Limerick historian 'blown away' by discovery of documents

Dr O’Brien along with his colleague Dr Helene Bradley Davies will catalogue and digitise the archive. Picture: Dr Paul O'Brien

"Utterly breathtaking" historical documents dating as far back as 1695 may have been lost forever if not for a man who rescued the collection 30 years ago from a skip.  

Limerick historian Dr Paul O’Brien said he is “blown away” by the discovery of the archive spanning most of Munster that he believes will “tell the story of land ownership in Ireland.” 

The Mary Immaculate College lecturer said he’s running out of words to describe its “phenomenal” sheer volume and geographical range. 

“It covers huge swathes of land up the country and just gives a lot of agency to tenant farmers and tenant voices that aren’t generally covered out there,” he said. 

A man found the documents about 30 years ago in a skip outside a house in Limerick but only managed to save 20%, or 28 boxes, out of the collection due to the sheer volume. 

HISTORY HUB

If you are interested in this article then no doubt you will enjoy exploring the various history collections and content in our history hub. Check it out HERE and happy reading

The documents were found in a skip in Limerick about 30 years ago.

He kept them up until he showed Dr O’Brien and his colleagues, Randal Hodkinson and Dr. Paddy Waldron.“He had a good sense and a good fortune to rescue the boxes from the skip and had he not rescued them, they almost certainly would have been lost. 

"We took one or two to begin with and the first box I took had material related to a charity set up by a woman in Limerick in 1729,” said Dr O'Brien, adding: “It’s utterly breathtaking.” 

The collection was originally put together by a land agent, and it spans most of Munster. However, Dr O’Brien has come across documents from as far as Armagh. “It’s the nature of families marrying into families, you might have been matched off to someone in Cork and you could be from County Leitrim." 

More exciting for Dr O’Brien is that the archive also contains important records relating to farm tenants which could plug a gap in census records lost in the Four Courts fire over a century ago. 

“Often tenants that have small holdings, their names aren’t recorded anywhere, so we have hundreds of names of tenant farmers all across Munster,” he said. With these lists, generations of farmers can be traced.

Historical documents are discarded all the time and Dr O'Brien urged everyone to check their attic and contact their county archivist for advice. Dr O’Brien along with his colleague Dr. Helene Bradley Davies will now catalogue and digitise the archive.