Lisnamallard
Lisnamallard is a townland in South-East County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. May have also been known as "Leagaun".
In 1611 this was granted to Robert Calvert but was later bought by James Haire.
Area 138:3:14
Etymology
(fort of the curses)
Griffiths Valuation 1862
Occupier…………………………….Lessor Owen McMahon ……………………………James Hare H Os & L John Downey………………………………. James Hare H Os & L William Doonan…………………………… James Hare H Os & L Ellen Dawson………………………………..James Hare H Os & L James Hare………………………………….. In fee Land (plantation) Dominick McDonnell……………………….William Coles H Os & L James McDonnell………………………….. William Coles H Os & L
1901 Census
Head of Family………………………Landholder if different Jane Johnston James Quinn Alex King Vacant……………………………………….. Jane Johnston.
Surnames 2005
Hall Johnston Little
The Rath
There is a forth (rath) on the top of the hill. --Expand--
Dawsons Hill
At one time the hill up to the forth was called Dawson’s hill so that is where the Dawson farm was. This later became the home of the Johnston family before they moved to Lammy. The house is no longer there. The lower part of this townland lying nearest the river was always liable to flood and the farmers affected had to join together every few years to clear different lengths of the river to provide drainage. This William Doonan lived in the Johnston farm. The signature is that of John Mayne, most likely of Rateen and properly signed over a 1d.stamp.
Lisnamallard Mill
The 1835 OS map shows the ruins of a corn mill on the river with a mill-pond and a much larger Lisnamallard Lough. The site of the mill is remembered for the stones were used within living memory to build outhouses on the Johnston farm.
Coach Route
When we were told about the coach turn we found it hard to understand. There was a place in a meadow on the Quinn farm which had at one time been paved and within living memory the stones could be felt when working at hay. Local tradition is that it was a turning place for coaches serving the castle at Rathmoran which was still in use until the later part of the 1700s.
Taylor & Skinner in 1777 write about a coach route from Enniskillen to Belfast was Maguiresbridge, Lisnaskea, Donagh, Magheraveeley, Smithborough and Monaghan. This helped for we knew the possible the route from the Donagh/Magheraveeley road. This was turning at Bohora Cross and coming along the Mulnahorn road and unto the Golan road and down what is now George Little’s lane. After crossing the stream before the mill-dam there was a track swinging right to the coach turn. The later part of this route is discernible on the 1835 O.S. map. Taylor & Skinner’s book does not give a road map as such, just a note of gentleman’s residences. It is unlikely that Belfast coach itself came here but in those days this was possibly the only route for wheeled traffic hence the association with the ‘coach’. The remainder of the journey to the castle involved a steep climb and as far as we know there was only a rough track up to it from here.
The present direct road to Lisnaskea did not exist then and that area would be flooded most of the winter. The road up over Ballagh was not completed either. From Rathmoran, the Mount Darby/Aghadrumsee road or the Golan road would take one to Clones but given the Eccles family links with Tyrone they needed to travel in the other direction so the story makes sense.
By the time of the 1835 O.S. map, the coach route had been changed to go through Newtownbutler and Clones, coming over Killespinian from Donagh for a short time and then changed again as roads were improved, to follow the route of the Dublin coach i.e. via Manor Waterhouse but then tuning left on the old road from Crom Cross into Newtownbutler and on to Clones. The coach turn has been forgotten by all but a few though the later coach routes are still remembered.
Short cut's
There was a track from the Johnston house across their field and Quinn’s field to reach the main road almost opposite to where the Mount Darby Road joins it. This path was used by the children going out to Rateen and later Aghadrumsee schools. There was a footstick across the river and when the river was drained in the 1950’s, Thos.F Johnston insisted that it be replaced by a concrete slab. Nowadays, there is little use for the footstick. Alfie Johnston remembers the rabbits from the hills above his home would cross the river on the footstick to graze in Quinn’s fields. If the dogs were let out on that side, the rabbits would rush for the footstick where they could be easily shot. Those were the days during the war years when rabbits found a ready market.
The Frog Walk
The most attractive name for any field must surely be the Frog Walk. This is a field of George Little’s which lies in the corner between the main road and the Mulnahorn road. It slopes downward from the road and one corner was wet and had a kind of thick coarse grass and moss that was never mowed for hay and which the cattle wouldn’t eat it anyway. It was cut with the scythe later on and used for covering corn stacks. It made a thick mat that would stand any amount of rain. Because this corner was wet and not disturbed until late in the season that field had large numbers of frogs hopping about when the hay-making was in progress hence its name. That same corner was home to bees too and when the grass was being lifted the tops of some of the nests would be broken by the horse and the honey was particularly sweet. The matching field on the other side of the road was at that time an awkward three cornered shape so when his father mowed it with tractor and cutting bar it was George’s job to keep the swathe turned out at the corners. He vividly remembers one particular day when his father stopped when three-quarter finished and turned off the tractor and lit a cigarette. In the silence, the corncrakes came out of the centre, dozens of them, big ones, little ones, tiny ones and made for the hedges. Tommy remarked “Well, wasn’t it lucky for some I stopped for a smoke!”