Cork Historical and Archæological Society

Some Account of the Family Name Hurley 1905

One of the objects of the Cork Historical and Archæological Society is to give the history Cork from its ancient castles and other antiquities. The castle of Ballinacarriga, built by Randal Hurley, which belonged to that family, attracted the attention of the Society, and I was invited to join the late Mr.Herbetr Webb Gillman and others to give a description of this castle, which was evidently of great importance from its size and also from the curious stone carvings it contains. In August, 1896, Mr Gillman, with his daughter, Miss Frances Gillman, now Mrs.Levers, of Glenduff Castle, Co. Limerick, and I went to the castle and took measurements of it, and also took note describing it, which were to be published jointly by Mr Gillman looked up the Fiants of Elizabeth and Charles I., from which he compiled, as he describes, much history. He finds that the O'Hurley family are originally from Limerick, where they were in possession of their tribal lands. In this sense, Limerick is the home or seat of the family, and to give a history of the castle, Mr Gillman justly writes, we must begin first with the history of the family in the County Limerick. In my researches I discovered that Mr. J.C.D. Hurley, of Fenit, Tralee, had valuable documents connected with the history of the family. I put myself in communication with him, and he kindly lent me the materialsat his disposal. The family of the late Mr Gillman also gave me his notes, and in compiling this article it is almost entirely due to the notes and documents I have got from these two sources. The first portion of this article will deal with the County Limerick (Knocklong) branch, head of the family of Hurly or Hurley, the pedigree, distinguished members of the family, wills, confiscation &c., relating to its history.

One of manuscript volumes now before me begins:

It is not pride that makes me take my pen,
But to revive a fallen house again;
For all the glories of Knocklong
Are like a morning vapour gone.

My chief and great object has been to rescue, even in some degree, a once high and distinguished but fallen family from the state of degradation into which all the miseries of civil war have plunged its descendants, for I verily and conscientiously believe that no house or family in Ireland had suffered more severely, as the following pages will incontestably prove, than mine. In the cause of the Royal Martyr, Charles I., and of his weak and unfortunate son, James II., to adopt the language of Mr. O'Driscoll in his Views of Ireland, they were faithful to the religion of their ancestors, faithful to the house of Stuart, even in its despair. In both these instances they have been sufferers, and even ruined by their fidelity. The heads of most Irish families of rank either perished in the field, or found an honourable asylum in Spain and France and Austria, and found fame and honour far from the land of their nationality. Nothing remains in the land but a few ruined collateral branches of these once high and distinguished families and the mere peasantry. It is unhappily a matter of history that down to the close of the seventeenth century changes of property were great, violent, and irretrievable (Phelan's Remains,edited by Bishop Jebb). Some would say that the Hurley family was of English or Norman descent, but from the following pedigree made out and certified by O'Connellan, it is of Milesian orgin. There are a few places in England called Hurley, one near London, where there was a Benedictine house, dependent on the Monastery of Westminsrer; another near Manchester; also families of the name. They may have come from Ireland and settled in England. It is indifferently written Murrilliy, Imurrilly, Hurlee, Hurly, O'Hurley. I give here the pedigree made out and authenticated by O,Connellan.
        From several manuscripts in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy, as well as elsewhere, it appears that the family of O'Hurly is of very ancient and noble Milesian origin. The first MS. to which I shall refer is the celebrated Book of Leacan, so called from Leacan, the hereditary residence of the antiquarians of Sligo, whose castle was situated near the river Moy, in the barony of Tireragh, County of Sligo. This MS.is a compilation from many more ancient historical MSS., such as the Psalters of Cashel and Tara, Book of Glendalough,&c., &c., and was written about the close of fourteenth century. (A copy of this MS was made by the writer of this notice by order of his late Majesty for the Royal Library, and which he had the honour to lay before his present Majesty in the year 1830 at Jame's Palace).
        At folio 214, page B, of this Ms. is the following account of the origin of the O'Hurly family as descended from the same stock with that of the Thomond family, viz: Comarmac Cas was son of Oiliolll Olum, King of Munster (lineally descended from Milesians) about the year 230. This Cormac Cas had one son named Fearcorb, who had two sons, viz Semne and Aengus Tireach. Aengus Tireach had four sons, Eogan, Dubros , Leascad, Luigdeach Meand, the last-named had two sons, viz., Conall Eachbeath (i.e., Conall of the swift steeds) and Lisceand. Conall Eachbeath had two sons, namely, enna Aircheach and Cas, surnamed Tal (i.e., Tal Cas, and hence the Dal Cassians of Munster). Cas had thirteen sons, of whom Blod was the eldest. This Blod had four sons, viz., Cairthean Fionn (the fair). The ancestor of the O'Brien family, afterwards Earls of Thomond: Cairthand Dub (the black), Eacho, and Brenann Ban (the fair), from whom are descended the O'Hurley. From this account we find that the O'Briens and O'Hurlys concentrated in Blod, from whom the district of Aoibh Bloid took its name, according to O'Huidhreen, the Munster topographer, who lived about the year 1400. Dr. O'Brien, in his Dictionary, under the word Aoibh, says it is now the barony of Lower Ormond , but from several passages in other MSS. It is plain that it was situated in Thomond, now County Clare.
        The foregoing account of the origin of the O'Hurly family is fully borne out by another MS. called the Book of Ballymote, which has, similarly with the Book of Leacan, derived its name from the place where it was compiled, namely, Ballymote, the ancient residence of the Mac- Donoughs, Princes of Caran, in the barony of Leyney, County of Sligo.
        This MS. was finished adout the fourteenth century, and such was the estimation in which it was held, that in the year 1522 it was sold for 140 milch cows. The account of the O'Hurly family in this MS. is given under the heading of the ' Dal Cas Race,' at folio 102, page B. As it would be only a repetition of the foregoing, although evidently taken originally from different sources, it will not be necessary to insert it here.
         The account of the O'Hurly family in the two MSS. is supported by several moderm writers, as for instance, O'Flaherty in his Ogygia, published in 1685, chap.82, p. 387, makes them a family of Thomond , as does Dr. O'Brien in his English Irish Dictionary under U; see also the Abbé Mac Geoghegan's History of Ireland, vol. I., page 304, note,and Gratianus Lucius, cap.3.
        It now remains for me to trace the family of O'Hurly from Blod, their common ancestor with that of the Thomond family, down to about the middle of the seventeenth century, which I shall extract from an Irish MS. by Dudley McFirbis, the last historiographer of Leacan, whowas murdered in the year 1670. It was under his tuition that O'Flaherty, the author of Ogygia, studied; and Mc Firbis himself studied under McEgan, the last of the hereditary Brehons of Ireland, who, I believe, resided in the County Tipperary.

         McFirbis was highly esteemed as an antiquary by Sir James Ware, who employed him in all matters of doubt and difficulty; he was also thought highly of by Charles O'Conrman,who in his correspondence with the Chevalier O'Gorman states that McFirbis was a man of great research and discernment, and that he considered ham an unquestionable authority on Irish History and Family Genealogies. This MS. is a thick quarto volume of 800 pages, and is the property of the Earl of Bowden. It is at present at the Royal Irish Academy for the purpose of having a copy of it made for the library. It has been settled beyond contradiction that the genealogies of 110 families were regularly kept, besides those of the Kings, Chiefs, and Princes, who were able to retain their bards for that especial purpose, and there can be no better proof that the O'Hurlys were chiefs than that their genenalogy was regularly kept to so late a period, which I shall show by a comparison in parallel columns of the O'Brien with that of the O'Hurlys, which is the general criterion by which all the Munster families are put to the test; just as the Ulster and Connaught families are tested by that of O'Neills, become those were the two principal families in the kingdom, and their genealogies are unguestionable.
        By various connecting circumstance it is established beyond dispute that the genealogy which is given as underneath from Mc Firbis is that of the O'Hurly of the O'Brien branch, whose ancient possession are marked out by O'Connor on his admirable map of the districts possessed by each chief. It is distinctly shown to be on the borders of Tipperary, adjoining the Limerick of the O'Brien branch. Its ancient name was Druim Dabhaire, but it is now called Knocklong, and is situated in the barony of Coshlea, the most south-east barony in the county.
        Adjoining this place, on the hill of long, are the ruins of a castle, formerly the residence of Sir Thomas Hurley, whose monument stands in the church of Emly, sixteen miles south-wet of Cashel. This Sir Thomas is supposed to have been related to Thomas Hurly, Bishop of Emly, who died at an advanced age, A.D. 1542. But it does not appear that Sir Thomas was chief of his tribe; on the contrary, we have reason to think he belonged to a minor branch of the family.

ORIGINAL STOCK OF THE THOMOND AND O'HURLEY FAMILIES.

        Oilioll Olum, Oilioll Olum, King of Munster, A.D. 226, died A.D.234         Cormac Cas, Cormac Cas, King of Munster.
        Moja Copb, Mogha Corb, King of Munster.
        Fear Copb, Fear Corb, reigned II years monarch of Ireland.
        Aonjur Tipeac, Aongus Tireach, Prince of Munster.
        Luijoeac meano, Luighdeach Meand, Prince of Munster.
        Conall eacluc, Conall of the swift steeds, King of Munster about the middle of
        the 5th century
Car, Cas.
blow, Blod.

BRANCH OF THE THOMOND FAMILY. BRANCH OF THE O' HURLEY FAMILY. Captaino fino, king of munster when St Patrick came to Ireland, as we are informed By the Psalter of Cashel,as mentioned in the Book of Leacon. His son was baptized By St. Patrick, according to the book of Armagh, a MS. of the 7th century, now in The possession of the Rev.mr Brownlow, Of Merrion Square, Dublin. Ei cas baill deips Conill Clain Ieo Cital

         This Knocklong branch gave two Bishops to the church of Emly and several clerics. Thomas, Bishop from 1507--1542; Maurice, Bishop from 1620 --1649 Thomas was a very eminent Canonist. in 1543 King Henry VIII. pesented Donogh Ryan chaplain to the Deanery of the Cathedral of Emly, vacant, inasmush as Wiliam McBryen and William O'Hurley, the present incumbents, hold the same by the authority of the Bishop of Rome. In 1609 King James presented Edmund Hurly, notwithstanding his "minority and defect of clerical orders, " to the Chancellorship of that Cathedral, with a corps of vicarages united, and in the same year, and under similar disqualifications, to the Chancellorship thereof-- Patent Rolls, Jac I.
        Besides Knocklong, the chief residence of the Hurley sept, who also founded a church here, in the parish of Kilruane, Lower Ormond, County Tipperary, is the ruined castle of Rathurly; in the parish of Kilcullane, Co. Limerick, where they eected the castle, where Dermod O'Hurley built a strong castle in the early part of the fifteenth century. Archbishop Dermod O'Hurley was born in the castle of Lyradoon, near Limerick.
        Thomas Hurly, Knocklong, attended Perrott's Parliament in Dublin. His son, Maurice, obtained a patent for a weekly market on Tuesdays, and two fairs to be held on the 28th of May and 1st October. In 1632 he erected a fine marble monument to the memory of his two wives, whom he survived. His son, Sir Thomas, Baronet, succeeded him, and was one of the Confederate Catholics at Kilkenny in 1647. his estates were forfeited in the counties of Limerick and Tipperary for his adherence to Charles I., and given to Cromwell's adventurers, and was transplanted to Connaught, where he died in 1683, leaving a son, Sir William. He attended King James's Parliament in 1689 as representative of the borough of Kilmallock. He was actively engaged in scouring the country with Lord Brittas, and at the engagement of Thomond gate, siege of Limerick, Colonel Hurly was with others taken prisoner. he died soon after of his wounds. his infant son, Sir John Hurly, claimed his transplanted Galway estate, which was forfeited to Bryan O'Bryen, who had married his mother, but the claim was dismissed, and the estate sold to Thomas O'Connor, Sir Thomas Montgomery, and the Hollow Sword Blade Company He tried to raise troops for the Pretender, and was arrested in Dublin about the year 1714, but escaped; and likely, after many vicissitudes, escaped to Rome, where he died.
        As a further proof, if proof, were neccessary, of the correctness of the genealogy, &c., with which I have already furnished you, I now take leave to introduce the following additional particulars which my contiued research has enabled me to produce;--
        From a passage in the Wars of Turlough, a manuscript in the Royal Irish Academy, it plainly appears that The O'Hurly was one of the Chiefs of Thomond, A.D. 1309. Wherein it is mentioned that the clans of Ib h Blod, whose territories can be proved by four passages in the said MS. to have been on the east side of the Shannon, marched to encounter the clans of the MacMahons on the west side of the Shannon, and amongst the former the clan of O'Hurley is mentioned as the clan of Brennan Baron, of which O'Hurly was Chief.
        My second proof is extracted from mr. Hardiman's Collection of Irish Deeds, published in the Transations of Academy. These deeds chiefly relate to Thomond, which it may be proper to state from ancient authorities, formerly extended fom the Isles of Arran on the west to Shan Eiolin, near Cashel,in Tipperary, thence to Knockaine, in the County of Limerick, and from Loop's Head to Highe Dald, in Ossory. The most ancient of those deeds are without date or signatures, having been entered into before it became customary in the islands to affix either They belong to the tewlfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries.
        The following deed is considered to be as early as the beginning of the twelfth century, and is one of the most curious, viz., thus translated: "This is the mortgage due Conor Oge O'Hurley upon Carrowanchallagh, viz., 40 cows, that is to say, 7 in-calf cows, and every cow thereof valued at 3 Shillings, and the rest of the cows barren. the said Conor Oge came by the said lands thus for stealth [Note--Stealth, literally rapine], and Conor paid 18 cows for the said land, id est, 16 cows to gallowglasses and half a mark, fees for Brehon's judgment, otherwise called Oilegheag, which is derived from oileagh, a judge, and ioc, to pay, and said 18 cows are without any use accruing to the Conor thereout upon the said land. And the witnesses present to the said bargain are Slany Ny O'Brien, Fynnolany Ma Gorman, Conor O'Arney, and Senawn O'Leadan. None shall have power to redeem the same."
        It is doubtful whether the land was acquired by force or forfeited as an Eirie; but from the Brehon's judgment the latter might be inferred From the above it would appear that title to lands might have been acquired by force of forfeited as an Eirie. It appears that Conor O'Hurly so acquired the land of Carrowanchallagh.
        The above Conor O'Hurly must certainly have been a son of the Chief, as among the names on the list we have one of them designated Irish, that is "Donough of the Port," which is certainly the Calaidh, or Challagh.
        This is corroborative evidence of the genuineness of the list of the chiefs. This place is bounded on the east by the Leadmore, on the south by the Shannon, and on the north by the Magista. It contains between 400 and 500 acres, in the parish of Kilrush, County of Clare. its present possessor is Mr.Vandeleur, in whose family it has remained since the time of William the 3rd.

         The Annals of the Four Masters relate that, in 962, the Danes took several captives in plundering Kildare, and amongst them was Neill O'Hurly, who ransomed himself with his own money. This is also stated in Trias Thaumaturga, page 630. From those various and ancient most indisputable authorities, always corroborating each other, it is most evident that the O'Hurly family is one of the oldest in Ireland. Proof, indeed, beyond doubt that both the name and lineage of O'Hurly are of ancient Irish origin." Certified by me,
                                                                                                                                                OWEN CONNELLAN,&c., &c.
Dublin, March 22, 1836.
        The O'Hurlys are of the Dalcassian race, and are stated in O'Flaherty's Ogygia to be of the tribe of Hy Bloid, who possessed the territory called Triocha Hy Bloid, which comprised a great part of the barony of Lower Ormond and Owney in Tipperary. Their tribe was also designated Clan Tail, a term which was applied to the Dalcassians. The O'Hurly's are thus mentioned by O'Heerin :--

"The territory of Hy Bloid, of the silken standards;
The chiefs of conflicts, leaders of the battle hosts;
The tribe of Clan Tail, as far as the limpid streams,
Along the extensive plain of the yews,
O'Hurly of the tribe of Tail,
Near to Killalue of St. Flannan.
Delightful are its woods and protective its plains,
From thence westward to the Shannon."

A branch of the O'Hurlys also settled in Limerick, where they are placed in the map of Ortelius, and they also had the parish of Knocklong, in the barony of Coshlea, where the ruins of their chief castle still remain. Other branches of the O'Hurlys were settled in Galway, and had large possessions in the baronies of Kilconnell and Killian and Ballymore, of which family were Sir William and Sir John Hurly, Baronets. Of the O'Hurlys of Limerick was Dermod O'Hurly, a celebrated Archbishop of Cashel in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. These are still several respect able families of the name in the Counties of Limerick, Tipperary and Kerry.--Annals of Ireland, translated from the original Irish of The Four Masters, by Owen Connellan, Esq., page 199.
In the Liber Munerum Publicorem Hiberniae I find that Thomas Hurly, Esq., of Knocklong, represented the borough of Kilmallock in the Parliament holden before the Rt. Honourable Sir John Perrot, Knight, Lord Deputy of Ireland, on the 26th of April, A.D. 1585, in the 27th year of the reign of Elizabeth . The same is corroborated by Lynch in his View of Legal Institutions of Feudal Dignities. I also find that Sir William Hurly represented the said borough of Kilmallock in the Parliament of King James convened in Dublin in May, 1689. I find, too, that Dermot O'Hurly, Archbishop of Cashel, suffered martydom in Dublin,

THE HURLEY CHALICE,
St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Cork.

and was buried in St. Kevin's Church, where his body bore the repute of many miracles.

Certified by me,
OWEN CONNELLAN,&c.
Dublin, May 8th, 1837.

        "According to Bruodin's History of Ireland, page 978, the illustrious families of the County of Limerick were--O'Briens, O'Hurly, De Burgo the House of Desmond, &c."-- Ferrar's History of Limerick, page 389.       "Names and situation of the Tribes settled in Ireland according to Ptolemy, and of the principal septs or families, at the commencement of the 17th century, according to O'Connor: County of Limerick. Ptolemy. 'Connor Coriundi. O'Brien. O'Hurley, O.Grady. --Malte Brun's Geography, vol. 9., p. 608
        "Of great note and name above the rest inthis Nact, Limerick, besides the Bourke and Fitzgeralds, are the Lacys and Brownes, of English, also the O'Briens, Mac Mahons, and O'Hurlys, of Irish breed."--Camden's Britannia.
        "In the map of Ortelius, published in 1738 by the Dublin booksellers, the great families who in former days inhabited the south-eastern parts of the County of Limerick were the O'Brien, O'Hurly, &c., &c."--- Ferrar's History of Limerick, page 390.
        "In Desmond's attainder, besides many of the Fitzgeralds, we find the name of O'Brien, Browne, Hurly, McGibbon, Roe,Lacy, &c"---
Fitzgerald's History of Limerick, vol ii., Appendix, page 35.
         "The great chieftains of this district at the time of the English invasion were the O'Hurlys, Oguins, &c., &c.,"--Fitzgerald's History of Limerick, vol.ii., Appendix, p.34.
        "Castletown, a parish in the Barony of Coonagh, Co. of Limerick, derives its name from an ancient castle built by one of the O'Hurlys towards the close of the 14th century, and of which there are still some very interesting remains."
        "In Killelonehan, a parish partly in the barony of Coshma, but chiefly in that of Pubble-Brien, in the County of Limerick, on the road from Limerick to Croom, are some remains of a castle built in the 15th century by Dermot O'Hurly."
        "Kilkellane, or Kilcullance, a parish in the barony of Small County, County of Limerick, on the road from Limerick to Hospital, and near the remains of the old church, are the ruins of the Kicullane Castle, which was erected by the Hurlys in the 15th century."
        The three foregoing extracts are taken from Lewis's Topoggraphical Dictionary of Ireland.
        "Knocklong is a parish in the County of Limerick, and it contains

2,198 acres of the richest land. On the hill of Long are the ruins of a castle, once the residence of the Hurlys.---Fitzgerald's History of Limerick, vol. i., p.389.

Thomas Hurly, of Knocklong, represented the borough of Kilmallock in 1583, and during the greater part of Elizabeth's reign, and was succeeded by his son,

Maurice Hurly, who married, first, Guisell Hogan, and, secondly, Grace Thornton. By his wife he had a son John and

Sir Thomas Hurly, Baronet, who married Joan, second daughter of John Browne, of Knuckmunihy and Camus, commonly called the Master of Awney, by Catherine O'Ryan daughter of Master Desmond O'Ryan, called Master for being Master of the Rolls in Ireland, and by her he had two sons, Maurice and John, and four daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son,

Sir Maurice Hurly, who by his wife, Catherine, the daughter of O'Dwyer, had two sons, William and John, and one daughter, Lettice. He forfeited his great and ancient estates in Limerick in 1641, and being removed by Cromwell, according to a favourite expression of his, "to Connaught or to Hell," to the County of Galway, he died at his mansion of Doone, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

Sir William Hurly, Baronet, who represented the borough of Kilmallock in 1689, and being zealosly attached to the interests of King James the Second, forfeieted the estates in Galway granted by Cromwell to his father. He married Mary, daughter of Colonel Blownt, and by her had one son,

Sir John Hurly, who was taken up in Dublin about the year 1714 for raising men for the Pretender, but made his escape.

"Katherine Hurly, first daughter of Sir Thomas, married Pierce Butler, fifth Lord Dunboyne, by whom she had one son, the sixth Lord, and four daughters, Anne Butler married -- English, of Co. of-- Katherine Butler, second daughter, married Daniel O'Ryan, of Solloghode. Grace Butler, third daughter, married Walter Bourke, near the Devil's Bit, called Mac Walter Duhee O'Leagh. This Walter's sister was the wife of Col. Blownt, and mother of the Lady Hurly, wife of Sir William; and after his death she married Mac O'Brien, of Duharra. Ellinor Butler, fourth daughter, was wife of McRobiston, of Ballycloghy, County of Cork, whose daughter, Ellen, by Garrett Fitzgerald, of Kilmurry, had issue Col. Thomas Fotzgerald, the father of Garrett, who married Julian, sister of the present O'Sullivan More, and left issue--Thomas, who married Mary, daughter of Patrick Pierce, of Ballincrossig, County of Kerry.
"Ellinor Hurly, fourth daughter of Sir Thomas, by David Barry, of Rathaniskie, had issue Edmond Barry, the late "Queen Anne's" foster- father.

John Hurly, second son of Sir Thomas, had issue John, the father of the late Colonel John Hurly, and three daughters. Grace Hurly, eldest daughter, married Captain John Purdon, of Tallagh, County of Limerick. Anne Hurly, second daughter, married John Bourke, of Cahirmogill. Ellinor Hurly, third daughter, married John Lacey, of Ballinlughane, the father of John and Pierce Lacy, and of Margaret, married to Captain Owen McCarthy.
Dennis Hurly, a descendant of the brother of Sir Thomas, or of Maurice Hurly, married Anne, fifth daughter of Robert, second son of John Blennerhassett, of Ballyseedy, and Alice Conway, second daughter and co-heir of Elizabeth Conway, of Castle Conway, and by her had issue five sons-- Thomas, Charles, John, Dennis and William. The last two died young.
Thomas Hurly, first son, married Alice,daughter to his uncle, Thomas Blennerhassett, by Jane Darby, and by her had issue three daughters.
        "Anne Hurly, eldest daughter, died unmarried.
        "Alice Hurly, second daughter, married Arthur Browne, of Ventry
and Ballinvarrig, and had two sons, Frederick and Thomas, who both died unmarried, and two daughters--- Alice Browne, who married Henry Sandes, of Moyvane, and by him had a numerous issue; and the second daughter, Letita Browne, married her cousin, Thomas Hurly, and had a son, Charles.
        "The ancestors of Arthur Browne were settled in this country in or

before the reign of Henry the Seventh, and he, many years before his death, sold his very respectable estate to his cousin, the first Lord Ventry. Jane Hurly, third daughter, married John Mason, of Ballybonney, eldest son of James Mason and Catherine Power, by whom she had one daughter. Charles Hurly, second son of Dennis and Anne Blennerhassett, married Alice Fitzgerald, sole daughter and heir of Edmond Fitzgerald, of Morniregane, and by her had two sons and one daughter, Mary Anne, who married Thomas Langley, of Co Tipperary, and had several chidren. Thomas Hurly, first son, married Letitia, second daughterof Arthur Browne and Alice Hurly, and had one son, Charles, now deceased. John Hurly, second son of Charles and Alice Fitzgerald, married Mary Conway, daughter of Edmond Conway John, and seven daughters. Letitia, first daughter, married Rowland, fourth son of Sir Rowland Blennerhassett, Baronet, and by him had issue John Hurly, Richard Francis, and Rowland Conway, who died young, and five daughters-- Melicent, Agnes, Mary, Letitia, Lucy, and Alice. Alice Hurly, second daughter, by Alexander Ellitt, left issue-- Alexander, Thomas, and Lucy. Christian Hurly, third daughter by James Magill, left two sons, John Hurly and Darby, and Sarah, Lucy, Christian, and Letitia. Lucy Hurly, fourth daughter, died unmarried. Arabella Hurly, fifth daughter, died young. Mary Hurly, sixth daughter, by Barry Collins, has issue--Thomas, John, Barry, Robert, and two daughters, Mary and Sarah. Robert Conway Hurly, first son of John and Mary Conway, is unmarried. The writer of this book, John Hurly, second son, married Anna Maria Teresa Hill,only daughter of Hugh Hill, Mount hill, Co of Armagh, by Eliza, daughter of Richard Kirwan, of Creg Castle, Co. of Galway, and Anne Blake, daughter of Sir Thomas Blake, Baronet, and has issue-- Robert Conway, Hugh, Richard Kirwan, and John, and four daughters--Eliza, Maria Teresa, Alice, and Letitia. Robert Conway Hurly, first son of John and Anna Hill, married Dorcas, eldest daughter of Artur Blennerhassett, of Ballyseedy, and Frances Grady. Copie of a Letter from the Lords of Her Majesty's Council to the Load President of Munster on behalf of Maurice Hurly, of Knocklong. "After our heartie commendations to your Lordship. Whereas, the bearer hereof, Maurice Hurly, a man well recommended to us by your Lord- ship, hath preferred a petition to us, declaring that being seized of certain

Landes named in the petition herein inclosed, which were time time out of minde ancient free landes, and soe alwaies reputed and taken untill late years by means of some of the freeholders of that countie in ease of themselves and their tenants. Some parte of said landes were and are, as he allegeth, unjustly charged by divers exactions and county impositions, to his great charge and impoverishment, and humbly praieth that if he shall make good proofe of his information either before your Lord- ship or such as you shall appoint in that behalf, he may have confirmation of that freedom by her Majesty's Letters patent, wherein he is now a suitor, that for the better reinhabiting of his said Landes now waste he may have direction from us to the Lord Deputy of Ireland, that a Markett once a week and a fair twice a year, may be erected and granted to be holden at Knocklongy, parcel of the Landes aforesaid, and whereas, lastly, he maketh humble suit in respect your Lordship knoweth, as he saith, what envious and most hateful desire both the Irish and all the Traitors and Rebells of Munster do beare him for his dutiful affection and good disposition towards her Majesty's service in the said province, and considering that for the good of the countrie and daylie annoyance of the rebells he hath been at such great charge and cost of warding the said castle of Knocklong during the last rebellion in Mounster as his small abilitie cannot longer maintaine or beare, that he may therefore have our direction unto your Lordship, finding his suggestion in that behalf true, to allow him, if you shall find it convenient, a reasonable number in pay for the better warding and securing thereof. We therefore having considered of his said reguest and being verie willing to relieve him in all his just and lawful caused, have thought good hereby to praise and require you who can best judge of these demands, to examine if the aforesaide landes were of ancient freedom and alwaies reputed soe and known, and whether also, you think the granting of the said Markett and fair convenient and for the good of the countrie or prejudicial to other Marketts, if any there be thereunto adjoining--and of your Lordship's examinnation and opinion both of the one and the other to cerifie the Lord Deputy that he may take order accordingly for grant to be made to the Petitioner in that behalf. As to the latter part of his petition, for allowance of men for warding of his castle, we only refer the consideration thereof, as occasion is or may be to your Lordship, from whom, we doubt not, the Petitioner shall receive therein such satisfaction as is meete and agreeable both to the convenience of his demands and his own good desert, and soe we bidde you heartilie well to fare." "From the court of Greenwich, the laste of Julie, 1601. "Yr loving sevants, Thos. Egerton, W.Knollys, C.Buckhurst, E.Worcester, T. Fortescue, Nottingham, Ro. Cecyll, T. Herbert. "To the Lord President of Munster."

Note--A copy of this letter, from the Carew MSS. in the Lambeth Library, was given to me by the Rev. A. B. Nowan. Sir George Carew was President of Munster in 1601. "Grant from the King to Maurice Hurly, of Knocklonge Castle, in Limerick Co., to hold free of any cess or any contribution whatever, the following landes in the Limk.Co. and in the County of the Rope whereof he is hatefully seized, viz.; The town and landes of Knocklonge, 1 1/2 ploughlands; Garrowenstown, Garryhenod, I ploughland. Which several parcels have been of ancient time free land and not chargeable with any contribution whatever, altho' of late years during the wars and troubles of these parts, some parts of them have been charged and burthened with impositions contrary to the ancient freedoms thereof."-- Patent Rolls, fifth year of James I., No.97. 111/2 "Grant of late possessions to Maurice Hurley."-- Patent Rolls, fifth year of James I. Copy of the will of Maurice Hurly, Esq., of Knocklonge, Co. of Limk., dated July 16, 1534. "Memorandum that the 16th of July, 1634, Maurice Hurly, of Knocklonge, in the Co. of Limerick, Esq., being then and there sicke of body, but of perfect memorie and understandinge, made this his last will and nuncupative Testament at Knocklonge, in manner and forme following; First, he bequeathed his soul to Almighty God and to the Angels of Heaven, then he left his goods, viz., cows, garrons and mares, in three parts, viz., a third pte to his wife, and the other two pts to his eldest sonne and heir, Thomas Hurly. Item, he left his his sheepe, hogs, and swyne wch he had in three parts, viz., a third pt to his wife, and th' other two pts to his said son, Thos. Hurly. Item, he left all his householde stuffe to be divided in three parts, a third part thereof to his wife, and the rest to his son, Thomas Hurly. Item, he left his plate to be divided in three equal pts betwixt his wife and his son, Thomas Hurly. All the Batterie which he had, both great and small, he left the same, viz., two parts thereof to his said eldest sonne, Thomas Hurly, and a third thereof to his wife. "Item, his corn in grounde and above grounde he left in three equal pts, viz., a third to his wife, and the other two pts to hissaid sonne and heir, Thos. Hurly. Item, he left the farme he held of my Lord of Ormonde, of the parsonages of Crreane and Kiltitle to be divided between his said wife and his said sonne, Thomas Hurly, a third thereof to his said wife during her natural life, and the rest to his said sonne and heir Thomas Hurly. Item, the third of all landes wch he purchased since his marriage, (1)he left to his said wife only during herlife, as they are conveyed to Sir Edward FitzHarris in writinge. (2) The rest of his pur- (1)Estates of Earl of Desmond in the county of Limerick. (2)A distinguished officer in the English Army, more especially during the rebellion of Hugh O'Neill Earl of Tyrone, from 1599 to 1603. chases he left to his said sonne and heir, Thomas Hurly, together with the reversion of the landes in third to his wife. Item, he left Thomas Hurly and John Cantwell his Ex'ors. "All the aforesaid laste will and nuncupative Testament, the day, year, and place aforesaid, was made and declared by the said Maurice Hurly in p' sence of John Cantwell, Teige Hagh, and Bryan Kennedy. "MAURICE HURLY." (Seal) This copy of the will of Maurice Hurly is taken from the original in the Registry Office of the Prerogative Court in Dublin. Grace Thornton, second wife of Maurice Hurly, was probably a daughter of Sir George Thornton, one of the Undertakers to plant the forfeitures. The following is a copy of the will of Sir Maurice Hurly, of Doone, in the Co. of Galway, Baronet. "In the name of God, Amen, the 3rd day of September, 1688. I Sir Maurice Hurly, now of Doone, in the Co. of Galway, Baronet, being of good and perfect memory, thanks be to Almighty God, do make and constitute, ordain and declare this my last will and Testament in manner and forme following, revoking and annulling by those presents all former wills, Legacies, and Testaments by me heretofore made and declared to be made either by word or writing, and this to be for my last Will and Testament And, first, being penitent and sorry from the bottom of my heart for my sins past, and most humbly desiring forgiveness for the same, I give and committ my soul to Almighty God, praying and desiring that the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the Holy Saints, Angels in Heaven, may be intercessors to my Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, that I may, after my leaving this world, be seated amongst that blessed Tribunal, desiring that I may be buried according to the Roman Catholic and Christian Religion, wherein I ever lived and now dye, in such decency and manner as my Ex'ors hereafter named shall think fit and proper and for settling of my real and personal estate, I do order, give, and dispose of the same in manner and from following, that is to say, first, I do settle and confirm unto my eldest son, William Hurly, Esq., all my real estate after my own decease, now in my possession, saving to my wife a third part during her life, whereof my chief mansion, known and called by the name of Doone to be part, and after her decease all to be and revert to my said son, William Hurly, and for the lands that I have been dispossessed of and to which I have a just title, and now is depending in Law, after the recovering thereof, I leave and bequeath unto my sons, William and John Hurly, to be equally divided amongst them for ever, together with the maine issues and profits thereof, and as to my personal estate, I do bequeath the two parts thereof to my dear and loving wife, Margeret O'Dyer, alias Hurly, whom by these I nominate my Ex'ors, and my son, John, to be joined therein with her in execution of all and singular the premises according to the true intent and meaning of my last Will and Testament. I also bequeath and leave to my servant, Owen Hagh, one house and garden and the freedom of six collops during his life. "In witness to all which I have hereunto put my hand and seal the day and year above written.