Crokers of Ballynaguarde: Saints or Sinners?

Oral v Recorded History

Why does the recorded history

(Books & Journals etc…)

Contrast with the oral testimonies concerning the Croker family of

Ballynaguarde?

Who were the Crokers?

• When did they come to Ireland?

• Why did they come?

• With what authority did they come – military or other - King or Cromwell?

• Is this important; or does this matter to the oral tradition?

• Established in Limerick in c.1641

• Fought in army of Charles I during the 1641 Rebellion against the English Crown

• Cromwell’s military actions - massacres & confiscations’ of land in Ireland still fresh in the Irish mindset.

Recorded History

• What are the pivotal moments in the history of the Crokers?

• Politics?

• Marriage?

• Money & Power?

• How, or ‘did’ they use their influence to help local people?

Oral Testimonies

• How did John Hare Croker react to the famine in his area?

• Who were the wives of the Crokers? Did they always marry within their ‘own kind’?

• Were they good landlords?

• If not then WHY?

Truth or Myth?Did the Croker’s pay their workers?

All wages are per month:

• Grooms: Between £1.2 shillings & £1.10 shillings

• Washerwoman: 11s to £1

• Handymen: £1.2s to £1.14s

• When Croker was away he paid double wages on his return – sometimes triple

These wages correlate with other estates of the time.

Oral v Recorded History

• Estate Workers

• Non-Estate Workers

• Last of the Crokers dies 1934

• Break-up of Ballynaguarde Estate

• Land Divided

Questions to debate

• Were the Crokers ‘Saints or Sinners’

• Were they a little of both?

• Do they deserve a bad name?

• More importantly:

Should Croker be viewed as ONE ENTITY – individual?

Estate Size c.1870

Ballynaguarde Castle c.1680

Ballynaguarde House 1856by Jeremiah Hodges Mulcahy

Ballynaguarde House c.1950s

Fountain pool with statue of Neptune behind, circular flowerbeds in

lawn, two Pekinese dogs.

Statue of Hercules from the side, wearing toga, a large club

resting on a stump

Ionic wing Courtesy of Limerick City Museum

Ballynaguarde House 2008

Croker Coat of Arms