Winters Genealogy
Particles Parish
The Parish of Particles in Co. Limerick
The parish of Particles was the home of the Winters family in the 19th and 20th centuries. Records of the parish date back to at least the 17th century. A description and map of the parishes of Particle and Kilfinane was included in the Down Survey of Ireland, which was conducted between 1656 and 1658, and was the first ever detailed land survey on a national scale anywhere in the world. The original map has since been destroyed, but fortunately a copy was made in 1787 by Daniel O'Brien, Surveyor.1
This copy of the Down Survey map is shown below. Several place names that became associated with the Winters family are recognisable. "Ballintubber" is where John Winter later had his 1785 lease for lives; "Cloghnetefoy" is the old name for Castle Oliver , usually spelled Clonodfoy; "Balingreny" was later renamed Sunville Upper and Lower, and was the location of the Winters family farm for at least 150 years; "Faningstowne", (the modern Fanningstown, was associated with John Winter the son of the progenitor John.
The Winter(s) family line was closely associated down the years with the churches of Particles, Kilflyn and Kilfinnane in Co. Limerick. There is an excellent account of the history of these churches by J A Murphy.2 The information about Particles church and parish is particularly useful as there is little documented elsewhere.
Records indicate that Particles parish never had a dedicated church building, either ancient or modern. The Winters were Protestants, and so their spiritual needs would have been met by Church of Ireland services in neighbouring parishes. In the earliest period this is likely to have been St. Andrew's Church of Ireland in Kilfinanne, as some early Winters baptism are recorded there.
From 1812, the Winters will have attended the newly-constructed church in the adjoining parish of Kilflyn. Philip Winter is recorded in the Vestry Minutes as Parish Clerk, and there were a number of Winters baptisms at the church from that date onwards. They are known to have attended the church in the early 1900s.
Members of the Oliver family, including Elizabeth Oliver Gascoigne and her descendants, also attended services at KIlflyn Church. A stained glass window includes the Oliver-Gascoigne coat of arms.
While there was not a dedicated church for the parish, Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland of 1837 notes that some services were held in a building attached to the police station in Glenosheen. The building was demolished ca. 1944 and the plot of land was advertised for sale in the Limerick Leader in 1947.
Citations
- The Parish of Kilfinane and Particles in the Barony of Costlea in Limerick an Exact copy by Daniel O'Brien Surveyor, NLI MS 718/19
- J A Murphy, The Church of Ireland in Co Limerick, 2014, URL on lulu.com