Newport, Tipperary
A Brief history of Newport, Tipperary, which is the largest village near the Ryan homeland of Gortnaskehy.
 Photo: John O'Connell |
Newport (Tulach)Taken from Tipperary Genealogical Research:
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This is Kilnarath graveyard. At one time there was a church on
this site, but it is now in ruins. This may be the closest
church and graveyard to Gortnaskehy, the homeland of the Ryans and
Campbells. The Wallers, descendents of a Cromwellian Officer, restored the medieval church that rested on this spot in the late 1600s, but by the mid 1800s the church was in ruins. |
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 By Clicking on this sign, it will take you to a series of photographs on Newport life (Tipperary site). |
Tulach (the historical name for Newport) Owney & Arra was considered a hostile region for the English, and subsequently there were few towns. One of the major trading events in Owney & Arra were the Tulachs (fairs), and by the 18th century Newport had six major festivals annually. Tulach ….the only substitute for a town which existed was generally near a rath (1), usually standing near the site of the Fair, with some smaller raths erected near it. Another interesting and important feature of the Aenach (2) was the marrying and giving in marriage. The young people were accompanied by their parents; during the Fair the bachelors and maidens were kept apart. The matches were made by the parents who settled the dowries; and the marriage all took place at the same spot. This place where the matches were made seems to have been a hillock (3), called in Irish Tullach na Coibche, the hill of the buying, where the bride; price was paid. In the Milesian period (4) the husband bought his wife; in our days the wife buys her husband
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History of Newport.
Before Cromwell's conquest of Ireland in the mid-1600s, most of the lands in the Newport area were owned by the Ryan clan. After the Irish resistence was defeated, much of this land was distributed to soldiers such as Richard Waller and Henry Shrimpton. In Owney & Arra, there were few towns, and the only village was in the townland of Tullow. There wasn't much to this village, as it contained a watermill and an area where festivals and fairs were held twice a year. There was another settlement nearby called Portnacskey, and eventually both the Tulach (fair grounds) and Portnacskey were combined by the Wallers into a village they renamed "Newport". In addition to developing a commercial center in Owney & Arra, the Wallers also restored the medieval church at Kilnarath and the Ryan castle at Cully, which they later renamed "Castlewaller". By the early 1900s, Newport became the largest settlement in the barony; but by modern standards was still considered a small town.
Newport in the mid 19th century had a large number of shopkeepers and publicans and boasted a huge variety of other occupations such as nail makers, shoe makers, tailors, stone masons, bakers, millers, slaters, carpenters, blacksmiths, saddlers, dress makers and bonnet makers. By the mid-1800s, the first Catholic National School was built in Newport.
The story around Batt Ryan winning an Irish jig contest most likely occurred in Newport during one of its six fairs.