Solloghodbeg Townland, County Tipperary

From about 1833 to 1851, John and Johanna Dwyer were tenant farmers on a dairy farm in Solloghodbeg townland, County Tipperary, about 5.5 kilometers north of Tipperary Town. This location is just south of Kilnamanagh, the ancient home of the O'Dwyer clan.  

John Dwyer's farm, like that of many tenants, was small, about 10 acres. The area was, in general, deeply impoverished. "In March 1846, the Clonmel correspondent of The Tipperary Vindicator reported that, having travelled through the region, he was at a loss for words to describe 'the utter want and destitution of thousands of the labouring population'. 'Many families', he went on to write, 'are literally without the means of existence'." [1]

See Figure 1 below for the valuation map marking plot 21A in the townland of Solloghodbeg, where John Dwyer's farm was located. The location of this piece of land, the boundaries of which still exist today, is pinpointed on Ordnance Survey Ireland maps, available here, by entering the coordinates 589251,640932,9,7. A relatively large commercial building occupies the southeast corner of the site now; this is pinpointed at coordinates 589444,640553,9,0 and has been identified as Gleeson's Concrete. [2]

John and Johanna's local Roman Catholic church, where they were married and where most of their children were baptized, was likely St. Nicholas Church in Solohead. The current building dates from 1872 but there was an earlier church on the site, according to contemporary maps.

The map below provides a modern reference to the site of John Dwyer's farm. The number "3" is the area of St. Nicholas church, where 3 photos were taken in 2016. The pin at the north is the approximate location of John Dwyer's farm. The pin at the south shows Tipperary Town.

Next chapter:  Passage on the "Oregon."

NOTES

[1] D.G. Marnane, South Tipperary on the Eve of the Great Famine. Tipperary Historical Journal, viii (1995).

[2] Location information provided by Limerick Genealogy, "The Family of John Dwyer in Solohead & Oola Parish" (June 24, 2016).