by REV. JOHN J. A. HODGINS, M.A.

Transcribed with permission of the Ardagh Historical Society

THE terse note on Ardagh in Bord Failte Eireann "Guide to Ireland" reminds us exiles and other visitors that the Convent School (Sisters of Mercy) beside the village was formerly Ardagh House, the residence of a landowner called Fetherstone. It was this house that Goldsmith mistook for an Inn one night in 1744 and his amusing experience there inspired the famous comedy, SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER or THE MISTAKES OF A NIGHT.

Thanks to Goldsmith, this episode and his Comedy have put Ardagh, its Big House, and the vanished Fetherston landowners on the world's stage and into the history of Literature and Drama.

First interest in this family was incidental to my current research into the 'originals' of the characters, places and events in Oliver's more autobiographical Works, which include his Comedy, first named by him as "The Mistakes of a Night". As some English biographers and critics question or reject the Ardagh incident and seek the plot in English or French drama, I have been exploring the Ardagh, and other local material that Goldsmith may have drawn from memories into this play. This obliged me to look into Fetherston family pedigrees, and history (if any) so as — to mention but two of the many points involved—to identify the Squire of 1744, and to discover how the former house could be passed-off by the practical joker as a roadside inn, before it was transformed into the later mansion standing within its demesne.

But there is no time or space for any mistakes on this occasion. By the terms of reference our immediate concern is focused on the Featherston’s, their House, their Land, their Squires, their entrance and their exit from Ardagh. If by chance 'Carolan or Goldsmith come in, there must be a very immediate call — "Time, Gentlemen" — if we are to have a chance to tell the Fetherston story before they settle down with harp and flute to entertain us in song and ballad.

James Fleming in his 1940 article on "The Fetherston Family Ancestral Home", in his series on Historic Irish Mansions, related the Goldsmith incident at some length and had little space or nothing to say about the House, its origin and former owners, Irish and English, when and how the Featherston’s became possessed of the house and the Ardagh portion or wing of their eventual large and scattered estate that stretched from "Behind the Hill" to Rath near Ballymahon and to the Shannon's Inchecleraun in Lough Ree.

When invited to compile this article I searched in London and Dublin for the family history or annals or biographies, recorded documents or registered Deeds — and their Wills (if any survived the Four Courts/Records Office battle flames of 1922) — to enable me to sift for facts in the family's legends or traditions of their founder and early ancestors, the origin, meaning and forms of their surname, the identify and date of their first settler(s) in Ireland, their spread across midland Ireland, and for any answers to the inevitable questions — were they typical Anglo-Irish landowners, as in the novels, hunting stag, fox, hare, or women; shooting, fishing, gambling, drinking, fighting, rack-renting, evicting? What was their record in their politics, religion, and relationships with tenants and others? Any special features or traits? Any noted achievements or skeletons in their cupboards?

The three ostrich feathers in the red shield of their heraldic Coat of Arms (claimed to be pre-1066 Conquest and confirmed in reign of King Stephen (1135-54), the great serrated horns of their Crest's antelope, and their Motto — VALENS ET VOLENS --

which I translate as Strong and Willing — may all symbolize their ancestral glory and power, but the Mullet (rowel of a spur, as a five-pointed star) as the Ardagh's family 'difference', did not spur or lead them to convert their ancient Saxon sword into an Irish Pen-Knife to sharpen their feathered plumes into quills to pen their annals and so give us an open sesame into their family circle, their hopes and fears, joys and sorrows and their frank opinions on local and national, imperial and world events.

Though they have not provided the proverbial straw to make our bricks — to build or drop — and little to enliven the dry bones of their pedigrees, there are some tea fliers in the winds of their times and of our century that point to answers to some of our questions.

By chance I discovered in the Irish Genealogical Society's Library, London, a copy of A. J. Fetherstonhaugh's "Fetherstonhaugh Family" (Dublin, 1879) —now very rare and out of print. It gives a short survey of the group of families once concentrated in Northumbria and the branches that migrated into southern England and midland Ireland.

The author's Roll of Honour of ten ancestors in England opens with Elias of 1204 who endowed Hexham Monastery, with which St. Cuthbcrt (634-687) and the Irish St. Eata were associated as Bishops of Hcxham; three Thomas Featherston’s, including the commander of the King's Army in reign of Edward III; Father Richard the 1540 Martyr; Sir Albany, High Sheriff 1559-60, and his son Alexander, High Sheriff 1589- 90; Henry Fetherston 1603 and his son Sir Timothy who was beheaded 1651. This Roll is not a Family Tree. The earliest date on it is 1204A.D. some 500 years short of the early eighth century ancestor of their Saxon race and name.

Did their Irish kinsmen forget their bravest ancestors? The names Richard and Timothy were dropped in Ireland, and Cuthbert vanished after two generations from the Ardagh family, though retained in the Westmeath families as their Dardistown ancestor. Was Richard too Catholic in the days of Protestant Ascendancy, and Timothy too Jacobite in Williamite and Hanoverian Ireland?

Father Richard Fetherston served as Chaplain to Queen Catherine, first wife of Henry VIII, and as Tutor to her daughter, the future Queen Mary. He was among the few who refused to acknowledge that the King's marriage to Catherine was invalid or illegal; he wrote his "Against the Divorce of Henry and Catherine"; and refused to acknowledge the King as Supreme Head of the Church in England. He was committed to the Tower and later hanged, beheaded and quartered at Smithfield in 1540. He earned his place in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Another to do so was Sir Timothy Fetherstonhaugh, knighted by Charles I in 1626 and whom he served throughout the Civil War to his death. He came to Ireland in 1644, with an introduction from (tie King to Ormond, seeking military aid. He returned without the troops and continued his Held service until captured at the Battle of Wigan Pier; and was beheaded later in 1651. That same year two of his sons were killed in the Battle of Worcester. The family sacrificed over £10,000 for the Royal cause. The only recompense from the thankless Stuarts was a portrait of the King to the widow, and the taking of her two sons into service as pages to the Queen.

This 1879 Book had no photographs or pen-pictures of any Featherston’s, nor any guide to where such could be found. But it had the amusing assertion by Disraeli, in one of his novels (not named), that all members of a Fetherston family were born with sheep’s' tails. But as this family was, I presume, in England, we may look to the other end of their Irish anatomies to find the characteristic feature — their fine aquiline or Roman noses; hence the phrase — the Fetherston Nose.

Cuthbert Fetherstonhaugh, born at Dardistown in 1837, published his Memoirs—"AFTER MANY DAYS" —in 1917 after some 63 years in the Australian Bush. His frontispiece photograph reveals a fine head and that Fetherston nose. He thought Fetherston men were 'tall and handsome, all of them good horsemen and good shots, and I think there were some pretty gay boys amongst them'. (I hasten to remind readers he wrote before the word 'gay' had changed its meaning). He added, 'some of my aunts I can remember as beautiful women', His grandmother of Mosstown married at 16, had 28 children, reared 17 of them, and outlived her husband ' That was not equaled in any of the prolific generations at Ardagh, whose target or limit seems to have been 10-11 children. His political views would raise more than the eyebrow in Ardagh drawing and smoking rooms — 'For myself I have been a Home Ruler, not an ardent one, but still a Home Ruler. Ireland should be given the opportunity of Home Rule. It is due to her. "She has a right to demand it."

Three other publications by Fctherstone's in the National Library, Dublin, did not add to the little gleaned from the 1879 and 1917 comments on features and accomplishments. A light novel Kilcarron by a Miss Fetherstonhaugh, though partly autobiographical, did not reveal the family or disclose the location. A Report (1832). by the Rev. John Fetherston H. of Griffinstown on his successful bog reclamation scheme told nothing of his family or himself; nor does the Open Letter to an M P by the Rev. James Fetherstone former curate of St. Paul's, Dublin, who related his unsuccessful efforts to have coal mined by imported English miners in Co. Tyrone in the 1853-71 period when coal was not being imported into Dublin, whose poor especially he tried to help. He came to Ardagh to gain the recommendation of the coal by "His Grace of Tuam", who was then in Ardagh, as he administered the Ardagh Diocese until it was united to Kilmore. But their Report and Letter do reveal that some at least of their name took an active interest in the welfare of the people and the soil.

Very few of the thirty or more generations of the family's 900 years ancestry in Northumbria, but all the eight generations of their 270 years sojourn in Ireland (1651-1923) are pedigreed in the standard Guides (Debrett, Burke, etc.) to the Baronetage, Landed Families, and Burke's Irish Families. But unlike their Edgeworth neighbors they have not deposited in Library or Archives their Diaries, Memoirs, Letters (if any) — nothing like The Black Book of Edgeworthstown.

The Irish Land Commission, Dublin, holds, and gave me access to the maps of the estate and the last Tenement Rolls (1915). The Public Records Office and the Registry of Deeds, Dublin, are a mine of information in Books of Survey & Distribution (1660), Sales of Forfeitures (1690-1703), Census 1659-61, and the essential registered Deeds (from 1708).

Miss Marian Keaney kindly supplied a copy of the Fleming 1940 article already mentioned, from Weekly Irish Times, 17.8.1940; Mr. Mel Lyons loaned his copy of James Farrell’s History of County Longford; and Mr. Paddy Whelan his copy of Mr. J. Sheehan's recent study of the land and farming in his South Westmeath.

Burke's General Armory lists the Fetherston family (of Bracklyn, Westmeath) as a branch of the ancient North of England family of Fetherstonhaugh, settled in Ireland in the reign of Charles I, and obtained broad acres there; .. . .". This does not identify the first settler(s); and the evidence for this timing of their coming is not convincing. The time of the arrival of Anglo-Irish families as given in their pedigree is often suspect. Gilding the family lily by concealing Cromwellian ancestry or land grants has led to choice of Charles I reign rather than of Charles II, though the latter often hides a Cromwellian date.

The very temporary visit to Ireland in 1644 of the royalist Sir Timothy Fetherstonhaugh may have misled the Bracklyn or other family historian or his Dardistown ancestors, to assume a Charles I reign (1625-49) arrival In O'Hart's Irish Pedigrees a Ffetherton surname is listed among Adventurers for Land in Ireland in the 1642-6 period, which is in that reign. And in the Census 1659-61 a Henry Fetherston Gent, is one of the 186 English and Scots in the Borough of Ardmagh (Armagh—not Ardagh). Though the name Henry is found in the ancestral Northumbrian families—Sir Timothy's father was so named — it is always possible that O'Hart's and the Armagh men (if not one and the same) were of families surnamed by past residence among the Featherstones in Yorkshire or in Staffordshire. The Armagh Fetherston may have moved north from the midlands to Armagh, though the name Henry is not found in the early generations in midland Ireland. It is admitted by all branches that their ancestors were there by 1651; and the weight of evidence supports this year and the identity of the first settler as Cuthbert son of Ralph Fetherston of Hethrage Cleugh, Co. Durham. After the Battle of Worcester that year, this defeated Royalist deemed it wise to skip it to Ireland.

Cuthbert brought to Ireland, it seems, some salvaged wealth to replace the home and land sacrificed for the Stuart cause, and possibly his wife and two of his sons, if the third, Philip, was named to commemorate their settlement "at Philipstown", possibly Louth or Meath, and not in 'this historic territory' (of the O'Farrell's) as James Fleming would have him 'turn his footsteps'. The brought and ring the changes on their few favourite names — Thomas, John, Francis, Ralph, his own Cuthbert (of the Saint of the North once believed to have been an Irishman). (George crept in later from the Hanoverian kings and William, more a Sherlock hand-down than that from Norman William or William of Orange).

Cuthbert brought also his ancient Saxon puzzling surname, and the family Coat of Arms.

There is no reference to Cuthbert in the Book of Survey & Distribution for Offaly, in the Barony of Philipstown, nor to him as a Protestant Royalist land grantee at the Restoration of 1660. One would not expect to find this royalist refugee among the Cromwellian grantees. He is said to have bought estates in Longford and Westmeath for his five sons ~ John, Thomas, Philip, Jacob and James. But as the first two are styled as 'of Castlekeeran' near Kells, Co. Meath, their father, who lived to 1693, may have bought or have been granted land in Meath at the Restoration or in the Williamite Sales of Forfeited Estates 1690-1703.

Later reference to ‘Townlands of Ireland' confirms there are nine townlands named Philipstown - four in Louth, two in Meath, one in Offaly, and one in Carlow. The Philipstown townland in the Barony of Navan Upper in the Parish of Trim, Co. Meath, is the most likely one, as a lease is recorded in registered Deed 32-11-18694 (post 1708) (Cuthbert Fetherston and Dean Swift). This Cuthbert was descendant of the first settler Cuthbert Fetherston who died in 1693; Jonathan Swift was in the county from 1699 in the Living of Laracor (2 miles south of Trim) which he retained in plurality after his 1713 appointment as Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin.

A disillusioned Jacobite could become a Williamite — as did his second son, Thomas of Castlekeeran, who served King William III ('King Billy') as a soldier. His three younger brothers were also 'in the army'. Thomas took part in the defence of Enniskillen and carried that town's 'standard' at the Battles of the Boyne and Aughrim. His son Thomas (a T.C.D. graduate) was Rector of some parishes in Co. Wicklow where his son, another Thomas, was 'murdered in the mountains'.

Location of the alleged estates of the three younger sons of Cuthbert are not indicated. Philip served with distinction in France and Spain; Jacob died unmarried; James died in 1761 aged 80. Four registered Deeds may relate to the two youngest; a James Fetherston was leasing land in Dublin in June 1717 and a Jacob Fetherston doing likewise in Waterford City in 1719 (Deeds 9294; 14664; 15586; 18513). Readers may see in the names of Philip and his children Philip and Mary; and of James and his children James and Ruth some Stuart and Biblical significance.

These five sons are not mentioned in the Books of Survey and Distribution for Longford and Westmeath,. nor in the Williamite Sales of Forfeitures. But many Cromwellian and Williamite grantees and purchasers sold their property; and others, land-hungry, were ready to buy them out cheaply. But the Deeds confirm that the first Featherston’s in Westmeath were sons of Featherston’s settled in Longford, to be mentioned later.

The only explicit assertion that some of the Featherston’s at least, if not all, were Cromwellian grantees is made by Mr. J. Sheehan in his South Westmeath — The family obtained grants of land during the Commonwealth confiscations, at Brooklyn and Derrymore, Co. Westmeath’ (Lyons, Grand Juries of Westmeath, Vol. ii p74), but his source authority does not substantiate the assumption, and the facts are otherwise Cuthbert the first settler in Westmeath, second son of John, who was first son of the original Cuthbert, settled at Dardistown (Westmeath) about 1727-8, some 60-70 years after the Cromwellian confiscations. His son Thomas married a daughter of James Nugent of Derrymore. One of their sons, James, settled at Bracklyn Castle, which till then had been in Nugent possession.

The first Cuthbert's eldest son John- styled at first as –"of Castlekeeran", and later of Rath (C. Westmeath (sic), had four sons - Thomas, Cuthbert, John and Francis. Records of Trinity College Dublin, record that-- admission of a John Fetherston aged 15 in April 1702, son of John, Gent of Ballymahon, Co. Longford. I assumed therefore the Rath home of these two Johns was on or near the Longford/Westmeath boundary, in the River Rath area, though the only Raths listed in Westmeath are elsewhere — near Athlone, Mullingar and Granard. But recent opportunity to examine the estate maps and Tenement Lists (1915) confirms beyond all doubt that the 1702 Rath home of John was in the Barony of Shrule, in the parish of Forgney in Ballymahon district, in County Longford, and not in Westmeath. There was also an Upper Rath of 174 acres in this same district but in the parish of Noughaval in the Barony of Kilkenny West in Westmeath. This may have misled a later pedigree compiler, or it may have come into Fetherston possession, as noted, later.

The Longford Rath townland of 568 acres including 141 acres of bogland remained part of the Ardagh estate until it was sold to tenants early this century.

When did John come to Rath? We cannot assume he and his family are the four English in Raths population of 21, or that they were included in the 42 English amongst the 694 Irish in the whole Barony of Shrule the 1659-61 Census. A Deed 12958) of 23 July 1696 which is the only indexed Deed in the name of Fetherston in the Public Record Office, concerns the lease of Cartron-bowley in the Barony of Shrule by Anthony Sheppard of the local Newcastle and Dublin, to "Francis", Joseph and Ralph Fetherston, of the same, farmers'. They do not fit easily into the accepted pedigrees. Names Francis and Ralph occur later in the Ardagh and Whiterock families, Co. Longford. The date suggests they could be brothers or sons or other relatives of the settler Cuthbert - who may not have come alone, or may have been followed by relatives. This Deed reminds us how the best-trimmed neatly-framed pedigree chart may have had side extensions which have been excluded by families in order to simplify and reduce to manageable size their family tree.

John of Rath's eldest son Thomas, later "of Ardagh", was born c. 1680-85 and was married 1709, he could therefore have called Goldsmith's father Charles "his dear old friend and neighbour" according to Mrs. Hodson (daughter of Charles Goldsmith)

-as Charles was born 1690 and lived and ministered in Forgney parish for 12 years before he moved to Lissoy. They were not fellow students at Trinity, Dublin. Charles was there 1707-11. The Thomas student was a cousin of Thomas of Ardagh being a son of Uncle Thomas the Williamitc soldier. The student John, brother of Thomas of

Ardagh later was a Vicar of Meadstown, Kent, and Bishop Elect for an Irish Diocese at the time of the death of Queen Anne but his election was not accepted by her successor, George I. Neither of these two Fetherston students was in College as a contemporary of Charles Goldsmith.

John of Rath's second son Cuthbert settled at Dardistown by 1728, and there became the ancestor of the many branches in the county - Mosstown, Grouse Lodge, Ballintubber, Derrymore, Bracklyn, Rockview - but not of Carrick and Newpass which were of the Thomas of Ardagh line. Mr. J. Sheehan has traced the take-over by Dardistown Featherstons of most or all the estates of the Judge family, of gambling fame; estates which the Judges had bought from former Cromwellian grantees.

Francis, fourth son of John of Rath, settled at Whiterock. Co. Longford, where he died in 1748. The third son mentioned above as Vicar in Kent, died unmarried in 1764.

Before Thomas, the elder son, became 'of Ardagh' he was styled 'of Carrick’ .If he is not being confused with his grandson Thomas of Carrick House estate (S.W. of

Mullingar by Lough Ennell) he may have rented or leased this Carrick from William

Sherlock of Irishtown or Sherlockstown, Co. Kildare, whose daughter Mary he married in 1709. (The Sherlock’s and the Nugent’s (Lords Delvin) were, according to

Carte among the Elizabethan and later greedy and rapacious Adventurers and

Projectors who descended like vultures on the land of Ireland in successive Flocks).

But this may not have been the Carrick of Thomas of Ardagh', for in 1750 his two sons William and Ralph bought, for Ralph 'of Ardagh' this Carrick property from Sherlock for £285 and leased from him 250. acres in Rushenrathan (Deed 141.276.75405).

A Fetherston - most probably Thomas - acquired land in the Barony of Kilkenny West in Westmeath in the period 1737-1810. But the Deed of this transaction I could not find as indexed - No. 577246 in Bk. 267. page 426 so I cannot yet confirm the property was the Carrick of approximately 147 acres in the parish of Noughaval, near the Rath and Cartronbowley mentioned earlier. If not the Carrick property he may have obtained lease or free hold of Upper Rath in that same parish and of similar acreage. Thomas had four sons -- John, William, Francis and Ralph, The latter is styled 'of Ardagh' in the 1750 Deed (purchase of Carrick). But when did Thomas and sons come to Ardagh? The Census 1659-61 does not identify by name the two English in Ardagh townland, nor the 19 English among the 990 in the Barony, so we may not assume that any of these were Featherston’s, especially as they do not appear in the Book of Survey and Distribution (1660) nor in the 1690-1703 Sale of Forfeitures in Co. Longford.

In the Longford Book of Survey & Distribution, Charles Adair had been granted 91 acres of the 110 formerly held by Sir James Ware in Ardagh Parish. In 1747 Thomas Fetherston at long last succeeded in gaining freehold, from John Adair of Dublin, of the 'town and land of Bohermore and Barney' which he had been renting at £28 a year from 1737 at latest, when he was seeking to obtain the promise of the freehold of it the Bohermore land, then leased by Adair to one Blair. He gained the freehold for £227 to ensure this land to Thomas Fetherston and heirs for ever.

But when did Thomas acquire the Big House, Ardagh, and its adjacent acres? My 'hunch' that he bought it after 1703 awaits proof. The Williamite Sales of Forfeitures in Westmeath involved 27,878 acres, but in Co. Longford only 296 acres, which were in Ardagh Parish - Everard's 54 and Fergus Farrell's 244; the first property went to a James Johnston and the latter to John Bonnington (who picked up 30 acres also in Westmeath).

Was Fergus Farrell the owner of what became the Ardagh House and its Demesne of 235 acres which Thomas Fetherston may have bought from a Bonnington or successor after 1703? If so, this would explain why a Fetherston is not mentioned in the 1660 Book of Survey & Distribution nor in the 1690-1703 Sales/Purchases of Forfeitures. It is quite possible the Deed concerned was not registered, as many private transactions were not registered in this period.

Thomas of Ardagh's Will may have been signed or dated in December 1740, according to G. E. C's Complete Baronetage, in error, as the year of his death was 1749. Many survive the date on which they signed their Wills! In September 1749 Thomas and his 'son and heir apparent' John bought from Thomas Mitchell of Ballinturley, Co. Roscommon 'for John and his heirs' 300 acres of Bohermore. and 300 acres in Laughilladair. Collafada and Liderchy. (Mitchell's wife was a niece of Thomas Fetherston, being his brother Francis's daughter).

The freeholds obtained by Thomas Fetherston from Adair and Mitchell imply that Thomas was estate-building, almost brick by brick, was still very much alive and active as Squire, and his eldest son John, in Orders and unmarried, was then his ‘heir apparent’, though serving as Chaplin to the Lord Chancellor (Bows) and later as Dean of Leighlin. William had settled down at Carrick, though it had been bought for Ralph, Francis was prospering as a Merchant in Dublin, Alderman of the City, and Lord Mayor for the year 1767/8. Though all four sons at times were styled 'of Ardagh', by a process of elimination by death of the elder, or by some family decisions, Ralph the youngest eventually became owner of Ardagh estate. Was O'Carolan's 'Miss Fetherston' a sister or daughter of Thomas Fetherston of Ardagh? Who was the Squire when Goldsmith spent his Night of Mistakes in Ardagh House in 1744/5? These two points are discussed in Notes in the Appendix.

Ralph Fetherston, bearing his great-grandfather's personal name, played his innings like most of his successors as a J.P., and as M.P. for the County 1765-68; and for the 'rotten borough' of Ballinalee (St. Johnstown) from 1768 to his death in 1780. He was created the first Baronet, in the, Ardagh family, in 1776, presumably for his political services. (There were at least three similar creations in other Fetherston families in England, the earliest from 1660 and all of them extinct by 1746.

With two exceptions, the Ardagh Squires who married chose their wives from Anglo-Irish midland neighbors. Sir Ralph's first choice in 1752 was Elizabeth Auchmuty of Brianstown, Co. Longford, and in 1757 as a widower he married Sarah Wills of Willsgrove, Co. Roscommon. He raised a family of nine —four sons and five daughters. Three sons — Godfrey, John and Francis — died unmarried. Two of his daughters married clergymen, thus adding to the clerical element in the Ardagh family circle. After three Fetherston-Sherlock marriages (including Thomas of Ardagh and William of Carrick his son, Francis of Dublin's daughter), Ralph's eldest daughter Elizabeth heads the list of several inter-cousinly Fetherston marriages, her husband being Thomas of Carrick, her Uncle William's son.

Sir Ralph figured in a number of estate Deeds, with some of his brothers as witnesses or "consenting" parties. He sold property in Dublin City worth £2,000, near the close of his career, about which and his other activities and interests I have found no contemporary or later reports. His widow Sarah died in 1792. Another widow, Gertrude Fetherston of Ardagh, died in 1788, whom I cannot identify (in Sir Arthur Vicar’s Wills, 1897).

Sir Ralph's successor was his only surviving son, Thomas, as second baronet and owner of the estate. He was Sheriff in 1781; M.P. for St. Johnstown 1785-90 and for the County 1796-1800, and after the Act of Union he sat at Westminster until his death in 1819. He married Catherine Whitney of Newpass, Westmeath. Like his father, he lost three of his five sons at early ages. Two of their six daughters married parsons — Robert Fetherston Jessop of Doory and Dr. James Gregory, Dean of Kildare. And once again, the eldest daughter, another Elizabeth, married her cousin, Colonel Thomas Fetherston, son of Uncle Francis of Dublin.

James Farrell was no admirer of Sir Thomas and the Fetherston family in general. In his 1891 History of the County Longford he commented — Sir Thomas Fetherston who sat in the Irish Parliament during the days of the Union was one of the rotten members who for bribery and corruption sold the liberty of their country; and as far as we can find out, the succeeding generations of the family are true to the traditions gone before them.' His soubriquet 'rotten' was applied to Sir Thomas and not to his 'rotten borough' seat, for Farrell listed him as M.P. for the County at the time of the Act of Union. The bribery and corruption charge has not been proved against Sir Thomas. Sir Jonah Barrington, no paragon of virtue in such matters, while reminding readers of his Memoirs that the two other Members for Longford seats, who voted for the Union, as did Sir Thomas, were rewarded — Luke Fox by a Judgeship and Sir William Newcomen by cancellation of his Treasury debts — he makes no charge against Sir Thomas of any corrupt reward, even though he was widely known as being 'impecunious' and 'Oxmantown's man'. Sir Thomas defeated Richard L. Edgeworth (Maria's father) in the 1796 by-election to succeed C. B. Harman, Lord Oxmantown's relative. Dean of Leighlin. William had settled down at Carrick, though it had been bought for Ralph, Francis was prospering as a Merchant in Dublin, Alderman of the City, and Lord Mayor for the year 1767/8. Though all four sons at times were styled ‘of Ardagh’, by a process of elimination by death of the elder, or by some family decisions, Ralph the youngest eventually became owner of Ardagh estate. Was O'Carolan's 'Miss Fetherston' a sister or daughter of Thomas Fetherston of Ardagh? Who was the Squire when Goldsmith-spent his Night of Mistakes in Ardagh House in 1744/5? These two points are discussed in Notes in the Appendix.

A tombstone in the old Church of St. Patrick, Ardagh, records his burial there in 1819 and of his wife in 1804.

His eldest son, George Ralph, (1784-1853), succeeded him as third baronet and owner of the estate. True to family custom, he was Sheriff (1834), and sat as M.P. at

Westminster 1819-1830. To his wife, Frances Solly of Walthamstow, Essex, and Sir George is due the landscaping of the demesne grounds, and of the village, based, I am informed, on a Swiss village they had visited. The conversion of the old house into the mansion within its demesne may have been completed at this time, and involved the resiting of the village street or road.

The village clock-tower and surrounding buildings were erected in 1863 in remembrance of Sir George and of his life-long devotion to the moral and social improvement of his tenantry, and the site whereon they stand purchased by Frances Elizabeth, his widow. A memorial stone in the old church records his death on 12^th July 1853, and that his wife died in London twelve years later and was buried in Walthamstow.

James Farrell has preserved for us two incidents in this period. The Jessop family’s heir, on succeeding to the Mt. Jessop estate, declared his intention to marry the girl he loved, but committed suicide when Sir George, his guardian, forbade him to marry as he deemed her unsuitable. On hearing the news Sir George galloped over to Mr. Jessop, had the body removed from the house, the servants turned out, the house locked and sealed, and the body buried at night in an unknown grave.

In 1825, when Sir Walter Scott paid a return visit to Maria Edgeworth, she escorted him and his son-in-law biographer Lockhart to Killarney. When accompanying Sir Walter to Ardagh to call upon Sir George they met a lad 'minding' a sow and her bonham’s foraging by the roadside. As became a canny Scot, Sir Walter asked the boy, 'Who owns the pigs?'. 'The sow, sir, promptly answered the boy. This so pleased Sir Walter that he gave him a guinea, much to his surprise and delight.

Sir George, though, not so widely traveled as his later namesake, met a Count Fetharston in Munich. For this event and its effect, an account is included in the Appendix note on Origin of Name and Family.

When Sir George died childless his fourth and youngest brother, The Rev. Thomas

Fetherston, succeeded as fourth baronet but only for six weeks as he died the same year, aged 53 years. He was a Trinity College, Dublin, graduate and was serving as Rector in or near Killeshandra, Co. Cavan. He married twice — to Adeline Godley in 1823, and to Anne L'Estrange of Moystown, Offaly. He had eleven children. Five of his six sons died at early ages. The youngest of his five daughters, Nannette, married Harry E. S. Armstrong, one of whose descendants happened to be seated beside me as I read the 1879 account of the Featherston’s, in London. I refrained from discovering what his relationship was (if any) to the Capt. Armstrong who betrayed the Sheares brothers in 1798.

His eldest and only surviving son, Thomas John, succeeded in 1853 as fifth baronet. He was schooled in England at Winchester, and graduated from Oxford in 1847. But back in Ireland he found a wife in Sarah Alcock of Wilton Castle, Wexford. He died at the early age of 43 in Littlehampton, Sussex. This may explain why he did not serve in the usual county appointments, other than as Conservator of Fisheries 1858. He had a son and two daughters.

His son, George Ralph, was the sixth and last baronet. He succeeded in 1865 at the early age of thirteen. Born in Dublin, educated in England, at Brighton College, he seemed fated to be the last baronet, last Squire, the least Irish of the family, the most traveled, the most frequently away from Ardagh. He did not go to University, for reasons unknown, but in his mid-twenties entered Salisbury Theological College to prepare for ordination into the Ministry of the Church of England. His high church Anglo-Catholic churchmanship was hardly that of the Church of Ireland. He was ordained Deacon in 1880 and priest in 1883. When Ardagh’s new Catholic Church was opened for public worship in 1881 by the Primate of Armagh, Dr. McGettigan, he and the Diocesan Bishop, Dr. Woodlock, and the very distinguished gathering were entertained at Ardagh House, most probably in the absence of the 'Reverend Sir George' who was then serving his first curacy in England. He ministered as curate in Tenby and Worcester City, and for six years as Rector or Vicar of that delightfully located and named Parish of Pydeltrenthide in Dorset. He served also as an honorary chaplain to Millbank Military Hospital, London, during the 1914-18 War.

He was one of the first two men in Holy Orders to serve as Sheriff in their Counties until the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland clerics of the Anglican Communion were not permitted to hold such Office. Being Sheriff in 1897 he received the Diamond Jubilee Medal and preached his Jubilee Sermon in St. Patrick's Church Ardagh.

The sentiments of this ardent Unionist and Victorian Monarchist sound extravagant today in Irish ears — This nation is justly proud of its Imperial position of a vastness of Empire undreamed of in olden days .... Since the day when the Star shone with all its brilliance announcing the birth of our Redeemer I doubt whether our planet has ever rejoiced more than she rejoices today. .... Queen Elizabeth's 45 years fade before the glories of the Victorian era, of the noblest and greatest Sovereign the world has ever seen, here and there may be heard a discordant note but it comes on only from ignorance, and they perhaps may be forgiven, from their unhappy surroundings and disloyal teachers'. He may not have been referring only to Irish Independence and Home Rule activity; he was aware of the antimonarchy and republican rumblings in England. I suspect the sermon was written for delivery in England and was repeated in Ireland without revision.

Sir George was a man of many interests and hobbies — music, travel, cycling, fishing, photography, collecting ancient china and stamps, bird-watching and study of insects. He traveled widely in Europe, Africa, North and South America. This must have absorbed some of the Ardagh estate income. He was Fellow and Vice-President of the Guild of Church Musicians and of the Victoria College of Music London.

Who's Who credited him with the composition of 150 alternative tunes for Hymns Ancient & Modern, various chants, songs and other music, but none of these are to be found in current chant and Hymn books.

His publications have been listed as The Malvern Hills, Through Corsica with a Pencil. The Mystery of Maple Street, A Poem: The Rose of England. An Incident in the Siege of Antwerp, A Legend of Corpus Christi College, and four books of Sermons and Addresses. These may have been published privately for limited sale or distribution, as I find none of them in London and Dublin libraries.

Sir George may not have had much interest in the ownership and management of the estate. Early this century and before the last ditch stand, he entered into voluntary agreements with over 300 tenants to sell to them the freehold of their farms, under the Irish Land Act 1903. The estate was not acquired or purchased by the Land Commission, which, however, advanced the money required by the tenants and others, and the holdings were vested in them by the Commission in 1922-23. An area of 427 acres of bogland was vested in Trustees for the use of purchasing new freeholders.

Sir George retained Ardagh House and demesne acres until his death in a Worcester City Nursing Home, and burial in Tenby, South Wales, in 1923. An attempt to destroy the house by fire in 1922 may have been a local expression of dissatisfaction with allocation of estate land or an effort to hasten sale of the last remnants of the estate.

Manuscripts written in Irish were salvaged from the 1922 flames of Ardagh House.

They were lost for some time, but were eventually found and are now in the Library of St. Mel's College. The manuscripts rescued from the sack of The Big House consist of 8 volumes, five octavo volumes comprising the O'Neill collection; and three smaller disparate volumes. The O'Neill collection are bound in green half-calf with a harp and shamrock ornament on the spine, and with the previous owner's name C H O'Neill imprinted in gilt on each spine. They are written on fine quality paper, with English watermarks, dated 1804 and 1806; and seem to have been copied from manuscripts the possession of Edward O'Reilly, of New Street, Treasurer to the Gaelic Society and this is borne out by the fact that penciled titles on some of the sheets, all in the same handwriting, are in one case signed with the initials E. O'R. A marginal note by the scribe is signed by the initials J.W. but the binder seems to have cut into a third initial letter.

This is a fine collection. Vol. I has historical tracts, ancient legends and several episodes from the Tain Bo Cuailgne, with an imperfect version of the whole work. It consists of 174 folios. Vol. II has 'romantic tales of great antiquity', according to the penciled headline - such tales as the Courtship, of Etain and Eochaidh the Bruidin

Da Derga; the Death of Diarmuid Mac Feargusa Ceirbeoil, from the Book of Sligo;

Secht Nurgarta righ Temrach, i.e., the royal privileges of the Kings of Tara and of the provincial Kings and the Toruigheacht Saidhbhe ingin Eoghain Og, among others. This volume has 214 folios. The third volume has the penciled headline, "This bundle consists of miscellaneous poems, some of which are of great antiquity and considerable merit .Typical contents are the metrical Rules of St. Comhghall of Bangor and of St. Ailbe of Emly, poems on the Kings of Connacht, on the deaths of Fergal O Ruauirc, in praise of the tribes of Breifne, in praise of Brian 0 Ruairc chief of Breifne, on Coimcille bidding farewell to Aran. There are also moral and devout poems including two on the absurdity of contemporary fashions, riddle poems and trick versification. It also includes the lovcly poem on the Blackbird of Derrycarne,

attributed to Oisin.

Volumes IV and V are half-volumes, containing 498 pages (250 in Vol. IV) of ancient law tracts including the Senchus Mor, main repository of the Brehon Laws. The penciled note to Volume Five says, "This treatise wants something in the beginning a perfect copy in my possession, E. O'R." The whole collection was obviously transcribed for a leaner, as the penciled titles, the contents lists, in English provided by the scribe, and many marginal explanatory notes, would indicate. We have a clue to the date of the transcript from one marginal date, "Monday morning, Oct, 19th, 1807 , in the first volume,

One of the other volumes, a small quarto copy of Geoffrey Keating's Forus Feasa ar Eirnn. is a very interesting manuscript. Its 492 pages were copied by a scribe from County Meath in 1713, and it was purchased 'a ndroch riochf’ i.e., in bad condition in 1821, by Donnchadh O Floinn, of Cork, a well-known scribe. It was repaired by him and given a new title-page to replace the lost one.

One other manuscript also belonged to Donnchadh 0 Fioinn. It is a duodecimo of 202 pages entitled Beatha naomh Padraig Ard-Abstal na hEnon; and is dated at Cork 21 March 1805. As well as the Life of St. Patrick, it contains 34 quatrains of a Latin Metrical life of the Saint, by St. Fiacha, bishop of Slcptcin with an Irish verse translation.

The last manuscript is also a small duodecimo of An tSaltair Mhuire gona Runaibhdiamhra Coromn, a devout work on the Psalter of Mary and the Mysteries of the Rosary by the Munster poet Sean na Raithineach O Murchadha. It is dated Carraig na bhFear, March 1762, and may, just possibly be a holograph copy. It is 190 pages long and slightly imperfect.

There is no evidence in any of the manuscripts as to how they came into the possession of the Fetherston family. -

When Sir George described himself in his last year in Who's Who as owner of Ardagh House and of an Island in the Shannon, he was being substantially correct. The House was sold in 1927 to the Sisters of Mercy. The late Parish Priest Canon Joseph Guman, the well-known author of clerical novels, played a large part in the transaction. The house was damaged once again by fire -- not maliciously on this occasion. It has been extended to meet the needs of the Domestic Science College conducted there by the Sisters.

At the time of sale (about 1915) the estate had increased to some 11,000 acres of rental value £5,818, according to the last Tenement lists. In 1878 Hussey de Burgh in his Landlord's of Ireland states that the estate was then 8,711 acres valued at £5,606. Though it had increased, the estate was, at lime of sale, in an encumbered state, with heavy charges that accumulated — mainly mortgages and interest charges, dowry and 'portions' to members of the family over the generations. The estate may have become over-landed and without adequate liquid capital or cash flow. That the acreage had increased, while the rental value remained almost static, is some evidence that there was no rack-renting. Local opinion, I understand, is that the Fetherston’s were, like the Edgeworths, liberal landlords, and though Unionists remained on good terms with their tenants and other neighbor’s.

However understandable may be James Farrell's feelings as a descendant of the former native landowners of Annaly, if he had our hind-sight into the estate's financial position, Sir George's ministry in England, his early sale of the estate land, he might have been less severe in his condemnation when he said; 'Of the local families who claim aristocratic descent in this Parish the principal is Fetherstone of Ardagh, The present representative of the family is Sir George, who is fifth {sic} baronet of the name. He is an absentee landlord who resides in Wales and draws a princely income from his estate in his parish.

Readers may be interested in the location of the estate land and distribution of the farms, which are indicated in brackets: Grevc (Grove) (I), Carboy (13), Lissaghanedcn (6), Derrymore (8), Nappngh (1), Drumlogher (5), Grillagh (4), Cartronwar (8), Drumbawn (8), Deerpark (1), Bohermorc (12), Lissaniskey (4), Finnaragh (5), Twenty Acres (Temple) (5), Twenty Acres (Ardagh) (5), Druming (21), Lisduff (11), Cartrongarrow (21), Mayra &. Fortmill (7), Moor(l), Ardagh Demesne (1), Ardagh Demesne (reserved) (230 acres), Back of the Hill (10), Banghill (2), Ballygar (5), Cross (10), Multanagh(10), Breany(17), Lisdreenagh (6), Carnan (9), Ballywa1tcr(9), Ardboghiil (4), Barneygole (9), Ballinreaghan (4), Coolcaw (12), Shantum (7), Liscahill (16), Barne (5), Lissanurc (11), Bohermore (4), Cornapark (11), Crossan

South (16), Glen (17), Rath (8), Inchecleraun (2). The bogland areas were—Rath 141 acres, Crossea 36, Carnan 7, Cartronwar 41, Derrymore (202).

I have not- investigated the possibility that the 'Churchlands' to east of Lisduff (the latter in the Ardagh estate) may have been the lands held by the Primate of Armagh, the Bishop and Dean of Ardagh —totaling approximately 1140-1180 acres, The list of their holdings noted in the Appendix may imply locations elsewhere, and that some of them were absorbed into the Fetherston estate.

In England Fetherston families of the Northumbrian group moved into Durham,

Cumberland, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Hertfordshire, Their branch in Ireland expanded across midland counties and settled in 14 estates in 7 counties by

1878 (Hussey de Burgh's Landlord.1; of Ireland), distributed as Dublin (1), Westmeath (7), Longford (2), Cavan (1), Leifrim (1), Mayo (1) and Galway (1), totaling approximately 39,000 acres valued at £21.655, The largest estate, by some 200 acres more than Ardagh, was Glenmore but Ardagh was four times more valuable, The largest concentration in number of estates and total acreage in a County was Westmeath — 5,000 acres valued at £11,000,

The estates have been dissolved; the families have vanished; the land as ever remains. Some individuals and families, Fetherston and Fetherstonhaugh, related and not related to the Ardagh family are now, according to Telephone Directories, in the cities and towns of Ireland, Sic transit gloria , even of Fetherstonhaugh Castle in Northumberland, the ancestral stronghold now a youth and education centre.

In 1879 Mr Fetherstonhaugh completed his survey with two stories one of which related that when William Fetherstonhaugh as High Sheriff of Westmeath entertained the local magnates, one of the guests, not used to such 'dining', and being a great talker was not clearing his plates as quickly as the other guests. His plates of the first two courses were removed by the waiter, who, when about to do the same again was warned by the guest - -My good fellow, you have played me this trick twice; if you do it again, I will chop the fingers off you.

Sadly Longford can cap that. Last century-James Farrell has not given the year the Ardagh estate carpenter amused himself playing tricks on the deaf and dumb gardener Fellow members of the staff warned him not to annoy this unfortunate man, but he continued with his pranks until one hot afternoon the gardener happened to catch the carpenter having his nap in his workshop, his head reclining on his bench. Later he was found beheaded by his own hatchet.

But, happily another "Sow Story" but in the days of the other and last Sir George Ralph Fetherston. It has come to me via Mel Lyons from the local shanachie. During the Boer War the estate sow produced a litter of twelve - seven boars and five females. The 'Reverend Sir' immediately on hearing the news ordered the boers to be shot and buried in quick-lime. He didn't want any boers around the place.

APPENDIX

Who was O'Caroian's Miss Fetherston?

Charles O'Conor may be the source of the story that O'Carolan on his way to Mass met a Miss Fetherston going to her Church Service. She stopped to tell him she had long been charmed by his musical compositions and invited him to call at her home.

O'Carolan gave poetical and musical expression to this encounter:

On a fair Sunday morning devoted to be

Attentive to a sermon that was ordered for me,

I met a fresh rose on the road by decree,

And the Mass was my action, my devotion was she.

Welcome bright angel of noble degree,

I wish you would love and that I were with thee,

So pray do not frown at me with mouth or with eye —

So I told the fair maiden with heart full of glee

Though the Mass was my motion, my devotion was she.

O'Carolan lived to 1739, but the traditional date of this meeting is 1720-21 and the location Canard, though Miss Fetherston is thought to have been a sister or daughter of Thomas Fetherston of Ardagh. This date and place is not explained. Ardagh or the earlier homes of Thomas Fetherston - Rath and Carnck - are not in the Granard area. The three daughters of Francis Fetherston of Whiterock should not be excluded from consideration The three sisters of Thomas were in the appropriate age-group but unnamed unmarried daughter, born some years after 1709, was rather young for the role There is no evidence that a Fetherston family was in the Granard area before 1739. O'Carolan was very itinerant and likely to be met by a sister or a daughter of Thomas Fetherston near 'her church' -Forgney Noughaval, or Ardagh. Liam Glennon locates this meeting as "near the village of Ardagh (in his IRISH MUSIC- HISTORICAL BACKGROUND in Teathbha, Dec.. 1969 Vol. 1 No. 1. page page 27)

Who was the Squire of the Goldsmith-Ardagh episode, the assumed 'original’ of Squire Hardcastle of 'She Stoops to Conquer'?

The identification of the Squire of 1744 should not have raised any doubt or problems If Thomas Fetherston of Ardagh had died in 1740 when, as G.E.C.’s Complete Baronetage states, his Will was dated, one of his four sons would be the Squire. His heir apparent was in Holy Orders and unmarried. Second son, William, was settled in Carrick estate; third son, Francis, was living in Dublin; the youngest son, Ralph, became the heir eventually but until then he may have been living at Glisaniney as stated in his marriage settlement of 1752. But it is confirmed that the father, Thomas, was the Squire until December 1749 and very active in estate matters in this year. If there is any substantial truth in the Goldsmith episode who else but Thomas can have been the Squire? He was married and had a daughter there is no evidence he had served under Marlborough or had been a Trinity College Dublin student or had obtained Ardagh as a widower who married the widow of the previous squire. He was a member of a family with a University and Army background - brother John and son John and cousin Thomas were Trinity graduates and his grandfather Cuthbert, and four uncles had military and war experience Ana Goldsmith had the poetic and dramatic license to paint Thomas in the family’s colours . Yet son Ralph is identified in G.E.C's Baronetage as this Squire on the strength of a note to this effect in NOTES & QUERIES (Series 10) Volume Four of 1905. The writer claimed 'the best authority- for his story – "that of Lady Fetherston the wife of the present Baronet - who was, in that year, the "unmarried last Baronet''

Another source quoted as authority a "Sir Thomas Fetherston- who thought it probably was his grandfather"-who was Thomas or Ralph if this 'authority' was the second or the fourth Baronet called Thomas. The fifth Baronet Thomas's grandfather was too late for this 1744 event. In this year Ralph was not married. He had no wife and daughters before his first marriage in 1752 and was probably not residing at Ardagh in 1744.

COAT OF ARMS — ARDAGH and other Branches

Kimber & Johnson, in The Baronetage of England (Vol. 3 pp 122-4) imply the Fetherston family’s ARMS were an early Norman grant – "registered in King Stephen s reign as Gentlemen of Coat Armour". Burke in his General Armory lists the Northumberland Arms as Gules on a chevron between three ostrich feathers argent, a pellet. Crest- An Antelope’s head erased argent armed, or A.J. Fetherstonhaugh adds a Motto "Valens et Volens" but this was a later addition and is missing in some of the 15 versions listed by Burke. Many of the oldest arms have no Motto. There is some variety in details. Most keep the shield's colour and the three feathers and pellet. One family (at Hopton) preferred chevronels (half-sized chevrons) and a Cumberland family substituted escallops .(scallop shells) in lieu of the three feathers and a fesse instead of the chevron. For Crest most branches had the antelope head/but Ardagh and Mosstown went for the whole of the heraldic antelope; one family dropped the antelope and displayed a cross and sword. Two families preferred other mottoes. Some families have reversed the order of the words, by error or design, as in the Ardagh Volens el Valens. Some families add to the original arms something to ‘difference’ either a Marlet (legless bird) as a mark of cadency of fourth son (as Sir Ralph, first Baronet was) or a Mullet - which is the Spur's rowel as a five-pointed star. The latter may have been the earlier version and have been retained by other sons of Ardagh family.

The ostrich may have a desire and ability to swallow hard substances for the good of its gizzard, and to think itself invisible and safe when its head was in the sand But in heraldry these have no significance. The ostrich is a heraldic figure as its feathers or plumage are the courtly and choicest adornment of head hat or helmet The Fetherston Coat of Arms may have suggested to Goldsmith for his Comedy his ‘Featherbed Lane', -‘Buck's Head on the hill', 'Horns over the door'. ‘Three Pigeons' and Hardcastle as word-play on Feather Stone and the Big House.

Origin of Name and Family

Fether, in Old English, means both 'four' and (until, obsolete) 'feather' — as in

fether-fete (four-footed) and fetherstone (four-stone, or tctralith or cromlech) and as

featherstone (top of the two millstones). The name was written as Fetherstone(e) or as Featherston(e). Eventually the 'Feather' spelling was retained by two branches only— Hopton and Yoxhall. The surname had a great variety of spellings in early centuries, including ‘Feder’ for ‘Fether’. The feathers in coat of arms imply the original meaning of the ‘fether’ 'root as ‘feather’. An early tradition has Fetherston Castle built on two featherstones. Fethard Town's Coat of Arms includes Mars with a plume on his head, as the Fetheir family (temp. Richard II) has as Arms -a chevron ermine between three plumes or' - which is almost a simpler (and older?) version of the Fetherston Arms.

The traditions and the standard Armorial Guide Books give this Family an ancient

Saxon origin and name, some making their first settler in Britain as eighth century

chieftain or warrior or officer, bearing their name and founding their ancestral home, Fetherston Castle, on or above a Haugh or Halgh by the Tyne in Northumberland. Haugh and Halgh are but two of several variants that meant an enclosure or nook on alluvial riverside ground and not 'high' or 'low'. In tradition the two sons of Albany de Fetherston( twice-married-) adopted suffixed Haugh and Haigh to distinguish the - descendants in Northumberland (Haugh) and Durham (Halgh). These were retained beyond their original usefulness and taken to Ireland where the original name Fetherston or Featherston is found in Deeds and Wills etc.; but members of the families signed themselves as either Fetherston H. or in full as FetherstonHaugh or Fetherstonhaugh. . .

A. J. Fetherstonhaugh is the only source found for the story that Sir George Ralph Fetherston met at Munich a Count. Fetharston who informed Sir George that he was the lineal descendant of the ancient Saxon family of which Frithestan who emigrated in the 8th century to Britain was a cadet, The Count exhibited to Sir George some most interesting papers from his family archives in proof of his assertions. When Sir George returned to Ireland he stated that as he had discovered the name Fetherston to have been much more ancient than Fetherstonhaugh, he would cease to use the H or Haugh after his name. Some of his immediate relatives followed his example, others declined to do so. To Sir George (the third Baronet, 1784-1853) is due the introduction into the family legend or tradition the identification of their Saxon founder as Frithestan. This identity is found only in Lower's History of Surnames (1860) – the founder of this ancient family is said to have been a Saxon commander called Frithestan who settled in this country and gave to the place of his abode the name of Frithestan’s Haugh which, when local names began to be used after the Conquest, was adopted by his descendants'. But A. J. Fetherstonhaugh, though he places Frithestan as the first in his list of variant spellings of the place-name treats as "foolish fancies"

(i) Frithestan as the family's pater familias;
(ii) that he built Fetherston Castle;
(iii)that it was named Frithestan's Haugh;
(iv) foundation stones as two featherstones;
(v) an unbroken line in male descent from Frithestan of 8th century to 1659. He confirms that the orginial form of the surname is the shorter form as used by the Ardagh family which recognized as the senior branch even though the first Baronet was the youngest son. Dr. P. H. Reaney in his Dictionary of Surnames (1976) accepts Fetherstonhaugh as the full original form of the place-name; reference to Frithestan as personal or place-name; nor does E. Ekwall in his Oxford Dictionary of Place Names (1960), in his list of earliest variant spellings of Fetherston Castle from 1122.

The Book of Survey & Distribution lists the "lands" held by the Primate of Armagh, The Bishop of Ardagh and the Dean of Ardagh in the Townland and Barony of Ardagh before 1641 and after the subsequent confiscation and distribution. There was no change In "ownership" as the land was vested in the church dignitaries "for the time being":

The Primatc of Armagh

Part of Garrynoran, of Lyon, and of Tolchanavart; Garrynoran and Ballinroddy -146 acres.

Aghancalsan; Lissneedy; Ffierore;; Corryna parke; Crossa; Carnane;; Ardagh oughteragh (all); Court cartron; Crossa Patrick; Ardaniskin; Ballinrighan; Lissnaskagh; Burnilicht Ikerry; Mostennagh; Eagteragh; Rathuliard- 1,000 acres.

The Dean of Ardagh
Moyrahan; Tullyhalfe; Ffinane; Lissiniske- 180 acres.

Some of these place names appear in the Fetherston estate Tenement Rolls but they may not be the actual part of the townland, etc. Allowance has to be made for change of names (especially at time of Ordnance surveying and mapping); variety of spellings; inclusion of some areas in newly formed areas, e.g. Deerpark, Demesne.

A.J. Fetherstonhaugh- The Fetherstonhaugh Family (Dublin, 1879)

C Fetherstonhaugh - After Many Days (Melbourne, 1917)

Dictionary of National Biography (Three entries)

J. Fleming –Ancestral Home of the Fetherston Family
(Historic Irish Mansions No. 224 – Ardagh House- in Weekly Irish Times, 17 August 1940

Notes and Queries (series 10) Vol.IV

T.C.D. Alumni Records

History of Dublin City; T.J.Gilbert (2 Vols.)

Parish Registers (Burials) St. Mary’s Church. Tenby.

M Butler: Maria Edgeworth; A Literary Biography (London, 1972).

James Farrell; History of County Longford (1891)

J. Sheehan – South Westmeath(1977?)

Rev. Sir George Fetherston, Bt. :Sermon (Queen’s Diamond Jubilee). (Other publications listed in Who’s Who. 1922).

U. Hussey de Burgh; Landlords of Ireland(1878)

Maps of Ardagh Estate, Irish Land Commission, Dublin.

Tenement Rolls of Ardagh Estate (1915), Irish Land Commission, Dublin.

"Townlands" of Ireland.

Kimber & Johnson- Baronetage of England (Vol. 3).

"G.E.C’s- Complete Baronetage (Vol. 5)

Burke-Irish Family Records.

Burke- Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage (pre 1923).

Debrett- Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage (pre 1923).

O’Harts- Irish Pedigrees

Civil Survey 1641

Census 1659-61 (ed. S Pinder 1939)

Books of Surveys & Distribution of the Restoration (1660)

The Williamite Confiscations 1690-1703 –J. Simms, London, 1956.

R.I.A. – The Upton Papers.

Hardinge- R.I.A. Transactions (1865)

Butler- Confiscations in Ireland

Registered Deeds (post-1708), Registry of Deeds, Dublin.

Registered Deeds (pre 1708) Public Record Office, Dublin.

Carte- Ormonde (2 Vols.)

Burke- The General Armory (1878)

Lower, M. –Patronymica Brittanica (1860)

Reaney, P.H.- Dictionary of Surnames (1976)

Ekwall, E.- Oxford Dictionary of Place Names (1960)

Grierson, E. –Companion Guide to Northumberland

O’Carolan- Miss Fetherston Episode
D. O’Sullivan – O’Carolan, His Life and Times (London, 1958).

Goldsmith- She Stoops to Conquer (1773).

Prior, Sir James- Life of Goldsmith (Vol1.) 1837.

Lytton Sells, A. – Oliver Goldsmith, His Life & Works, (London, 1974)

Ginger, J.- The Notable Man: Oliver Goldsmith: His Life & Times (London, 1977).

Ingalls, G.V.A.- Some sources of Goldsmith’s "She Stoops to Conquer" (Western State College, Colorado) (PLMA)

Schorer, M. – Modern Language Notes XXVIII (1953)