US lawyer's fascination with Norman invaders of Mayo
American lawyer Patrick C Jordan has self-published a scholarly book about how a Norman clan settled the wider East Mayo region.
Few people associate the name of a popular Ballyhaunis pub with the Normans. But ‘Mac Siurtáin’s’ on Main Street is named for Jordan, a family name popular locally since the arrival in Ireland in the 1100s of the Normans, a French invading force which had already settled England. Various businesses in the town have borne the name over the years, among them Jordan Windows which today operates out of Clare Street. Ballyhaunis-born Anthony Jordan meanwhile distinguished himself as an historian and writer in Dublin before his death two years ago.
The Jordans were part of the wider Costello clan who gave their name to the Barony of Costello, as the territory incorporating a wide area of East Mayo was known after Norman settlement. The story of how a Norman clan settled the region around Ballyhaunis and further afield is the subject of a scholarly and fascinating new book, , by an American lawyer, Patrick C Jordan. Speaking from his home in Virginia, Jordan explained how the idea of writing the book came while he was doing some random family research during some downtime from his work as an attorney specialised in energy contracts.
“All of a sudden I was able to start to piece together the story of the Jordans in Ireland. Gradually, the research became much less about ‘family’ or genealogy, but rather an historical account of a segment of Irish society; in this case the County Mayo Norman invaders and their Hibernicized descendants. Once I decided to go all-in on writing the book, knowing that it was a book about a 700-year undertaking, I pushed hard to finish the book using my father's memory as motivation.” Patrick’s father passed away following an accident shortly before Covid and he had held an interest in the history of the Jordans.
“Although he was fourth generation, all of his US ancestors had married other Irish-Catholics. At the same time of his passing, I decided to close a failing business, so the distraction of writing the book also proved to be very therapeutic for me. I lost myself in the investigation and writing.”
Jordan’s ancestors, Peter Jordan and his wife Bridget Fox, emigrated from Crossmolina in 1837.
“I was able to track the townland to Derryhillagh near Nephin Mountain, based on Tithe Applotment records dated from 1828,” said Patrick, who put ten years into researching and writing the book.
“Again, initially, the research was not directed toward writing a book, but rather just sharing with the family what I had discovered. The actual writing was about five years. Since I work full-time for a manufacturer of gas turbines for power plants, my job is primarily to negotiate new power plant construction contracts. So, given work and related travel demands, I really had to squeeze in my writing and research time over the weekends and late in the evenings.”
He also had to find time for field work in Ireland, visiting sites associated with the Jordans across County Mayo in particular.
“I found that there is a surprising amount of materials digitised online from different sources. Even the invaluable Books of Survey and Distribution are online through the Irish Manuscripts Commission. The biggest challenges were simply trying to visit the sites in Ireland to identify any remaining castle ruins of the Jordans, whether the de Exeter Jordans of Gallen or the Jordan Duff (or Dubh) Jordans, in Costello barony, a branch of the Costellos.
“There were very few locations with discernible ruins of 13th century castles, but I believe that I accounted for 10-plus former Jordan castle sites in Co. Mayo from the late medieval period. Admittedly, the castle exploration work was also enjoyable in the sense of meeting different landlords to obtain permission to check the properties, and some of the adventures associated with same – bulls and electric wire fences, etcetera.”
Another part of the field work that Patrick Jordan found very challenging was in the National Library of Ireland in Dublin, in particular looking at the old materials and documents on microfiche.
“Much of the writing is illegible and really requires a lot of work and concentration to extract meaningful information,” he explains.
The challenge is to cite and rely upon as much original source material as possible, which given the scope of the book, is not easy. That is why, for example, the Books of Survey and Distribution, which can be found online, the Tithe Applotment records of the 1820s-1830s, and sources such as the Annals of the Four Masters, etcetera, are so valuable and insightful.
“Of course, there are a number of historians who are regarded as being excellent secondary sources given the rigor of their investigation and scholarship such as Hubert Thomas Knox, Goddard Henry Orpen and others. Some local historians in Co. Mayo such as Mary O'Brien, Bernard O'Hara, and Tony Donohoe, who wrote two books on Crossmolina and Addergoole parishes, were extremely valuable.
“Then there are numerous historians associated with the Irish universities, and Yvonne McDermott, an expert on Irish medieval religious houses. Historian and genealogist John O'Hart, in his books on the Irish and Anglo-Irish landed gentry, provided me with some excellent baseline information to explore.
“I would be remiss in not mentioning the Michael Davitt Museum in Straide, which was very supportive of my project and provided me with valuable information, especially in the relation to the de Exeter Jordans and Ballylahan Castle.”
The latter is among a number of locations in Mayo where physical ruins of the Jordan family's castles or other structures still exist. Others include Currane Castle near Ballyvary, and Ballyvary Castle itself. He has also visited Castlejordan in Co. Meath. Unfortunately, of all these, only Ballylahan is being maintained by the Office of Public Works.
“Castlejordan was the de Exeter Jordan's first castle in Ireland prior to Jordan de Exeter's move to Connacht around 1235, likely as part of De Burgo's invasion forces,” Patrick Jordan explains.
“In the case of Ballyvary Castle, I went out on a limb a bit as the ruins were initially identified by a local gentleman in Ballyvary, Christy Lawless, who determined that one of the walls of an old grain mill was, in fact, an original wall of the old castle. This was reported on by Co. Mayo historian, Mary O'Brien, in 1989. I visited the site and shared O'Brien's observations that the stonework of an existing retaining wall of the old stone mill, was likely a wall from the ancient castle.
“As to the other medieval Jordan castles that are known to have existed in Mayo, in some instances, for example, I was able to confirm through the 1830s Ordnance Survey field notes that there were no ruins left of the old castles, for example, Bellahaghe or Old Castle near Swinford, and New Castle in Meelick.
“In other cases, local residents confirmed that the ruins of the castles were gone and in some instances they added that the old stones were repurposed for local stone cottages, for later manor houses, like Cloongee near Foxford and for stonework in cemeteries like Toomore, also near Foxford.”
Patrick plans on returning to Ireland in late September, early October to do some book presentations and signings. The book is available for purchase on Amazon.com and will likely soon be available at the Michael Davitt Museum in Straide as well as the Bookshop (Duffy’s) in Westport, Books at One in Louisburgh and Castle Books in Castlebar. It’s also in Charlie Byrne’s bookshop in Galway.
