Three Kelly brothers left Paulstown in Ireland in 1850. Their sister Mary, who was employed in Sydney, paid their fare on the ‘Hilton’ as she feared that they may be conscripted for the Crimean War. They purchased an area of 80 acres, on which Kelly Park was a part of, from Mr W McFarlane in 1872. The majority of this land was heavily under vines. The Kelly brothers, and their family, cleared the land and farmed the property they called ‘Melrose’. [The] Council purchased the land in 1963.

You can read about the history of the Brigidine Convent in Paulstown in my first post about the convent.

During his life he was married three times and the article further adds that he had a vivid recollection of The Famine and the tithe wars in Carrickshock, Kilkenny.

More localized and specific examples abound and one such publication is the work of William Shawn Mason. In volume two of A Statistical Account or Parochial Survey or Ireland he gives the following origins for the townlands in the civil parish of Kilmacahill.

You can also see an accompanying map from a previous post.

Read it here.

Spring 1833 – To James Kearney Aylward Esq. and Mich. Cooke, to repair 294 perches of the road from Goresbridge to Castlecomer, between the Church at Shankill and James Maher’s gate at Shankill, at 2s. per perch, £29 8s., wages £1 9s. 5d., stamps 6s. 2d. [1]

Spring 1839 – Patrick Byrne – To keep in repair for half a year, 764 perches of the road from Castlecomer to Goresbridge, between Mark Walsh’s house at Boohgurteen (Ballygurteen?) and the widow Deegan’s house at Paulstown, at 1s 6d per perch per year. [2]

Spring 1839 – To Patrick Bridget, to repair for one year, 614 perches of the road from Castlecomer to Gowran, between Patrick Purcell’s house at Kellymount and the Widow Phelan’s at Garryduff; all in the townlands of Ballyvalden, Ballinvally, and Garryduff, at 1s 10d per perch.[3]

Spring 1832 – Thomas T. Bookey Esq., Of that part of the road from Goresbridge to Castlecomer, between the cross roads at Duninga and Michael Hughes’s house at Paulstown – 524 Irish perches at 5 ½ d. per perch.[1]

Spring 1832 – To Thomas T. Bookey Esq. the Rev.  James Maher and James Brenan, to lower a hill and fill a hollow, at Ballyvalden, on the road from Castlecomer to Gowran, 21l. 4s. 4d., stamps 6s. 2d.[2]

Summer 1832 – To Thomas T. Bookey Esq. the Rev.  James Maher, James Brenan and Pat Bridget, to fill ruts on 760 perches of the road from Goresbridge to Castlecomer, between Michael Deegan’s house at Paulstown and Mark Walshe’s house at Boolagurteen, at 1s.per perch, £38, wages £1 18s., stamps 6s. 2d. [3]