Lord Monteagle & Mount Trenchard
Field lead from Eddie McKenna at Mount Trenchard, 23 May 2026: the Monteagle / Spring-Rice estate papers are the likely landlord archive for the Foynes and Mounttrenchard McKenna family.
Current conclusion · 25 May 2026
Short Answer
The correct landlord archive remains the National Library of Ireland's Monteagle Papers. The online school/local-history sources have now been searched deeply: all 42 Dúchas Mounttrenchard entries returned no McKenna-family hit. The breakthrough came from official Irish civil and census records: the family is now documented at Ballynash from 1864-1875, then at South Cappa / Mounttrenchard / Mountrenchard from the 1891 marriage through the 1926 census and later death records. The Monteagle rent books, ledgers, relief survey, wage books, and emigrant letters still need manuscript-room checking for the estate-tenancy proof.
Best record window
1857-1926: the family is absent from the 1852 Foynes-area Griffith's sweep but civil-record documented at Ballynash by 1864-1875, at South Cappa from 1891, and at Mounttrenchard / Mountrenchard in the 1901, 1911, and 1926 censuses.
Research stance
Order the Monteagle estate volumes by call number, search all McKenna spelling variants, then reconcile any tenancy hits against Griffith's, census, civil, and parish records.
Why This Matters
The Foynes-side McKenna problem is now geographic: the family tradition says Philip Joseph McKenna was born at the Model Farm / South Cappa / Foynes area, while the census household appears under the formal townland Mounttrenchard, Loghill DED, Co. Limerick. Lord Monteagle's Spring-Rice estate is the landlord context for that townland.
The prior Griffith's Valuation pass found no McKenna, Ginna, Kenna, or Guinaw household in the Foynes-area civil parishes in 1852. The 1901 and 1911 census pass then found Thomas McKenna / Mc Kenna, wife Hanna, brother Edmond/Edward, and children at Mounttrenchard. That makes the estate papers the best route to bridge the gap between no Foynes McKenna in 1852 and McKennas at Mounttrenchard by 1901.
Update 24 May 2026: official Irish civil records now fill part of that gap. Ballynash birth registrations from 1864 through 1875 name James McKenna / M'Kenna and Margaret formerly Sheahan as parents of John Michael, Eliza, Patt, Dan, Edward, and Mary. The likely parent deaths are at South Cappa in 1886 and 1888. Full transcription is in raw/mounttrenchard-irish-records-philip-parents-siblings-2026-05-24.md.
Update 25 May 2026: a second official-record pass now proves Thomas McKenna and Hanna / Joanna Cummane's South Cappa household in seven civil births, the 1901/1911 censuses, the newly available 1926 census, 1924-1967 death records, and 1935 marriages. It also corrects the 1911 census reading: Hanna had completed 20 years of marriage, with 7 children born alive and 7 living; she did not report 20 children. Full transcription is in raw/mounttrenchard-south-cappa-mckenna-records-2026-05-25.md.
South Cappa Record Trail
This trail is now the strongest Irish evidence for the family living around Mount Trenchard. It documents Philip Joseph McKenna I's Irish collateral line: his brother Thomas remained in the South Cappa / Mounttrenchard area while Philip emigrated to America.
| Date | Record | What it proves |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Feb 1891 | Thomas McKenna / M'Kenna married Joanna Cummane at Ballyhill / Ballyhahill chapel. | Names Thomas of Cappa as son of James M'Kenna, farmer, and confirms the Ballyhahill church association. |
| 1892-1903 | Seven South Cappa civil births: Margaret/Maggie, Bessie/Elizabeth, James, John, Mary/Molly, Bridget Celia, and Jane/Jane Agnes/Agnes. | Proves Thomas and Hanna / Joanna Cummane's full child set reported in 1911. |
| 1901-1911 | NAI census household at Mounttrenchard, Loghill DED. | Places Thomas, Hanna, children, and brother Edward/Edmond in the formal townland behind the family South Cappa / Mount Trenchard tradition. |
| 1926 | NAI census household at Mountrenchard. | Finds widowed Hannah with Margaret, James, John, Bridget, Agnes, and Edward McKenna on a 120-acre farm after Thomas's death. |
| 1924-1967 | Civil deaths for Thomas, Elizabeth/Bessie, Hannah, Edward, and James. | Links the death registers, informants, and South Cappa headstone to the same household. |
| 1935 | Marriages of James McKenna to Anne Bridgeman and Bridget Celia McKenna to Edward Fitzgerald. | Identifies James's wife Anne as the headstone's Baby Anne and confirms Bridget Celia as Thomas's daughter. |
Church Association
The family's Catholic parish context is Loughill / Ballyhahill, Diocese of Limerick. A civil-marriage search now gives exact-chapel evidence for the Ballyhahill side of that parish: Thomas McKenna, age 31, farmer of Cappa, son of James M'Kenna, farmer, married Joanna Cummane on 22 February 1891 in the Roman Catholic Chapel of Ballyhill / Ballyhahill, Registrar's District of Shanagolden, Union of Glin.
- Present-day church
- Our Lady of the Visitation, Ballyhahill, also listed as Church of the Visitation (St. Mary), Main Street, Ballyhahill.
- Church point
- 52.559835, -9.190356, from the published directions coordinate for the Ballyhahill church.
- Road link to Mount Trenchard
- Modern OpenStreetMap / OSRM routing from Ballyhahill church to Mount Trenchard House is about 7.6 km, roughly 9-10 minutes by car.
- Proven
The target-family marriage record names the chapel as Ballyhill / Ballyhahill, not merely the civil district.
- Proven
The groom's father is James M'Kenna, farmer, and the groom's residence is Cappa, matching the Mount Trenchard / South Cappa family geography.
- Likely
In present-day parish terms, this points to Our Lady of the Visitation, Ballyhahill. Loughill / Ballyhahill parish also has Our Lady of the Assumption at Loughill, but the exact civil-marriage evidence found so far names Ballyhahill.
Full search note and local register PDFs: raw/ballyhahill-church-civil-marriage-confirmation-2026-05-25.md, raw/irishgenealogy-thomas-mckenna-joanna-cummane-1891-marriage.pdf.
Philip Joseph's 1883 Emigration
The proof that Philip Joseph McKenna I came to America in February 1883 is not yet from the Monteagle Papers. It comes from The Book of Chicagoans (1911), pp. 446-447, which gives his birthplace as Mt. Trenchard, Foynes, Limerick and names his parents as James and Margaret (Sheahan) McKenna.
- Proven
The 1911 biography says Philip Joseph McKenna came to America in February 1883.
- Proven
The same entry names more family detail: wife Joanna E. Richardson of Escanaba, Michigan; marriage date 14 Feb 1888; and seven children then named as Harold V., Ethel Mary, Blanch Lucile, Philip Joseph Jr., Arthur Anthony, Ruth Ester, and Roger R.
- Likely
The Mt. Trenchard/Foynes birthplace makes the Monteagle estate papers the right landlord archive to test the family's tenancy and local departure context.
- Open
The 1911 biography does not state that Lord Monteagle paid Philip's fare. Any estate-assisted passage claim remains unproved until an 1883-era Monteagle account, letter, rent-book entry, or passenger record is found.
Archive Located
- Collection
- National Library of Ireland, Monteagle Papers
- Finding aid
- NLI Manuscripts Collection List No. 122 · local copy:
raw/monteagle-papers-collection-list-122.pdf - Shelfmarks
- MS 501-605; MS 3500; MS 13,345-13,417; MS 15,309
- Estate
- Spring-Rice / Monteagle family, Mount Trenchard, Co. Limerick
- Raw note
raw/monteagle-papers-nli-collection-list-2026-05-23.md
Mount Trenchard School Records
The school lead now splits into three separate record lanes. None yet proves that Philip Joseph McKenna I attended Mounttrenchard school, but they define the right school name, roll number, and archive route to pursue.
| Record lane | Date | Where found | Genealogy value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model District Agricultural School, Mount Trenchard | 1848-1851 | Dictionary of Irish Architects: Frederick Darley [2] | Supports a mid-19th-century school / model-farm institution at Mount Trenchard, close to the McKenna arrival window. It is institutional evidence, not a pupil list. |
| Dúchas Schools' Collection: Mounttrenchard, Leamhchoill | 1937-1938 | Dúchas school collection; roll number 2540; teacher Tadhg Ó Nuanáin; Volume 0481 | Forty-two local folklore essays from the school district. All 42 transcribed entries were checked against McKenna variants, Sheahan, Cummane, target first names, and townlands. No target-family hit was found. |
| NAI education-record route | 1832-20th c. | National Archives of Ireland education records guide | The route most likely to prove attendance if surviving registers exist. Search by Mounttrenchard / Mount Trenchard / Leamhchoill and roll number 2540 in ED/2, ED/4, and ED/9. |
| Sisters of Mercy / Mount Trenchard Secondary School | 1950s-1994 | Landed Estates, Buildings of Ireland, and Coláiste Mhuire Askeaton | Later place history. Too late for Philip I or Thomas-1860 as pupils, but useful for house history, photographs, and living-memory leads. |
The exact pupil-record target is now Mounttrenchard National School, roll number 2540. The Dúchas collection is not an admissions register, but it gives the roll number needed to ask NAI or Findmypast for surviving school registers and roll books. The NAI online roll-book PDFs checked today do not list Mounttrenchard roll 2540, so the next step is a Reading Room index-card / ED finding-aid search by school name and roll number.
Deep Search Result
The 24 May 2026 remote deep search checked Dúchas, NLI catalogue/finding-aid text, web-searchable Monteagle references, the Limerick estate-map index, and published Mount Trenchard property-history sources. It did not locate Philip Joseph McKenna, James McKenna, Margaret Sheahan McKenna, Thomas McKenna, Edward/Edmond McKenna, or the known Mounttrenchard household in an online/transcribed Mount Trenchard estate or school record. The later civil-register breakthrough is separate: it is an Irish state record set, not a Monteagle manuscript.
- Searched
Dúchas Mounttrenchard roll 2540: all 42 transcribed school folklore entries checked. No target McKenna/Sheahan/Cummane family hit.
- Open
NLI Monteagle manuscripts: the catalogue and finding aid identify the right volumes, but the rent books, ledgers, wage books, and emigrant letters are not transcribed online.
- Lead
Poverty to Promise: remote index/search snippets expose several Sheahan entries among Monteagle emigrants, but no direct McKenna hit. Those pages must be checked before connecting any Sheahan person to Margaret Sheahan McKenna.
Mount Trenchard Property Custody Chain
This chain works backward from today. It traces Mount Trenchard House/demesne, not yet the exact McKenna tenant holding, and it is a public-source custody chain rather than a certified title abstract. The remaining hard proof is a Landdirect folio plus Registry of Deeds / archive deeds.
| Period | Custody / title / use | Evidence handling |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Mount Trenchard House and Garden remains publicly advertised for heritage visits / guest use. Latest public title evidence still points to Frieda Keane Carmody, but the folio has not been pulled. | Revenue Section 482 open-date list plus 2023 Land Registry reporting in the Irish Times. Certified title still requires Landdirect. |
| 2024 lead | A Property Price Register entry appears for Mount Trenchard, Foynes, V94 TX6C, sold 29 Nov 2024 for 256,000 euro. | Do not treat this as a sale of the historic house/demesne: Daft describes it as a 3-bed detached property, likely a separate Mount Trenchard-address dwelling. |
| 2022-2023 | Ukrainian refugee accommodation phase after Russia's February 2022 invasion. | Irish Times and Limerick Post identify Frieda Keane Carmody as owner/context and describe refurbishment. Use/contract evidence, not a transfer. |
| 2020 | Direct Provision centre stopped operating in February 2020 after contract non-renewal. | Irish Times, 31 Jan 2020, reports closure and Baycaster Limited payment history. |
| 2004/2005-2020 | Direct Provision / asylum accommodation use under Baycaster Limited contract periods. | Oireachtas contract table starts Mount Trenchard at 4 May 2004; Comptroller and Auditor General material groups Mount Trenchard with Baycaster / Barlow / Bideau / Stompool / D&A centres. Operation, not ownership. |
| ca. 2004 | Reported transfer from Frieda + Paschal Carmody joint ownership into Frieda Keane Carmody's sole name. | Irish Times, 18 Jun 2023, explicitly cites Land Registry records. Pull folio for certified proof. |
| 1996 | Sold to Dr Paschal Carmody / Carmody family; later holistic medicine / restoration / accommodation uses. | Irish Times 2006 says Dr Carmody bought the former Mount Trenchard convent and adjoining lands in 1996; local histories agree on 1996 sale. |
| 1953-1996 | Sisters of Mercy / Stella Maris school phase; boarding school, later day school, with 1960s dormitory/classroom/church additions. Education ceased in 1996. | Landed Estates says sold to Sisters of Mercy in 1953; Buildings of Ireland says taken over in 1958. Keep date conflict visible until deed is checked. |
| 1952-1953 | Estate of Lady Holland / nephew Lieutenant Charles E. Hall transition before sale to Sisters of Mercy. | Limerick Live reports Lady Holland died in 1952 and left the bulk of her estate, including Mount Trenchard, to Lt Charles E. Hall. Needs probate/conveyance check. |
| 1947-1952 | Lady Holland owned/lived at Mount Trenchard. | Landed Estates and Irish Historic Houses give the 1947 sale; Limerick Live adds residence/probate detail. |
| 1940/1944-1947 | Irish Army / military occupation during the Emergency. | Limerick Live says let/occupied by Irish Army in 1940; Landed Estates says occupied by the Military in 1944. Occupation, not title. |
| 1946-1947 | Gerald Spring Rice, 6th Baron Monteagle, inherited the title after his father Charles died in 1946 and returned for a year to manage the family estate; sale followed in 1947. | Biographical title evidence plus Landed Estates sale statement. Exact vendor/trustees in the 1947 conveyance remain open. |
| 1937-1946 | Charles Spring Rice, 5th Baron Monteagle, lived at Mount Trenchard. | Peerage/title summaries; he died in 1946 and was succeeded by Gerald. |
| 1926-1937 | Late Monteagle succession after the 2nd Baron: Thomas Aubrey Spring Rice, 3rd Baron, then Francis Spring Rice, 4th Baron. | Title succession; Limerick Museum holds 1927 Mount Trenchard inventories/valuations after Lord Monteagle's death. |
| 1866-1926 | Thomas Spring Rice, 2nd Baron Monteagle, landlord/estate owner at the key McKenna-tenancy window. | NLI Monteagle Papers, Landed Estates, and biographical sources. Search MS 516, MS 544, MS 576, MS 586, wages books, and valuation revision books for McKenna tenancy proof. |
| 1831/1839-1866 | Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle: inherited from the Stephen Edward Rice generation, created Baron Monteagle in 1839, died at Mount Trenchard on 7 Feb 1866. | NLI Monteagle Papers introduction, ArchivUL, Royal Society, and Landed Estates. Treat 1831 as the cleaner family-estate transition and 1839 as the title date. |
| 1785-1831 | Stephen Edward Rice of Mount Trenchard and Catherine Spring; their marriage joined Rice's Mount Trenchard line with the Spring/Ballycrispin/Castlemaine line. | Landed Estates and peerage genealogical summaries. |
| 1767-1804 | Rice / Long / Conyngham transition over the former Trenchard estate: half-share lease in 1767, 1771 partition, 1772 conveyance of moiety to Conyngham, 1773 fines, and 1804 conveyance of the Shanagolden estate to Thomas Rice. | Landed Estates archival sources and NLI Conyngham Papers MS 35,402. Deeds still need direct inspection for exact parcel continuity. |
| 1770 / 1747 | Estate-map and rental anchors: Richard and Charles Frizzell/Fritzelle map for Henry Conyngham and William Long in 1770; rental of the Manor of Mount Trenchard dated 25 Mar 1747. | Limerick Estate Maps index, Limerick Museum LM2002.0044, and Limerick Archives P14 lead. |
| 1612 / 1587 | Named estate origin: charter tradition to Francis / Frances Trenchard on 20 Jun 1612; earlier Munster Plantation Trenchard background from 1587. | Limerick Archives collection-list summary and local histories. The 1612 charter is the clean historical origin; primary patent still needed for legal-origin proof. |
Expanded source trail and unresolved deed steps: raw/mounttrenchard-chain-of-custody-backward-2026-05-25.md.
Griffith's Control Point
The working landholding control is:
- Proven
Exact later residence: Mounttrenchard, Loghill DED, Co. Limerick, house 7 in 1901 and house 1 in 1911.
- Proven
Earlier negative: 1852 Griffith's transcripts for Robertstown, Loghill, Shanagolden, and Kilcolman did not show a McKenna household under the expected spelling variants.
- Likely
Landlord context: University of Galway's Landed Estates entry places Mount Trenchard in Loghill civil parish and identifies Lord Monteagle's Limerick estate in the Shanid area, including Robertstown and Shanagolden holdings.
- Open
Next land record: the lessor-complete Griffith page and Valuation Office revision books should be checked for Mounttrenchard holding succession after 1852.
Manuscripts To Order
| Priority | Call number | Date | Record type | What to search |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MS 586 | 1857-1864 | Mount Trenchard Estate Ledger | Rents received; Foynes and Mount Trenchard seaweed accounts; first overlap with likely arrival window and Philip Joseph's 1862 birth. |
| 2 | MS 516 | 1865-1870 | Rental/account book for Mount Trenchard, Ballycormick, and Robertstown | McKenna tenancy after arrival; Thomas-1860, Philip Joseph-1862, James senior, Margaret Sheahan, and the Ballynash children registered in 1864-1870. |
| 3 | MS 576 | 1869-1870 | Mount Trenchard Clothing Club register | Tenant/member names and clothing-loan repayments; useful for smaller tenants or labouring households. |
| 4 | MS 544 | 1868-1871 | Octavius Knox letter book | Use the alphabetical index first; Knox was Monteagle agent and guardian of the 2nd Baron. |
| 5 | MS 582 | 1846 | Famine relief survey | Tenant names, occupations, condition, public-works status, and dependents on Monteagle and other Limerick estates; especially useful for Sheahan/Ballynash context. |
| 6 | MS 13,398/6 | 1848 | Famine correspondence | Includes emigration, public works, poor-law context, and a tenant surrendering a lease; use as an eviction/surrender search lane. |
| 7 | MS 13,400/1-8 | c. 1833-1857 | Emigration and famine papers | Over 100 letters from individual emigrants, many Monteagle tenants in Australian colonies; ask for Special List 293 / S. C. O'Mahony calendar. |
| 8 | MS 583 | 1861-1870 | Estate account book | Mount Trenchard house/demesne, improvement works, assurance clubs, agricultural society, and estate accounts. |
| 9 | MS 580, MS 598, MS 599 | 1873-1886 | Wages / labour books | Possible later estate-worker entries for Thomas-1860's household, Edward-1872, or collateral relatives. |
| Context | MS 587, MS 588 | 1806-1817 | Early rent books | Rent books for Mount Trenchard/Ballycrispin and Mount Trenchard/Loughill; too early for the known Foynes arrival, but useful for long-running tenant surnames. |
| Context | MS 595 | 1776-1806 | Rentals and lease-related legal papers | Too early for the direct Mounttrenchard McKennas, but it is the explicit lease-related estate volume in the NLI finding aid. |
Search Terms
Search the manuscript indexes and tenant lists broadly. The collection-list PDF has no McKenna text hit, so the work is inside the volumes.
- Names
- McKenna; Mc Kenna; M'Kenna; MacKenna; Kenna; Ginna; Guinaw; Gnaw; Gna.
- Associates
- Sheahan / Sheehan; Cummane / Cummins; Hanna; Thomas; Philip; John; Eliza; Patrick / Patt; Dan / Daniel; Edward / Edmond; Mary / May.
- Places
- Mounttrenchard; Mount Trenchard; South Cappa; Cappa; Ballynash; Foynes; Loughill; Robertstown; Shanagolden; Ballyhahill / Ballynahill; Kilfergus.
Next Actions
- OpenAt NLI, order MS 586 first, then MS 516 and MS 576. Photograph or transcribe every McKenna-variant entry and the surrounding tenant rows.
- OpenAsk the Manuscripts Reading Room for NLI Special List 293, the calendar of MS 13,400 emigrant letters from Monteagle tenants.
- OpenUse the lessor-complete Griffith page and the Valuation Office revision books to follow the Mounttrenchard holding forward after 1852.
- OpenCross-check any estate-paper McKenna hits against Loughill RC parish 0886, Shanagolden/Foynes parish 0866, and Glin/Kilfergus parish 0884.
- OpenUse school name Mounttrenchard / Mount Trenchard / Leamhchoill and roll number 2540 to search NAI education records, especially ED/2 school folios, ED/4 salary books, ED/9 case files, and any surviving pupil registers or roll books.
- OpenCheck Poverty to Promise pages 77, 79, 89, 96, 191, 192, and 193 for Sheahan entries before connecting any of them to Margaret Sheahan McKenna.
- OpenComplete a user-directed Landdirect map search and folio purchase for Mount Trenchard House/demesne. The 24 May 2026 attempt found that the folio is behind the paid Landdirect/copy-services flow and should not be pulled by automated access.
- OpenUse the folio's prior-title references to pull the 1996 Carmody purchase, ca. 2004 sole-title transfer, 1953 Sisters of Mercy sale, 1947 Lady Holland sale, and any Registry of Deeds memorials behind the Rice / Conyngham / Long transition.
Sources
- National Library of Ireland catalogue: Monteagle Papers.
- NLI Collection List No. 122: Monteagle Papers, saved locally as
raw/monteagle-papers-collection-list-122.pdf. - The Book of Chicagoans (1911) OCR text, pp. 446-447 entry for Philip Joseph McKenna.
- University of Galway Landed Estates: Spring-Rice estate.
raw/mounttrenchard-school-records-2026-05-24.md, including the Dúchas Mounttrenchard school collection, NAI education-record guide, Dictionary of Irish Architects, Landed Estates, Buildings of Ireland, and Coláiste Mhuire school-history leads.raw/mounttrenchard-deep-search-property-chain-2026-05-24.md, logging the all-42 Dúchas search, Sheahan Poverty to Promise lead, and Mount Trenchard property custody chain.raw/mounttrenchard-chain-of-custody-backward-2026-05-25.md, the current backward-running Mount Trenchard custody chain from 2026 to the Trenchard/Rice/Conyngham origins.raw/mounttrenchard-irish-records-philip-parents-siblings-2026-05-24.md, logging the Irish civil-register proof for James McKenna + Margaret formerly Sheahan at Ballynash and South Cappa.raw/mounttrenchard-south-cappa-mckenna-records-2026-05-25.md, logging the official Irish civil and census record trail for Thomas McKenna + Hanna / Joanna Cummane's South Cappa / Mounttrenchard household, including the corrected 1911 census reading and the 1926 census household.- NLI catalogue: Poverty to Promise: the Monteagle emigrants 1838-58, the book to check for the exposed Sheahan collateral lead.
- Mount Trenchard Estate: Trenchard Family and Rice Family.
- University of Galway Landed Estates: Mount Trenchard house; Buildings of Ireland: Mount Trenchard; Irish Historic Houses: Mount Trenchard.
- Irish Times, 18 Jun 2023, for reported Land Registry ownership and recent accommodation use; Limerick Post, 23 Jun 2023, for local current-use context.
raw/mounttrenchard-land-registry-folio-status-2026-05-24.md, documenting the attempted Landdirect folio route, the paid/interactive access blocker, and the 2024 Mount Trenchard address-level Property Price Register lead.raw/listowel-foynes-tithe-griffith-2026-05.mdandraw/foynes-mckenna-1901-1911-census-2026-05.md.