Dr Killeen of Brick Lane

[Gary Barnett]

The whole situation need not have arisen if he'd been given tea from a Laurel and Hardy mug. That's what I have mine from.

I have a Count Arthur Strong mug.

[Gary Barnett]

I’ve found a parliamentary document listing Irish ‘outrages’ (crimes) in 1846, and one of them was the sending of 13 threatening eviction notices by a Patrick Lysaght of Clonfeigh.

This is from a tithe applotment book and dates from 1825, I think. Patt Lysaght is at the top and there are 13 names below his.



It seems Lysaght was unable to budge his undertenants, and the Crowe freeholder stepped in to make a ‘clean sweep’ of them.

The ultimate beneficiaries of all this were the Killeens.

[Howard Brown]

[Gary Barnett]

In 1895, Tim applied for the position of Medical Officer of the Ennis Union. There were three candidates: Tim came third.

Having achieved the positions of MO, MOH and Registrar for the Killaniv Dispensary District, Tim’s career doesn’t seem to have progressed any further.

I’m at a loss to discover where the ‘Dispensary’ - the building - actually was during Tim’s time in office. In 1915, the Ennis Guardians applied for, but were refused, a £1,000 loan to ‘purchase a site and erect a dispensary thereon in the Killaniv Dispensary District’. But back in 1914 there had been a libel case involving allegedly overpriced furniture being delivered to the ‘new’ dispensary at Killaniv.

Was the Dispensary run from Clonfeigh - the Killeen’s House or one of its outbuildings?

[Robert Linford]

Maybe an old map of the area would sort it out.

[Gary Barnett]

Maybe an old map of the area would sort it out.

This is the largest scale map of Cloonfeagh (the farm) I’ve found so far:



There are a few press reports about the poor state of repair of the Dispensary in the 1850s. But that was well before Tim’s time.

[Gary Barnett]

This from the Clare Journal of 25th October, 1866 is suggestive of the sort of shenanigans that went on in the appointment of minor local officials.

[Gary Barnett]

Looking at maps of Clare is a rather nostalgic experience for me. At one time the Burren area of NW Clare was a favourite walking area for me and Mrs B. The Burren is a very strange limestone landscape (see below) full of mysterious prehistoric sites.

I just dug out my favourite map of the Burren and discovered that I’d highlighted a number of interesting features, including:

St Brigid’s Bush

Holy Well: toothache cure

Blessed Bush and marks of St Brigid’s knees

A strange field

Arched stone for headache cure

Wart cure

Eye cure

Grave of Saint’s servant

Mark of Saint’s fingers in stone

Chair in rock: backache cure

And there’s lots more.

If you’re a map addict, The Burren by T. D. Robinson is a must have (IMO).

[Robert Linford]

Hi Gary


Who was making money out of the 'cures'?

[Gary Barnett]

Hi Gary


Who was making money out of the 'cures'?

I don’t know. Perhaps back in the day the landowner charged the wealthier sufferers a few pence to be guided to the spot? On one occasion Mrs B dipped her feet in one of the wells that was supposed to relieve aches and pains in the bones and was miraculously cured of what she suspected was incipient arthritis.

[Gary Barnett]

T. D. Robinson

He was another Tim and it seems he died just a few weeks ago.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.i...448%3fmode=amp

How weird that I should dig out his maps now after 20 years or more. Spooky.

[Gary Barnett]

He was another Tim and it seems he died just a few weeks ago.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.i...448%3fmode=amp

How weird that I should dig out his maps now after 20 years or more. Spooky.

He died of Covid!

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.t...inson-obituary

[Robert Linford]

I don't know if this is any help. At 3.00 there is a man comparing two maps past and present. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNify3eqNAQ This seems to be what he was using (?)


https://maps.nls.uk/

[Gary Barnett]

I don't know if this is any help. At 3.00 there is a man comparing two maps past and present. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNify3eqNAQ This seems to be what he was using (?)


https://maps.nls.uk/

Thanks, Rob. I use that site quite a lot, but I don’t think they cover Ireland. I’ll keep looking.

I’m not sure that there were any significant settlements in the Killaniv District, so its not obvious where the dispensary building would have been located. On the 1901 census there is an outbuilding recorded at Clonfeigh which was being used for ‘other puposes’ (I think that’s the term). It might have been the khazi, but equally it might have been where Killeen received patients.

[Cogidubnus]

Side by Side maps do have some limited Irish coverage, but only back into the 1940s (comparing to satellite imaging)...