Bansha
Encyclopedia
Bansha is a village in the barony of Clanwilliam, South Tipperary
in Ireland
. The village is part of the parish
of "Bansha and Kilmoyler" (united in 1858) in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly
. Bansha is co-extensive with the pre-Reformation
parish of Templeneiry of which the townland name of Templenahurney is thought to be a corruption. While the village is the focal point of the area, there is also an outlying hamlet in the parish, located at Rossadrehid where a rural creamery once serviced the dairy industry.
and Waterford
and is eight kilometres south-east of Tipperary Town and thirteen kilometres north-west of Cahir
. The village is strategically located on the eastern approaches to the Glen of Aherlow
, which forms a large part of the parish as do the Galtee Mountains
(spelt Galty Mountains on Ordnance Survey maps), which has the highest inland mountain peak in Ireland, Galtymore (917 metres, or 3,009 ft). The Roman Catholic Parish Church of the Annunciation
, built in 1807, is centrally located in the village as is the Church of Ireland
, for the parish of Templeneiry, known to be in use from 1718 but now closed as unviable because of a dwindling local congregation. However, the building which has an imposing spire, erected in 1814, is used for community purposes and the surrounding graveyard is still used for burials by the old families of the area. The river Ara flows by the village and the railway line from Limerick
to Waterford
also passes through, though the railway station which opened on 1 May 1852, was closed on 9 September 1963 as part of the rationalisation policy of the national railway company, Córas Iompair Éireann
.
rector of the Parish of Templeneiry) and Cooke's Lane which was a small enclave off Main Street, named after a member of the Cooke Family of Cordangan Manor, who lived here. The Station Road from Bansha Bridge (over the River Ara) to Bansha railway station had a strategic importance for about a century as it was the commercial artery connecting the village to both the station and the creamery
which was the centre of activity each morning as trains arrived on one side of the road and busy creamery activity on the other side gave a vibrancy that has now been lost with the closure of both. The village expanded towards the end of the 20th century when the "Galtee View" residential area was developed in the Glebe
close to the old Village Mill
.
, founder of Muintir na Tíre
was appointed parish priest of Bansha & Kilmoyler in 1946. Due largely to his endeavours, a factory - Bansha Rural Industries - was started and enjoyed some success producing preservatives for the Irish home market. At that time also, Bansha was to the forefront in developing many Muintir na Tíre initiatives and for a time in the 1950s enjoyed the soubriquet of The Model Parish. While Bansha still relies mainly on an agricultural economy where dairying is the main preoccupation, many of its residents are employed in industry and commerce in neighbouring towns such as Tipperary
, Cahir
, and Clonmel
, to where they commute on a daily basis.
in different parliaments. John Cullinan
, a member of the National League
and a Gaelic Athletic Association
activist in its earliest years, was a Nationalist Member of Parliament
at Westminster
from 1900 until he was defeated at the famous election of 1918 when Sinn Féin
ousted the Irish Parliamentary Party
in most constituencies.
Michael Ferris
was a Teachta Dála
in Dáil Éireann
from 1989 until his death on parliamentary business in Lisbon
on March 20, 2000 at the age of 69. Overall, he had over twenty years service in the Oireachtas
(parliament), having been elected to Seanad Éireann
for the first time on April 23, 1975. He was a member of the Labour Party
and a prominent spokesman on agricultural matters and social affairs. As a public representative, he was following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Patrick Ferris, who was a member of Tipperary Rural District Council Council in the early years of the 20th century.
Séamus Ryan, a native of Deerpark, in nearby Kilfeacle, was a member of the Irish Senate—Seanad Éireann
—before his death in 1933. Mr. Ryan and his wife, Agnes Harding of Solohead opened their first retail shop in Parnell Street, Dublin in 1918, known as the Monument Creamery. They specialised in the sale of dairy products and quickly developed their business to include a chain of over thirty restaurants and shops in Dublin over the next four decades. After Mr. Ryan's death, his widow carried on and indeed expanded the business. Their daughter was the Hollywood actress, Kathleen Ryan
who starred in many movies in the 1940s and 1950s and their son John was an artist and man of letters who wrote a famous memoir of bohemian Dublin in the 1950s—Remembering How we Stood.
. Ryan died in 1855 and is buried in the old graveyard in Bansha where his grave is marked, unusually, by a carved stone cross depicting a rope and anchor, suggestive of a maritime connection of which there was none.
PC, GCB (October 31, 1838 – June 7, 1910), a soldier, a writer, and an adventurer, lived in retirement at Bansha Castle from 1905 until his death in 1910. He was born a few miles distant at 'Suirville', Ballyslatteen. He took part in many colonial campaigns in Canada
and India
, but mainly in Africa
, including the Ashanti wars and the Zulu War under General Wolseley
. He was made commander-in-chief of the British Army in South Africa
in 1898 where he was also High Commissioner
for a short period. His views on colonialism were often controversial as he was sympathetic to the natives in many of the outposts of Empire in which he served. His wife, the famous battle artist, Elizabeth Thompson
(1846–1933), known as Lady Butler, continued to live at the Castle until 1922 when she went to live at Gormanston Castle, County Meath
with their youngest daughter, Eileen, who became Viscountess Gormanston (1883–1964) in 1911 on her marriage to Jenico Preston, 15th Viscount Gormanston (1878–1925), the Premier Viscount of Ireland. Lady Butler died in 1933 in her 87th year and is buried at Stamullen graveyard in County Meath, just up the road from Gormanston. Among her many famous paintings is "The Roll Call" depicting a scene in the Crimean War
. This painting was bought by Queen Victoria and forms part of the royal collection and is now in Buckingham Palace
. Her daughter Eileen suffered great loss during the second World War when two of her three sons, William (16th Lord Gormanston) and Stephen were killed in action at Dunkirk (1940) and Anzio (1944) respectively. Both boys, together with their brother Robert and sister Antoinette, spent many childhood days at Bansha Castle where they were once marooned during the civil war when Bansha and the surrounding area was the cockpit for fighting between the Free State forces and the local republicans. Descendants of Sir William and Lady Elizabeth include their Great-grandson Jenico Nicholas Preston, 17th Viscount Gormanston of London.
family of Carbery in west Cork were aristocrats of the old gaelic order, Princes of the medieval Barony of Carbery
. Since early in the 15th century, they had their principal seat at Kilbrittain Castle, near Kinsale
. Denis McCarthy Reagh, Chief of the McCarthy Reaghs settled at Springhouse, near Bansha in the late 17th century where he built a mansion and had an estate of 9,000 acres (36 km²), which in its day was considered to be the largest cultivated farm in Europe. Owing to the severity of the Penal Laws, his grandson, also named Denis went into exile in France where he died at Argenton, Berry in 1761. Justin McCarthy (1744–1811), son of the exiled Denis, realised his father's property and settled at Toulouse
. He was an accomplished linguist and classical scholar. He cultivated the fine arts and possessed one of the finest libraries in France, rivalling the King's collection at Paris
. Because of his illustrious Irish ancestry he was ennobled by King Louis XVI as Count of Toulouse in 1776 and was admitted to the honours of the French Royal Court in Paris. He and his family resided in splendour at their palatial townhouse at 3, Rue Mage in the city of Toulouse.
The best known of the Count's children was the Abbe Nicholas Tuite MacCarthy
, also known as the Abbe de Levignac after one of the Count's properties. He was a famous jesuit preacher, who is buried in the cathedral of St. Peter in Annecy. On Count Justin's death, his extensive estate was dispersed and as part of the family settlements, the townhouse was sold to his youngest son, Justin who resided there until his death at the age of 77 in 1862. The residence which was all that remained of the family property was sold in 1873 to a well known family of bankers - Courtois de Vicoze - in Toulouse and is still a famous banking hall. Soon afterwards, the last Count of Toulouse, Nicholas McCarthy Reagh son of Joseph Patrick MacCarthy (1779-1862) and grandson of the original Count Justin bade farewell to the city and so ended the family connection with the place which had lasted for about a century. The Count lived into the 20th century and died in 1906, and this ended the male line in France of the McCarthys of Springhouse after 132 years.
At home in Ireland, the McCarthy family were noted priest-protectors in penal times and Springhouse was considered a safe haven for priests on-the-run from persecution. A namesake, Donough McCarthy was consecrated Bishop of Cork & Cloyne on 16 Aug. 1713 in Villa Domus Fontis which was the Latinised equivalent of Springhouse. A family member, Edward McCarthy (1739-1823) was a member of the diocesan clergy of Cashel & Emly and served as Parish Priest of Ballinahinch and Killoscully.
Richard Lalor Sheil
(1791–1851), Irish politician - Member of Parliament for County Tipperary, writer and orator, was son of Edward Sheil of Bellevue, near Waterford and Catherine McCarthy of Springhouse. Another family member of a later generation was Catherine, daughter of Patrick McCarthy, farmer, of Ballygurteen, Kilmoyler, who survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. The Springhouse family still survives in Ireland, a family branch of recent memory lived at 'Coolavunga' (Cúil an Mhongáin), the medieval name for the townland of Barnlough, near Bansha, during the 20th century and members of that family still reside in nearby Tipperary Town and elsewhere in Ireland. In France
, though the male line died out in 1906 with the death of the last Count, the bloodline has continued by virtue of Christine Marie, daughter of Count Justin of Toulouse. Christine married Augustine de Rey, the Marquis de St. Gery and their descendents still reside in the Chateau de St. Gery, a few kilometres from Toulouse.
The family's great mansion at Springhouse was dismantled in the early 19th century with only a trace remaining near the lake shore in the grounds of Kilshane House which was built by the Lowe family who replaced them in the 1820s and who also had an estate in Kenmare
, Co. Kerry. The old mansion of Spring House was replaced by another of the same name to which the McCarthys moved and this house was subsequently known as 'Arraghslea' which is still extant. The stones for the building of 'Arraghslea' came from the ruins of an old castle located at nearby Dromline. The placename of Springhouse or Spring House originated from a spring or well near a whitethorn tree close to the scullery at the rear of the mansion house and the townland assumed this name thereafter. The McCarthys of Springhouse also have their 'Banshee' (Clíodhna
), the story of which is told by Thomas Crofton Croker in his Fairy Tales and Traditions of the South of Ireland published in 1825. In the old graveyard at Bansha village, the family vault is discreetly located inside the graveyard wall opposite Mr.O'Heney's public house at the junction of the glen road leading to the Glen of Aherlow. A member of the 'Coolavunga' branch of the family - James McCarthy Reagh, wrote a poem entitled "The Haunted Village", which is sometimes recited on social occasions by the older people of the village.
- Hurling & Gaelic Football Club (affiliated to the GAA, 1885). The latter two clubs enjoy a friendly co-existence as many of their football players are members of both clubs. Bansha has also long been associated with horse racing and breeding in its many facets.
South Tipperary
South Tipperary is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Munster. It is named after the town of Tipperary and consists of 52% of the land area of the traditional county of Tipperary. The county was established in 1898 and has had a county...
in Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. The village is part of the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of "Bansha and Kilmoyler" (united in 1858) in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly is a Roman Catholic archdiocese in mid-western Ireland. The diocese is in the secular province of Munster. The Diocese of Cashel was established in 1111 by the Synod of Rathbreasail and promoted to the status of a Metropolitan Province in 1152 by the...
. Bansha is co-extensive with the pre-Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
parish of Templeneiry of which the townland name of Templenahurney is thought to be a corruption. While the village is the focal point of the area, there is also an outlying hamlet in the parish, located at Rossadrehid where a rural creamery once serviced the dairy industry.
Location
Bansha is located on the National Primary Route (N24) linking the cities of LimerickLimerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
and Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...
and is eight kilometres south-east of Tipperary Town and thirteen kilometres north-west of Cahir
Cahir
Cahir is a town in South Tipperary in Ireland. The town is best known for its castle and the Swiss Cottage. It is in the barony of Iffa and Offa West.-Location and access:...
. The village is strategically located on the eastern approaches to the Glen of Aherlow
Glen of Aherlow
The Glen of Aherlow is a picturesque valley nestling between Slievenamuck and the Galtee Mountains in the western part of South Tipperary in Ireland. The principal village is Lisvarrinane or more commonly spelt Lisvernane with a hamlet at Rossadrehid where Aherlow creamery was located before its...
, which forms a large part of the parish as do the Galtee Mountains
Galtee Mountains
The Galtee Mountains or Galty Mountains are a mountain range in Munster, located in Ireland's Golden Vale across parts of counties Limerick, South Tipperary and Cork. The name "Galtee" is thought to be a corruption of the Irish "Sléibhte na gCoillte" - "Mountains of the Forests" in English,...
(spelt Galty Mountains on Ordnance Survey maps), which has the highest inland mountain peak in Ireland, Galtymore (917 metres, or 3,009 ft). The Roman Catholic Parish Church of the Annunciation
Annunciation
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
, built in 1807, is centrally located in the village as is the Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
, for the parish of Templeneiry, known to be in use from 1718 but now closed as unviable because of a dwindling local congregation. However, the building which has an imposing spire, erected in 1814, is used for community purposes and the surrounding graveyard is still used for burials by the old families of the area. The river Ara flows by the village and the railway line from Limerick
Limerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
to Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...
also passes through, though the railway station which opened on 1 May 1852, was closed on 9 September 1963 as part of the rationalisation policy of the national railway company, Córas Iompair Éireann
Córas Iompair Éireann
Córas Iompair Éireann , or CIÉ, is a statutory corporation of the Irish state, answerable to the Irish Government and responsible for most public transport in the Republic of Ireland and, jointly with its Northern Ireland counterpart, the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, between the...
.
History
The names Bansha and Kilmoyler do not appear in ancient records but instead this area was divided into different ecclesiastical administrations. The modern parish of Bansha & Kilmoyler comprises the whole of the two Civil Parishes of Templeneiry and Clonbullogue, and also parts of the four parishes of Killardry, Relickmurry & Athassel, Kilshane and Cordangan. The Papal Taxation records of 1291 record Templeneiry and Clonbullogue as Nachrich and Clonhalke, Archbishop O'Hedian (1437) names them as Naryt and Clonbolygg. Bansha village is thought to be an ancient settlement and its main geographical features and landed gentry of the surrounding area were vividly described by Samuel Lewis in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, published in 1837. Historically, it was a small compact village comprising two streets and two lanes - Main Street and Barrack Street with adjacent Banner's Lane (named after the Rev. Benjamin Holford Banner, the Church of IrelandChurch of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
rector of the Parish of Templeneiry) and Cooke's Lane which was a small enclave off Main Street, named after a member of the Cooke Family of Cordangan Manor, who lived here. The Station Road from Bansha Bridge (over the River Ara) to Bansha railway station had a strategic importance for about a century as it was the commercial artery connecting the village to both the station and the creamery
Creamery
In a dairy, the creamery is the location of cream processing. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has had some cream returned to the skimmed milk....
which was the centre of activity each morning as trains arrived on one side of the road and busy creamery activity on the other side gave a vibrancy that has now been lost with the closure of both. The village expanded towards the end of the 20th century when the "Galtee View" residential area was developed in the Glebe
Glebe
Glebe Glebe Glebe (also known as Church furlong or parson's closes is an area of land within a manor and parish used to support a parish priest.-Medieval origins:...
close to the old Village Mill
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...
.
Muintir na Tíre
Bansha came to national prominence when Rev. John Canon HayesCanon John Hayes
Very Rev. John Canon Hayes , founder of Muintir na Tíre, was born in 1887, in a Land League hut at Murroe, Co Limerick. Five of his brothers and sisters died of malnutrition and disease before he reached seven years of age....
, founder of Muintir na Tíre
Muintir na Tíre
Muintir na Tíre is a national Irish voluntary organisation dedicated to promoting the process of community development. Canon Hayes founded the organisation in 1937. It aims to enhance the capacities of people in communities, rural and urban, to become involved in local social, economic, cultural...
was appointed parish priest of Bansha & Kilmoyler in 1946. Due largely to his endeavours, a factory - Bansha Rural Industries - was started and enjoyed some success producing preservatives for the Irish home market. At that time also, Bansha was to the forefront in developing many Muintir na Tíre initiatives and for a time in the 1950s enjoyed the soubriquet of The Model Parish. While Bansha still relies mainly on an agricultural economy where dairying is the main preoccupation, many of its residents are employed in industry and commerce in neighbouring towns such as Tipperary
Tipperary
Tipperary is a town and a civil parish in South Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 4,415 at the 2006 census. It is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, and is in the historical barony of Clanwilliam....
, Cahir
Cahir
Cahir is a town in South Tipperary in Ireland. The town is best known for its castle and the Swiss Cottage. It is in the barony of Iffa and Offa West.-Location and access:...
, and Clonmel
Clonmel
Clonmel is the county town of South Tipperary in Ireland. It is the largest town in the county. While the borough had a population of 15,482 in 2006, another 17,008 people were in the rural hinterland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian army which sacked both...
, to where they commute on a daily basis.
Parliamentary tradition
For its relative size, Bansha village has a proud and unique parliamentary tradition as two of its natives have represented County TipperaryCounty Tipperary
County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...
in different parliaments. John Cullinan
John Cullinan (Irish politician)
John Cullinan was Irish Nationalist Member of Parliament for Tipperary South, 1900-18.He was born at Bansha and educated at Thurles Lay College. From his early manhood, he became a prominent figure in the nationalist movement in Tipperary, and played a leading part in the Land League and Plan of...
, a member of the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
and a Gaelic Athletic Association
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...
activist in its earliest years, was a Nationalist Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
at Westminster
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
from 1900 until he was defeated at the famous election of 1918 when Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
ousted the Irish Parliamentary Party
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...
in most constituencies.
Michael Ferris
Michael Ferris
Michael Ferris was an Irish Labour Party politician who served for more than twenty years as a member of the Oireachtas, as both a Senator and a Teachta Dála...
was a Teachta Dála
Teachta Dála
A Teachta Dála , usually abbreviated as TD in English, is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas . It is the equivalent of terms such as "Member of Parliament" or "deputy" used in other states. The official translation of the term is "Deputy to the Dáil", though a more literal...
in Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann is the lower house, but principal chamber, of the Oireachtas , which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann . It is directly elected at least once in every five years under the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote...
from 1989 until his death on parliamentary business in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
on March 20, 2000 at the age of 69. Overall, he had over twenty years service in the Oireachtas
Oireachtas
The Oireachtas , sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the "national parliament" or legislature of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of:*The President of Ireland*The two Houses of the Oireachtas :**Dáil Éireann...
(parliament), having been elected to Seanad Éireann
Seanad Éireann
Seanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas , which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann . It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its members Senators or Seanadóirí . Unlike Dáil Éireann, it is not directly elected but consists of a mixture of members chosen by...
for the first time on April 23, 1975. He was a member of the Labour Party
Labour Party (Ireland)
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. The Labour Party was founded in 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin and William X. O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. Unlike the other main Irish...
and a prominent spokesman on agricultural matters and social affairs. As a public representative, he was following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Patrick Ferris, who was a member of Tipperary Rural District Council Council in the early years of the 20th century.
Séamus Ryan, a native of Deerpark, in nearby Kilfeacle, was a member of the Irish Senate—Seanad Éireann
Seanad Éireann
Seanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas , which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann . It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its members Senators or Seanadóirí . Unlike Dáil Éireann, it is not directly elected but consists of a mixture of members chosen by...
—before his death in 1933. Mr. Ryan and his wife, Agnes Harding of Solohead opened their first retail shop in Parnell Street, Dublin in 1918, known as the Monument Creamery. They specialised in the sale of dairy products and quickly developed their business to include a chain of over thirty restaurants and shops in Dublin over the next four decades. After Mr. Ryan's death, his widow carried on and indeed expanded the business. Their daughter was the Hollywood actress, Kathleen Ryan
Kathleen Ryan
Kathleen Ryan was an Irish actress.She was born in Dublin, Ireland of Tipperary parentage and was a spirited and heart warming Irish actress who appeared in British and Hollywood movies between 1947 and 1957.-Family:...
who starred in many movies in the 1940s and 1950s and their son John was an artist and man of letters who wrote a famous memoir of bohemian Dublin in the 1950s—Remembering How we Stood.
Darby Ryan, poet and patriot
Diarmuid O'Ríain (Darby Ryan) was born at Ashgrove, Bansha in 1777 and was a poet and patriot, his most famous composition was undoubtedly The Peeler and the Goat, a ballad or satire which was popularly sung across Ireland and was taken worldwide by emigrants. Copies of his Tipperary Minstrelsy are to be found in The British Museum and at The Royal Irish AcademyRoyal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy , based in Dublin, is an all-Ireland, independent, academic body that promotes study and excellence in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is one of Ireland's premier learned societies and cultural institutions and currently has around 420 Members, elected in...
. Ryan died in 1855 and is buried in the old graveyard in Bansha where his grave is marked, unusually, by a carved stone cross depicting a rope and anchor, suggestive of a maritime connection of which there was none.
Sir William and Lady Butler
Lieutenant-General Sir William Francis ButlerWilliam Francis Butler
Lieutenant-General Sir William Francis Butler GCB PC was an Irish 19th-century British Army officer, writer, and adventurer.-Military career:...
PC, GCB (October 31, 1838 – June 7, 1910), a soldier, a writer, and an adventurer, lived in retirement at Bansha Castle from 1905 until his death in 1910. He was born a few miles distant at 'Suirville', Ballyslatteen. He took part in many colonial campaigns in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, but mainly in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, including the Ashanti wars and the Zulu War under General Wolseley
Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley
Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, KP, GCB, OM, GCMG, VD, PC was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He served in Burma, the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, China, Canada, and widely throughout Africa—including his Ashanti campaign and the Nile Expedition...
. He was made commander-in-chief of the British Army in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in 1898 where he was also High Commissioner
High Commissioner
High Commissioner is the title of various high-ranking, special executive positions held by a commission of appointment.The English term is also used to render various equivalent titles in other languages.-Bilateral diplomacy:...
for a short period. His views on colonialism were often controversial as he was sympathetic to the natives in many of the outposts of Empire in which he served. His wife, the famous battle artist, Elizabeth Thompson
Elizabeth Thompson
Elizabeth Southerden Thompson, Lady Butler was a British painter, one of the few female painters to achieve fame for history paintings, especially military battle scenes, at the end of that tradition...
(1846–1933), known as Lady Butler, continued to live at the Castle until 1922 when she went to live at Gormanston Castle, County Meath
County Meath
County Meath is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Mide . Meath County Council is the local authority for the county...
with their youngest daughter, Eileen, who became Viscountess Gormanston (1883–1964) in 1911 on her marriage to Jenico Preston, 15th Viscount Gormanston (1878–1925), the Premier Viscount of Ireland. Lady Butler died in 1933 in her 87th year and is buried at Stamullen graveyard in County Meath, just up the road from Gormanston. Among her many famous paintings is "The Roll Call" depicting a scene in the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
. This painting was bought by Queen Victoria and forms part of the royal collection and is now in Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
. Her daughter Eileen suffered great loss during the second World War when two of her three sons, William (16th Lord Gormanston) and Stephen were killed in action at Dunkirk (1940) and Anzio (1944) respectively. Both boys, together with their brother Robert and sister Antoinette, spent many childhood days at Bansha Castle where they were once marooned during the civil war when Bansha and the surrounding area was the cockpit for fighting between the Free State forces and the local republicans. Descendants of Sir William and Lady Elizabeth include their Great-grandson Jenico Nicholas Preston, 17th Viscount Gormanston of London.
The McCarthys of Springhouse
The MacCarthy ReaghMacCarthy Reagh
The MacCarthy Reagh dynasty are a branch of the great MacCarthy dynasty, Kings of Desmond, deriving from the ancient Eóganachta, of the central Eóganacht Chaisil sept. The MacCarthys Reagh seated themselves as Princes of Carbery in what is now southwestern County Cork in the 13th century...
family of Carbery in west Cork were aristocrats of the old gaelic order, Princes of the medieval Barony of Carbery
Barony of Carbery
Carbery, or the Barony of Carbery, was once the largest barony in Ireland, and essentially a small, semi-independent kingdom on the southwestern coast of Munster, in what is now County Cork, from its founding in the 1230s by Donal Gott MacCarthy to its gradual decline in the late 16th and early...
. Since early in the 15th century, they had their principal seat at Kilbrittain Castle, near Kinsale
Kinsale
Kinsale is a town in County Cork, Ireland. Located some 25 km south of Cork City on the coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon and has a population of 2,257 which increases substantially during the summer months when the tourist season is at its peak and...
. Denis McCarthy Reagh, Chief of the McCarthy Reaghs settled at Springhouse, near Bansha in the late 17th century where he built a mansion and had an estate of 9,000 acres (36 km²), which in its day was considered to be the largest cultivated farm in Europe. Owing to the severity of the Penal Laws, his grandson, also named Denis went into exile in France where he died at Argenton, Berry in 1761. Justin McCarthy (1744–1811), son of the exiled Denis, realised his father's property and settled at Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. He was an accomplished linguist and classical scholar. He cultivated the fine arts and possessed one of the finest libraries in France, rivalling the King's collection at Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Because of his illustrious Irish ancestry he was ennobled by King Louis XVI as Count of Toulouse in 1776 and was admitted to the honours of the French Royal Court in Paris. He and his family resided in splendour at their palatial townhouse at 3, Rue Mage in the city of Toulouse.
The best known of the Count's children was the Abbe Nicholas Tuite MacCarthy
Nicholas Tuite MacCarthy
Nicholas Tuite MacCarthy was a renowned Jesuit preacher in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century France. He was known also as the Abbé de Lévignac. He was of noble birth, being a member of the MacCarthy Reagh family of Springhouse, Bansha, Co...
, also known as the Abbe de Levignac after one of the Count's properties. He was a famous jesuit preacher, who is buried in the cathedral of St. Peter in Annecy. On Count Justin's death, his extensive estate was dispersed and as part of the family settlements, the townhouse was sold to his youngest son, Justin who resided there until his death at the age of 77 in 1862. The residence which was all that remained of the family property was sold in 1873 to a well known family of bankers - Courtois de Vicoze - in Toulouse and is still a famous banking hall. Soon afterwards, the last Count of Toulouse, Nicholas McCarthy Reagh son of Joseph Patrick MacCarthy (1779-1862) and grandson of the original Count Justin bade farewell to the city and so ended the family connection with the place which had lasted for about a century. The Count lived into the 20th century and died in 1906, and this ended the male line in France of the McCarthys of Springhouse after 132 years.
At home in Ireland, the McCarthy family were noted priest-protectors in penal times and Springhouse was considered a safe haven for priests on-the-run from persecution. A namesake, Donough McCarthy was consecrated Bishop of Cork & Cloyne on 16 Aug. 1713 in Villa Domus Fontis which was the Latinised equivalent of Springhouse. A family member, Edward McCarthy (1739-1823) was a member of the diocesan clergy of Cashel & Emly and served as Parish Priest of Ballinahinch and Killoscully.
Richard Lalor Sheil
Richard Lalor Sheil
Richard Lalor Sheil , Irish politician, writer and orator, was born at Drumdowney, Slieverue, County Kilkenny, Ireland...
(1791–1851), Irish politician - Member of Parliament for County Tipperary, writer and orator, was son of Edward Sheil of Bellevue, near Waterford and Catherine McCarthy of Springhouse. Another family member of a later generation was Catherine, daughter of Patrick McCarthy, farmer, of Ballygurteen, Kilmoyler, who survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. The Springhouse family still survives in Ireland, a family branch of recent memory lived at 'Coolavunga' (Cúil an Mhongáin), the medieval name for the townland of Barnlough, near Bansha, during the 20th century and members of that family still reside in nearby Tipperary Town and elsewhere in Ireland. In France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, though the male line died out in 1906 with the death of the last Count, the bloodline has continued by virtue of Christine Marie, daughter of Count Justin of Toulouse. Christine married Augustine de Rey, the Marquis de St. Gery and their descendents still reside in the Chateau de St. Gery, a few kilometres from Toulouse.
The family's great mansion at Springhouse was dismantled in the early 19th century with only a trace remaining near the lake shore in the grounds of Kilshane House which was built by the Lowe family who replaced them in the 1820s and who also had an estate in Kenmare
Kenmare
Kenmare is a small town in the south of County Kerry, Ireland. The name Kenmare is the anglicised form of Ceann Mara meaning "head of the sea", referring to the head of Kenmare Bay.-Location:...
, Co. Kerry. The old mansion of Spring House was replaced by another of the same name to which the McCarthys moved and this house was subsequently known as 'Arraghslea' which is still extant. The stones for the building of 'Arraghslea' came from the ruins of an old castle located at nearby Dromline. The placename of Springhouse or Spring House originated from a spring or well near a whitethorn tree close to the scullery at the rear of the mansion house and the townland assumed this name thereafter. The McCarthys of Springhouse also have their 'Banshee' (Clíodhna
Cliodhna
Clíodhna is a Queen of the Banshees of the Tuatha Dé Danann. In Irish literature, Cleena of Carrigcleena is the potent banshee that rules as queen over the sheoques of South Munster, or Desmond. She is the principal goddess of this country...
), the story of which is told by Thomas Crofton Croker in his Fairy Tales and Traditions of the South of Ireland published in 1825. In the old graveyard at Bansha village, the family vault is discreetly located inside the graveyard wall opposite Mr.O'Heney's public house at the junction of the glen road leading to the Glen of Aherlow. A member of the 'Coolavunga' branch of the family - James McCarthy Reagh, wrote a poem entitled "The Haunted Village", which is sometimes recited on social occasions by the older people of the village.
Contemporary scene
There is a vibrant contemporary scene in Bansha which is experiencing an unprecedented increase in population due to new housing developments. The Bansha Agricultural Show is held annually and in recent years, the social scene has been augmented by the festival week in late August. For recreation, game shooting and fishing in the rivers Suir, Ara and Aherlow are popular pastimes. For the more athletic, there are also a number of sporting clubs such as Bansha Athletic Club, Bansha Golf Society, Bansha Celtic F.C. which promotes Association football (soccer) and the Galtee Rovers GAAGaltee Rovers GAA
Galtee Rovers GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club located in the village of Bansha on the National Primary Route N24 in the shadow of the Galtee Mountains in west County Tipperary, Ireland. The club, founded in 1885, represents the parish of Bansha & Kilmoyler and enters gaelic football and...
- Hurling & Gaelic Football Club (affiliated to the GAA, 1885). The latter two clubs enjoy a friendly co-existence as many of their football players are members of both clubs. Bansha has also long been associated with horse racing and breeding in its many facets.
See also
- List of towns and villages in Ireland
External links
- The Parish of Bansha & Kilmoyler
- Titanic Survivor - Bansha Lady's Escape - Cork Examiner Report
- The MacCarthy Dynasties of Munster
- Irish Pedigrees - MacCarthy Reagh of Springhouse & Counts of Toulouse, France - Library Ireland
- Obituary of Lady Elizabeth Butler (1846-1933) - The Times, London
- Houses of the Oireachtas - Parliamentary Debates 2000 - Tributes to Deputy Michael Ferris
- Samuel Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837 - Dr. Jane Lyons, Dublin
- Muintir na Tíre