​New Local History Book For Killure

The Killure Heritage Group wish to sincerely thank the many people in the parish and beyond including several descendants of emigrants, for their invaluable inputs, as well as our sponsors and funders."
Chair Eamon Keogh.

All are welcome to the launch of the Killure Heritage Group's new book on Friday 25th November in Gullane's Hotel, Ballinasloe at 7:30pm
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After the success of Killure–Kilgerrill: By Its People & Friends, published in 2010 and which won a Galway County Council Heritage award, Killure Heritage Group began working on a sequel, culminating in this work, Killure–Kilgerrill: Its People & Places.
 
The 726 page book’s focus is on the family history and genealogy of people in the Civil Parish of Killure-Fohenagh-Kilgerrill with its 14 townlands, as well as neighbouring townlands in East Galway.
 
Containing invaluable data on Parish baptismal and marriage records from 1827 to 1891, Information is also provided on land holdings with occupiers’ names from 1826 up to the 1970’s; updates on local graveyards; Killure chapel; and parish townlands and place names.
 
The larger houses in the area and their families from as early as the 17th century up to the present time, are described. It contains a chapter on law and order, which covers detailed descriptions of members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) from the parish. Petty Session Court records from the mid-1850s to 1919 for the different townlands are analysed including court case descriptions.
 
A social history chapter contains interesting articles on topics such as: herds and shepherds, whose social class was relatively high - broadly equivalent to that of a tenant farmer; relief funds to alleviate hardship due to bad harvests associated with the near famine of 1879-1880; and arrears of rent of tenants owing to the local landlord (Lord Clonbrock) in Cloonigny, Killuremore and Killure Castle.
 
A major focus of the book is on families in the parish – 40 in all, which covers their family history, from earliest available records up to the 1970’s. Initial records were obtained from Parish registries, and from microfiche data in places such as the National Library of Ireland, the National Archives, the Galway County Library, and in Special Collections of the University of Galway Library. 
 
An emigration article tracks the emigration of around 150 people from the area who departed for America between 1884 and 1932 and in many cases includes their subsequent path. The book also traces the lives of those who stayed, mapping the connectivity of kinship and marriage between families of the parish to a degree that is perhaps unrivalled for a local history book of its kind.
 
Another substantial chapter contains extracts from a wide range of newspapers from 1837 to 1973 relating to the parish townlands as well as adjacent townlands of Lowville and Sonnagh. Old age pension applications from 1916 to 1921 are described which yield useful information from the 1851 Census returns (used to confirm age) that would otherwise have been lost due to the destruction of the Public Record Office in 1922.
 
Published with the support from the Ballinasloe Credit Union and from the Galway County Council Heritage Office, as well as from local Councillors.

“The Killure Heritage Group wish to sincerely thank the many people in the parish and beyond including several descendants of emigrants, for their invaluable inputs, as well as our sponsors and funders “ stated Chair Eamon Keogh.
 
The Book is available at Salmons; Concannons, Ahascragh; Gerry Croffy Garden Machinery, Killure Castle; Greenes Hardware, Ahascragh; Hickeys, Kilconnell; Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Galway; Kennys Bookshop, Galway and available on-line at https://www.kennys.ie.
 
Further information can be had from: killureheritagegroup@gmail.com or through social media via www.facebook.com/KillureHeritageGroup