31/05/2026
𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝗵𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗹𝗲
𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵 2 – 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘳𝘥𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘺
In last week’s post on Augnanure Castle in the nineteenth century, we promised to take a look at the Ordnance Survey Topographical team’s visit in 1839.
First some background. The Ordnance Survey has its roots in military requirements for detailed maps to support the planning of campaigns, with the first survey carried out in the Scottish Highlands after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, and taking 8 years to complete. The surveying of England followed in 1791, driven by fears of a French invasion and conducted at a then unprecedented scale on one inch to one mile. The Ordnance Survey was established in Ireland in 1824 under Thomas Larcom, but for different reasons – to reform an outdated and defective land taxation system which had been based on the infamous survey carried out by William Petty in the 1650s. The Down Survey, as it was called, facilitated the seizure and redistribution of Catholic lands to those who had financed or fought for Cromwell in his invasion of Ireland – an early form of leveraged buyout at a national scale!
Because of their durability and reliability in all weathers, surveyors used 66 foot chains to make their measurements, and over the following two decades Ireland was mapped, townland by townland, at the unprecedented scale of six inches to the mile. In order to record placenames accurately down to townland level, Larcom set up the topographical department in 1834. This department compiled a vast body of place names from Inquisitions, State Papers, Books of Survey and Distribution, the Down Survey and other historical sources. These were then supplemented by Gaelic scholars such as John O’Donovan and Eugene Curry, who were employed to travel around the country to record and standardise on the spellings and pronunciations of placenames. They were often accompanied by antiquarian artists such as William Wakeman and George Petrie, and thanks to their diligence and passion for their work, we have an invaluable record of places, monuments, local history and folklore which otherwise would have been lost a decade later in the devastation of the Great Famine of 1845-47. Much of this was captured in a series of letters primarily between O’Donovan, Larcom and Petrie, known as the Ordnance Survey Letters, available online in the original scanned and in transcribed form. O’Donovan’s personality shines through the letters, with his many complaints about the conditions he had to endure including
𝘸𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘧, 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘨𝘴, 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘦𝘴, 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘱𝘴, 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘣𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘢, '𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘵', 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 (𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴) 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 2/6 𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘯
His letter of October 6th 1838 describes in detail the historical extent of the ancient O’Flaherty country of Munitir Murchada and their expulsion across the lake to Iar Connacht in the mid-1200s, and is worth a read for those interested. However, his reliance on ancient written sources and local folklore meant that he didn’t always get it right, for example his description of Aughnanure Castle attributes its building to the Anglo-Norman 5th Earl of Clanricarde, Ulick Burke, in the mid 1600s instead of the O’Flahertys in the late 1400s.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘰-𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴, 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘪𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘭 𝘜𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 1641 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵, 𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘚𝘪𝘳 𝘔𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘩 𝘯𝘢 𝘥𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘩 𝘖'𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺; 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘖'𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳.
The visit itself took place in August 1839, and we have a letter from George Petrie to his director, Thomas Larcom, describing it. He describes the team’s fascination with the local ladies:
𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤, 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸, 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵…
while Petrie himself appears to have been taking o***m or laudanaum, as he describes
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬, 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 – 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴, 𝘐 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥, 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 – 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦. 𝘐 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘋𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬…
Your author shudders to think what would have come of sending such a business trip report to his boss during his time in industry. Times have changed, and not always for the better…
Our pictures show the watchtower as it is today and in Wakeman’s sketch; Wakeman’s sketch of the site; the main family space; and the castle lit by afternoon sun and reflected in the Drimneen river (Droimnín – ‘little ridge’).
The Field Name Books and letters for County Galway are available online at:
http://www.galwaylibrary.org/letters
http://www.galwaylibrary.org/field-books
