Owengallees

Entrance to Jampa Ling Buddhist Tibetian Centre, Owengallees townland, Templeport, County Cavan, Ireland

Owengallees (from Irish: Abhainn gallaois meaning 'Rocky River') is a townland in the civil parish of Templeport, County Cavan, Ireland. It lies in the Roman Catholic parish of Templeport and barony of Tullyhaw.

Geography

Owengallees is bounded on the north by Gortnacargy in Corlough parish and Newtown, Templeport townlands, on the west by Drumlougher and Stranadarragh townlands, on the south by Boley townland and on the east by Gowlagh South, Mullaghmore, Templeport and Lakefield townlands. Its chief geographical features are Bunerky Lough, Lakefield Lough, the River Blackwater, a forestry plantation, a spring well, some dug wells and some stone quarries. Owengallees is traversed by minor roads and rural lanes.

The townland covers 470 statute acres.^[1]

History

Up until the 19th century Owengallees also included the modern townland of Drumlougher as a subdivision. Another name for Owengallees was Cunnoocenanare and Cossaunnanare (Irish Cnuas-na-ngadhar meaning 'the gathering of the hounds' and Casan na ngadhar meaning "the path of the hounds")

The 1609 Baronial Map depicts the townland as Owngalles.^[2] The 1665 Down Survey map depicts it as Owneganlis.^[3] William Petty's 1685 map depicts it as Owenganlis.

On 12 November 1590 Queen Elizabeth I of England granted a pardon (No. 5489) to James O Doylan, of Ownygalleise, horsekeeper for fighting against the Queen's forces.^[4]

In the Plantation of Ulster by grant dated 4 June 1611, King James VI and I granted two polls of Owingallis to Breene Og Magauran, gentleman.

The McGovern lands in Owengallees were confiscated in the Cromwellian Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 and were distributed as follows:

In the Hearth Money Rolls of 1662 there were three people paying the Hearth Tax in Owengallis- Cormucke McEdegany, Daniell Magawran and Donell McEdegany.

A grant dated 3 November 1666 from King Charles II of England to Sir Tristram Beresford included, inter alia, lands of Owengally. By grant dated 11 September 1670 from King Charles II of England to said Sir Tristram Beresford, the lands of Owengally were included in the creation of a new Manor of Beresford.

In the Templeport Poll Book of 1761 there was only one person registered to vote in Owengallees in the Irish general election, 1761^[5] - Louther Kirkwood, who lived in the townland and owned a freehold there. He was entitled to cast two votes. The four election candidates were Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont and Lord Newtownbutler (later Brinsley Butler, 2nd Earl of Lanesborough), both of whom were then elected Member of Parliament for Cavan County. The losing candidates were George Montgomery (MP) of Ballyconnell and Barry Maxwell, 1st Earl of Farnham. Kirkwood voted for Newtownbutler and Coote. Absence from the poll book either meant a resident did not vote or more likely was not a freeholder entitled to vote, which would mean most of the inhabitants of Owengallees.

In 1804 Lowther Kirkwood of Mullinagrave, parish of Templeport, Co. Cavan, gentleman made the following will-

2 July 1804. To his grandnephew Lowther Brien, city of Dublin, attorney, and his heirs his lands of Awengallis, Ballylenan, Ballymagirill, Stranadarragh, Carnagimlie, Cullagh, Drumleden, Leitry [Leitra], Corlagh, Lananleragh [Lannanerriagh], Gowlanlea and Drumlogher, Co. Cavan, held under lease from the Beresford family. He had begun a suit in Chancery, Ireland, against John Brien, late of Salvon, Co. Fermanagh, deceased, for setting aside a fradulent deed obtained by said John Brien, which suit against the representatives is to be continued by said Lowther Brien, his sole exor. Witnesses: John Johnston and Andrew Rutledge, both of Ballymagiril, and Thos. Stephenson, Drumleaden, Co. Cavan, gent. Memorial witnessed by: said Andrew Rutledge, and John Balfour, city of Dublin, attorney.^[6]

The Tithe Applotment Books for 1827 list thirty three tithepayers in the townland.^[7]

Griffith's Valuation of 1857 lists twenty nine landholders in the townland.^[8]

In the 1901 census of Ireland, there are twenty families listed in the townland,^[9] and in the 1911 census of Ireland, there are only eighteen families listed in the townland.^[10]

In the 1860's George L'Estrange published monthly weather reports from Owendoon House in Owengallees in Symons's monthly meteorological magazine.

The author Mrs Augusta Wardell, née Hunt, was a native of the townland. She published a book in 1912 entitled "Folk Tales of Breffny" under the pen name 'Bunda Hunt'.^[11]

Antiquities

The chief structures of historical interest in the townland are:

1. An earthen ringfort.^[12]
2. A crannóg 100 metres from the shore in Lakefield Lough.^[13]
3. A Bronze Age bronze axe in the National Museum of Ireland was found in Owengallees in 1927.
4. A bridge on the River Blackwater
5. Owendoon House, now known as Jampa Ling Buddhist Retreat
6. A boathouse

References

1. "IreAtlas". Retrieved 29 February 2012.
2. National Archives Dublin:
3. Trinity College Dublin: The Down Survey of Ireland.
7. and and , in the Tithe Applotment Books 1827
10. Census of Ireland 1911
12. Site number 1037 in “Archaeological Inventory of County Cavan”, Patrick O’Donovan, 1995
13. Site number 1586 in “Archaeological Inventory of County Cavan”, Patrick O’Donovan, 1995

External links

• The IreAtlas Townland Data Base

Coordinates: 54°04′31″N 7°48′37″W / 54.07514°N 7.810271°W