Blúid Thiar

View Edit

Blúid Thiar or Bluid West is a townland of 74 hectares or 182 acres and in the early part of the 20th century, 90 individual fields were mapped in this townland.

It is in the Electoral Division of Castlehaven North, in Civil Parish of Castlehaven and the Roman Catholic Parish of Castlehaven and Myross.

Blúid Thiar is bordered by An Bán Íseal (Bawnishall) to the south, Blúid Thoir (Bluid East) and An Dúinín (Doneen) to the east, Bán na gColpaí (Bawnnagollopy), An Ré (Rea) and An Lisín Rua (Lisheenroe) to the north and Coill an Doire (Killaderry), An Leathardán Mór (Laherdane More) and An Leathardán Beag (Laherdane Beg) to the west.

OpenStreetmap contributors, with input from the Castlehaven & Myross History Society, have created a detailed townland map including all its minor placenames. Zoom in for further detail.

Etymology

An Bhluid is split into two divisions - Thiar (West) and Thoir (East). Bluid is believed to come from pluid which was interpreted by Bruno O'Donoghue as the place of stagnant pools.

History

Evictions: Some of the original families in this townland moved to Bluid after they were evicted from Rea around 1849/1850 (just after the famine). It was alleged by Rev, Charles Davis (RC Administrator in Skibbereen) in a letter to the Cork Examiner on 12th November 1869 that the Catholics were expelled from that townland and the land was given to a Protestant at a lower rent (6s 6d per acre intead of 14s). J.E. Browne of Smithville, Skibbereen replied to the Cork Examiner on 25th November to say that he was the "favoured Protestant" who was now renting the land in Rea and claimed that the tenants had been in arrears in their rent for years and that the land had deteriorated. He claimed that the tenants had been forgiven their rent by the landlord and were still living on the land (with the exception of one tenant who moved to America)

Rev. Davis wrote again to the Cork Examiner on December 3rd 1869 to correct his previous statement and say that the tenants had paid 16s 6d an acre while Mr. Browne rented it at 6s 8d an acre. He also claimed that the neighbouring townland of Farrangilla had also been cleared and was now in the possession of Mr. Browne's uncle-in-law. He said that there were 18 tenants in Rea in 1850 with another 20 in Farrangilla and called on Mr. Browne to name the farms on which they were now residing.. He also claimed that Mr. Browne was now the sole occupier of land upon which 152 people had previously lived and remembered that some had to unroof their own houses and carry the timbers with them when they were expelled. He also remembered the late Father Leader reading the names of the evicted Rea tenants from the altar in the church in Skibbereen.

Mr Browne's reply was printed in the Cork Examiner on 13th December 1869 and he stated that there were only 8 tenants in Rea before he occupied it. He also said that they were placed at lower rents on other farms on the property and stated that this gave them a better chance of prosperity. He also named them as follows:

Thomas Leary, Patrick Courtney and Timothy Courtney now residing on the lands of Bluid.

Denis Coughlan and Denis Keating, Kiladerry

Jeremiah Cadogan, Currabeg

John Crowley, Cooldougha

Timothy Keating had moved to America

The next letter from Rev. Davis was in the Skibbereen Eagle on Christmas Eve and includes a declaration by 81-year old Thomas Leary of Bluid (which was witnessed by Jeremiah Cadogan, Patrick Courtney, Timothy Courtney and Denis Coughlan). Thomas Leary stated that he, his father and grandfather had lived in Rea for nearly 200 years; he had paid his annual rent of £14 punctually every year (with a reduction in rent in the famine years) and had not been in arrears at the time of his eviction. He said that there had been 18 tenants on the lands in Rea with detached fields and he believed that the other tenants had not been in arrears either. He also stated that Mr. Browne had been employed by the agent, Thomas Marmion, and served the tenants with notice to quit and, when they refused, he told them that they would be put out by the sheriff without any consideration from the landlord. As a result they decided to surrender their possessions and move. As proof of his solvency, Thomas Leary stated that he was paying the same rent of £14 a year for "his barren mountain farm in Bluid" and believed that the "kind-hearted landlord, Rev. Mr. Townsend" did not order the eviction as he lived in England at the time. He also declared that he could have afforded a rent of £20 per year, had he been asked.

Rev R. Troy of Castlehaven wrote to the Cork Examiner on 18th December to confirm that the expulsions from Rea, Farrangilla and Raheen on Rev Townsend's estate were effected by his agent, Mr. Tom Marmion and stated that those evicted were "honest and industrious and under all circumstances most patient and resigned."

Thomas Henry Marmion Junior who was the son of the agent, had a letter in the Cork Examiner on New Year's Eve stating that he was writing in defence of the "uncalled for attack" on his father's character (who had been paralysed for 9 years). He said that he had received permission from Rev M.F.S. Townsend to look at his rent books and claimed that Denis Courtney owed £40-0-6d in rent arrears. In the same paper there was a letter from Rev. Charles Davis stating that he "utterly disdains replying to a letter" from R.B. Marmion on 30th December 1869 and says that readers who are well-acquainted with the writer will well understand the reason. The letter in question was published in the Skibbereen Eagle on 1st January (as below)

On New Years Day the Skibbereen Eagle published a letter from Robert Bird Marmion (son of Thomas) claiming that the earlier declaration of Thomas Leary was false and alleged that he owed arrears of not less than £86 5s 4d at the time of his eviction. The final correspondence was from Rev. Davis and was published in the Cork Examiner on 6th January. He states Rev M. Townsend was not responsible for evictions but the land agent, Thomas Marmion, was. He also questions whether the tenants abandoned their lands or if the lands were taken from them?

Housing

As part of Griffiths Valuation in 1853, a survey of house quality was carried out to calculate what rates were due by each household. These were issued in 1850 in the form of house books and a guide on how to interpret these can be seen here. These show that all seven houses in the townland at that time were class 3. This means that they were thatched houses with stone walls with mud or puddle mortar (as opposed to being built with stone or brick and lime mortar). Six of the seven houses are described as being old (more than 25 years) with five of these being out of repair while the other is in good repair. The remaining house in Bluid West at this time is described as medium, deteriorated by age and not in perfect repair. All houses in the townland at this time are between 5 foot 6 inches (!) and 7 foot 6 inches tall which indicates that they are single storey at this time.

By the 1901 census, there are four occupied houses in Bluid West and three of these have walls of stone, brick or concrete and roofs of slate, iron or tiles. The other is still thatched and has walls of mud, wood or other perishable material. Three have two, three or four rooms while the other has five or six rooms.The thatched house has just three windows in front while the other three houses have five windows.

When we advance to the 1911 census there are now 5 occupied houses in this townland. All now have walls of stone, brick or concrete with roofs of slate, iron or tiles. One house has two, three or four rooms while the other six have either 5 or 6 rooms. Four houses have five windows in front while the other has seven.

Places of Interest:

Fulacht Fiadh: There was a fulacht fiadh in this townland. These were cooking pits and were typically constructed during the late Bronze Age (c. 1500 – c 500 BC). This is no longer intact

Gallán: There may be a gallán (standing stone) in this townland as there is a place callled Gallán Gá. Standing Stones may have been boundary markers during the Bronze/Iron Age. Alternatively, they may have been commemorative monuments or may have been used to mark burial places

Lios: There is a ringfort (lios) in this townland . A ringfort is a circular fortified settlement that were mainly built during the Bronze age up to about the year 1000.

Lios in Bluid West

Cathaoir Carney na Bluide (Kearney's Chair): These are two indentations in a rock that gave the appearance that a giant had sat there (he may also have been a land agent- see below) and he sat at this location while his feet formed two ponds in the townland of Bluid East.

Exclave: There were four fields in the middle of Bluid that are marked in the map as Part of Bawnishall. They were said to be given as a gift by a landlord to his daughter. They were returned from Bawnishall to Bluid ownership during a land swap that took place in 1936. However they are still shown on the OS maps as an exclave of Bawnishall.

The ringfort and the fulacht fia listed above are mapped on the Historic Environment Viewer

Interesting Placenames

Besides those mentioned above, there is a hill in this townland known as Bluid Hill. The highest point on this hill is knows as Suí Finn ans can be interpreted as the seat of Finn (Mac Cumhail)

There is a junction called Bluid Cross in this townland.

There are two adjoining fields in this townland known as the Dardanelles. According to Lankford, they got this name as they looked like war trenches after they were drained.

.We have also mapped the following field names in this townland: The new Field, Upper Móinteán, Lower Móinteán, The Pond Field (dug out in the 1930s or 40s for making flax), The Long Field, The Field Above O'Briens (house that is now gone), Johnny Hegarty's Croc (croc comes from cruach - soft/wet land), Gáirdín na gCabhlach (the garden of small ruins. It was supposed to have contained ruins of houses), The Big Field Of O'Learys, Móintáin na Linne (possibly means the bog of the pool - a bog with a pond in the middle?), The Gallán Gá (interpretation unknown - Gallán Gáibh woud mean the store of danger), Brickley's Fields, The Lios Field (named after a ringfort that is still visible), Molly's Field (named after a woman that lived there)

If you want to see the actual locations of any of these, go to detailed townland map on Open Street Maps. If you know any other field names or placenames in this townland (or if you need to correct any or give further background information), please contact us at [email protected]

Folklore

Tough Times: A poem composed in the second half of the 19th century gives a good indication of how tough life was for the tenant farmers of Bluid, some of whom had been evicted from their farms in Rea in the late 1860s (see above). The name Bluid is said to mean a wet, muddy place and this poem certainly corroborates this meaning. The green fields of Bluid today are testament to many generations of hard-working families who have turned this muddy place into the fertile townland of today.

Cathaoirín Ó Cearnaigh na Bluide

Tá scol éanlaith ‘s faoileán ‘s pilbín míog ann,

Agus iomad aca luighe insa’ guta;

Ta luachair ‘s grúnlach ag fás ann go flúirseach,

Agus fior-uisce i ngach cúinne di ag briseadh;

Ach arís go rath ni bhfaighidh BO’C puinn dem bharr-sa

‘S beidh meirg a’ fás ar a chiteal

Mar rachad thar sáile, is tuillfeadh mo phádh-sa,

Toisc gur fuath liom anródhti na Bluide.

Tigherna talmhan b’ead an BO’C so go bhfuil tagairt dó ann. Chómnuigh sé ar an Seana Chluain le hais Bhaile.an Chaisleáin (ref Ó hAnnracháin)

Ni fios cé a chum an dán seo (go raibh trí vearsaí ann ó cheart) ach, thóg Peadar Ó hAnnracháin an véarsa seo ó bhéal Sheáin Ó Seasnáin.

As Ceann Tuaithe (nó b’fhéidir as Scoth Bán) don Sheasnánach seo.

Carney of Bluid’s Chair

There's the shrill call of fowl and seagulls and lapwings,

And lots of them lying there in the mire;

There’s rushes and weeds growing there in abundance,

And pure water breaking out in every corner;

But never again will Carney get a penny out of me

And rust will be growing on his kettle

As I will go overseas and I will earn my wages,

For I hate the wretchedness of Bluid.

This BO’C referred to here was a landlord (or more probably a land agent), Carney. He lived in Sean-Chluain (Shanacluen – the field opposite the priest’s house in Castletownshend). It’s not known who composed the poem (it was originally composed of three verses) but this verse was transcribed early in the 20th century by Peadar Ó hAnnracháin from the mouth of Seán Ó Seasnáin (John Sexton of Toehead or possibly John Sexton of Scobaun).

An Gadaí Dubh: Long ago there was a highwayman who was known as "an gadaí dubh". He was said to live in a stone cabin at the south end of Bluid West. He was eventually caught and hanged in Cork Gaol. There was nobody belonging to him present

Dead Cat: There is a story told in the Schools' Collection where a Bluid woman lived alone with her son, Mickie, long ago. One day she got angry with him and said that she would not bake bread for him. She put a cake in the bastible and went out to the garden. Mickie put a cat into the bastible instead and ran off with the cake. When the woman came in, she noticed the horrible smell. She lifted the cover from the bastible and found the poor, roasted cat.

Families and Notable Residents

The Tithe Applotment books of 1825 list the following family names: Sullivan, Cahalane (?), Barry, Brickley, Courtney, Hegarty, Hegarty, Collins, Browne

Griffiths Valuation of 1853 lists the following family names: Brien, Hegarty, Leary, Courtney

The Census of Ireland of 1901 lists the following family names: Hegarty (with Walsh - mother and step-father), Hegarty, O'Leary, Courtney (with Driscoll - servant and Collins - visitor)

The Census of Ireland of 1911 lists the following family names: Courtney, Daly (with Sullivan - visitor), O'Leary, Hegarty (with Walsh - mother and step-father), Hegarty

Monsignor Michael Daly was born in this townland. He was based in England during the war years after his ordination and later served in a number of Cork parishes including Cape Clear, Ardfield, Timoleague, Dunmanway, Barryroe, Belgooly, St. Patricks, Watergrasshill and Clonakilty.

Note: the term 'with' refers to a person or persons of a different family name staying in the house. This may have been an in-law or other relative, a guest, or a farm labourer/housekeeper or domestic servant.

Demographics and Landholding

		*Occupiers	Population	Change	Link to record
1825	Tithe Applotment	9	70 (est)		1825
1841	Census of Ireland	12	80
1851	Census of Ireland	6	36
1853	Griffith's Valuation	5 (Incl. 1 unoccupied)	26 (est)		1853
1861	Census of Ireland	6	38
1871	Census of Ireland	3	22
1881	Census of Ireland	5	36
1891	Census of Ireland	5	28
1901	Census of Ireland	5 (Incl. 1 unoccupied)	25		1901
1911	Census of Ireland	5	29		1911

*Occupiers generally equate to households having a house and land but may also include households having houses but no land.

Between 1656 and 1658 the Down Survey mapped all areas of the country to track ownership of land after much had been granted to followers of Cromwell after the war of the 1650's. The most prominent proprietors (titulados) of this townland at that time was Owen McTeige. This townland was part of Blood and Ballinogolespy at that time.

At the time of the 1825 Tithe Applotments, this townland was listed as Blud and was not split into West and East.

The proprietor of this townland in 1841 was Colonel John Townsend of Castletownshend and his agent was Charles Clarke of Skibbereen. It was all held by John Allenge of Glasheenaulin and sublet to tenants without a lease.

In 1841 the soil was described as mostly coarse and rocky with one third arable, producing light crops of potatoes and oats