record my gratitude to P. J. and Helen O’Sullivan, for their support and to my aunt Margaret for her many kindnesses. Finally, I wish to thank my wife Melanie for her patience, unstinting reassurance and love; and my son John for having to suffer my absences from play when Daddy ‘had to study’. iii ABBREVIATIONS C&BR Cork & Bandon Railway D&WR Dublin & Wicklow Railway DIA Dictionary of Irish Architects DIB Dictionary of Irish Biography FJ Freeman’s Journal FLJ Finn’s Leinster Journal HP Hyland Papers IB Irish Builder JPH John Patrick Hyland KAS Kilkenny Archaeological Society KJ Kilkenny Journal KM Kilkenny Moderator KP Kilkenny People KTM Kledang Tin Mining LH Laurence Hyland LJ Leinster Journal MCI Mining Company of Ireland NLI National Library of Ireland OKR Old Kilkenny Review OP Ormonde Papers OCIH Oxford Companion to Irish History PCOG Patrick Cogan O’Gorman RJH Richard Joseph Hyland RPH Richard Patrick Hyland W&KR Waterford & Kilkenny Railway W&TR Waterford & Tramore Railway WKP Walsh Kelly Papers WPH William Paul Hyland iv LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX I List of slaters referred to in Laurence Hyland’s ledgers with some associated information including: location, date, ledger reference and other identifying data 366 APPENDIX II List of some notable houses/destinations for Laurence Hyland’s slate 370 APPENDIX III Clients for slates with destinations and some additional information (Dating of 1821-23 if not otherwise indicated) 371 APPENDIX IV Listing of carmen and horse hire (with some notes), dates from 1821 if not otherwise indicated. 398 APPENDIX V Family names listed as carmen in Laurence Hyland’s ledgers, which were also recorded in Griffith’s Valuation within the immediate area of the slate quarry. 402 APPENDIX V I Clients of Hyland for slate who were mayors of Kilkenny city with the dates of their mayoralty 404 APPENDIX VII Extract from a Mount Warrington ledger 405 APPENDIX VIII Whiskey sold to 1 April 1844 407 APPENDIX IX Railway share account of John P. Hyland (1854-8) 408 APPENDIX X Clonmoran library listing (partial) 411 APPENDIX X I Hyland genealogy 414 v LIST OF CHARTS CHART 2.1 Numbers of legal distilleries in Kilkenny city 86 CHART 5.1 Relationship between the tenants and the approximate acreage of holdings on Hyland’s estate 165 CHART 5.2 Approximate acreage of estate townlands 166 CHART 5.3 Relationship between rent and valuation on Hyland’s estate to 1880 171 CHART 5.4 Tenant acreage in Kilmakevoge (1856) 181 CHART 5.5 Average arrears in Kilmakevoge (1857-66) 181 CHART 5.6 Relationship between income and expenditure over a twenty-four year period (1856-79) on Hyland’s farm 189 CHART 5.7 Relationship between profit and loss over a twenty-four year period (1856-79) on Hyland’s farm 195 CHART 5.8 Relationship of commodities produced to income on Hyland’s farms in 1877 200 CHART 5.9 Relative proportion of expenses on Hyland’s farms in 1877 200 CHART 6.1 Relationship of arrears to rent and income on Hyland’s estate (1890s) 226 vi LIST OF PLATES PLATE 1.1 Laurence Hyland from a photograph (c.1840 ) 14 PLATE 1.2 Ledgers of Laurence Hyland dating from 1818 17 PLATE 1.3 Map of Slate Quarry Area (1817) with legend ‘Quarries working’ 21 PLATE 1.4 Eleanor Hyland’s (nee Walsh) Pocket Missal 22 PLATE 1.5 Ormonde slate quarry (2009) 27 PLATE 1.6 Extent of Hyland’s slate business 36 PLATE 2.1 Clonmoran House from a photograph (c. 1915) 49 PLATE 2.2 Map of Clonmoran (1842) 58 PLATE 2.3 Map of Clonmoran showing dwelling and farmyard (1842) 63 PLATE 2.4 Aerial view of Clonmoran (2012) 67 PLATE 2.5 Mount Warrington Distillery from a photograph (2002) 79 PLATE 2.6 Laurence Hyland’s ledger entries (1823) 88 PLATE 3.1 Richard Patrick Hyland portrait (c. 1850) 91 PLATE 3.2 Mount Warrington Distillery (2006) 93 PLATE 3.3 Partnership document: Robert Cassidy with Richard Hyland (1845) 96 vii PLATE 3.4 Monasterevin Distillery (Cassidy’s) (1886) 98 PLATE 3.5 St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, Kilkenny (c. 1880) 121 PLATE 3.6 Whiskey label Cassidy & Co. 122 PLATE 4.1 John P. Hyland from a photograph (c. 1870) 124 PLATE4.2 The Athenaeum, Kilkenny (c. 1880) 129 PLATE 4.3 The words Quis Separabit in attic of the Athenaeum (2014) 129 PLATE 4.4 No. 4, The Parade, Kilkenny (the Athenaeum) (2014) 138 PLATE 4.5 Plan of the Athenaeum Theatre (c. 1853) 147 PLATE 4.6 Tramore Railway Station (c. 1900) 150 PLATE 4.7 Kimberley (South Africa) Town Guard photograph (1899) F. X. Hyland, front row, third from left 156 PLATE 5.1 Hyland plaque (1869), St. Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny (2014) 175 PLATE 5.2 The lawn gates at Clonmoran from a photograph (c. 1915) 185 PLATE 6.1 Tory Hill on the horizon with Walsh Cross in foreground, Kilbeacon, Mullinavat (2014) 211 PLATE 6.2 Relationship of the location of Earlsrath (top left) to the Hyland Estate 221 PLATE 6.3 Clonmoran House (2009) 231 viii PLATE 7.1 Castle Blunden (before recent restoration) 239 PLATE 7.2 Castle Blunden: the view from Clonmoran post-recent restoration (2011) 246 PLATE 7.3 Estate map of Earlsrath (1823) 248 PLATE 7.4 Earlsrath aerial view (c. 1980) 249 PLATE 7.5 Hay-barn at Clonmoran erected 1885 (2014) 255 PLATE 7.6 Margaret Cogan O’Gorman (nee Hyland) portrait (c. 1860) 259 PLATE 8.1 John P. Hyland’s diary (1883) 273 PLATE 8.2 Hyland Cross (1862) Tramore, County Waterford (2011) 279 PLATE 8.3 John P. Hyland from a photograph (c. 1890) 287 PLATE 9.1 Family portrait - from left to right: Richard J., May, John P. and Rev. John from a photograph (c. 1915) 301 PLATE 9.2 May Hyland from a photograph (c. 1900) 305 PLATE 9.3 Drawing room at Clonmoran from a photograph (c. 1915) 305 PLATE 9.4 Image in altar press Clonmoran House (2010) 311 PLATE 9.5 The relative position of Clonmoran, Drakeland, Shellumsrath, Mortgagefields and Warrington and their location close to Kilkenny city 315 PLATE 9.6 Fr. John P. Hyland from a photograph (c. 1900) 319 ix PLATE 9.7 Hyland table tomb, Windgap Cemetery, County Kilkenny (2010) 327 PLATE 9.8 Potter nameplate (photograph 2014) 329 x LIST OF TABLES TABLE 2.1 Milk sold (1820) 65 TABLE 4.1 Breakdown of bookings at the Athenaeum for an eighteen- month period (Jan. 1866 - Dec. 1867) 140 TABLE 5.1 Extract from Summary of Lots in Encumbered Estates Documentation for the Bishop’s Hall estate (1856) 163 TABLE 5.2 Extract from Encumbered Estates Particulars Bishop’s Hall estate (1856) 164 TABLE 5.3 Arrears in Kilmakevoge (1856-79) 167 TABLE 5.4 Arrears in Rathnasmolagh (1856-79) 169 TABLE 5.5 Arrears in Farnoge and Fahy (1856-79) 170 TABLE 5.6 Concessions to tenants on the Hyland estate in 1871 and 1879 172 TABLE 5.7 Income and Expenditure (1877) 199 TABLE 6.1 Arrears in pounds (approximate) in Hyland’s Estate (1890-3, 1895, 1898) 224 TABLE 6.2 Total actual rents, arrears and estate income due for a six-year period (1890-3, 1895, 1898) 225 TABLE 6.3 Summary extract from Cancelled Books Valuation Lists: Hyland listed as landlord 230 TABLE 7.1 Summary extract from Cancelled Books Valuation Lists 243 TABLE 7.2 Acreage of Patrick Cogan O’Gorman’s tenants in Leugh (1870) showing those with holdings of over and under ten acres 258 xi TABLE 9.1 Donations to the Catholic Church (1879) 317 xii INTRODUCTION I have always believed that local history is more important than national history.