Coal-mining CONDR*Ns in Ireland

Mines in Ireland - courtesy of the Northern Mine Research Society.

Sometimes we get a fixed idea that turns out to be unfounded. Until recently I thought that there were no coal mines or coal miners in Ireland: that’s why the Irish traditionally burned peat for cooking and heating. But there were CONDR*Ns in the censuses for England, Scotland and the USA who were coal miners. Indeed, there were also a few coal miners in the Irish censuses of 1901 and 1911.

I then obtained the marriage certificates of two CONDRONs getting married in the 1850s, near the coal-mining area of Shotts in Scotland. On 3 December 1855, Michael CONDRON/CONDRAN (a coal miner) married Bridget STAPLETON, both of Cleland, parish of Shotts. Michael gave his date and place of birth as 1830 in Queen’s County, Ireland, and his parents as Patrick CONDRON, coal miner (deceased) and Dolly CONDRON. On 21 February 1859, Patrick CONDRON/CONDRIN (an iron miner) of the parish of Shotts married Maria GORMLY: he too gave his parents as Patrick CONDRON, coal miner (deceased) and Dolly CONDRON. Clearly Michael and Patrick were brothers, and their father Patrick was a coal miner, presumably in Queen’s County, Ireland.

My erroneous assumption about coal mining based on the use of peat is perhaps understandable.. Samuel Lewis, in ‘A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland’ (published in 1837) writes: “The coal at Newtown and Doonane is equal to the best Kilkenny coal, and sells at 20s. per ton at the pits; that of the other collieries, though somewhat inferior, never sinks below the price of 17s. per ton. Hence the poor people, even in the immediate vicinity of the pits, cannot afford to use it, and it is entirely purchased by maltsters, brewers, distillers and smiths … .” So the common people did burn peat rather than coal for cooking and heating.

The map above, which shows locations of coal mines in Ireland through the last two hundred years, indicates from the clustering of symbols where coal mining was most abundant. (A few of the symbols, such as the one in County Wicklow south of Dublin, indicate mining of materials other than coal.) There are three main areas: a major cluster in the central midlands (north of Kilkenny) denoting the rich coalfield of Castlecomer, County Kilkenny, which extended north into Queen’s County around the area of Doonane; a distributed coalfield in the south west of Ireland, located west of Limerick and extending down into County Cork near Mallow; and a cluster in the northwest, east of Sligo, in County Tyrone. There is also a smaller cluster west of Kilkenny, in mid County Tipperary, and less significant occurrences in the northeast in County Antrim.

The coal mining area where CONDR*Ns were to be found in some numbers is in Queen’s County. Indeed, the six CONDR*N coal miners in the 1901 Irish census are in Doonane (4 men), Ballylehane, and Newtown, all in the southeast corner of Queen’s County. Doonane is in Rathaspick civil parish, Ballylehane and Newtown are in the next-door parish of Killabban. So, if you are looking for where a coal-mining CONDR*N ancestor came from in Ireland, this corner of Queen’s County is a good place to start.

Kilkenny CONDR*Ns

County Kilkenny lies in the Irish province of Leinster. It is bordered on the north by Co. Laois or Leix (Queens County), on the east by Co. Carlow and Co. Wexford, on the south by Co. Waterford and on the west by Co. Tipperary.

CONDR*Ns are uncommon in Co. Kilkenny, but historically there are some living there: between 1864 (when universal civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began in Ireland) and 1910, a span of 46 years, there were 23 CONDR*N births registered, 13 marriages and 18 deaths. Fifty of these life events were recorded in the Castlecomer registration district, which covers the north-east corner of the county, and the remaining 4 events in the Kilkenny registration district which covers a band from west to east across the northern half of the county. This geographical restriction to the northern part of the county lends support to the idea that the Kilkenny CONDR*Ns perhaps migrated from Queens County. The most common variant of CONDR*N to be found in Co. Kilkenny is CONDREN.

Although I have not yet fitted all nineteenth-century Kilkenny CONDR*Ns into family trees, those found there in the 1901 and 1911 censuses are mostly accounted for. In each of 1901 and 1911, there are five households in the county containing CONDR*Ns, in addition to one nun in 1901 and two nuns in 1911 who were living in religious houses in the county but were born in Co. Wicklow. Apart from a widow Margaret CONDRON who is living in Clogh in both 1901 and 1911, and a widower Martin CONDRON living in Greenshill in 1901, all households in the censuses are related to just two married couples. Although they are variously spelt CONDREN and CONDRON in the censuses, in what follows I use the spelling CONDREN throughout.

The first couple is Brian (sometimes recorded as Bernard) CONDREN, who married Mary COLLINS in the Roman Catholic parish of Muckalee, Co. Kilkenny, in 1861. I believe that the following 14 children are theirs: Bridget (1861), Ellen (1863), Mary (1865), Margaret (1866), Edward (1868), Anne (1870), Michael (1871), Martin (1873), Bernard (1876), Margaret (1878), Bernard or Brian (1880), Thomas (1882), James (1884) and Patrick James (1887). Brian CONDREN senior died before 1901, but his widow Mary is found in the 1901 census with her daughter Mary and sons Michael, Martin and Bernard. Mary CONDREN senior died in 1904. In 1911, son Michael is living with his wife Mary (nee HARDING), whom he married in Clogh in 1907, and their three children. Martin, who is recorded as a widow (he may have married a Bridget HARDING - Mary's sister, perhaps? - in 1908, in which case she probably died in 1910), is living with his brothers Bernard and Thomas. All these households are living in the townland of Chatsworth, near Clogh. Another son, Edward, is living with his wife Mary (nee BROPHY), whom he married in Castlecomer in 1901, in the townland of Croghtenclogh with their three children. All these places are less than a mile from the border with Queens County.

The second couple is also - confusingly - Brian (sometimes recorded as Bernard) CONDREN, who married Bridget FOGARTY in 1873. I believe they had two children: John (1876) and Thomas (1878). By 1901, Brian has died and his widow Bridget and son John are living in the townland of Uskerty, together with Brian's sister Eliza. By 1911, Eliza has died but Mary and her son John are still living in Uskerty. Two years later, in 1913, John married a Julia BANIM in Coon, Co. Kilkenny, and their descendants now live in Ireland, England and Australia. I am grateful to correspondent Kathy Clare who has given me information about this CONDREN line.

As always, I would welcome any corrections or additional information about the topic of this post: email condran [AT] one-name.org .