Hi Alf,
In the List of Civil Bill Ejectments, 1827-1833 Co.Down there is in 1830 at case number 135, a John Billingsley of Drumgooland on
www.raymondscountydownwebsite.com. There are more details at the bottom of the page about his eg He was the defendant and a Mr James Steele was the plaintiff , the acreage of the land was mentioned as 9 acres 2 roods in Plantation measure, but no details of what he was paying for the land given or outstanding just an entry under the heading ‘withheld’ and the decision is recorded as ‘Agreed’ whatever that means, possibly the end of the problem. As a underused resource I spotted one of my own relatives listed, so thank you Raymond yet again.
In the Tithe Applotment Books at the Irish National Archives are mentioned
Billings Terrensure Rathfarnham Dublin 1825
Billingsley Peter Clahane Cloghane Kerry 1826
Billingsley John Leganany Drumgooland Down 1828
So who knows about Leganany townland pre 1828 well Ros davies has a parish map and says
Leganany Legananny Drumgooland 20: 30/44 a townland 7km N of Castlewellan in Dromara Hills; 1894 acres; click here to see its location on a townland map; in 1659 Census it was called Legananu and there were 16 irish families only; by 1841 Census there were 130 families with 328 males & 367 females; flax mill here in 1836: ancient dolmen here , Boley Lough; V3 p25 OSM:MS WAG p87;DCPH p 47,49,
It’s a townland in the north eastern corner of the parish, the nearest village is Leitrim next I wondered about the nearest churches in the parish. Most seem to have BMDs records from 1832 with one or two earlier
Checking the Flax Growers of Ireland, 1796 - County Down, there are several listed within Drumgooland but none for Billings*.
Finally aren’t you lucky or perhaps know the author or Andrew Chapman
there is already an informed article see http://
www.glenavyhistory.com/articlesStories.html#billingsley
Best of Luck JimG
