Vanderplas Cork Deeds Descriptive List (Ref. U675)

Gaelic names such as Ronayne, Cartie/McCarthy, Collins, Hurley, Murphy, O’Callaghan, O’Cronin, O’Crowley, O’Keeffe, and O’Sc annell. (See the Index of Persons)

A distinctly large number of items in the collection directly involve those with the names Gould and Meagh. In particular, several items relate to merchant Ignatius Gould (possibly the Jacobite Mayor of Cork City in 1687), gentleman James Fitz Thomas Gould, and alderman Thomas Fitz George Gould. From the mid 17 th century, other names appear, including Evans, Busteed, Hodder, Johnson, Parker, Penn, St.Leger, Wright, and Brodrick, reflecting the major political upheavals and wars of the mid to late 17 th century, which resulted in a new set of political masters and property owners in Ireland. 2 items relate to debts owed in 1670 by James Gould, gentleman, to William Penn, (b1644- d1718) founder of the State of Pennsylvania, who was sent to Ireland in c.1667 by his father, Admiral Sir William Penn, to manage the extensive family estates in Cork. (U675/48, and /49) All of the deeds concern estates, property or monies in one way or another in Cork City, the Liberties of Cork City, and in County Cork. The deeds often mention the properties by townland and parish name and/or proximity to a landmark or other noteable location. Amongst the places mentioned are Ballinlough, Carrigeens, Farranferris, Shandon, Huggardsland, Knockrea, Milstreet, and St.Peters parish in Cork City, and Ballyphilip, Garraneboy, Killdorrery and Kinsale in County Cork. Sometimes baronies are also mentioned. (See Index of Places) Of particular note are a number of Statute Staple related deeds, concerning the recognisance or settling of debt, the first dated 1618, involving a debt of 300 pounds, signed and sealed by the Mayor of the Staple, David Tyrry Fitz Stephen (U675/3; see also: U675/14, U675/15, U675/20, U675/44, U675/49). A number of items from the 1660s and 1670s appear to relate to the possible recovery of property by Catholic families following the restoration of the monarchy with the accession of Charles II in 1660, including a 1661/1662 Decree of Innocency for Mary and Anstance Gould, relating to the 1641 estate of their father Alderman Thomas Gould, and signed by the relevant court commissioners including Thomas Beverley, Sir Edward Dering, Sir Richard Rainsford, Sir Edward Smyth, Sir Allen Brodrick, Edward Cooke, Winston Churchill, and Sir William Domville (U675/35, U675/38, U675/51). The collection contains a small number of personal wills including that of Ann Meagh, widow of Merchant Patrick Lewes, 1610 (U675/2), Merchant James Meagh fitz James, 1665 (U675/42), and James Gould fitz Thomas, Gentleman,1670 (U675/50). The collection is significant as it helps to document Cork’s history in the early modern period, a period for which local archival sources are scarce. The terms and conditions, descriptions of property, and types of legal transactions documented in the deeds may be of interest to the study of land ownership and tenure, trade and commerce, family inheritance, and the confiscation and restoration of lands during the political troubles of a key period in Irish History. The collection is particularly useful regarding the family history of the old Catholic merchant families of Cork, who, in common with the Gaelic Irish and others, were largely dispossessed of their power, lands and privileges by the end of the 17 th century.