Digitisation of Pakenham papers puts wealth of records in public domain
Maps that pre-date even the oldest Ordnance Survey maps of this area; rent books going back more than 200 years and wages books from the mid-1800s are just some of the irreplaceable artefacts contained in the hundreds of boxes of papers and ledgers stored in the archive room at Tullynally Castle.
It’s not surprising that there should be such quantities of documentary records. The Pakenham estates were extensive, covering expanses of territory around Castlepollard and Killucan, as well as across Longford. The family also had property in Dun Laoghaire.
As a result, there are unseen treasures which will help genealogists and social historians with their researches, believes Eliza Pakenham, whose family have lived at Tullynally for 370 years.
The digitisation process began three years ago, and last month, the county libraries of Longford and Westmeath opened access to what is termed ‘The Pakenham Papers’.
“So there are essentially three categories of things that have been digitised,” says Eliza.
“The first would be rentals which go back to the very early 19th century and are in the form of rent-receiving books.
“They start in about 1815, but the bulk are from about the mid-19th century and they official rent agreements and leases with individuals going right forward into the early 20th century; in some cases, you see the same families renewing their leases over the generations.
“The second category would be the wages ledgers.
“At its height, the estate employed about 100 people including people on the home farm; people working in the house, people working in the garden, and then people working also in the other estate areas, like Killucan or in Dun Laoghaire.
“The third category would be maps, which are actually in a way the most interesting, because some of them pre-date the Ordnance Survey, the earliest Ordnance Survey being published in 1842.”
The maps – large, hand-drawn and fragile – detail not only the names of the of the fields but also in many places the names of the lessees of that land.
“That gives you a real sense of the local history here,” says Eliza.
Researchers will be excited to learn that the maps digitised to date represent, Eliza reveals, “just the tip of the iceberg”.
“We’re actually working towards seeing if we can get some more of them digitised because they’re enormous, and it’s very difficult to unroll them – without damaging them – to weight them down and then photograph them. But it needs to be done because they’ve been sitting in the archive room for however many decades just waiting for someone to study them.”
Eliza views the digitisation process as being of untold value – not just because it facilitates greater access, but also because it is a means of preserving and safeguarding items that might over time disintegrate, or that could be lost forever through some other disaster.
“I’m so glad that this has been done because it means that at least material which is of great public interest is now in digital form and preserved.”
The digitised records and maps are not available online, but anyone wishing to view them can apply to the library to view the material, and the viewing is done in the library.
A writer whose work has entailed a lot of historical research, Eliza says she appreciates that this won’t be convenient for all researchers: “One does want to make things easier for people, and accessibility is key. So for people who can’t travel to those libraries, such as bona fide researchers who may be in Australia or America – because I get a lot of inquiries from those two places – there may in the future be some way of allowing access in a sort of regimented way. But we can’t simply release it into the ether.”
The material scanned to date represents just a fraction of the archive, and it is thanks to the perspicacity of Eliza’s father, Thomas Pakenham, who rescued boxes and more boxes of materials from other estates that were otherwise destined for the skip when the firm of land agents formally known as Stewart and Kincaid ceased operations in the early 1970s and began divesting itself of its files, including those of the Pakenham estates.
“I’m very aware of how lucky we are to have the records, but the flipside of it is it is a great responsibility. And you know, we had a flood a couple of years ago. Luckily it was at the other end of the archive room and didn’t actually affect the papers, but every single artefact – and there are hundreds in there – had to be moved out and the whole room restored and then everything moved back. And as you’re carrying these things around, you’re aware that you are holding things which are irreplaceable in your hands.”
Eliza hopes that over time, more of the material will be digitised, and she paid tribute to the Westmeath heritage officer, Melanie McQuade, and the Longford county archivist, Martin Morris, for the hard work and perseverance on their parts that had brought the project this far.
Launch event in
Longford
Longford County Council and the County Longford Historical Society are to launch the Pakenham Papers Digitisation Project in Longford Library at 7.30pm on Wednesday September 14. The event had to be cancelled last month, and all are welcome to attend this event. The Pakenham Papers Digitisation Project involves records dating back to over 400 years of the history of Longford Town. Their digitisation allows these historically-significant documents to be available for the public to view in Longford County Library and Archives Services. Part of the Pakenham family archive, the papers include historical leases, rent books and the records of Longford Borough Corporation. County Longford Historical Society completed the project to digitise the Pakenham Papers late last year. The society agreed that the images of the archives would be made available for public viewing in Longford County Council’s Library and Archive Services. For further information, check out Longfordlibrary.ie or follow Longford Heritage and Archives on social media.