Original Rootsweb Co. Tyrone Community Site
Tenants of the Twelve Churchlands of Ardstraw Address to the Bishop of Derry 1832
STRABANE MORNING POST Tuesday, May 15, 1832
To the Honourable and Right Rev. Richard Ponsonby, D.D. Lord
Bishop of Derry
May it please your Lordship,
We, your Lordship’s Tenants of the Twelve Townlands of
Ardstraw, in the County of Tyrone, beg leave to express our warmest
gratitude for your disinterested and benevolent conduct towards us, on a
late occasion.
Your Lordship, with a disinterestedness which must enhance
your character in public estimation, renewed the Leases of our present
Holdings, which had nearly expired, and which, perhaps, in other hands, and
under other circumstances, might have been withheld. By this generous act of
your Lordship, you have conferred on us, and our families, a lasting favour.
Were the example thus set by your Lordship, imitated by the landed
Proprietors of Ireland in general, our ill-fated country would cease to be a
bye-word, as it is, for poverty, crime and every species of degradation, and
wretchedness. Were such tenderness and concern shewn towards the middle and
lower classes in society, by those of rank and influence, our industry and
strength, instead of being driven to a foreign soil, would be directed to
the more natural and surely a more desirable channel of calling forth the
exuberant and hitherto unexplored rich resources of our native country.
We beg leave to express our warmest thanks to CHARLES
STUDDERT, ESQ. for fulfilling, in so very handsome a manner, on the occasion
above alluded to, your Lordship’s benevolent intentions.
May 3, 1832
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ACHESON Robert, Jun.
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ADAMS
James
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ADAMS
William
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ALEXANDER John
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ALEXANDER Joseph
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ALLEN
John
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ALLEN
Mary
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ALLEN
Thomas
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ATCHESON Robert
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BAIRD
Andrew
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BAIRD
Joseph
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BAIRD
Moses
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BRADLEY Bernard
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BRADLEY Patrick
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BRECK
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BREDIN James
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BROWN
Thomas
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CALDWELL Andrew
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CLARKE Robert
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CRAIG
James
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CRAWFORD James
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CRAWFORD Josias
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CRAWFORD Samuel, Jun.
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CRAWFORD Samuel
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CRAWFORD W. A.
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CUNNINGHAM Robert
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DEAN
Alexander
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DEAN
Andrew
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DEAN
James
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DEAN
Robert
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DICK
John
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DICK
Patrick
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DUDGEON Widow
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DUNN
James
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DUNN
Robert
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EDIE
A. C.
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EDIE
Edward, J. P.
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FAUSETT Charles
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FINLAY Samuel
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FORBES Andrew
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FORBES Margaret
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FORBES Violet
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FORSYTHE John
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FOSTER Arthur
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GALLAUGHER Charles
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GIVEN
John
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GIVEN
William
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HART
Thomas
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HAYES
Isabella
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HILL
Anne
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HILL
Robert
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HOUSTON Samuel
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IRWINE James
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IRWINE Thomas
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JACK
Andrew
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JACK
John
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JACK
Patrick
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KELLY
George
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KERR
Francis
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KERR
James
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KERR
Letitia
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KERR
Patrick
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KERR
William
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KING
William
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KNOX
Charles
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KNOX
Charles, Jun.
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KNOX
Margaret
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KNOX
Margaret
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KNOX
Mathew
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KNOX
Robert
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LEITCH Andrew
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LEITCH Andrew
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LEITCH Elizabeth
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LEITCH George
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LEITCH James
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LEITCH John
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LEITCH Johnston
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LEITCH Samuel
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LINDSAY Thomas
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LOVE
Andrew Tom
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LOVE
David
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LOVE
James
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LOVE
James
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LOVE
James Jun.
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McKEE
Mathew
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MATHEWSON Lavens
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McCARTHER Rev. John
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McCAY
John
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McCAY
Robert
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McCLINTOCK Francis
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MEALEY David
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MILLER Andrew T.
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MILLER David
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MONTEITH Agnes
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MOORE
Joshua
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MOORE
William
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MORTLAND Charles
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NELSON Catherine
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NELSON Mathew
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O’KANE Quenton
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O’NEILL John
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PATRICK Joseph
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PATRICK William
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PATRICK William
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PORTER James
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POTTER Arthur
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POTTER John
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REA
James
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REA
Thomas
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ROBB
John
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ROSS
John
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RUSSEL George
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RUSSEL James
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RUSSELL James
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RUSSELL Mathew
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SHEARON Patrick
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SIMPSON Thomas
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SMYTH
John
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STEELE Samuel
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STEVENSON John
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TAGGART Rebecca
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TAGGART William, J. P.
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WATSON William
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WELCH
Andrew
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WELCH
James
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WELCH
Stewart
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WILSON James
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WILSON William
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WOODS
David
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To this Address his Lordship returned the following answer:
Gentlemen-- The kind and unanimous expression of your
approbation of my conduct upon the occasion to which you have alluded, has
afforded me sincere satisfaction. To possess the favourable opinion of so
respectable a body as the Tenantry of Ardstraw, must, at all times, be truly
gratifying; but upon the present occasion it is doubly so.
Your public approval of the course which I have pursued,
respecting the renewal of your Leases, furnishes, in my humble judgement, a
proof of the injustice preferred against me, and a refutation of the
assertions of those who have sought to hold me up as the oppressor of my
Tenantry. To say that I was divested of a feeling of anxiety for the
interest of my family, would be hypocrisy on my part; but I can
conscientiously declare, that I have been actuated by a desire to consult
your welfare as well as my own, and to insure, to the utmost of my power,
your comfort and independence --- to the accomplishment of these objects my
efforts have been most anxiously directed; and if I shall be permitted, by a
merciful Providence, to witness their success, I shall feel amply
compensated for whatever sacrifice I may have made. It will afford me
sincere pleasure to communicate to my Agent, MR. STUDDART, the kind feelings
which you entertain for him, and the gratitude you have expressed for the
manner in which he has acted. The possession of your favourable opinion
must, I am persuaded, be most acceptable to him, and that he will return it,
I cannot doubt, if kindness, impartiality, and attention to his various
duties can entitle him to do so.
RICHARD DERRY
The CHURCHLANDS OF ARDSTRAW comprised twelve townlands
belonging to the See of Derry; the income provided for the benefit of the
Established Church. For a period they were leased by the Marquis of Abercorn
and the 1807 Churchlands rentals can be found amongst Abercorn records. The
Churchlands comprised the following townlands:
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BIRNAGHS
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MILLTOWN
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MAGHERACOLTAN
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LISLAFERTY
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CARNKENNY
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KILSTRULE
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MEAGHY
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TIEVENNY
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KILLEEN
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BROCKLIS
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ARDSTRAW
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URBALREAGH
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