Le chateau des D'Arcy à Clifden

Frances D’Arcy died on 15th June 1815. Soon after this, John took his family to live permanently in the newly constructed Clifden Castle, a little west of the town. In 1820, John broke with family tradition and crossed the Shannon for a new wife. He met and married Louisa Bagot Sneyd from Dublin. Louisa was the daughter of an English father, Henry Sneyd of Keele Hall in Staffordshire, and an Irish mother, Elizabeth Malone. Louisa was just twenty-one years of age when she married John. It was a brave step for a young woman, removing herself from her family, society and the comforts of life in Dublin to take up residence in what was one of the remotest parts of the kingdom. But Louisa soon found that life in the remote west was anything but dull. Her relationship with her six stepchildren appears to have been close. Louisa and John went on to have eight children of their own, one of whom died in infancy.

Throughout the twenties, Clifden developed rapidly under John’s stewardship. By granting generous leases at low rents, he succeeded in attracting shopkeepers, merchants and artisans on to his estate. Aware that the new arrivals came from many parts of the country, he was ever conscious of fostering a united community. Over the years, John’s even-handed approach to his duties as landlord and magistrate endeared him to his tenants, but this did not mean that they could ever be called submissive. They were all the more independent minded, because of their diversity.

John went forward for the Galway seat at Westminster in five elections between 1812 and 1835. In three of these he withdrew before the final count. He contested the other two to the end, but failed to get elected. John was greatly aided in his political campaigning by the very able parish priest, Rev. Peter Fitzmaurice. He espoused the causes of Daniel O’Connell; he was a strong advocate of Catholic Emancipation in the 1820s and Repeal of the Act of Union in the 1830s. But O’Connell was wavering in his support, perhaps feeling that John would never be able to unseat the more powerful Thomas Martin.

John was noted throughout the county as a hospitable man and, according to one source, prone to live beyond his means. Like so many of his contemporaries, he borrowed heavily against his estate and, on his death in 1839, he left little behind for his wife and large family. His son and heir, Hyacinth, was eventually declared bankrupt and the entire D’Arcy estates were sold in the Encumbered Estates Court in 1850.

Five of John’s children from his first marriage lived out their lives in Clifden and are buried in the churchyard in the town. The exception was John Talbot, who lived for a time in Co Roscommon, but retired to Clifden and was the last of the family to live there until his death in 1896. The children from the second marriage held a strong affinity for Clifden, but were forced to seek their fortunes in other parts. They did, however, pass on to future generations a strong sense of identity and a pride in their ancestor, John D’Arcy.

This article is reproduced courtesy of Kathleen Villiers-Tuthill

Photos de Catherine Prost , hier