Pat Keane's Small Farm
Pat's holding was made up of the following (in brackets townland, approximate acreage, year
acquired): a grant1(later purchase2) of a parcel of land in fee from
the Land Commission redistribution of Thomas Crowe's Estate (Ballymongaun, ~10
acres, 1923 or earlier); a field known in the family as the 'acre', which
Cornie O'Dea of Ahasla had held in fee since 1920! in the same land distribution
(Ballymongaun, ~1.5 acres, probably an Irish acre! (on marriage, 1925 - see
O'Dea
for more details); the Ahasla farm (Ahasla, ~16.5 acres, on marriage to Bridget
1925); and land adjoining the
Ballymongaun farm (Caherbannagh, 13.75 acres - Keating land purchased in the
early-mid 1930s).
Note 1: To be eligible for the upcoming
land divisions (only small landholders were eligible), Pat, who was to inherit
the homeplace, was registered in the Land Registry Office (LRO), Dublin as the titleholder
in 1915 to two small fields (some 5 acres) of the Ballyashea parents' farm situated at Toureen West
(probably the same plot of land mentioned in the 1896 court case with
John senior). Also,
the said Ballymongaun grant of land, comprising of two fields, one of which was
very large, amounted to some 20
acres granted in
common with neighbour Paddy Brody prior to 1923 (title registered in
1923 but interestingly a misunderstanding arose regarding ownership of the smaller
plot. Ownership of this plot was settled in 1924 (see LRO, Dublin). Arising
from this an anomalous situation Pat continued over the years, and his
inheritors long after his death, to be rated for
all of this small plot of land, half of the rates being refunded to Pat by Paddy Brody although Paddy was
himself the rate collector for the district. It is also noteworthy that
Pat was interned
at Gormanstown camp for republican activity during much of that period.
No longer heir to the home farm (see up), Pat officially returned the Toureen
West fields to his brother Andrew in 1927 (LRO, Dublin).
Note 2: The purchase agreement with the Land Commission, dated 20 April 1934 (but
applied
for 20 November 1928) was for £185 repayable by annuity. On the same date
(1934) a
loan of £150 was obtained from the ACC Bank (probably in relation to house
construction and upcoming purchase of the Keating farm); a further loan of £100
raised by Pat on 26 November 1942 was interesting. His purpose its seems was to
replace the original 1934 (third party secured) loan with a self secured one.
Another significant event of the time
was Pat changed from delivering milk to the local creamery to supplying bulk milk to an Ennis hospital
beginning November 1942.
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