Altnasheen

Altnasheen meaning either Alt na Sián, The Gorge of the Fairy Mounds or Alt na Sithin meaning the Height of the Fairies, is a townland in the civil parish of Templeport, County Cavan, Ireland. It lies in the Roman Catholic parish of Glangevlin and barony of Tullyhaw.[1]

Geography

Altnasheen is bounded on the north by Coppanaghmore and Moneenabrone townlands, on the west by Sranagarvanagh townland and on the south by Mullaghlea Glen townland. Its chief geographical features are Slievenakilla Mountain (on which eastern side it lies),[2] mountain streams, waterfalls, forestry plantations, rocky outcrops and spring wells. Altnasheen is traversed by minor public roads and rural lanes. The townland covers 403 statute acres.[3] A sub-division is called Carrignahasta (Carraig na Chasta meaning The Crag of the Turning).[4]

History

In earlier times the townland was probably uninhabited as it consists mainly of bog and poor clay soils. It was not seized by the English during the Plantation of Ulster in 1610 or in the Cromwellian Settlement of the 1660s so some dispossessed Irish families moved there and began to clear and farm the land.

The 1790 Cavan Carvaghs list spells the name as Altneshihen.[5]

The Tithe Applotment Books for 1826 list five tithepayers in the townland.[6]

The Ordnance Survey Name Books for 1836 give the following description of the townland- The soil is of a blue gravelly mixture...There is plenty of limestone. It is raised and burned for building but there is none sold. There is nothing remarkable of any kind.

The Altnasheen Valuation Office Field books are available for July 1839.[7][8]

Griffith's Valuation of 1857 lists twenty-eight landholders in the townland.[9]

In the 19th century the landlords of Altnasheen were the Annesley and Hassard Estates. In 1875 the Hassard Estate was sold to William Carson of Dowra.[10]

An account of growing up in Altnasheen in the 1890s by Mrs. Kathleen Sheehan (nee McGovern) is given in the Ulster Folklife Journal, Volume 31, Page 53.

In 1921, the first year of Ardscoil Bhréifne, the Irish College in Glangevlin, the students and teachers spent a night at a céilí in the cottage of Patrick and Margaret McGovern of Altnasheen.[11][12]

Census
Year Population Males Females Total Houses Uninhabited
184180334770
1851733139110
1861703139120
1871633231130
1881683533130
1891763937110

In the 1901 census of Ireland, there are eleven families listed in the townland.[13]

In the 1911 census of Ireland, there are ten families listed in the townland.[14]

Antiquities
  1. A lime-kiln
  2. Stepping stones over the river

References
  1. "Placenames Database of Ireland". Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  2. Ltd, Copyright The mountain Guide-A.-Connect. "The Playbank (Slievenakilla) | Ireland". UK mountain Guide.
  3. "IreAtlas". Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  4. "Cloch An tSagairt / Carrignahasta - Irish Climbing Online Wiki". wiki.climbing.ie.
  5. "List of baronies" (PDF). www.cavanlibrary.ie. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-04-24. Retrieved 2019-03-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Griffith's Valuation". www.askaboutireland.ie.
  10. "The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal". J. Falconer. September 5, 1875 – via Google Books.
  11. Glangevlin's Irish College Ardscoil Bhréifne by Séamas P. Ó Mórdha, in Breifne Journal, Vol VIII, No. 1 (1989-90), pp. 107-109 and Vol VIII, No. 2 (1991), pp. 218-219, 229-231.
  12. "Gone Fishing". www.glangevlin.com.
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-04-28. Retrieved 2019-03-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-04-25. Retrieved 2019-03-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

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