Tenants of New Ross, Co. Wexford in 1768.

Small Sources 67: This is a rental containing 119 tenants of Arthur Lord Viscount Valentia’s estate in New Ross and Old Ross, Co. Wexford compiled in 1768. The original document is in the National Library of Ireland (NLI Ms 8470 (9)). The detail provides, for each tenant, the rent due; and the lease details (see extracts in Figure 2 and Figure 3). The leases generally are for a period of years, or for the duration of the lives of three named persons; in a few cases this column is blank. Further information on the significance of this information can be found in our article on Rentals. The commencement dates for the leases range between 1738 and 1767.

The landlord, Viscount Valentia, was a very controversial figure who lost his titles in 1771, shortly after this rental was compiled. The full story, which is worthy of a Hollywood movie, and can be read here. The rental covers the area of Old Ross and New Ross in County Wexford (see Figure 1). New Ross was one of the first ports established by the Normans after their arrival in Ireland in the 12th century, and was a significant settlement until the 17th century. Old Ross is a much smaller settlement, a few miles from New Ross (indicated as ‘Ross’ in Figure 1) and also established by the Normans in the the 12th Century.

Figure 1. An abstract from the Gill Map (1811) in Wexford County Archives. The town of New Ross is indicated only as ‘Ross’ on the left, while Old Ross is on the right.

No specific holdings within either town are provided, but all of the individuals on the list who could be traced were residents of the town of New Ross, or of townlands on the outskirts of the town. Some of the information on tenants found in this limited search are indicated below in italics. However, note that only the more unusual names were searched (to validate the location of the holdings) and the search was not at all comprehensive. Further information on some of the families listed may be included in our publication ‘Sources for Irish Family History 2021‘ which lists books and articles on over 2,500 Irish families. This e-book is a listing or bibliography of 6,500 books, articles etc on 2,500 Irish families. These sources have been collected from local history journals, genealogy magazines, library catalogues and published book lists.

Some interesting first names occur including:

Moag or Mogue: this name is almost only found in the South-Eastern counties, and particularly Wexford. It is an ancient Irish name and is a synonym of Edanus or Aidan (a common name). To explain this, Aidan is a diminutive form of Aodh. This name sometimes was prefixed with ‘Mo’ (meaning ‘my’) as an expression of endearment which rendered it as Mo-Aodh. This form became anglicised as Mogue.
Higat: is a new name to this author, but there are over 10,000 occurrences in the Ancestry.com database.
Edanus: (2 occurrences on this list) or Aidan – see Mogue above
Shep: (usually an abbreviation of Sheppard) is a very unusual name in Ireland; the Shep French listed here may be the same person who is listed as a Lieutenant in the Wexford Militia in 1814 (Watson’s Almanac) but it is more likely to have been a son; the will of a person of this name, of New Ross, was proved in 1829.
Darby: a form of Dermot which is a common Irish name
Loughlin: a relatively unusual name but found in many parts of Ireland.

Abbreviations are used for most names but are easily understandable (Jas. = James, Thos. = Thomas, Jno. = John, Richd. = Richard etc). The more unusual are Eph. = Ephraim; and Edm.= Edmund.

The images were made by Ancestor Network and are reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland. Ancestor Network will offer 1 free hour of research by a professional researcher to conduct further research on these individuals, or on other tenants of the estate. We can also obtain images of the original documents. Click here and quote ‘Wexford SS67’ in the subject line.

Tenant Name Date of Lease (Notes in italics are added – not in original)

David Walsh 1767
Chas. Harrison             1748
Edanus ? Sutton          1750
Sam Dowsley               1754 Burial of Sam Dowsley is in the Catholic records for New Ross in 1811
Wm. Magrath 1749
Mark Stafford              1749
Thos. Paliser ‘to be found’ (indicating that the lease document had been mislaid)
Benj. Batt Jun. 1767            Probate of the will of a Benjamin Batt of New Ross was granted in 1787.
Jno. Cahill 1745

Figure 2. Extract from rental showing tenant names and the yearly rental they paid.

Ms. Donovan                1758
Jno. Cullimore              1752
Mich. Rigney 1754
Rich. Eustace 1748
Wm. Budd 1745
Paddy Maddock 1749
Edm. Caddy alias Arch….   1752
Jno. Carson 1748
Thos. Houghton Esq.
Jas. McCormack           1746
Widow Minor Moran 1752
Jas. Morris 1749
Geo. Howard                1752
Rob. Welsh 1738
Marg. Kavanagh 1759
Harvey Wilman 1738
Edwd. Blanchfield 1749
Edanus Conners 1749
Jno. Hartwell 1751
Patk. Kenny 1740
Pat Powers 1749
Ben Batt Mill 1750 See note above on Benjamin Batt junior.
Jno. Rook 1749
Rich. Butler 1752
Jno. Leigh Esq.    Marriage Licence granted to John Leigh, Rossgarland, near New Ross 1757
Thos. Barrett               1738
Jno. Casey                    1749
Jno. Doyle 1749
Moage Murphy           1749
Jas. Murphy                 1749
Richd. Hore                  1746
Ann Cowin
Richd. Crooke              1750
Wm. Doyle                   1748
Widow Burn                1749
Sam Blinco?                 1738
Jno. Magrath Senr.
Jno. Magrath Jun.        1754
Thos. Magrath
Mick Kenny ? 1757
Shep. French 1758 Listed as Lieutenant in Wexford Militia – see above
Henry Colclough Esq. 1752
Nich. Hurtson 1753
Jno . Malone 1752
Jno. Murphy 1752
Jno. Mulloy 1752
Henry Houghton         1752            A person of this name died in 1800; resident in Ballianne, Old Ross
Wm. Maxwell 1752
Jno. Ward Esq. 1752
Jno. Prendergast         1752
Wm. Hammond           ‘has lease forever’
Thos. Keogh                 1738
Wm. Heley ?                 1767
Dan Foley                     1738
Dan Moran 1738
Jno. Cliffe Esq. ‘lease renewable forever’ Probate of John Cliffe, New Ross was granted in 1761
Wm Waddy 1753
Henry Morris               1748
Jas. Napper                  1756
Jno. Harper                  1759
Edwd. Whitmore
Robt. Fisher                 1749
David Burn                  1749
Peter Murphy             1749
Jas. Doyle                     1749
Mrs. Robbins               1753
Higgat Allen 1753            Probate of will of Higat Allen, a ‘turner’ of New Ross granted in 1768
Edwd. Loftus Esq.       1758
Jas. Midgely 1757
Martin Cahill 1754
Jas. Murphy 1755
Darby Redmond         1755
Jno. Douglas                 1755
Peter Doyle                  1755
Jno. Ryan 1755
Jno. Welsh 1755
Jas. Blanch 1767
Jas. Rossiter                 1767
Ignatius Rossiter         1752
Jas. Doyle ‘No lease’
Nich. Powers ‘No lease’
Wm. Donovan              1758
Patk. Strange               1765
Geo. Roe                       1765
Rich. Clooney               1765
Frank Roarke               1765
Wm. Dowsley               1765 Wm. Dowsley of New Ross claimed for damages in 1798 rebellion
Thos. Murphy              1765
Edwd. Murphy 1767
Paddy Roark                1739
Jno. Roache                  1749
Loughlin Foley             1749
Wm. Ayres                   1747
Thos. Egan                   1738
Jno. Broaders               1749
Thos. Chandler ?? 1749
Wm. Carson                 1748
Jas. Morris 1746/8 (2 holdings)
Ephrm. Hewett            1738 E. Hewet of Ballyland, New Ross claimed for damages in 1798 rebellion
Bart Everitt 1767
Thos. Gifford                1752 Administration of the estate of Thos Gifford of Ross was granted in 1783
Giles Martin 1748
Jno. Alexander             1752
Jno. Hinton                   1744
Archy Murrells 1738
Jno. Bowe ‘No lease’
Rob Roe                        1767
Jas. Power ‘No lease’
Darby Doyle ‘No lease’

The above names are an interesting mix of Norman and Gaelic names. If you are interested in information on specific families, our e-book title ‘Sources for Irish Family History 2021 lists 6,500 books and articles on over 2,500 Irish families. The sources listed contain a wealth of information in the form of articles and books. The full details are described in one of a blog.

Figure 3. A further extract from the rental showing all of the columns of information provided.

Further Wexford and General articles in our series on Irish Family History sources include:

Petty Sessions– the records of local courts
Catholic Church records
Grand Jury Presentments – records of local councils on payments for public works and staff
Rentals – management of tenants by estates and the records created
Middle names – the use (or non-use) of second or middle names in Irish records
How comprehensive are Irish Civil Records?
Census returns in Gaelic or Irish language
70+ blogs with names extracted from manuscript sources from many counties. A handy map index to these is available here.