Freke Estate (Cork) Survey of 1787/88 by Thomas Sherrard

Sir John Freke (1765-1845), who succeeded to the title of 6th Baron Carbery on the death of his cousin John Evans, fifth Baron Carbery in 1807, was an extensive Munster landowner of the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century. Thomas Sherrard (1750-1837),  a prominent Dublin-based land surveyor,  learned his profession as an apprentice to Bernard Scalé (1738-1826), the most notable pupil of the renowned 18th century Huguenot cartographer John Rocque (c. 1705-1762), who revolutionised cartography and surveying in Ireland during the circa six years he spent based in Dublin during the 1750s. As well as his salaried public appointment as surveyor and secretary to the Dublin Wide Streets Commission (Sherrard Street, Upper and Lower, in Dublin is named after him), Sherrard was a leading player in the business of mapping and valuing private estates in Ireland. (see History Ireland article by P. Duffy, St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and references therein, for an overview of 18th century estate maps).  One of these commissions was to carry out a survey of the County Cork holdings of the Freke estate. A black and white photostat copy of this survey in good condition is held by the National Library of Ireland (Manuscript Map 21 F 105).

The original document survives intact in private hands, information that came to the author’s attention several years ago courtesy of his cousin Joseph McCarthy. Its custodian, the Dean of Ross, Christopher Peters, has generously granted UCC access to digitize the document, and the digitization work was carried out in 2017 by Mr. Tomas Tyner of UCC Audio Visual Services with funding provided by UCC School of History. The document, of width 73 cm and height 52.5 cm, comprises a front cover and title page, both dated 1787, a 'General Survey' showing the relative locations (identified by page numbers) of all maps, and 37 numbered survey maps for 46 townlands (55 when including cases where single townlands in the survey correspond to multiple townlands today), distributed across 14 civil parishes in three baronies stretching from Durrus at the mouth of Dunmanus Bay to Athnowen near Cork City. With the exception of Maps 5,11 and 28 which are undated, all maps are dated 1788. A reference for the town of Rosscarbery (Map 17, which is framed) tabulates occupier names and corresponding house indices for some 140 dwellings and a minimum of 126 distinct occupiers (when multiple ocurrences of the same name are assumed to relate to one individual). The breakdown in dwelling categories is as follows: 90 cabins, 37 houses and 14 slate houses which equates to an approximate percentage breakdown of 65:25:10. A similar reference for the Borough of Baltimore lists the 20 distinct occupiers of 28 dwellings or land holdings, whose locations are identified on Map 21. With the exception of Map 17, all maps are on a scale of 1 inch to 20 perches, or 1:3960. An index of all townlands in the survey, together with their acreages, is also included and gives the total area of the surveyed lands as 15, 276 statute acres (with minor exclusions).

The main table below (Table 1) with the title 'Townland Survey Maps' comprises nine columns, the contents of which are described in the column headings. The individual survey maps are accessed from the first column. The linked image corresponds to the survey page number given in the second column. These page numbers are shown both in the 'General Survey' and in the 'Index of townlands'.  In most cases, the boundary of a townland in the survey is readily identifiable with the current townland boundary (accessed via links provided to townlands.ie in the third column), albeit often with an implicit rotation (by as much as 90 degrees, see for example the townland of Clodagh, Map 27) of the survey map given that the North Arrow is rarely pointing straight upwards, and moreover is frequently oriented incorrectly. In general, the 1787/88 and current boundaries match very well, and this is mirrored by the similarities between the survey acreages given in column eight and those taken from townlands.ie in column nine (the letters a, r, p  refer to acres, roods, perches (recte square perches); one acre = four roods and one rood = forty (square) perches and all quantities are in statute measure).  In some instances, however, additional composite maps are provided via links in the second column. These were deemed necessary where the correspondence between 1787/88 and current townland boundaries is not easily discernible, or where a single townland boundary in the survey encompasses multiple present-day townlands. This is most pronounced in the case of Bally Island (Map 26 of the survey), where what is described as a single townland of 823 statute acres encompasses (with minor boundary changes) no fewer than six distinct townlands today. The converse also occurs, e.g. in the case of the modern townland of Curraghbeg (Athnowen civil parish) where the same boundary encompassed three separate townlands in 1787/88 (see Maps 32-34).  In such cases, the acreages given in columns eight and nine disagree; however curly brackets in one of the two final columns are used to indicate a grouping of vertically adjacent acreages whose sum, in each of the four cases where this circumstance arises, is very close to the corresponding unbracketed total acreage in the other column.

In eight of the 37 maps (Maps 4,10,11,13,16,18,19 and 24) the names of individual tenants and the location of their holdings are specified. This information is reproduced in Table 2 with the title 'Named tenants and their holdings'.

The information in the Town of Old Ross reference is reproduced in Table 3 ('Reference for Town of Old Ross'). In like manner, the information in the Borough of Baltimore reference is reproduced in Table 4 ('Reference for Borough of Baltimore').

All but one of the maps contain information on lands bordering Freke Estate lands and their owners. This information is reproduced in Table 5 with the title 'Adjacent lands (not belonging to the Freke Estate) and their owners '. It also includes occasional topographical features.

A lettings advertisement for circa two thirds of the lands included in the 1787/88 survey appeared in the Cork Evening Post edition of 31/8/1786 (referenced in "Old World Colony, Cork and South Munster 1630-1830", David Dickson, (CUP, 2005) p.341). This reproduction of the advertisement from microfiche (courtesy of the National Library of Ireland) is of sometimes challenging legibility, and for convenience the contents are provided in the form of a transcription presented in Table 6(a-c) with question marks appended to poorly legible text. (Text from the advertisement is in italics or enclosed in quotes to differentiate it from notes referring to the tables.) It includes the number of plowlands (sic) in each townland as well as townland acreages. The wide variation in the acreages associated with each ploughland - ranging from 101 acres for one ploughland in the case of Milltown to 456 acres per ploughland for the three ploughlands of Ballycomaune - reflects the use of the ploughland measure as an indicator of the quality of the land rather than of a fixed acreage: Milltown is described on Map 4 as "Arable Meadow and Pasture" whereas only 266 acres of Ballycomaune (Middle Division) is rated as "Arable and Pasture", corresponding to 87 acres of good land per ploughland. Of the remaining land, 318 acres is labelled "Course Mountain Pasture" and the balance of 730 acres is described as "Arable and Mountain Pasture". The 1787/88 survey acreages, as recorded by Sherrard in the course of the two years following this advertisement, are reproduced in the last column for comparison. Spelling of townland names in the advertisement deviates, sometimes significantly, from those of the survey in the first column of the main table.

Pádraig Mac Cárthaigh, Earrach, 2019

(I wish to thank Kenneth Nicholls and Paul MacCotter for their invaluable guidance in preparing these notes and Andy Bielenberg for pointing me towards the work of David Dickson. I take sole responsibility, however, for any inaccuracies that may lurk in the text.)

Front Cover

Title Page

Civil Parishes and Townlands in the Freke Estate (Cork) Survey of 1787/88 by Thomas Sherrard

General Survey key to maps