Hi Peter,

My own knowledge of Balheary in the mid nineteenth century is quite sketchy. Unfortunately the original maps for Griffith's Valuation appear to be lost, so it isn't possible to pinpoint our ancestor's holdings. However, I have a reasonably detailed map of Balheary townland from around that time and it shows several houses along the road running through the townland, one of which may be your ancestor's home. The map, along with the photo of Balheary House taken from the now vanished web page, is attached. You can get aerial views of those houses on Balheary Avenue using multimap.com. The Lyons family rented a substantial area of land (by the standards of the time) and were Catholic farmers. I see that Isaac Duignan rented a house and yard from a Daniel Gaffney, probably also a Catholic farmer, who also rented land in neighbouring Magillstown, as did the Lyons family. There were Gaffneys in the area still in 1911 (census data). It may be that Isaac was an agricultural labourer or a craftsman. While it does not appear that the Isaac Duignan and the Lyons family are directly connected, it is almost certain that they knew each other well.

I hope that the above will be of some interest to you. If there are local sources that you would like to investigate, I may be able to help. Good luck with your research.

Mike.

Many thanks Mike,

I will follow up on the Gaffney in Magillstown connection as one of Isaacs sons was living there is 1911.

I would recommend a book to you "St. Patrick's Church, Donabate - celebrating 100 years" by Peadar Bates, published 2003. If yoo can get your hands on a copy it has some good info on Balheary from 1849 onwards.

Best wishes,
Peter.

hi . i am mis lyons. i am trying to find out how my family is "important". please give me more information. thankyou.