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CHAPTER THREE
"THE
HOMEPLACE"
The house and
farm where Big John Tinneny, his ancestors and descendants,
lived is referred to throughout this text as "The
Homeplace." For as far back as I was able to research, it
seems to have been the primary, of several Tinneny houses and
farms on Goladuff down through the generations. It is located
in the townland of Goladuff, the town of Newtownbutler, County
Fermanagh, Ulster Province, Northern Ireland. Goladuff is an
island-like piece of land connected by a small neck to County
Fermanagh.
In the winter
months the rains cause flooding that results in Goladuff being
cut off from the mainland and in effect becomes an
island. The bodies of water that surround it are the
River Erne on the west, Quivvy Lough on the south and the
River Finn on the east. The border between the Republic and
Northern Ireland runs midway through Quivvy Lough. The
homeplace is located approximately 200 yards from the water's
edge in a cluster of trees and vegetation, which is surrounded
by pastures.
Photo: Tunnel of Vegetation
Approaching the Homeplace.
During a visit to
Goladuff in May 1992, Hubert Tinneny took me to Goladuff.
Along with his young son Hugh, we crossed Quivvy Lough by
rowboat from Hubert's farm, which was located directly cross
the Lough from Goladuff in Belturbet, County Cavan in the
Republic. As we approached the shoreline of Goladuff and then
walked crossed about 150 yards of open pasture, the homeplace
could not be seen because of the vegetation surrounding it.
Not until we entered the tree line and walked the last 50
yards through a tunnel of limbs and foliage, did it come into
sight.
The four external
walls of the house were standing, as were the three interior
walls, which divided the interior of the house into four
rooms. All of the walls were bare stone. The roof, which had
been thatched, was long gone. The house measured approximately
18 feet wide and 50 feet long. It had two doorways leading to
the interior, both of which enter from opposing walls into the
kitchen/living area.
Photo:
Rich in front of the door at the homeplace.
As we entered the
house there was a fireplace and hearth along the left wall of
the combination kitchen and living room. On the opposite wall
from the fireplace were several small square niches about six
feet above the earthen floor. These were probably used to store
small items, candles and lanterns. Through the doorway to
the left of the kitchen/living room was another room with
a fireplace. This would have been used as a bedroom and sitting
room. A door in this bedroom/sitting room leads to a second
bedroom on that end of the house.
Maisie Tinneny, who
frequented the homeplace growing up in the 1940s and 50s
recalled that the place was sparsely furnished. In the kitchen
was a wooden table with wooden chairs. In the bedrooms were
small wooden wardrobes, a bed and a chair. She recalled that the
boys, her uncles, had their belongings on a chair next to their
beds.
Photo:
The Remains of the Fireplace in the Kitchen
Going back to the
entrance door of the house and to it's right, as one enters the
house, was a room that was used as a workroom. The workroom
still contained the large metal butter churning machine which
was powered by a mule driven gears and a shaft, from outside the
house Mary Ann Tinneny, the wife of Big John Tinneny’s son
James, used the churn to make butter which she sold in the town
of Belturbet. She was the last person that used the churn.
Although the exterior and interior walls of the house were once
finished smooth and whitewashed, in 1992 only the rough
unmortared stones remained. During a visit in 2001, the walls
were noticeably leaning. Compared with other houses of the time
the homeplace was quite large. Within several yards of the house
is a smaller stone out-building which was used to thrash wheat
and oats. About 50 yards beyond that is another stone building,
which was the barn for the farm animals.
The homeplace was
occupied until the 1960s. It's last occupant and owner until he
died in November 1994 at the age of 93, was Philip “Phil”
Tinneny. Phil was the grandson of Big John Tinneny
and was the oldest Tinneny that I have been able to locate. He
was a bachelor and lived alone in a caravan (mobile home) on the
farm, not far from the remains of the homeplace.
Although the
Tinnenys are believed to have lived at Goladuff since the 1600s,
the earliest documented evidence of their presence there, that
I've been able to locate, dates back to 1732. It is found on the
headstone at the Tinneny burial plot in Drummully Cemetery,
County Fermanagh.
Photo: The Tinneny
Headstone in Drumully Cemetery "Thomas Tinneny died 1807”
born about 1734
Drummully is
located about 4 miles from Goladuff. The single headstone that
marks the gravesite of many generations of Tinnenys was erected
in memory of Thomas Tinneny of Goladuff who was born about 1732
and died in February 1807. Thomas was probably not the first of
the family to be buried there and he was certainly not the
last.
The Irish
Government's Ordinance Map of 1835 shows the Tinneny
homeplace and farm, along with other Tinneny houses and farms
that were on Goladuff at that time. Likewise, Griffith's
Valuation of the parish of Drummully in 1862 shows there were
four Tinneny families with houses and land on Goladuff in the
mid-1800s. The valuation shows the Tinnenys were all tenants of
John McClintock. In 1862 the largest
of the Tinneny farms was the homeplace which was occupied by Big
John Tinneny, his wife Margaret McAdam and their children,
including Yankee Pat who eventually established the family in
America. The three other Tinneny households on Goladuff in 1862
were headed by Philip Sr., Philip Jr. and Isabella. The Tummin
and the McAvenue families were the only other families living on
Goladuff at the time. Like their Tinneny neighbors, the Tummins
and the McAvenues were tenant farmers.
Originally, the
homeplace was probably situated on a 4 ½ acre plot of land,
since that was the usual size of the farms that the British
landlords parceled out to their tenants. Over the years the
Tinneny farm grew as adjacent parcels of land were acquired and
added and the property was passed down as one. In 1994 about a
quarter mile across the pasture from the homeplace were the
ruins of several other smaller stone houses. One of these, Pat's
house, was built in the 1950s. One of the workers who built it
was Paddy Connolly. The last occupants of two of these houses
were John and Patrick Tinneny. They were the sons of Big John
Tinneny's son Francis. Like the homeplace, these houses are no
longer habitable.
According to Phil
Tinneny, the Tinnenys were able to survive the great famine of
the mid-1800s that devastated so much of the population because
of the location of Goladuff. Since it was surrounded by water,
and the rivers and lough were so well stocked with fish, they
were able to catch and eat fish, unlike the population in other
parts of the country that depended totally on crops for their
survival. Even in the winter the Tinnenys were able to catch
fish by breaking a hole through the ice and fishing through the
hole.
Phil's assessment
of the impact of the famine on the residents of Goladuff is
supported when one looks at census reports for the years 1841,
pre famine, and 1851 post famine. In 1841 there were a total of
50 inhabitants of Goladuff. There were 24 males and 26 females.
Ten years later, in 1851, there were 49 inhabitants, 26 males
and 23 females a change of only one person. The census records
also showed that there were 8 buildings on Goladuff at the time
and that the land was valued at 73 pounds and 18
shillings.
 Photo:
Mary Ann Tinneny, wife of James, sitting on the family cot on
the shore of Goladuff. In the background across the lough
is Quivvey. Courtesy of Mary McGarvey.
Likewise, since they
were located on the lough, they always had cots, which they
regularly used to haul grain and corn for the neighboring
farmers and others in the area. To supplement their rations they
would salvage the remnants of grain left in the bottom of the
boats, dry it, grind it and make it into bread.
During the latter
part of the 1800s, Goladuff was a small part of the 40,000 acre
estate of Lord Rothdonald. Lord Rothdonald owned Goladuff but
didn't live there. He lived at his castle in County Down. As was
the case with the other residents of Goladuff and generally with
all of the Irish Catholics at the time, the Tinnenys rented
their land from a Protestant landlord. By the late 1800s Big
John Tinneny had passed away and his widow Margaret, their son
James and his wife Mary Ann were living in the homeplace.
On "Gale
Day", which was in the Fall of the year, all of the tenants
in this part of Fermanagh County were required to travel into
the town of Newtownbutler to pay six months advance rent. They
were always required to pay a half years rent in advance. The
agents of the landlords who collected the rent would never
accept a partial payment no matter how little was missing from
the amount due. If the tenant did not have the full amount due,
the agent would get an eviction bill. The bailiff would execute
the bill by going to the tenant's house accompanied by the
police. He would strike the corner of the house three times and
read the eviction notice. Then the police would enter the house
with their spears and throw the occupants and their belongings
out of the house. The family would then go behind the hedge and
live in the woods. Phil Tinneny remembered hearing that all of
the Tinnenys at Goladuff were evicted in this manner at one time
or another.
Phil told of the
time, following implementation of Gladestone's Land Reform Act,
which gave the tenants in Ireland the right to challenge their
landlords, when his grandmother, Big John's widow, did just
that. Along with her son James and his young wife Mary Ann,
Margaret went to Newtownbutler to pay the rent on the homeplace
on Gale Day. When she laid down the six months rent the
landlord's man would not take it. She was probably slightly
short of the amount that was due. Margaret took her fist and hit
the table "Be devil," she said, "I'll land you in
the land court." She then picked up the rent money, put it
into her pocket and told the landlord's agent to "go to
hell". Margaret, James and Mary Ann then left and returned
to Goladuff. As evidenced by this account and Phil's memory, his
grandmother Margaret could be a "fierce and high tempered
woman".
On their return to
Goladuff, James and his mother immediately set out to build
their case for the hearing at the land court. James contracted
two lawyers, Tony Dogen or Dugeon and another lawyer named
Fitzgerald. They in turn had the Darlin brothers, from down the
River Erne, come and evaluate the land. The brothers went into
every field, dug holes and took soil samples. Phil rememberd
when, as a young boy working in the fields, there was still
evidence of these holes as late as 1914.
The Darlins
documented their evaluation of the house and land on a
"pink sheet". The pink sheet was the document that was
used at the time to record property evaluations. James presented
the pink sheet to the barrister in preparation for the hearing
and the barrister rejected it saying, "I'll not accept
that, anyone can place their cattle on the road." Dogen
then went to Goladuff himself and wrote an additional evaluation
which included the statement "the house was dilapidated and
there were no fences." Now they were ready for court.
On the day the
hearing was scheduled, Margaret was sick in bed and unable to
make the train trip to Enniskillen to appear in court. James was
deputed to represent her. James, Tony Dogen and Fitzgerald
traveled to Enniskillen for the hearing. According to Phil, the
hearing was held at the law court in Enniskillen and began at
10:00a.m. The landlord's lawyer got up and made a good
presentation. There were three lawyers representing Margaret in
the lawyers’ box. When it became time to present her case,
Tony Dogen did a masterful job. The judge decreed on the spot
that the rent be reduced from 21 pounds a year to 14 pounds a
year.
Meanwhile back on
Goladuff, many of their neighbors thought that James would
probably go to jail as a result of challenging the landlord,
especially, since like his mother "he had a fierce
temper." Also this was the first time that a tenant had
taken advantage of Gladestone's new act, at least the first time
in the area of Goladuff.
 There
were seven men waiting at the train station when James and the
lawyers returned that evening from Enniskellen. All of them were
greatly surprised that James had been successful and lamented
the fact that they had been too afraid to challenge the landlord
about their rent. Likewise, they were all apologetic that they
hadn't gone to the court to support James. According to Phil,
"That night, old Ned Tummins brought whiskey to the house
and the homeplace was full of visitors, Protestants and
Catholics alike, who celebrated the Tinneny's victory in the
land court." In later years all of the neighboring tenants
followed Margaret and James' lead and successfully had their
rents reduced.
Photo: Phil Tinneny
at 91 years of age in 1992. He was the last Tinneny to
live on Goladuff. He died in 1994
As a result of
another of Gladestone's reform acts, tenants were to be given
their land free and clear once they had paid rent on it for 69
years. Phil, the son of James who fought the land court battle,
remembered his father telling him many times that when his
(Phil's) sister Mary reached 70 years old the land would be
nearly paid off.
Although Mary did
not live to reach 70, one year in the 1970s, Phil, the only
remaining Tinneny on Goladuff, sent the traditional half years
rent in. That year half of the rent payment was refunded to him,
thus the 69 years were up. The homeplace and it's farmland,
which our family had occupied for several hundred years as
tenants was now owned free and clear by Phil Tinneny.
See the Goladuff
Page for
more photos and information about Goladuff including a poem by
Lee Tinneny.
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