| Bonniconlon Bonniconlon village is situated on the Mayo/Sligo border and it nestles in the shadow of the Ox Mountains. It is renowned for its wild beauty and its outstanding historical and archaeological interest. The landscape of this area is a result of processes, which have gone on for hundreds of millions of years. The Ox Mountains contain the oldest rocks in Western Europe originally formed over 6000 million years. The final episode in the formation of the landscape was the movement of the ice during the last 200,000 years; these movements of melting ice formed the striking Windy Gap, the valley of Glenree and lakes of Lough Talt and the Ballymore/Carrowkeribly lakes. A few miles north of Bonniconlon is the townland of Glenree and it was here in the 1960�s that a prehistoric habitation was uncovered by a local man while cutting turf on the bog. In the summer of 1970 Dr. Michael Herity and a team of archaeologists directed excavations using local labour. Here they found a pre-bog enclosure complete with its house and extensive cultivation ridges dating to the Stone Age and Bronze Age. On this site the archaeologists found implements used by the 3,000 year old farmers such as a type of slug knife used to skin the animals which they had killed. The team also discovered a small circular dwelling place with its fireplace in the centre complete with traces of charcoal. It was also discovered that the crop grown by the Bronze Age farmers was wheat and the ridged area cultivated in alternative years in a criss-crossed system, which seem to indicate successive seasons of cultivation. The Great O'Dowdas No history of Bonniconlon could be complete without reference to the great O'Dowda family who had connections with this parish since 1302. A covenant was made between Taithleach of the Moy O'Dowdas and Donogh M�r O'Dowda regarding the division of lands following a bitter internal family feud. It would appear however that the O'Dowdas did not take up residence in Bonniconlon until 1856 when David was pardoned during the Cromwellian plantations and received a grant of land in Bonniconlon This was all that now remained of the vast territories that their ancestors had once ruled. The history o the O'Dowdas clan is of interest to Bonniconlon people for a number of reasons. They developed a great relationship with their tenants and by all accounts they were lenient landlords during the famine, and also because of the part played by James O'Dowda in the rebellion of 1798. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the head of the family was Dominick. He had five children - David, James, Molly, Evelyn and Thady. In 1739 Dominick died and was succeeded by the eldest son David. James and Thady went to France and joined the Wild Geese. James died in France and Thady went to Austria or Germany and enlisted in the army where he served for 19 years. Later he fell in love with and married the daughter of a Baron from Silesia. They had a son called James in 1765. News of his birth undoubtedly reached his uncle and relatives in Bonniconlon. His father Thady died aged 47 years in 176, his brother William was killed and his mother died shortly afterwards leaving James as an orphan in the care of his uncle in Silesia. When James grew up he enlisted as a cadet in the Imperial Army. He soon became a lieutenant and was probably looking forward to a distinguished career in the army like his father. Suddenly he got a letter from his aunt in Bonniconlon to say that his uncle Davis had died and James was the next male heir to the family estate and to the title " The O'Dowda" His aunt requested him to come home, if only to view the estate. He resigned his commission in the Imperial Army on 3rd May 1788. The handsome young soldier now 23 years old met in Dublin with the solicitor handling the transfer, Robert Fitzgerald. It appears that he received more than land and property in the transfer because he married Miss Temperance Fitzgerald, the youngest daughter of Robert Fitzgerald. As a result of his inheritance worth more �400 per annum he was entitled to purchase the commission of Captain in the army of Ireland. He joined the Tirawley Cavalry Corps as an officer of the North Mayo Militia. |
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