The Local Studies Library recently acquired copies of land documents from a descendant of the O’Connell family who lived in Ballymacandrick, near Aghada Co. Cork in the 19th and early decades of the 20th century. The collection consists of a number of land and property documents such as mortgages, conveyances, and lease agreements. The oldest document in the collection is the 1831 Lease Agreement between Michael McCarthy, and his landlord William O’Brien, the Earl of Thomond. This original lease is a fascinating example of the tenancy agreements that existed between landlord and tenants in 19th century Ireland.
Later in the late 19th century and early 20th century, land ownership changed as Irish tenants moved from paying rent to landlords to acquiring their own land over time facilitated through financial loans. There is an example in the documents of the Cronin and O’Connell families purchasing land via mortgages from Walter Joseph de Rupe Thackwell. In a conveyance from 1908, Michael Connell and Timothy McCarthy as tenants of Captain William de Rupe Thackwell agreed to purchase land under the Land Purchase Act 1903 at a year judicial rent of £108:15:0. During latter decades, the annuities on these loans were subsequently abolished after the Economic War of 1932-1938.
The Local Studies Library would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the O’Connell family for allowing us to showcase the collection on our digital library website.
To view the collection, please visit: https://corklocalstudies.ie/portfolio/land-records-ballymacandrick-townland-aghada-1831-1913/
