With thanks to the author for kindly contributing the full version of his book to share with all those who have an interest in this period of the history of Tullyhunco and the wider Cavan area.
Read the book here:
Review from The Anglo Celt:
Turbulence in Tullyhunco by Tomás Ó Raghallaigh, illustrated by Cathrina Lyons is a study of the Ulster Plantation in Tullyhunco, a tiny Gaelic-Irish state which extended from Carn, near the present Slieve Russell Hotel to the shores of Lough Gowna.
It included the parishes of Kildallan, Killeshandra and Gowna, and was ruled by the McKiernan Family from their residence on the Hill of Croghan. Under the Ulster plantation, it became the Barony of Tullyhunco, and was granted to five Scottish Undertakers. They and their followers began to arrive there 400 years ago, in the latter part of 1610.
This book attempts to reconstruct what life was like for the Irish on the eve of the plantation, to explain why the English king and government decided to plant Ulster, to record the arrival of the planters and to assess the impact of this on the native population.
The Rebellion of 1641 is one of the most contentious events in Irish history, and there was plenty of action around Killeshandra with Castlehamilton and Croghan castles under siege for seven months.
After the Cromwellian re-conquest of the country, the planter families returned with a new set of followers, and colonisation resumed. This turbulent century ended with the Williamite wars, after which another wave of immigrants arrived from Scotland and the North of England.
Religion was a important matter for people at the time. The new settlers were Protestant, while the Irish people were Catholic, and this pattern has continued with their descendants down to the present day. The reasons for this are considered, and the activities of the various religious groups, Catholic, Protestant, Presbyterian, and Methodist, are outlined.
Much of the action takes place in the Killeshandra, Kildallan end of the barony, because the planters, like the Irish before them, tended to neglect the Arva, Gowna area, where there was only limited development before the 1700s. But the study should be of interest to all inhabitants and natives of the area, as well as descendants of prominent Irish families like the McKiernans/ Kiernans/ MacTiernans/ Tiernans, the Donohoes, Mastersons and Farrellys; and it should also be of interest to the descendants of the settlers who arrived here in the 1600s and 1700s.
The book is illustrated by Cathrina Lyons, and her beautiful black and white drawings are complemented by a number of colour photographs of important sites as they are today. The author, Tomás Ó Raghallaigh, is a retired teacher, and has had a life-long interest in history, archaeology and the Irish Language. He has been Killeshandra correspondent of the Anglo-Celt for many years.