- The Cooper's
employed the
local Irish families as their servants and tenants. This
planter's last descendants were all killed
fighting for England during the Great War.
After the war Cooperhill fell back into Irish
Catholic hands. In 1922 The Ruskell family bought the
house. They had three daughters, all of them were very
demure and totally chaperoned. There were no sons in the family. Mrs
Ruskell was one of the Odlums from Carlow, a descendent of the
Odlums Flour mill family; the largest cereal milling company in
Ireland. The mill was the Barrow Mills on Leighlin Road, Carlow.
-
- They sold the property to John Brennan who was a Butcher
sometime around 1942. The BRENNAN's of to-day still live in the
large mansion known as Cooper Hill House which is referred to
locally as 'The Big House', and farm the land they have left.
(There is an entry in the Cathedral of the Assumption
records for a John Brennan from Cooper Hill who died 1st
June 1955 aged 68 years and is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery
Carlow. Entry: Bk. 2 Pg. 130 No. 37)
- The oldest part of the house is
the front section which was built about 1717 and the front door is
one of the original features of the original building. The
second part of the house was added about 1840. The back entrance
from Ballinrahin is still in continues use today.
- Close to the property itself are the remains of an old
Oak wood which was part of the plantation. Due to the interests of
the Cooper's and the Realm of England and doubtless of other
planters in Ireland also, the timber in the ceilings of Westminster
Abbey, London, England., was taken from these trees on this estate.
There is still some evidence to-day of some of the original old Oak
trees which can still be found in the Cooper Hill area.
The Oak trees referred to
are next to the property known as Cooper Hill
House. These have now almost vanished but there
are still a few left lining the avenue to the
house and in a few other areas near by.
-
Cooper Hill was once known as
Shraugh
The modern spelling of
'Cooperhill' is now written as 'Cooper Hill'.
There are only about four families currently
living in the 'Demesne of Cooper Hill' and most
of the land which belonged to the Coopers was
sold off to local farmers and the Laois County
Council for small land holders.
I was reading in a book I purchased in Ireland, a list of the
Clergy of Killabban. who of course looked after Castletown. Rev
Robert Cooper was a local man, one of the Cooper Hill family. He was
curate from 1832 the year in which he took his M A. at Trinity,
until 1835 when he became vicar of Kilpatrick in the diocese of
Ferns. He died at Cooper Hill in 1883.
Rev W F Benson came in 1926, lived in Ballickmoyler, stayed
for 26 years, he died in Dublin where he came from in 1954. Rev A E
Crawford was the curate in the 1950's and lived in the Ballickmoyler
area. The parish is now united with Killeshin.
Fushoge River & Mill Race
All images of the Fushoge were
photographed by me and are the
property of me namely Michael Brennan
The bridge, which was an old
stone built ywin arch bridge was known locally as
Mo-na-Cala. The bridge has now been demolished and replaced by a
steel bridge.
The river
known at one time as the Mill Race, rises to the west of
Ballynagall near Arles and joins the Fushoge halfway between
Cooper Hill and Coolrain and the Fushoge rises in the Killeshin
Hills. There are 9 tributaries within less than one mile before
they all converge at Kylenahorn to become one river, The Fushoge.
Very few traces of the Mill Race can be found today due to changes
in Land Drainage in the area. Places to be found along the route
of the Mill Race and the Fushoge rivers: Oldleagh, Ballickmoyler,
Cooper Hill Demesne, Coolrain, Shanvally, Curragh, Ballykillen
Bridge, Olderrig, Springhill Bridge, Ballyhide and enters the
River Barrow at Clogrenan bridge. Places close to the Fushoge
river: Ballybar house, Baunrce wood, Belmount house, Cooper
Hill house and Clogrenan house.
NOTE: The
Mill Race appears as such in the Griffiths Valuation map of 1852.
It is also referred to as Millstream in a document description of
the land in Ballickmoyler dated sometime around 1750.
Here is the full description
of the deed that states it is between William Cooper and
John Bowle:
6 acres plantation
measure bounded on the North East from the High Road by
Adam Taylor’s Orchard and from thence on the North and
Northwest by said Taylor’s holding from thence on the
West
by the Miller’s holding to the said High Road and crossing
the said High Road near the New Water Course, lately made by
the said William Cooper, bounded by the brook commonly
called the Millstream to the ditch that divides the piece
of ground / part of the said premises / formerly planted by
said William Cooper with Hops from the field commonly
called or known by the name of Acrasheroon and on the South
East by the said ditch to the Croft or garden then in
tenure to John Murray and by said Croft or garden to the
High Road aforesaid and so by said High Road to Adam
Taylor’s orchard as aforesaid
The deed states
that it is between William Cooper and John Bowles
*Perruke maker of Ballickmoyler, and assigns him the land and
croft, currently occupied by his mother Mary Bowles, for the
lives of John Bowles, his wife Anne and for their eldest
son Michael.
Curtsey of Mr Tom LaPorte c2007
Note: *A Perruke maker is a type
of wig for men, fashionable in the 17th and 18th
centuries Also called periwig
|
This image of the house at
Cooper Hill was found in the third of three Journals / Scrapbooks
that belonged to Anne Cooper 1798 -1893. She is one of the
Coopers of Coopers Hill, Carlow, Ireland. They were a Quaker
family, and Coopers hill was a large house and estate. The family
also owned a property at 19 Upper Pembroke Street in Dublin.
Source: ebay seller
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