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Tenants of the Twelve Churchlands of Ardstraw, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland Address to the Bishop of Derry 1832

Extracted from STRABANE & WEST ULSTER IN THE 1800s: HISTORY FROM THE BROADSHEETS – Faye L. Logue (Strabane History Society)
Transcribed, Compiled & Submitted by Len Swindley, Melbourne, Australia
len_swindley[at]hotmail.com

 

 

STRABANE MORNING POST Tuesday, May 15, 1832

To the Honourable and Right Rev. Richard Ponsonby, D.D. Lord Bishop of Derry

May it please your Lordship,

We, your Lordship’s Tenants of the Twelve Townlands of Ardstraw, in the County of Tyrone, beg leave to express our warmest gratitude for your disinterested and benevolent conduct towards us, on a late occasion.

Your Lordship, with a disinterestedness which must enhance your character in public estimation, renewed the Leases of our present Holdings, which had nearly expired, and which, perhaps, in other hands, and under other circumstances, might have been withheld. By this generous act of your Lordship, you have conferred on us, and our families, a lasting favour. Were the example thus set by your Lordship, imitated by the landed Proprietors of Ireland in general, our ill-fated country would cease to be a bye-word, as it is, for poverty, crime and every species of degradation, and wretchedness. Were such tenderness and concern shewn towards the middle and lower classes in society, by those of rank and influence, our industry and strength, instead of being driven to a foreign soil, would be directed to the more natural and surely a more desirable channel of calling forth the exuberant and hitherto unexplored rich resources of our native country.

We beg leave to express our warmest thanks to CHARLES STUDDERT, ESQ. for fulfilling, in so very handsome a manner, on the occasion above alluded to, your Lordship’s benevolent intentions.

May 3, 1832

ACHESON Robert, Jun.

ADAMS James

ADAMS William

ALEXANDER John

ALEXANDER Joseph

ALLEN John

ALLEN Mary

ALLEN Thomas

ATCHESON Robert

BAIRD Andrew

BAIRD Joseph

BAIRD Moses

BRADLEY Bernard

BRADLEY Patrick

BRECK

BREDIN James

BROWN Thomas

CALDWELL Andrew

CLARKE Robert

CRAIG James

CRAWFORD James

CRAWFORD Josias

CRAWFORD Samuel, Jun.

CRAWFORD Samuel

CRAWFORD W. A.

CUNNINGHAM Robert

DEAN Alexander

DEAN Andrew

DEAN James

DEAN Robert

DICK John

DICK Patrick

DUDGEON Widow

DUNN James

DUNN Robert

EDIE A. C.

EDIE Edward, J. P.

FAUSETT Charles

FINLAY Samuel

FORBES Andrew

FORBES Margaret

FORBES Violet

FORSYTHE John

FOSTER Arthur

GALLAUGHER Charles

GIVEN John

GIVEN William

HART Thomas

HAYES Isabella

HILL Anne

HILL Robert

HOUSTON Samuel

IRWINE James

IRWINE Thomas

JACK Andrew

JACK John

JACK Patrick

KELLY George

KERR Francis

KERR James

KERR Letitia

KERR Patrick

KERR William

KING William

KNOX Charles

KNOX Charles, Jun.

KNOX Margaret

KNOX Margaret

KNOX Mathew

KNOX Robert

LEITCH Andrew

LEITCH Andrew

LEITCH Elizabeth

LEITCH George

LEITCH James

LEITCH John

LEITCH Johnston

LEITCH Samuel

LINDSAY Thomas

LOVE Andrew Tom

LOVE David

LOVE James

LOVE James

LOVE James Jun.

McKEE Mathew

MATHEWSON Lavens

McCARTHER Rev. John

McCAY John

McCAY Robert

McCLINTOCK Francis

MEALEY David

MILLER Andrew T.

MILLER David

MONTEITH Agnes

MOORE Joshua

MOORE William

MORTLAND Charles

NELSON Catherine

NELSON Mathew

O’KANE Quenton

O’NEILL John

PATRICK Joseph

PATRICK William

PATRICK William

PORTER James

POTTER Arthur

POTTER John

REA James

REA Thomas

ROBB John

ROSS John

RUSSEL George

RUSSEL James

RUSSELL James

RUSSELL Mathew

SHEARON Patrick

SIMPSON Thomas

SMYTH John

STEELE Samuel

STEVENSON John

TAGGART Rebecca

TAGGART William, J. P.

WATSON William

WELCH Andrew

WELCH James

WELCH Stewart

WILSON James

WILSON William

WOODS David

To this Address his Lordship returned the following answer:

Gentlemen-- The kind and unanimous expression of your approbation of my conduct upon the occasion to which you have alluded, has afforded me sincere satisfaction. To possess the favourable opinion of so respectable a body as the Tenantry of Ardstraw, must, at all times, be truly gratifying; but upon the present occasion it is doubly so.

Your public approval of the course which I have pursued, respecting the renewal of your Leases, furnishes, in my humble judgement, a proof of the injustice preferred against me, and a refutation of the assertions of those who have sought to hold me up as the oppressor of my Tenantry. To say that I was divested of a feeling of anxiety for the interest of my family, would be hypocrisy on my part; but I can conscientiously declare, that I have been actuated by a desire to consult your welfare as well as my own, and to insure, to the utmost of my power, your comfort and independence --- to the accomplishment of these objects my efforts have been most anxiously directed; and if I shall be permitted, by a merciful Providence, to witness their success, I shall feel amply compensated for whatever sacrifice I may have made. It will afford me sincere pleasure to communicate to my Agent, MR. STUDDART, the kind feelings which you entertain for him, and the gratitude you have expressed for the manner in which he has acted. The possession of your favourable opinion must, I am persuaded, be most acceptable to him, and that he will return it, I cannot doubt, if kindness, impartiality, and attention to his various duties can entitle him to do so.

RICHARD DERRY

The CHURCHLANDS OF ARDSTRAW comprised twelve townlands belonging to the See of Derry; the income provided for the benefit of the Established Church. For a period they were leased by the Marquis of Abercorn and the 1807 Churchlands rentals can be found amongst Abercorn records. The Churchlands comprised the following townlands:

 

BIRNAGHS

MILLTOWN

MAGHERACOLTAN

LISLAFERTY

CARNKENNY

KILSTRULE

MEAGHY

TIEVENNY

KILLEEN

BROCKLIS

ARDSTRAW

URBALREAGH