Offaly 400 Years Ago in the Writings of Sir Matthew De Renzy

For students and lovers of Offaly’s heritage, Mathew De Renzy’s archives are a treasure trove of letters and maps which give a remarkable insight into the geography and history of the county 400 years ago.

This lecture from March 14th 2022 as given by James Scully, in person at Offaly History, and Kieran Keenaghan, via Zoom link shed greater light on these fascinating documents and some of the stories surrounding them.

De Renzy’s correspondence is largely concerning the plantation of the lands of the Mac Coghlan clan. His letters, which range over a period of ten years from 1613, include many addressed to the leading politicians of the day. These often concern local matters such as the establishment of the borough of Banagher and De Renzy’s struggle to hold onto lands acquired at Clonony, near Cloghan. De Renzy was also in regular communication with Sir William Parsons who played a dominant role in plantations of West and South Offaly.

The twenty-six maps in the De Renzy papers all relate to the landscape of Offaly. Only a handful of these have been published but many will now be shown in great detail for the first time. These include three barony maps showing townlands around Tullamore, Lynally, Rahan, Kilcormac and Ballyboy. Other drawings by the leading surveyors of the day, such as Thomas Raven, focus on parts of West Offaly including Moystown, Endrim, Kilnagarnagh, Druin (Ballycumber) and townlands near Banagher. One map in particular confirms the historic location of Lumcloon of the Flatterys as being adjacent to Banagher.

The combination of these rare maps and De Renzy’s own extensive descriptions of the landscape provide rare insights into the local countryside in the early seventeenth century.

In addition, his extensive knowledge of the Irish language and his abundant use of place names help enrich our understanding of our locale at that time.