The history of the McAuliffe clan
Visitors to Ireland searching for their roots often find that their ancestral homes have disappeared with time, the same could be said of the traditional seat of the McAuliffe family.
Of all the places still standing, Kanturk Castle, one mile south of the town in the north-west of Co Cork, provides a link to the McAuliffe family, but links that are shared with other family’s too as the castle passed through many hands because of successive losses and gains in tribal uprisings. It was built during the late 16th century, but but not finished due to political unrest. The castle laid empty and slowly decaying until it was donated to the National Trust of Ireland in 1900. But, as much as Kanturk Castle offers a destination in modern times, the history of the McAuliffe family lies primarily among the fields and landscapes of rural Co Cork.
At the end of the twelfth century, the MacCarthy’s and the McAuliffe’s, along with the O’Donoghue’s and other smaller clans, were pushed further to the south-west by the invading Normans, and away from the fertile lands of Limerick and South Tipperary and into Cork and Kerry, to the west of the Blackwater River. They also settled into the Desmond area of South Munster which was surrounded by Norman castles, an area where they struggled to maintain their authority among the older clans, the De Cogans and the Fitzgerald’s. It is thought that the McAuliffe’s, few as there were at that time, then broke away from the MacCarthy’s, although remained as allies. The area around where they settled took the name Clanawley, after the MacCawley clan, another clan with close links to the McAuliffe clan.
Slowly the clans pushed their Norman conquerors back towards Blarney and nearer to Cork City, the Barony of Duhallow was established and stretched almost from Cork to Limerick.
The MacCarthy’s and McAuliffe’s have always been traditionally linked through history. The name McAuliffe itself has various possible origins. The first of two deriving from the Norse are Mac Amhlaoibh’ meaning ‘son of Amhlaoibh’, or son of Olaf. The second, Amhailgadh, means ‘willow or sally’. More likely the name is of Celtic origin, a variation of the MacArthy, and descended from the first McAuliffe chieftain Auliffe Alainn (‘Humphrey the Dandy’). Alainn was born around 1214 and would have been alive when Dermot McCarthy received the Lordship of Duhallow, an area approximately 30 miles in circumference surrounding the towns of Kanturk and Newmarket, Co Cork, in south-west Ireland.
In fear of being overrun by the Normans, the Desmond king Fineen McArthy with Auliffe Alainn, attacked his enemies with the intention of strengthening their hold on their lands. The following year, in 1261, the Fitzgerald’s retaliated and marched a large army upon Desmond. The two sides met at Kenmare, County Cork, it was a resounding win for McArthy and his allies. Encouraged by the victory, they expanded their territory with the capture of Blarney, they now controlled most of the Barony of Duhallow. It is then that the name McAuliffe emerges as an important clan and Auliffe Alainn is gifted Clanawley for his support of the McArthy’s. The feuds between the McArthy’s and the Fitgerald’s continued. In 1398, Auliffe the Deaf, Chieftain of Clanawley, was killed as he travelled to pay his respects to the Earl of Desmond.
The 16th century was a time of great unrest in Ireland, with successive small uprisings and attempts by the British to supress the Irish people, and it was a complicated period. It is easy to think of a narrow divide between catholic or protestant, or landowner and tenant, or even crown against republic as the root of cause of unrest. The boundaries were blurred to say the least. Neighbouring clans often supported opposite local causes, but came together when it came to opposing the British. Upon the accession to the throne by Elizabeth, and her promotion of the protestant cause, along with new anti-Catholic laws, the scene was set for further unrest.
In 1579, Clanawley was attacked and most of the lands burnt and destroyed by the Earl of Ormond, in an attempt to starve the McAuliffe’s off the land. A year later, Clanawley was attacked again by British forces, assisted by the Butler’s under the Earl of Ormond and many lives were lost and properties destroyed. After three years of turmoil, the McAuliffe’s made peace with Ormond, but those who had escaped with their lives were faced with starvation during a severe famine, caused by successive droughts. Once again tenants found themselves unable to pay the rents, often resulting in poverty and evictions. To worsen matters, just ten years later, the land is confiscated and is sold to a Patrick Graunt, who sells it back to the McAuliffe’s, but who had now to submit to the English feudal system of tenure.
In 1600, The Earl of Tyrone raised an army against British rule, he is joined by many Munster clans, including the McAuliffe’s. Once again, Clanawley is laid to waste and there is a great loss of life. Even with the support of Spanish forces who had landed at Kinsale, the McAuliffe’s were again to suffer at the hands of the English, out of a force of 6,000 Irish and 3,000 Spanish, 1,300 were either killed, wounded or were later executed. Their number included Dermot McAuliffe, son of the chieftain.
Rather than surrender, many escaped to Spain, including John McAuliffe who was listed as a gentleman pensioner of the Spanish army, and another by the name of Dermot McAuliffe.
Clanawley was sold again in 1610, this time to Sir Thomas Roper of Castlemaine, but returned into McAuliffe ownership just two years later. However, little by little, the land is granted to British settlers, including the town of Kilmacroghan, soon to be named Newmarket. Close to the middle of the 17th century, their land is reduced to a few small pockets of land including Castlemacauliffe. Florence McAuliffe, the then chieftain was outlawed by the English and he is considered to be the last in the line of clan leaders. The McAuliffe’s suffered another defeat in 1647, this time against Cromwell’s forces at the Battle of Knocknanuss, in the north of Co Cork.
Following defeat at Limerick in 1691, given the option of serving in the English army during the ‘Nine Years War’, (basically France versus the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic, Portugal, Spain and England), just over 1000 enlisted, whilst around 19,000 people sailed for France and further afield to start anew, also known as the Flight of the Wild Geese.
The treaty that followed was seen as a memorial of Irish honour and heroism, signed by King William and promising reforms and better conditions for Ireland, including the right to practice the catholic faith. However, the British Government of the day repudiated the treaty and instead brought in the Penal Laws, and with it more severe treatment of Catholics once again. The persecution of Catholics continued with the introduction by the British government of the Popery Act in 1703, which forbade Catholics from buying or leasing land. Seventy years later when the restrictions were finally lifted, only 5% of Irish land would be owned by Catholics.
Many of the Irish who left their motherland, sought employment in the armies of France at the time of the Spanish War of Succession. Among the six-hundred serving Irishmen involved in the defence of Cremona in 1701, over 200 lost their lives, but among those who survived were two McAuliffe’s. One, Teige McAuliffe, was a lieutenant and an exile from Ireland, the other McAuliffe served as a captain.
Six years later, Teige McAuliffe and Colonel Dermot McAuliffe, having changed their allegiance to Spain, were charged by the King of Spain to create a new regiment. McAuliffe’s regiment then saw action at the siege of Barcelona, and in 1711 helped to take Palma, Majorca. There is a record of a Colonel McAuliffe (his forename was not mentioned) as losing his life in the battle to take Francoville (Francavilla) in Sicily.
In 1709 King Philip V of Spain took advantage of the new strength of Irish incomers and formed a number of regiments under the leadership of former Irish citizens. Dermot McAuliffe and Colonel Don de Comerford, a former McAuliffe chief, were to lead the new McAuliffe Regiment, and they in turn combined with the Comerford and MacDonnell regiments to form the ‘Brigade of Irish Infantry of Castelar’, playing an important role in the battle of Saragossa.
Political, religious and environmental problems dogged the island of Ireland for hundreds of years, and as with all clans, many were forced to find new lives thousands of miles away. Many chose to join foreign struggles, such as the many and various wars in Europe, or later, the American Civil War, where regular wages, even for the fear of death, proved a temptation beyond struggling to keep a farm or family solvent in their home country.
By the mid-19th century, Ireland had witnessed all that could be faced by way of conflict and political unrest, but none compared to the effects of the successive years of the failure of the potato crop. By the turn of the decade, around 1 million people had died, and 2 million emigrated to all the corners of the world.
When researching for the site of McAuliffe Castle, it becomes apparent that there was not one, but three attributed to the McAuliffe family. Of the three, it appears that the original or most important seat of the McAuliffe Clan may have laid around 1½ miles south of Newmarket, at the confluence of the River Dalua and the Owenkeal River. Maps dating from 1888 clearly show the area of Castlemacauliffe, centring near the circular horse racing track on the outskirts of the town. The site, a stone-built mound, was dismantled and the stone used to build a nearby farmhouse. A short distance away to the north is situated the Clonfert (Meadow of the graves) burial place for the McAuliffe’s of Clanawley. The ruined chapel now dismantled and covered by new graves, and the burial ground lies beside the L1109 just south of Newmarket.
The site of Carrigcashel (Carrig Castle), lies around 2½ miles north-east of Newmarket, again little evidence remains of a castle on the site, although the location can be seen using ariel photography.
The third location lies just ½ mile south of Newmarket, and set in the grounds of what was Newmarket Court, more latterly Aldworth House, the home of the James O’Keefe Memorial Institute. Again, there is little evidence of a castle ruin in the grounds today.
D.H. Allen’s book, published in 1991 entitled The McAuliffe’s of Clanawley gives a fuller description of the history of the McAuliffe clan, and would prove useful to any person searching for their McAuliffe links.