2nd October 2009
To all friends who came Barrow way on 12th/13th September 2009, greetings, and a reminder why. Special thanks to Mary T., Siobhan and all the Doyles.
THE SILKES
Their origin is in East Clare, one of the families of the Dál Cais, of whom the O’Briens were the leading family, the MacNamaras being next prominent. Brian Boru (d. 1014), High King, has a claim to being Ireland’s greatest man ever. Our Silke family stems from Maircin (10th c.) son of Nárgal, the ancestral home being Labbasheeda. They are found as churchmen and lawyers in and around Killaloe diocese. The name Ballysheedy is found in Cos Kerry (nr Tralee), Tipperary, Limerick and Galway; testifying to land grants made to prominent Silkes. A Cairpre Ua Síoda d. 1097 was chief justice of the High King Muirchertach O’Brien.
Bishop Felemy Ó Síoda of Raphoe (c1132-c1152) was evidently a reformer, brought from the south by St. Malachy. Kings Conor O’Brien of Thomond and Cormac MacCarthy of Desmond were great patrons of this reform.
The Silkes were probably established in Co. Carlow under the aegis of the O’Brien High Kings, Turlough and his son Muirchertach (d. 1114), or perhaps in the reigns of Donal Mór (d. 1194) and his son Muirchertach. A Deed of 1781 mentions the placename Funshoge Muraghantida (the Ash-grove of Murchadh an tSíoda), near Old Leighlin (due W. of Leighlinbridge). How far back in the Middle Ages does this placename go? Murrough was evidently a man of note. At Dinn Righ, Ballyknockan townland, was the sole crossing of the Barrow, which connected the Dublin government with W. Leinster and Munster.
Were Bp. William Silke of Meath (d. 1450) and Margaret Silke, Abbess of Odder, whose abbey was expropriated by Henry VIII in 1539, of the Carlow Silkes? At any rate, the family is well established in Co. Carlow in the 18th c. In the barony of Uí Dróna (Idrone) and in Carlow town. Margaret Silke (d. 1832) and her husband James Maher of Donore in Muinebheag parish were parents of Anne (Mother Columba OP) who founded Cabra Hospital in 1819. She was a first cousin of the famous Fr. James Maher, PP of Leighlinbridge (1827-30), then of Paulstown (1830-2), finally of Graiguecullen (1841-74). His sister, Mary, was mother of Cardinal Cullen (1803-78), whose father Hugh came from Craan, Leighlin. Card. P.F. Moran of Leighlinbridge, son of Patrick Moran and Alicia, half-sister of Cardl. Cullen, was also grandnephew of Fr. James Maher and became Archbishop of Sydney (d. 1911). Was Margaret (d. 1832) the sister of Henry (I), husband of Joan?
A Deed of 1811 says that Michael and James Silke and James’s wife, Anne, of Rathellin (just S. of Leighlinbridge) sold their farm of 39 Plantation acres to Thomas Roche of Leighlinbridge for £63. Silke’s weir on this farm is where at Rathellin the River Madlin flows into the Barrow. Presumably this family are buried at nearby Dunleckney. Note that J.J.’s father was Michael and his brother was James, suggesting a close link with the Rathellin Silkes. Ballyknockan, three-quarters of a mile south of Leighlinbridge, Dunleckney and Rathellin are all near one another. At Ballyknockan Ione (Joan), wife of Henry (I), was buried. She d. 1766, aged 66.
Henry and Joan probably lived in Seskin. Their son Henry (II) was scourged from Carlow to Leighlinbridge in 1798, for refusing to inform. Other young men were flogged, some, including Hugh Cullen, uncle of the later cardinal, were executed. This Henry’s son, also Henry (III), 1808-81, farmed at Seskin Lower. We saw Silke’s Field, 100 yards from Seskin Cross, and a piece of wall, part of Silke’s house. He married Mary Carroll of Courleigh in 1853, and presumably moved to Courleigh, at a low point in fortune. He died in the Workhouse, Carlow; his wife Mary died in the Workhouse, New Ross, in 1887. Their son Michael, now of Courleigh, married Bridget Tobin in 1882. Their children were Henry (IV) who died in infancy; John Joseph b. 1884; Mary Bridget b. 1886; James b. 1889; Anastasia b. 1892 (who married locally in Kellymount); Michael; and Henry (V) b. 1899. All attended the Brigidine National School at Bornafea just north of Courleigh. So the family spread out to Creeslough, Muinebheag, Borris, Ballygar, then to Cork, Dublin, London, etc. etc.
THE DOYLES
A notable family (Dubh-ghall) in south east Leinster, of Norse origin. A bishop of Kildare and Leighlin (which takes in Co. Carlow and parts of Cos. Kilkenny, Kildare, Wicklow and Wexford) was James Doyle (‘JKL’), 1786-1834, a great Catholic champion. Fr. Willie S.J. (killed 1917) and Arthur Conan (whose grandfather was from Dublin) are other famous Doyles.
Mary Doyle of Courleigh married James (‘Jockey’) Doyle of Muinebheag, and so began a famous dynasty!
N.B. St. Lazerian (Molaise) d. 639 is the famous patron of Leighlin. He is also patron of Lamlash Bay (Molaise>Lamlash) on the island of Arran. Donald Mackelvie of Lamlash raised Arran Pilot and Arran Banner, which J.J. Silke made famous.
N.B. Courleigh may derive from Cuar Laoigh (‘the rounded valley of the calf’) or, perhaps less likely, Cumar (‘ravine’, ‘valley’, or ‘confluence’) Laoigh. Cumar na dtrí nUise = the confluence of the Barrow, Nore and Suir.