Some local history on the Nugent families near Crooked Wood, Co. Westmeath

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On the off chance anybody out there is interested in some local and genealogical history from Co. Westmeath I thought I would try and describe some of the Nugent families that are located around Crooked Wood in that county, using the spelling of the placenames in this 1808 Grand Jury map of Westmeath.


Tergatious Fort

To begin you could look at the site in the top right hand corner at the place called there Tergatious Fort. While researching the family located in the neighbouring townlands of Clonnageeragh and Ballany Co. Westmeath and Ballina Co. Meath, founded by an Oliver Nugent, a brother of the Baron of Delvin who died in 1559, I was confused by a placename associated with them called ‘Doneames’ (1598) (1), ‘Donensis’ and ‘Donenes’ (both 1602 fiants), ‘Downenosse’ (1610) (2), ‘Downanassy’ (1622) (3), and ‘Dounennes alias Ballyno’ (1631) (4). As the last reference indicates, (meaning its now the Westmeath townland of Ballany), its a corruption of this Fort, the word in Irish for fort being obviously ‘Dún’. Turgesius was a famous Viking leader, who had a great castle/fort there obviously.

Anyway this is an interesting family, among them you had two famous Jesuits, sons of that Oliver: Nicholas, who was arrested in the house of the Baron of Inchiquin in Dublin (he was a relative of theirs and, famously, threw in his lot with the Protestants during the Confederate Wars, sacking Cashel for example, so maybe he informed on this Jesuit?); and then Robert who was, officially and unofficially, the main leader of the Jesuits in Ireland for almost 40 years at the height of the Counter Reformation. He had to navigate many controversies during this time, including falling out with the Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Rinucinni, and because of that he was accused by the latter of underhand dealings. For that reason, in this quote from Bishop Nicholas French of Ferns, he starts by pointing out how difficult it would be to pin anything on such an upright character:

“It is difficult to prove evil in a man who was always entirely honest; in this great religious there was not a spot of evil in his manner of life; having turned towards Israel (as I and all can testify to), in which there was no deceit.
He was well known as an ardent preacher, in the liberal humanities, and especially in divine doctrine; many years he was Superior of the Jesuits in Ireland; in which he was exemplary, as will be shown in the laudatory testimony of the Society itself; and famous as such for all under the family of that society in the whole of Ireland, as their ornament in virtue.
He was a leader and doctor of the Mission among all in Ireland; powerful in the work and with his sermons, and vehement speeches, after which he drew and received many in the towns, cities, whole dioceses, to adore the moral life; so great was he in gravitas, wisdom, candour, urbanity; and of the most noble family in the fear of God and pious governance; especially the house of the Illustrious Lady Countess of Kildare, which is the first Earldom in Ireland, and who was of this family.”(5)

Killtoomb

Then if you were to cast a glance at the other side, also at the top, you will see this placename. There is there a church and graveyard, as the placename suggests, I think under the overall aegis of the Abbey of Fore and maybe by this means came into the ownership of the main line of the family from I think about 1500 until, in some shape or form, the mid 17th century or so.

In the period c.1630 it was inhabited by a Gaelic poet, Seamus Dubh Nuinseann, of the Ballina family listed above and who later went to live in Dungimmon in Co. Cavan, when nearly all these families lost their lands in the Cromwellian Plantation. He and the Bishop of Meath, Dr Thomas Dease, used to write Gaelic poems across to each other, as you can read in Patrick Fagan’s seminal book on the subject, Éigse na hÍarmhí.

Then in 1707 another scion of the wider Ballina family, in this case living in Enagh Co. Cavan, fell out with his brother who had come back from the wars of the Wild Geese and took over the farm that he ran, and so he left and went to Johnstown, near Glaxton, not far off this picture towards Delvin, by getting a lease from the Clonlost family, and then, c.1720, he is here, in Kiltomb. He was quite a literate type of person and had a real go at his brother (William, a Captain in the Catholic armies) and wasn’t at all impressed by the military finery and great heroic stories:

“I am that son that managed for him in his infirmity, took care of his little affairs like a bailiff both early and late, when I ought to be at my books. I managed so well for him that no man on earth could say he owed him a crown when you returned from Savoy. This is the way I was diverted, when happy you were, in England, Flanders, France, Germany, and the Alps pissing against the wall the product of my dear father’s industry before the wars.

Excuse me for not mentioning Savoy, with other places of pleasure. If I forgot not you told me that sweet meat must have sour sauce. You went naked through the town of Turin, and in jail was forced to make buttons and live on raw turnip, and cabbage, which must consequently be a judgement for leaving my dear father in distress with Colonel Nugent [of Carlanstown] and Mr Lany. If they could speak and tell, your ugly condition abroad being represented to my dear father [he] remitted money to bring you home, after you landed borrowed money to clothe you, and £50 from Mr Tuite to make you and me graziers.”(6)

Anyway that Robert Nugent, as I say originally from Enagh, moved in about the 1740s to Streamstown nearby, further down on that shore of Lough Derravaragh, and then back to Kiltomb in about the 1750s and 60s and his family lived there later. An 1802 deed in the Registry of Deeds in Dublin,(7) informs us that in 1767, when Lord Longford was forced to sell some of these lands, this place, and some of the neighbouring townland of Templestown, was purchased by Hugh Reilly, a solicitor acting for Lord Clare, i.e. Robert Nugent of Carlanstown, who in turn was acting as a secret trustee for this Robert Nugent of Kiltoomb. Of course these sort of arrangements were necessary because of the penal laws, the Killtoomb Nugents remaining Catholic.

 

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This place is later associated with the Smyth family, who of course are the great Ascendancy name in late 18th to mid 20th century Co. Westmeath, and who are still to be found there or very close to it. And in fact a Pakenham Nugent, ultimately of the Clonlost family but whose descendants settled in the island of Jersey, married Anne, a daughter of George Smyth of this Kiltomb in the early 18th century Kiltomb.(8)

This branch of the Nugents (the parents of that Pakenham and associated with Rathfarne, Wardenstown and Derrymore, towards the South East corner of Westmeath) produced, I believe, a brother and sister in Catherine and Michael Nugent, of Suffolk Street in Dublin. Catherine, a firebrand from the 1798 rebellion who visited the prisoners at that time in Dublin, was a friend of the poet Shelley, schooled him in Irish Nationalist politics and was a long term letter writer to his wife, and later became patron of a small literary circle in that city, while Michael wrote poetry, was it seems involved in that rebellion, went to London probably to avoid repercussion from it, became a famous literary and parliamentary reporter for the Times there, and also wrote, or co-wrote, a number of books. They even made a bust of his head for display there after he died.(9)
Here is one of the references to that Michael:

“Michael Nugent, Death lately took from the London Press a gem, Michael Nugent, for thirty years one of the most accomplished Parliamentary reporters on the Times. Michael was a notable man – little in person, but great in intellectual endowment. His taste for all that was elevated in art was unsurpassed. Nearly half a century ago he came to London to work as a compositor; but his literary ambition soared above that honourable and onerous[?] branch of the press. Michael Nugent studied hard; made himself a good Latinist – a capital French scholar – something of an Italian – read a good deal; the consequence was, that he became one of the foremost men on that great organ of public opinion, the Times. His knowledge of general literature was prodigious; and his dramatic criticisms for twenty years and more, adorned the columns of the above journal. His comments were followed to the narrow house by everyone of note connected with the London press, together with a host of all our best artists in music, painting etc.”(10)

As to that bust, from The Tablet which of course is still going strong:

“The late Mr Michael Nugent. – The members of the committee appointed to enter into a subscription for the purpose of erecting a monument to the memory of the late Mr Nugent, have brought their labours to a close, at least as far as the tablet is concerned; and on Saturday Mr Carew, the sculptor, proceeded to Kensall-green cemetery to give the finishing touch to a profile likeness of the deceased, which he has gratuitously executed in marble, in exquisite style, from a life-like portrait by Simpson – a portrait admitted by severe judges to be a work of great fidelity and of the highest art. The stone in which the medallion is inserted is erected near the eastern pathway, and is this inscribed:– “In memory of Michael Nugent, esq., for more than forty years one the ablest Parliamentary reporters of the newspaper press, who died on the 6th of March 1845, aged 64, and is here buried. To attributes of the mind which command respect, he joined virtues of the heart that win affection, with a high tone of principle, a manly independence, a quick sense of wrong. He was generous, sincere – sympathising. An ample store of general knowledge and a cultivated taste rendered him a sound critic of elegant literature and the fine arts. Though honest and instructive, his criticism was gentle; his wit, original and playful, never inflicted even a momentary wound. These qualities were adorned with modesty, and brightened by a gaiety which sickness could not cloud. The monument is erected by those best able to appreciate his sterling worth – his friends and his colleagues.” – Observer.”(11)

Meanwhile here is a 1896 reference to Catherine Nugent by one who knew her, Alfred Webb:

“A constant visitor at our house was another charming elderly lady, Miss Nugent a woman of remarkable abilities and scope, the centre of a literary coterie in Dublin. She has been the friend of many of the leaders in the insurrection [in 1798], and had visited them in prison. She became intimate with the Shelleys when they were in Dublin and had carried on a correspondence with Harriet up to the time of her desertion by her husband. The memory of Shelley she could not endure..[because he abandoned his wife].”(12)

Templestown

Then moving across a little you can see this place, a part of which went with the Kiltomb purchase just mentioned. As you have just read, part of it was included in the sale, by trustee, to the Nugents in 1767 and then in 1830 we find out in a newspaper report,(13) that a freehold of this Templestown was being sold off and inquiries were to be made to T. Nugent of Farrencallen, Mullingar, and Mr James Nugent, of 25 Upper Bridge Street, Dublin. Farrencallen is in this map, towards the bottom, at the right of centre. This is the townland that the current pub in Crooked Wood is in and this is Thomas Nugent of the Glenidan/Balnavine family, of whom more anon. That James Nugent of Upper Bridge Street in Dublin was later of Parkgate Street and was a son of James Nugent of Monnington, which you can see on the map in the middle of the South/Western shore of the lake.(14)

This James of Parkgate Street was always very interested in politics, originally as a strong supporter of Repeal but later it seems he might have favoured the Young Irelanders. Which brings us to what is sometimes described as one of the ‘scandals’ of Irish history, if you want to call it that, in the opinion of say John Mitchell anyway, which was the visit of Queen Victoria to Ireland in 1849. Its a ‘scandal’ in the sense that hardly anybody seemed to object to her presence, bearing in mind that millions of her subjects were currently dying of Famine, not a few of whom could have been saved for the want of proper governance of the time. The only known objection to her, as highlighted by people like Mitchell, was a Poor Law Guardian who ran alongside her carriage in Dublin and cried “Mighty Monarch, Pardon Smith O’Brien.” Smith O’Brien is obviously the Young Ireland leader, and the person who did that was none other than this James Nugent, he was quite proud of the fact too, as he explains here when the editor of the Evening Post in Dublin had a go at him about it some months later:

“Sir—A friend has just shown me the Evening Post of last Saturday, in which I perceive the editor has thought proper to introduce my name, for the purpose of renewing his vituperation against me for having, on the occasion of her Majesty’s visit to the metropolis, used the heartfelt Irish words “Mighty monarch, pardon Smith O’Brien,” and he, in so doing, used the not very gentlemanly epithets of “ignorant fool,” and “quere—who the deuce is he?”
In order to satisfy the curiosity of the querulous old man of the Post, I will endeavour to give him the required outline. I am James Nugent, of Parkgate-street, poor law guardian, a sincere well-wisher for my country’s happiness, and one that look with sympathy on the fate of the exiled patriots, whose only fault was loving Ireland, if not wisely at least too well; and the words I used in relation to these men, in the presence of her Majesty, will be ever remembered by me with pride and satisfaction; and if age has not impaired the recollection of the Post editor, he would have remembered that there are many instances on record where the subject approached the Sovereign and had not his petition refused – a consequence that in my case would not have been so unreasonable, bearing in mind the fact, that tens of thousands had previously besought the Viceroy to grant the self-same favour.
But perhaps I had now better tell Conway of the Post who I am NOT. I have not started into political life with my advocacy for sale looking on politics as a trade, and honesty as a chimera. I have not been the tool of every ministry as the weathercock of interest guided me. I did not abuse the Tory government for packing a jury in O’Connell’s case, and applaud the Whigs for packing juries to convict the late political offenders. I am not the proverbial supporter of every tainted or renegade politician, whose gold or assurance bids him rush into public view. I do not hold my abilities as ladies of easy virtue do their attractions – the disposable commodity of the longest purse, and I am not the hack of all parties and the respected of none. Now, in conclusion, I beg to call the attentions of the “old man of the Post” to the following extract from the sermons of the late learned and Rev. Doctor Brown, in the hope that, even at the “eleventh hour”, the perusal may awaken some reflection in the breast of servile literary debasement:—
“Talents, disjointed from kindness, meekness, and charity, are not those glorious luminaries that shed their benignant influence on earth, but the glaring lightning that alarms, and blasts, and ravages whatever is placed in its way.”
In the meantime I beg to add, that I do not envy the possessor of such talents, in the present instance, the enjoyment of his meritorious reward.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
James Nugent, 30 Parkgate Street.
Sept 11, 1849.” (15)

 

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Faughalstown

In this townland, along the shoreline, you get the great fort of Mortimer, meaning it was built by Edmund Mortimer, Lord of Meath, in the reign of Henry IV and I believe it is in fact the centre of the Manor known as ‘Belgarde’ in the old records, especially because the early Ordnance Survey maps also show a ‘Court’ near this castle, which of course would be the Manor Court. As you get into the 16th century the two Manors owned by the Nugents are Belgarde and Fore, hence they must have been very associated with this castle back in the day.


Benison Lodge

Cutting quite a figure in this map is this house, you can see it about the centre/top of the picture. I think it was built by the Pakenham’s of nearby Tullynally, going by the early description of it as ‘Nonsuch’,(16) meaning it must have been substantial, but by the late 18th century it was owned by Anthony O’Reilly of the Baltrasna O’Reillys (his uncle, Alexander O’Reilly, was a Generalissimo in the Spanish army and was set to take the post of commander of the Spanish army of the east Pyrenees opposing Napoleon, when he died in 1794). He seemed to be a hard drinking and maybe womanising kind of person going by this description in the history of the hunts in Westmeath:

“The Kildares, consequently, ceased to make so many excursions into Meath. The Benison hunt was then in existence, and the Kildare sportsmen used to emigrate annually for a month to Castlepollard, where they put up at the head inn, Denis Kirkan’s brewery, and worshipped Diana by day and Bacchus by night. Mr. O’Reilly, of Benison Lodge, seems to have been a shining light of those days, for he accepted a challenge from Colonel Lennox to a bibacious tournament, commencing on Monday morning, to hunt all day and drink all night for a week. Two bottles of French brandy and two ounces of ’baccy were to be the after-dinner allowance. The Colonel was rather sorry for himself by the following Sunday, but the local boozer was quite cheery, and when he was discovered in the pantry, dancing with the servant-maid, the Colonel “threw up the sponge.”
This O’Reilly must have succeeded Anthony of that ilk, who was born just one hundred and fifty years ago, and murdered at Benison Lodge in 1803, said to have been shot by his own coachman, who was suspected of pilfering, and was watched by Mr. O’Reilly out of his bedroom window. The coachman, finding himself “spotted,” went to the harness-room, took down a gun which was hanging there, came back, and deliberately shot his master dead as he stood at the window.” (17)

The bad news is that this coachman, who is actually usually described as his steward, was Michael Nugent, of the Glenidan/Balnavine family and later the founder of that in Clonkeefy Co. Cavan.(18) You can read some documents of his interrogation after the shooting, and its pretty obvious that thats who the interrogators thought did it.(19)

As you can see, the writer in the above quote, thought it was because of ‘pilfering’ but no motive was ever really solidly put forward as far as I can tell. However its curious that we hear nothing about this Anthony ever been married but in the records of King’s Inns, obviously the centre of the barrister profession in Ireland, we have mention of a student there called:

“O’Reilly, Philip, 3rd son of Anthony, Benison Lodge, Co. Westmeath, and Elizabeth Nugent, both deceased.; over 16; educated Dorset Street; affidavit of Lloyd Henry Thomas, Dublin. May 1804.”(20)

Is it possible that this Philip was illegitimate and that maybe a daughter, or sister, of Michael Nugent was the mother, and possibly in circumstances which could generate a motive for this killing? Obviously this is just speculation, but I think worthwhile to consider, bearing in mind:
– The lack of a mention in the usual sources of any wife or marriage of Anthony O’Reilly, although, as you can see he did have a son, or indeed three of them. He is after all a prominent person in Westmeath at the time, inhabiting such a big house and coming from the Baltrasna O’Reillys, the mainline of the O’Reilly family. You would really expect to find out if he had married and who he was married to, so illegitimacy is not an unfair speculation here I don’t think.
– The coincidence that the mother of the child is Nugent.
– The further coincidence of the death of a Mary Nugent in that Nugent family in Bratty only a month before.(21) Bratty is the small townland that Benison Lodge is in, could she have been the mother of the child (allowing for a mistake between Mary and Elizabeth for her first name) and if so could Michael Nugent have blamed Anthony O’Reilly for her death?
– You have that reference in the Westmeath hunt history of O’Reilly been something of a drinker and carouser generally. (I appreciate that the Westmeath hunt quote above seems to refer to a different O’Reilly of that place, but actually this has to be a description of our Anthony, because there just isn’t any other prominent O’Reilly associated with this house. As pointed out, Anthony was from Baltrasna Co. Meath originally and shortly after his death the O’Reilly’s sold out any interest they had in the place.(22))
– You have the fact that Michael wasn’t even charged with the murder, even though everybody seemed to know he did it. If he was a steward stealing and then killing his landlord, I don’t think the powers that be, e.g. the two interrogators, Lord Longford and William Smyth of Barbavilla, being landlords, would be remotely sympathetic and would have moved heaven and earth to see him hung for the crime. But if the motivation was something like this speculation, they might have been sympathetic to Nugent, and conscious of scandalous information emerging in court with respect to their neighbour O’Reilly, which could have caused a lack of zeal in this investigation.
Such are the mysteries of this history!

 

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Streamstown

Then if you go South of Benison Lodge in that picture, and hit the lake shore, you will see the townland of Streamstown. There was an ancient Nugent family of this place, described by the O’Clerigh’s in their genealogical documents, which are part of the general historical push that led to the Annals of the Four Masters.(23) There we learn that that family are a branch of that of Newhaggard, near Trim in Co. Meath, which are ultimately from a son of William Oge who was a brother of the Baron of Delvin who flourished circa 1422. The last of them was a wealthy merchant called Thomas Nugent who had business interests here in Westmeath, Dublin, London and Montserrat of all places.(24)

Then the aforementioned Robert Nugent originally of Enagh, lived here for a while, I think in the 1740s, before moving back into Kiltomb maybe about the mid 1750s. Although we cannot be too exact, it appears that he built the house in Streamstown around that time, with proper walls but with a thatched roof, that was then rented for a few years by one Hyancinth Nangle and his young family.

Hyacinth was a grandson of Gerald or Garret Nangle of Mayne, near Coole Co. Westmeath, who had married into the Culvin (near the Longford/Westmeath border) branch of the Nugents. The Culvin family derive from John Nugent who was the son of a wealthy lawyer called Edmund Nugent who had accumulated a lot of money in his legal and business transactions and built a big house at Rathconnell near Mullingar. This John was actually the subject of a major court case after his father’s death, where he was accused of reneging on a promise of marriage and so was sued by the jilted party, the court case dates from about the 1620s or 30s and her complaint includes:

“And thereupon under these specious pretences and with his importunity and oaths she the said Marie being then under 14 years of age and weak of judgement and knowledge was at length won and seduced by him the said John being confidently persuaded the said John would accomplish and perform his vows and promises to her and that all this together with his said hand writing would bind him as well in law to be her husband as it did in conscience. And so the said Marie yielded to his will as man and wife and cohabited with him the said John in secret without the privity of her friends upon the colours before alleged, for about six months space...”

In reply to the charge John didn’t hold back:

“The truth is that the said Marie and her father John did often solicit this defendant to have given some help...to the said Marie for that she alleged and gave forth that this defendant had bedded her and gotten her with child which child she had been delivered of and had christened by the name of Edmond as this defendant heard. Yet, in so much as this defendant did well know and observe and that it is...well known unto several others that the said Marie was very immodest and careless of her own honesty and reputation and did suffer divers to have bedded her and had carnal copulation with her and before and after this defendant who might happily begot the said child so born and christened as this defendant heard and is informed.”(25)

Anyway this Garrett Nangle, a Major in the Irish army of James II and again the grandfather of the Hyancinth now in Streamstown, married Cicely Nugent in 1673, a daughter of that John and probably her brother Francis guaranteed her dowry, as would be normal enough now that the father was dead, i.e. a sum of money that came with her, her family being wealthy enough. But that family was quite unlucky as regards early deaths, as you can see in this quote from a description of them in Lodge’s Peerage from 1789:

“Of the branch of Culvin was John Nugent esq...dying in 1673 had five sons and two daughters, viz, Edmond his heir; Walter, who died unmarried in 1677; Lawrence who died in 1676; Robert, who died unmarried in 1677; as did Francis in 1676; Cicely, married in 1673 to Garrett Nangle of Mayne, in Westmeath esq...Edmond the eldest son,...dying in 1678 without issue, was succeeded by Edmond, son to his brother Lawrence, who being in Spain, came to Ireland in 1681, and died childless in 1684.”(26)

The problem with all of those deaths, and lack of heirs, is that probably nobody was still around to guarantee that debt, the dowry, but it still seems to have floated around among the Nangle family papers, for example in 1710 we hear of a:

“Draft indenture between Garrett Nangle of Co. Westmeath, gent., and Bruen Worthington of Dublin gent. Transferring a rent charge granted to Nangle by Francis Nugent late of Co. Westmeath, esq., 9 Nov. 1685 on lands in Co. Roscommon. Worthington was acting on behalf of William Conolly, who acquired these lands in 1703.”(27)

Anyway it seems that the grandson Hyancinth Nangle was renting this house for a while until he could build a house on the old family property at Mayne and so on a fateful 20th of March 1756 he was residing there in Streamstown with his young family. It appears that on that night his servant Jack Smith was collecting nuts at Blackmiles, just south of Knockbody Hill that you can see South of the lake in the picture, when he overheard some local villains planning to rob the house and kill all the inhabitants (to prevent future detection). Being an inarticulate type of person, as is recorded by tradition in 1832, he didn’t know what to do, except to rescue one of the boys of the house, Christopher, by bringing him to a lady that sometimes nursed him, nearby, and stayed there himself all night. That night all were massacred inside the house as planned, except that Christopher, but all the murderers were captured later, and hung on Knock Ion Hill that you can also see pictured to the East of the lake.(28)

Interestingly that doesn’t end the story of the ancient debt mentioned above. It seems that relatives of these Nangles living in France, continued to pursue the matter, particularly by contacting Robert Nugent Lord Clare about it in 1766. He was probably dragged into it as a prominent Nugent of the time, he was senior in the British government and the following year was in charge of the American Colonies for example, as President of the Board of Trade, and as such was negotiating with Benjamin Franklin on the subject.(29) Anyway he contacted his steward in Ireland to chase the matter up, Robert Nugent of Farrenconnell Co. Cavan (which is a branch of the Ballina family and a place he wanted to rename Bobsgrove after himself and the trees he planted, but he did preside over a change of name of the neighbouring village about this time, from Dalysbridge to Mountnugent), and he replied on the 8th April 1766:

“...have made all the enquiries I could to enable me to make you a satisfactory answer. Mr Dease being out of the Kingdom I applied to Mrs Dardis his sister, who recollects to have heard Hyancinth Nangle mention that affair and that the Bond was in his possession.
The lad mentioned in your father’s [Lord Clare’s father was a lawyer, Michael Nugent, and I think employed here for his legal expertise] letter to General Nugent was actually second son to John Nangle, late of Coole; who was to my own knowledge bred at Lille for a time and went from thence to Douai, where he finished his studies in expectation of being preferred in General Nugent’s Regiment of Horse. But being disappointed of his expectation, by means of the Regiment being sold to Fitz-James, he went to Berwick’s Regiment of foot; along with John Nugent of Drumcree and if you recollect was to wait on you at London with Nugent when in Dover Street. He purchased a lieutenancy in that Regiment and was killed at Fontenoy.
This debt was contracted before the War of Ireland, for which General Nangle became security, being married to a Nugent, one of the Taughmond or Drumcree family, which is the kindred your father mentions in his letter.
This Hyancinth Nangle, I mention, was eldest son of John Nangle, was married to a daughter of Mr Walter Dowdall of Clowen in the County of Meath, and was with his little family, all murdered by a parcel of villains, (except one infant then at nurse) and the house wherein he lived set on fire and all his papers, furniture etc, consumed.
The only heir of that family now existing is this child I mention, Christopher Nangle by name, is a minor about 12 years old and in the hands or guardianship of Mr John Lowder[?] and the Chancellor, to whom I suppose the lady who wrote to you must apply about the matter in question.
But you may depend the Nangles of Coole are the people to whom the debt is due and no other. If it be requisite to know more of the affair the person to give further account of it is Miss Siddy or Sidney Nangle, aunt to the minor and the only surviving child of John Nangle. She lives in Aran Quay in Dublin, has a house of her own.”(30)

Obviously he says there that Nangle and John Nugent of Drumcree were together a lot, and if he was wrong about Fontenoy, I wonder could this reference to the Wild Geese be relevant, it is from the Battle of Knotzka and in the newspapers of the 11th Sept 1739:

“Mr. Maguire, Mr. Nugent, and Mr. Nangle, gentlemen of Ireland who behaved themselves with great bravery, were likewise killed in this battle, with several other Irish volunteers.”(31)

 

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Taghmon

The ‘General Nugent’ that you see mentioned in the letter above was Major General Christopher Nugent of the French army, who was originally of Dardistown, not far from here towards Delvin, and Taghmon, this ancient hill that you see towards the bottom centre of your picture, and this is a branch of the family of Moyrath in Co. Meath, which was in turn founded by William Oge Nugent, as mentioned above. He was a determined military man, always anxious to clash swords with the British as you can see here in this reference from the muster of the Irish Jacobite army at the Curragh in early 1689:

“The scion of Taghmon I do espy,
Whose more religious heir has well preferred
To worldly castles altars of the Lord,
Bringing to Faith’s protection and to war
Richard, his tender years with strength rare-ripe
Outstripping. Their sad mother could not stop
Her sons of Dardistown from waging war,
Though she repeated oft to them the fate
At Buda of her second son. To fight,
The elder Christopher, thirsty for war
And trained across the seas, did animate
His younger brothers and to them alone
Commends the honour of the march to war.

Besides there come Dysart, Dunore, Drumcree,
Coolamber, ’nd Edmund [of Carlanstown] skilled in eloquence
.And speech, and countless others from his stock
And of the self-same name. All haste to bring
Their youth forth (as did Rome its Fabii),
Seeking that holy warfare for themselves
And, in their forebears’ way, to save the Faith.
As though the Trojan Nag’s bolts had been drawn,
They rush to war and vie t’excel themselves.”(32)

That is from the Latin poem of his first cousin (on Riverston’s mother’s side actually), Thomas Nugent, Lord Riverston, the Lord Justice of Ireland and sometime head of intelligence for the Irish Jacobite government in 1690.(33)
Christopher was one of the few people who, when faced with the choice of saving his estates and retiring from the army, or fighting on knowing he would become penniless, chose the latter, in Limerick in October 1691, as related by probably an eye witness, Nicholas Plunkett of Dunsoghly:

“The next day, being the 4th of October [1691], the peace was proclaimed at Limerick, and in the English camp. On the 5th, the Irish cavalry, that was encamped at Ennis, came close to the city: the foot-garrison thereof, for the most part, went out, and joined them. Here, before the Irish army, it was declared that they had liberty to dispose of themselves as they should think fit: either to go home and live peaceably in the kingdom: or to continue their service unto King James in France under the banners of the Most Christian King: or, in fin, to come under the pay of King William, as now he must be called by his own subjects the Irish. The invitations made to the Irish soldiers for embracing this side or that side were powerful. But at last the result was thus: all the estated men stayed in the kingdom, in order to enjoy their estates: except the Lord of Galmoy, the Earl of Lucan, Colonel Garret DiIlon, Sir Maurice Eustace of Castlemartin, Colonel Gordon O’Neill, Collonel Barret, Lieutenant-Colonel Nugent of Dardistown, and Captain Arthur of Hackettstown.”(34)

All his life he was gung ho about challenging the British but of course no real attack materialised in Ireland over those years after Limerick, much to the chagrin of the Irish in Ireland who always hoped for military assistance from the Wild Geese that they were very proud of. But twice the standard of rebellion was raised in Scotland, in 1715 and 1745-6, and Christopher, and later his regiment, was in the thick of it. He was one of the very few, maybe the only one really, among the French professional military class that accompanied the Stuart King to Scotland in 1715/6, alongwith 20 others from his regiment,(35) for which he was sacked as commander of his regiment under fierce British diplomatic pressure, and the remains of his old regiment, it was known as Nugents but then known as FitzJames, was again the only real professional French outfit to find its way to the famous Scottish killing ground of Culloden. Four Nugents survived and were indicted after that battle, including Francis Nugent who was the Quartermaster of the French troops in Scotland,(36) and five more were captured by the British aboard a French ship heading to join the rebellion in Scotland.(37)

In any case that hill of Taghmon was a very ancient property of the Nugents, for example there is a reference in 1433 where we find that “William Nugent” was a “tenant and occupier of 20 acres in Taghmon.”(38) Its so associated with the family that its by no means impossible that the Bishop of Meath 1252-1282, Hugh de Taghmon, was of this family and who was presumably involved in bringing the Franciscans into nearby Multyfarnham in 1268, where they still are of course (having been helped at the height of the anti-Catholic persecution, by Sir Thomas Nugent of Taghmon and Moyrath, who gave them a place to stay in Knightswood). In any case that date of the late 1200s must have been around the time when Blessed John Duns Scotus entered the Irish Franciscans, into their convent in Downpatrick Co. Down, and of course he became one of the greatest theologians and philosophers in history.(39) No doubt the friars in Multyfarnham were always proud of him and its interesting then that what seems to be the only surviving relic of the medieval friary, apart from the building itself and a holy water font from when they were in Knightswood, is an ancient portrait of that Duns Scotus.(40)


Monktown

But by the time of the late 18th and going into the 20th century nearly all the Nugents have gone from the area, with the sole exception of the Glenidan family who seem to have expanded into this whole Crooked Wood locale. They seem to be reasonably long term residents of the former place and are later associated with Balnavine, on the road into Collinstown coming from Meath, and which is right beside Glenidan.(41) It seems that the Thomas Nugent mentioned earlier as being of Crooked Wood is of this family, and he later went to live at Fox borow, that you can see on the map to the right of Taghmon, and it seems a descendant of his and another of these Nugents, became rate collectors, one of whom went to live and start a family in Grangegeeth a little to the West of these areas. Then in the early 20th or late 19th century, a branch of the Grangegeeth family came back to live in Crooked Wood, at a place you can just see at the bottom centre of the picture, Monktown. There they are still to be met, almost unique in being a Nugent family still living in Co. Westmeath.(42)

 

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Taghmon Church

In any case as you can see in the accompanying picture, probably the most prominent building in Taghmon is the ancient Church, possibly on the site or near that of the monastery of the Irish monks of that place, the followers of Saint Munna. But of course when you get to the late 17th and 18th centuries you are talking about a Church of Ireland building and the Protestant push, by law and state power, to convert the Irish away from Catholicism.

Don’t be under any illusions about these Penal Laws, the powers that be were very determined to root out Catholicism here, as you can see from this letter of the 15th Aug 1746 from Richard Levinge, of High Park (down the road nearer Mullingar from our map) to William Smyth of Barbavilla (off the top right hand side of this map, near Collinstown). Here he seems to be condemning some Catholic ceremony that was to take place in Rathconrath and which he was determined to stop:

“...to prevent as far as in me lies, the fatal effects of Popish Zeal, misguided by all its passionate votaries, under the simple pretences of exercising their vigour & Abilities for mere Diversion.
These monstrous & illegal assemblies are carried on by the consent, and for the benefit, of the priesthood, who render themselves obnoxious to those very Laws, which have established them in peace, & suspended the severity of government against them.
The Agents of Popery, Anarchy, & Tyranny, not to say Rebellion, have kept up the insolent spirits of the people, by these mock shows, & every other mark of blind & cruel superstition, which without opening their eyes. Though we may be able to disperse them in some measure, yet we can never hope to reduce them to reason, or civilize their riotous behaviour; without a Protestant assistance, more equal to their savage numbers, & powerful to maintain the Law & Gospel.
I shall order most of the priests of this Barony & those adjoining, to forbid their parishioners to assemble at Conragh, and all the High & Petty Constables to attend & suppress the next meeting...”(43)

He obviously despaired of the Protestant forces he could muster and its no surprise if this account of the Protestant priest in Taghmon from a few months before, is anything to go by. Its from Edmund L’Estrange, Clunchiver, to the same William Smyth of Barbavila, and dated 24th May 1746:

“Sir, The bearer James Morrow is the man that is entrusted with the care of the Revd. Mr. Dickson, whose house he left last Sunday to go to the Church of Taughmon; in the way there is a little Alehouse kept by one Winn, where he stopped; by what means the consequences will best inform you.
Morrow finding he did not come home, went for him the next day, but the poor man was too much Aleifyed[sic] to go with him, went since again, denied that he was there, but finding that he was, insisted upon bringing him home; upon which Winn starts up, and beat him, and has kept Mr. Dickson ever since. Morrow hears that he married a couple since he went there, upon which he came to me to know what he should do; and by my means he applies to you; who I am very sure will do what is proper upon the occasion. I am begging pardon for giving you the trouble of this.
Your most obedient humble servant.”(44)

And you thought you had problems, anyway hopefully some of this history was interesting and informative.

 

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Footnotes
1. Fr Edmund Hogan SJ, The Description of Ireland, 1598 (London, 1878), p.106.

2. NAI Lodge Ms 2, p.526.

3. Crown Rental Book, John Rylands Library, Latin Ms 215.

4. NAI Lodge Ms 19, p.61.

5. Qui semper probus fuit, et integer; difficile est probare malum; talis fuit hic religiosus in quo non fuit macula male conuersationis; versus Israelita (ita meum testabuntur omnes) in quo non erat dolus. Fuit ille ardens Ecclesiastes, in liberis humanis, et diuinis eximie doctris; multos annos fuit Societatis Jesu in Hiberniae Superior; quo exemplo; fructu, laude testimonum perhibebit ipsa Societas; et unas cum Societate tota Hibernia Clarus in illo Sanguis, fuit virtuti enius ornmento; Fuit dux, et ductor Missionariorum Ordinis Sui, aliaruagh in Hibernia; potens opere ac Sermone post se trahebat ac repiebat oppida, urbes, Dioceses integras, bona vita odore; et dicendi vehementia. Tanta ei inerat grauitas, sapientiae, candor, urbanitas; et familias Nobilissimas in timore Dei, ac pietate gubernaueret; inprimis domum Illustrima Domina Comitissa de Kildaria, qua prima Comitum Hibernia est familia.
(Nicholas French, Bishop of Ferns, Apologia pro se et aliis Catholicis, TCD Ms 652, NLI Pos 1462, c.1660, p.34, 1st part, chapter 7.

6. Brian Nugent, A Guide to the 18th Century Land Records in the Irish Registry of Deeds (Corstown, 2013), p.191-3.

7. 565-119-376876.

8. William Skey, Genealogical Memoir of the Ancient and Illustrious Family of Nugent (Dublin, 1849), p.28, manuscript.

9. It is not certain that they were siblings, or that they came from the Wardenstown family, but I believe they are from that family because of the first name Letitia, used by that Catherine’s niece, who I believe was the daughter of that Michael Nugent, Catherine Letitia Nugent, and especially because they lived in a house in Suffolk Street in Dublin that was built by Nugent Booker. You can see the Booker reference here from a Prerogative Will in what is the same family:
1707, 7 June, “Administration of Christopher Nugent of Rathfarne, Co. Westmeath, esq.;
granted to Jane Nugent, widow of deceased,
for the use of Heytor Nugent, Steward Nugent, James Nugent, Eliz. Powell alias Nugent, Mary Foole alias Nugent, Letticia Booker alias Nugent, Martha Nugent, Eliz. Nugent, Anne Nugent, and Jane Nugent, children of deceased. (Prerogative).”
(Nugent Papers, in, Analecta Hibernica, no 20 (Dublin, 1958), p.167.)
That they were siblings I am guessing from the fact that:
– Both of them were ‘out’, or at least associated with the 1798 rebellion (in the case of Michael you can see that in one of the newspaper references).
– Michael Nugent is the name of Catherine’s father, and also the name of the father of her niece Catherine Letitia Nugent, the latter brought up in London. So in that family of Catherine Nugent you have a brother Michael going from Dublin to London, while the London Michael is recorded as being a Parliamentary reporter for the old Irish Parliament before he did the same in London, which presumably would place his homeplace near that old Parliament building in Dublin, and then moving to London in the correct time span.
The coincidences hence add up.
For details of Catherine Nugent see: Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Esdaile Notebook, a volume of early poems (New York, 1964), p.216.; The Nation, vol 48 no 1250, Dublin 13 June 1889, p.486.; Irish News and Belfast Morning News 10/12/1896, p.7.; https://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/reels/cwa/005014890/005014890_00643.pdf ; ROD 432-252-280562, 468-492-312520 and 500-176-312521; Lady Rosa Mulholland Gilbert, Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin, 1778-1786 (Dublin, 1907) vol xiii, p.179 and 339; Betham Abstracts of Prerogative Marriage Licences, National Archives of Ireland, 2/434/8, p.57, no.131;
For information on that Michael Nugent, who was the joint author of “New Canterbury Tales, or the Glories of the Garrison” (London, 1811) and of “Six Weeks at Long’s” (London, 1817), both with William Jerdan, see: Morning Advertiser 2/5/1889, p.1.; Gentleman’s Magazine July 1845, p.86.; David James O’Donoghue, The Poets of Ireland, A Biographical Dictionary (London, 1892-3), p.178.; John William Cole, The Life and Theatrical Times of Charles Kean FSA (London, 1859) vol i, p.294-5.; William Jerdan, The Autobiography of William Jerdan (London, 1852) vol ii, p.176-7.; The Tablet 5/9/1846, p.574.; Hereford Journal 19/3/1845, p.1, Cheltenham Chronicle 27/3/1845, p.2, and Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard 1/4/1845, p.4.; Cork Examiner 14/3/1845, p.2.; Derbyshire Courier 29/11/1845, p.8, Cork Examiner 1/12/1845, p.4, and Derbyshire and Chesterfield Reporter 5/12/1845, p.4.

10. Hereford Journal 19/3/1845, p.1, Cheltenham Chronicle 27/3/1845, p.2, and Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard 1/4/1845, p.4.

11. The Tablet 5/9/1846, p.574.

12. Irish News and Belfast Morning News 10/12/1896, p.7.

13. Westmeath Journal 16/12/1830.

14. “...MARRIAGES. In Parkgate-street, on the 3d inst., James Nugent, of Lower Bridge street, son of the late James Nugent, Esq., of Mornington, county Westmeath, to Jane Teresa, relict of the late...”
(Dublin Morning Register 5/1/1841, p.2.)
The family of Monintown I assume to be a branch of the Ballindurrow family who are in turn a branch of Donore, because for example in the lease of Farrencallen, Parish of Taghmon, from Nugent of Donore to Monintown, of 9 July 1793 ROD 467-542-302162, its for the lives of James Nugent of that place, Christina his wife, and Walter, the son of Robert Nugent of Ballindurrow, and witnessed by the latter as well.
The Ballindurrow family begin with Robert Nugent of, who was a son of Edward Nugent of Donore, who died in 1733, by his second wife Elinor O’Dowd. (William Skey, Pedigree of the family of Nugent (Dublin, 1849), manuscript, p.76, and Genealogical Office Ms 267, Betham Sketch Pedigrees series 1, vol vii, p.88.) This family are quite distinguished, for example Walter Nugent, a brother of that Robert, was mortally wounded as a Captain in the British Marines at the action at Long Island, New York, on 27th Aug 1776, and his brother Edward, as a Captain in the East India Company, was in charge of all their military in the Persian Gulf in 1768.

15. Weekly Freeman’s Journal 15/9/1849, p.2, also Freeman’s Journal 13/9/1849, p.3.

16. Described as Nonsuch in the Registry of Deeds Land Index, Pollard to Ford 213-84-130733.

17. Edmund Fitzlaurence Dease, A complete history of the Westmeath hunt (Dublin, 1898), p.5.

18. See ROD 346-339-232435 6/10/1781. I believe this is the Michael Nugent in Benison Lodge because he is married into the general O’Reilly family of Baltrasna – the lands in Clonkeefy Co. Cavan that you see mentioned in the ROD there were originally owned by Thomas O’Reilly of Roebuck House, which is this Baltrasna family – and the first name Michael is reasonably rare in the Nugents, and his wife is named Bridget in both cases.

19. You can read the interrogation in Danny Dunne, The Town at the Crossroads, Baile na gCros (Castlepollard, 2006), p.92-4.

20. Edward Keane, Kings Inns Admission Papers 1607-1867 (Dublin, 1982), p.386. Incidentally Lord Longford, who, as pointed out, alongwith William Smyth of Barbavilla, conducted the interrogation, was actually an executor of this O’Reilly, and the legatees and beneficiaries of his estate sued him in court over it (Saunder’s Newsletter 7/10/1822, p.4.).

 

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21. Catholic Parish Registers Collinstown, deaths, 23rd August 1803: “Mary Nugent, Bratty”.

22. ROD 622-178-429028.

23. Analecta Hibernica, no 18, The O Clery Book of Genealogies, 23 D 17 R.I.A. (Dublin, 1951), p.187.

24. See Neil How, Thomas Nugent of Montserrat, and his links to Antigua, Ireland and England (2020), and:
“From this Family of Drumcree the Collaborative Branches of Streamstown, Newcastle and Newhaggard derive; of the former of which was Thomas Nugent, who in the Act of Parliament passed 9th Will. 3., to order the Reversal of several Outlawries & Attainders, had provision made that nothing therein contained extend to confirm the Outlawry, Attainder or Attainder passed on him, by the name of Thomas Nugent of Streamstown, alias of London merchant, alias of Montserrat in America, merchant, but that he, his Executors & Assigns,
should and might have such and the like Remedy, Benefit and Advantage to all intents and purposes for reversing such Outlawry &c as if such Act had never been made; he dying in London and left his Estate in England & Montserrat, of a considerable value to Christopher, now Lord Delvin.”
(NLI Ms 122, previously Philips Ms 15216 among Lindsay Papers, John Lodge’s letter on the genealogy of the Nugents c.1744, p.183.)

25. Mary O’Dowd, Property, Work and Home, Women and the Economy, c1170–1850, in, The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing (Cork, 2002) vol v, p.480 and 482.

26. Mervyn Archdall, The Peerage of Ireland...by John Lodge (Dublin, 1789) vol i, p.217.

27. Anthony Peter William Malcomson, The Connolly Archive (Dublin, 2010), p.112.

28. Thomas Ellingsale, The Angling Excursions of Gregory Greendrake (Dublin, 1832), p.194-196. and James Robinson, The Streamstown Murders, in, Irish Family History Journal (Dublin, 2001). I am reading a little between the lines here because no servant, in another house, is likely to be able to take a child like this out of a family home, unless it was a servant in that house, and the records refer to a Jack Smith, a manservant, that Hyancinth Nangle missed on that night but had expected to be there.

29. 1767, 25 Nov, Benjamin Franklin, in London, to William Franklin, “I waited next morning upon Lord Clare, and pressed the matter of the Boundary closely upon him. He said they could not find they had ever received any letters from Sir William [Johnson] concerning this Boundary, but were searching farther: agreed to the necessity of settling it; but thought there would be some difficulty about who should pay the purchase money; for that this country was already so loaded it could bear no more. We then talked of the new colonies. I found he was inclined to think one near the mouth of the Ohio might be of use, in securing the country, but did not much approve that at Detroit. And as to the trade he imagined it would be of little consequence if we had all the peltry to be purchased there, but supposed our traders would sell it chiefly to the French and Spaniards, at New Orleans, as he heard they had hitherto done.”
( https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-14-02-0196 .)

30. Archives Nationales, Paris, Fonds T 474 2, Papers relating to the families of Nugent and Rothe, in France, 18th century, NLI Pos 179. From London on the 18th August 1766, Lord Clare replies pointing out that the principal was £150, by his fathers letter, and hence the debt could now not exceed £300, because by law the added interest could not exceed the principle.

31. John Brady, Catholics and Catholicism in the Eighteenth Century Press (Maynooth, 1965), p.315, and mentioned also in Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal 29/9/1739, p.1., Stamford Mercury 4/10/1739 ,p.1-2, and Derby Mercury 4/10/1739, p.1.

32. “Taghmonidam video, cujus magis aentheus Haeres
Terrenis sacras bene praetulit Arcibus Aras,
Promentem in Fidei tutelam et Bella Richardum,
Praecocibus teneros praeeuntem viribus annos.
Dardistonanos nequijt tristissima Mater
A Bellis inhibere suos, licet ingerat illis
Alterius nati fatum Budense. Minores,
Quotquot erant, animat Fratres in proelia major
Christophorus peregre doctus bellique Sititor
Bellandique Illis solum commendat honorem.

Insuper accedunt Deserta, Dunora, Colambra,
Drumcria et eloquio pollens Edmundus et ore
Innumerique alij de Stirpe et nomine eodem,
Tanquam Roma suos Fabios, depromere Pubem
Quisque suam properat, ea Relligiosa petentem
Bella sibi atque Fidem Majorum more tuendam.
Trojani ceu claustra forent reserata Caballi,
Illi in bella ruunt seseque anteire laborant.”
(Thomas Nugent, Padraig Lenihan edit and Keith Sidwell trans, Poema de Hibernia (Dublin, 2018), p.168-9.)

33. Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report on the Manuscripts of Allan George Finch, vol ii (London, 1922), p.472.

34. John Thomas Gilbert, Historical Manuscripts Commission, 10th report appendix pt 5, The Manuscripts of the Marquis of Ormonde, et alios (London, 1885), p.179-180.

35. Historical Manuscripts Commission, Calendar of the Stuart Papers (Hereford, 1910) vol iv, p.32.

36. Thomas Wright, The History of Ireland (London, 1849) vol ii, p.338-9.

37. London Gazette 26/2/1746, p.2.

38. Extracts from the Memoranda Rolls, Ferns Diocesan Archives 1/16, p.1076 and 1/12 p.579.

39. See http://www.orwellianireland.com/scotus.html .

40. Fr Paul Walsh, Ordnance Survey Letters of Westmeath, in the, Westmeath Examiner 5/7/1913), p.7.

41. For example in the registration of priests in 1704, a Nicholas Nugent of Glenidan went guarantor for the parish priest of St Mary’s in Fore. I presume this family – although it is still tentative – is a branch of that of Robinstown, on the Eastern shore of Lough Ennell, who in turn are descendants of the judge executed in 1582, Nicholas Nugent, an uncle of the then Baron of Delvin. I say that because the Fays of this place had leased land there to Richard Nugent of Robinstown in 1639. (Geraldine Tallon, Court of Claims, Submissions and Evidence, 1663 (Dublin, 2006), p.45.)

42. This part is largely based on oral history derived from the family now in Grangegeeth and Monktown, whom I’d like to thank.

43. NLI Ms 41,590 17, Smythe of Barbavilla Papers, letters to William Smyth arranged chronologically, 1710-1762.

44. NLI Ms 41,590 17, Smythe of Barbavilla Papers, letters to William Smyth arranged chronologically, 1710-1762.