My Townland.
Kilbegnet.
I live in the Townland of Kilbegnet in the parish of Kilbegnet in the Barony of Ballymoe. There are 8 families in my townland. There are 29 people in out townland. Keanes and Mc-Donaghs 1 story house 2 story this townlandgot its name from a nun or a priest who came there

supposed to be seen in Donamon castle with a pot and pot hooks around his neck. Others say that he walks the Kilbegnet road after dark.

of Kilbegnet in the barony of Ballymoe. There are ten families in the townland of Rosmoylan. There are 42 people in it. Ward is the most common name. Almost all the same types two storey high. There are no people over 70 years liveing now.

Father Mullrenin came from Castlerea, and was parish priest in Kilbegnet for about twenty years. He was not much of a preacher but he was a great writer on religious subjects. In his old age he died here. While he was (a) parish priest Father Bernard O'Reilly was curate, and after Father Mullrenin's death he was appointed Parish Priest. Father O'Reilly resided in Rushfield House. He was a native of Knockcroghery and he was a (native) fine preacher, and a very charitable man. There is a story in reference to his being appointed parish priest. There was a religious controversy going on in the papers at that time. Father Bernard O'Reilly had a brother a student who was a great writer on the subjects that

There was an ancient church in Kilbegnet and another one in Crosswell. Father Andrew Egan was the name of one of the priests that said mass in Crosswell, and it was him that also erected the church that now stands in it. Father Reaney was another old priest Crosswell. In later years Father Coffey, Father Parkes, Father Moran, were other priests in Crosswell. Father Moran was a curate for Father Coffey. After them came Father O Kelly, then Father O Reilly replaced Father O Kelly. There was also Father Mullrenin, and Father Shannon, and then Father Mac Dermott, and after him Canon Geraghty was replaced. Some of them were here for long periods and others short periods. It was Rev. Father Kelly that stopped the holiday work on the Pollock[?] days. They were all very generous towards the parishioners.

on paper and used to sit on ground around their teacher on the ground. They were very attentive to their work.Mary Joe Keane 15 years Kilbegnet Parish, Barony of Ballymoe, Co. Roscommon.

Milford Protestant School
There was an old Protestant school in the house owned now by Mr. Garvey but at the time of the school it was owned by Mr. Satchill Milford Kilbegnet Parish, Barony of Ballymoe, Co. Roscommon, Galway.

Derryhippo
I live in the townland of Derryhippo barony of Ballymoe parish of Kilbegnet. There are 17 families and 60 people. Hegarty is the most common name. Most of the houses are thatched Derryhippo got its name from an oak wood. There are 4 people over 70 There is one story-teller in it No one can talk Irish. Houses were more numerous for there are ten ruins of old houses in Derryhippo

name of my townland Parish of Kilbegnet in the barony of Ballymoe. There are nine familes in my townland. The most common name in Fairfield in Bligh. All two storey houses there being no thatched one in it. The way Fairfield got its name was by the farm. There are three people over 70. They know a little Irish. They do not tell stories. John Quinn and Mrs Quinn Mrs Bligh Fairfield, Creggs, Co Galway. Houses were numerous long ago and people were ran out of their homes long ago and they went to America.

Mr. Wm McDonagh, Kilbegnet, Creggs. told me that he joined the fenians as a young boy. He attended secret meetings at Donamon Castle. A supply of guns arrived and were hidden for a time in the "ice house" on the castle grounds.
Later they were conveyed up the river Suck in a boat and buried or concealed along the banks.

Father Bernard O'Reilly had a brother a student who was a great writer on the subjects that were being discussed John O'Reilly was his name. When John wrote, he signed 'Bernard' to his letters and in this way, all thought that it was Bernard, who was doing the good work
Bishop Gilhooky, who was bishop of Elphin at that time, held a conference to see who would he think most suitable as parish priest for Kilbegnet. He used to see all the letters which he thought were were written by Father Bernard O'Reilly and he considered him a learned man, but John O'Reilly went to America and this put an end to his brother's writing. During the conference the bishop asked Father O'Reilly why he had not seen his letters for some time and a smile went around because the other understood who was

When Pollock had evicted the thirteen hundred families that once lived on his estates his agent, George Lowe discovered that there was a two roomed thatched cottage still standing and occupied on the outskirts of his estate at Cúl Pairc near Creggs.This was at the end of the old road leading from Creggauns to Aughagad West. It was occupied by a tailor named Pat Kelly, and to Pollock and his agent it looked an eyesore on the estate. They immediately give him notice to quit, but found to their disgust that their legal difficulties were unsurmountable. This house was built on an ancient boundary, the bedroom being on the Packenham-Mahon estate in the parish of Athleague, Barony of Athlone and County of Roscommon, and the kitchen on the Pollock estate, in the parish of Kilbegnet, Barony of Ballymoe and County of Galway.

money that he bought this land, and settled agents in each district. Sometime later his stock got disease and a large portion of them did not survive. This loss made him sell the land to the land commission.Caulfield was landlord in Kilbegnet area and Shiel was his agent. One Xmas Eve, Shiel, by orders evicted eighty families. When he arrived in one house where a woman and a large family lived, he found a pot of stirabout, boiling for the families supper after ordering the occupants out, he lifted the pot off the fire and flung it out after them.
Ever since he is

To the north of the Sonnagh School some 500 yards there was a village called Sonnaghbeg. Twenty one families lived in little cabins in the village each family having about 4 acres of land to live on. Little did they care about tillage or work of any kind. They lived by plunder + murder. They took cattle, sheep, + pigs from the people living in the neighbouring villages. They came in the daytime with blackened faces armed with forks + daggers + if the owner of the stock taken tried to resist them he lost life then if other neighbours did not come to his assistance but surely they paid him a visit the night of two after when no help was at hand + he was murdered. They watched people coming from fairs + such places + murdered then for their money especially any man carrying a horse's bridle or saddle. Often times they fought amongst themselves over the division of the booty. The clothes of murdered men were often seen on the men of this village. No man or property was safe except where 4 or 5 houses stood close. Pollock an English settler who lived convenient to Ballinasloe got a large tract of land in the parishes of Glinsk + Kilbegnet. Most of the small tenants were driven to the mountains + bogs, some went on the emigrant ships + amongst them were the savage inhabitants of Sonnaghbeg. Their cabins were levelled to the ground + their holdings made into a farm which grows nothing now but rushes, furze + heath. Here was a case of "Out of evil comes good".

this community came to live in Tohergar, also called the Old Convent.
In a place called Friary Land, they lived before coming to Tohergar. This Friary Land is situated at the foot of Sliabh Muire - Mount Mary in the parish of Kilbegnet, about eight miles from Tohergar. I have never got the clue as to why they migrated to Tohergar, but it is said it was with broken hearts they left as the cry was kept up the whole length of the journey.
Tradition states that there must be a very large number of them in it: for it also states to give us an idea of the number, that when the foremost man of them arrived in Tohergar, he suddently remembered that had forgotten an important book. His only way for getting it was to tell the man behind him and he tell the next and so on and we are told that when the word reached Friary Land the last man was just leaving and brought the book with him. This was eight miles and I am not informed whether they came in single file, double or in fours or in what manner, but at least the number of them coming must be very great.

Georges Wood is called after George Grogan who planted the wood. His niece married Henry Walker of Clooncannon. Every time she passed the way she referred to it as "Uncle George's Wood" Hence the name.
Katty Moore's Gate is named after a woman who lived there about 100 years ago. It is believed locally that "things are seen and heard there".
Tobar na Croise is now divided by the land Commission It probably meant the "Well of the Cross". In the Parish of Kilbegnet there is a townland called Crosswell also. There is no local tradition concerning this field.

it on the flag.
He then accompanied the people out of the graveyard and the next place he found himself was at his own home in America. He told his wife about all that happened but she would not believe him. To prove that he was in Kilbegnet he wrote to a person in the neighbourhood and told him to get his pen-knife on the flag. He did as he was ordered and got the pen-knife there. He wrote back to the person and told him that he attended his mother's funeral that evening.

There lived near Kilbegnet a landlord whose name was Mr. Polloc. He was very cruel and had all the tenants evicted. He evicted a poor widow and her only son once. After the eviction the boy went to England against his mother's wish but he promised her faithfully before he went that he would return and attend her funeral when she would die.
The boy became rich in England and went to America where he got married. One evening when he was out walking he got intermingled with a crowd of people. He accompained them until he found himself in Kibegnet cemetry attening a funeral. After the corpse was buried he knelt on a flag in the cemetery praying for the repose of the soul of a person whom he knew. Before he arose he took his penknife cutting tobacco and left

The Derryhippoo Treasure.
The townland of Derryhippoo is in the parish of Kilbegnet, in the county of Roscommon. There is a treasure hid here. It is on the North side of a by-road between Culrahann and Tonamaddy. The treasure is about twenty yards from the road in Mr Leonard's field. It is straight opposite a Forth where fairies are supposed to have lived long ago. It is said by the old people that it was the fairies that hid it there because they were going to be ran out of the forth.
The treasure is supposed to be hid under one or the other of two round blackthorn

The Friaryland Treasure.
The townland of Mountmary is in the parish of Kilbegnet in the county of Galway. There is a treasure hid. It is on the north side of the road about half a mile from the old Friary. It was hidden by the Fenians. It is supposed that several people tried to get it. They did not succeed to get as far as it on account of foul air. It is supposed that vessels of gold, chairs and tables are in it. It is said that the priests long ago said mass there, because the time of the English persecution the priests could not say Masses in the Church because the English would kill them. There are lights seen in it every night at twelve o'clock and there are a dozen of black hounds watching it.