Small Sources 64: This is a list of 84 tenants from the index to a rental among the Wynne Estate Papers in the National Library of Ireland (NLI Ms. 3312). The Wynne estate was mainly in the Parish of Calry, which is on the northern side of Lough Gill. The document is a large leather-bound ledger laid out in the Debit/Contra style as explained in our article on rentals here. The index, shown in Figure 1 below, provides only the name of the tenant and a page number. The page for each tenant contains a more detailed account of rent due and paid, but unfortunately not the specific location of the property. Figure 2 shows the detail of one rental account for Thomas Curry in 1803. On the left (Debit) side it shows that he rented a half acre (for 2 shillings and 10 pence); had access to grazing on the landlord’s estate (5 shillings and 8 
pence halfpenny) and also received cash advances on two occasions. His payment was in the form of labour: 15 days at 9 pence per day and 42 days at 10 pence per day. Payment of rent by labour was very common among tenants at this time.
Among the locally common names are Colleary, Derrig, Hart, Doodican and McAna. 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 our blogs.
Some common abbreviations of first names are also used in the manuscript, such as Jno. = John; Jas. = James; Andw. = Andrew; Edwd. = Edward; Thos. = Thomas; Patt = Patrick; Matthw = Matthew. Some distinctive Irish first names also occur such as Farrell, Manus, and Thady (spelled Teady here) which is an abbreviation of Thaddeus.
The Wynne estate papers in NLI detail the properties and transactions of the family in Sligo. The family bought the estate of Annagh in 1722 and changed the name to Hazelwood. At the time of this record, the proprietor was Owen Wynne V (1755-1841) who was a member of the British Parliament and an ‘improving landlord’ who invested time and resources in developing his estate and the farming practices of his tenants. Further information on the Wynne family is available here. The family home, Hazelwood, is now a distillery making the Athru brand of whiskey and their website contains some further information on the house and family.
The images of the document above and below were created by Ancestor Network in the National Library of Ireland and are reproduced here through their courtesy. 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 this estate. We can also obtain images of the original documents. Click here and quote ‘SligoSS64’ in the subject line. We have also recently published a new edition of our authoritative ‘Guide to tracing your Sligo Ancestors‘ by James Ryan.
Banks, Thos.
Boyd, Samuel
Byrnes, Michl.
Carroll, Bryan
Carroll, Jno.
Carroll, Michl.
Carroll, Thomas
Cavanagh, Pat.
Cavenagh, Wm.
Clarke, Thomas
Colleary, Luke
Coleary, James
Comer, Thomas
Connors, Owen
Cunningham, Jas.
Cunningham, John
Cunningham, Mick
Curry, Denis
Curry, Thos.
Doodican William (crossed out)
Denby, Joseph
Dermot Terence
Derrig, Pat
Derrig, Michl.
Derrig, Andw. Senr.
Derrig, Andw. Junr.
Derry, Patt Junr.
Duffy, Michl.
Dolan, Bryan
Dolan Matthw.
Doodican, William
Doodican, John
Duffy, James
Duke?, Pat
Fairbanks, Stephen
Feeny, Pat.
Foley, Ambrs. now Martin
Foley, Darby
Fox, John
Fox, Thomas
Fox, Peter
Garvey, Thos.
Guddis, Archibald
Hargadon, Thos.
Hargadon, Denis
Hart, Edwd.
Hart, James
Hart, John
Hart, Michael
Hart, Pat
Healey, Patrick
Hopper, Pat
Kelly, John
Kelly, Pat
Mitchell, Pat
McAna, Hugh
McAna, Edwd.
McCormick, Teady
McGwin, Pat
McLaughlin, Hugh
Mulvy, James
Murray, Hugh
Murray, Thos.
Murtogh, John
Nelson, Michael
Oats, Pat
O’Donnell, Manus
Quin, John
Regan, Barny
Rogan, James
Scanlon, Dudley
Stanton, John
Sweeny, Owen
Taughny, Hugh
Ternan, Farrel
Ternan, James
Torpy, Bryan
Tuffy, James
Ward, John
White, James
White, Martin
White, Thady
Wynne, John
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