Author Topic: Castletownroche--What is Inches?  (Read 1341 times)

Offline Alison55

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Castletownroche--What is Inches?
« on: Tuesday 22 October 24 16:01 BST (UK) »
My great-great grandparents were from the Catholic parish of Castletownroche, civil parish of Bridgetown.  Their children's baptisms show the place they lived as Clifford or Inches.  I easily found the townland of Clifford but have never been able to figure out where or what Inches is.  Their names were Patrick Quinlan and Margaret Gorman.  They immigrated to New York City with their children in three separate voyages from 1849 to 1851.

Offline aghadowey

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Re: Castletownroche--What is Inches?
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 22 October 24 16:10 BST (UK) »
Here are the parish registers- https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632866?locale=en#page/1/mode/1up
Can you either post links or tell us date of baptisms and names of children so we can check the full pages.
Away sorting out DNA matches... I may be gone for some time many years!

Offline Sinann

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Re: Castletownroche--What is Inches?
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 22 October 24 16:16 BST (UK) »
Clifford is by a river with islands, I think Inches refers to the islands, so it's a descriptive name for the townland.
Inch often appears in placenames.
See this place called Inch
https://www.logainm.ie/en/2181/#:~:text=Glossary,English%20island%3B%20river%20meadow

Same in Scotland according to this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inch_(disambiguation)#:~:text=%22Inch%22%20in%20Scottish%20and%20Irish,Ireland

Offline gaffy

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Re: Castletownroche--What is Inches?
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday 22 October 24 20:44 BST (UK) »
All I can think is that this reflects changes in the make-up of that area and its component names between the OS and earlier times.  There are several Irish newspaper notices of a sale of property in Co. Cork in 1879/80, with references to leases dating back to the second half of the 18th century, such as the "Lands of Ballinaraha being part of the said Lands of Bridgetown", the "Lands known by the name of the West Inches, being part of the Lands of Bridgetown Lower" and "such parts of Ballinaraha and the West Inches, comprising what is now called on the Ordnance Survey Clifford".

I couldn't get my head around the NAI Tithe Applotment Books, for Bridgetown seems to be recorded under County Kildare, yet some of the names in the page images seem to resonate, eg.  Inches, Ballinaraha, Kilquain (Kilquane?), Cluin (Cloon?) - or am I looking at the wrong area? My eyes aren't great, see what you think...

https://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/index.jsp



Offline Sinann

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Re: Castletownroche--What is Inches?
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday 22 October 24 22:18 BST (UK) »
Sadly it's not unusual for places to be listed under an incorrect county in the Applotment Books.
Looking back or forward through the pages will usually resolve which county it should be in.
The first page for Bridgetown also lists Kilcummer.
https://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/reels/tab//004587408/004587408_00584.pdf
possibly Cork is written on the sideways sticker but it's very faint, there is C for sure but is there any more than that.
At least there isn't a Bridgetown or Kilcummer in Kildare and both are in Cork and in the same Barony and PLU of Fermoy so listing them together in the Applotment books makes sense at least.

Offline Alison55

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Re: Castletownroche--What is Inches?
« Reply #5 on: Tuesday 22 October 24 23:05 BST (UK) »
Thank you for all the helpful replies and suggestions.  The Tithe Applotments site is a bit of a mess but I think that is the right place. And there seems to be a Thomas Gorman listed. I suspect it was my Gorman ancestors living there and the Quinlans nearby in Kilcummer perhaps. Thank you, Gaffy, for mentioning the sale of the lands that mention Inches. 
Patrick Quinlan and Margaret Gorman were married in Castletownroche RC parish on 5 May 1831.  They had six children in Ireland for whom I found baptisms, helped by Patrick's list in the 1850 US census when, in fact, all but one were still in Ireland.  Didn't he understand the question or was he eager to make his children Americans? I'll never know. The first child, Thomas?, must have died as there is no record of him other than his baptism.  Then were born Ellen, Mary, John, James, Thomas (another) and finally Patrick who was born in New York.
The baptisms seem to mostly say Clifford.  That was an estate with formal gardens, as can be seen on the OS map.  It overlooks the River Blackwater and is quite scenic.  The house has been restored.  I assume my ancestors were employed by the estate. 
The second Thomas Quinlan, the last child born in Ireland, was baptized 27 June 1846, same parish.  The address is given as Inches.  I'll try to attach the link.
I have been doing this for fifteen years and hope the Inches mystery can be solved. Thanks again.
 https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632866?locale=en#page/99/mode/1up 

Offline ballydw

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Re: Castletownroche--What is Inches?
« Reply #6 on: Monday 28 October 24 19:41 GMT (UK) »
Thank you for all the helpful replies and suggestions.  The Tithe Applotments site is a bit of a mess but I think that is the right place. And there seems to be a Thomas Gorman listed. I suspect it was my Gorman ancestors living there and the Quinlans nearby in Kilcummer perhaps. Thank you, Gaffy, for mentioning the sale of the lands that mention Inches. 
Patrick Quinlan and Margaret Gorman were married in Castletownroche RC parish on 5 May 1831.  They had six children in Ireland for whom I found baptisms, helped by Patrick's list in the 1850 US census when, in fact, all but one were still in Ireland.  Didn't he understand the question or was he eager to make his children Americans? I'll never know. The first child, Thomas?, must have died as there is no record of him other than his baptism.  Then were born Ellen, Mary, John, James, Thomas (another) and finally Patrick who was born in New York.
The baptisms seem to mostly say Clifford.  That was an estate with formal gardens, as can be seen on the OS map.  It overlooks the River Blackwater and is quite scenic.  The house has been restored.  I assume my ancestors were employed by the estate. 
The second Thomas Quinlan, the last child born in Ireland, was baptized 27 June 1846, same parish.  The address is given as Inches.  I'll try to attach the link.
I have been doing this for fifteen years and hope the Inches mystery can be solved. Thanks again.
 https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632866?locale=en#page/99/mode/1up 
Hi Alison I was speaking yesterday to a man now 95yrs old he confirmed the name Inches in Castletownroche as he grew up there & by coincidence he mentions the name Gorman living there

Offline Alison55

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Re: Castletownroche--What is Inches?
« Reply #7 on: Tuesday 29 October 24 03:04 GMT (UK) »
Thanks so much for that. Very interesting. I wish I were there to chat with him. Our elders are often a font of knowledge found nowhere else. It would be great if I still had cousins there.

Offline ballydw

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Re: Castletownroche--What is Inches?
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday 29 October 24 15:07 GMT (UK) »
Thanks so much for that. Very interesting. I wish I were there to chat with him. Our elders are often a font of knowledge found nowhere else. It would be great if I still had cousins there.
Alison did the children of Patrick Quinlan & Mgt Gorman remain in Ireland