The HANLEY family is of the same Celtic racial stock as the O'Connors of Connacht. Ancient geneological records trace their descent to Acra-dearg, a younger brother of Duachas Galach who was the first Christian King of Connacht and founder of the O'Connor clan.
The name in gaelic is o hainlighe. the ancient gaelic word meant , hero or warrior. o hainlighe therefore means "the descendant of the warrior".
throughout history the hanleys were closely connected as allies and liegemen of the o'connors don. they were chiefs of cinel doetha, a district of county roscommon along the banks of the shannon comprising the parishes of kilglas, termonbarry and clotuskert. the modern place name doohyhanley perpetuates not only the name but designates the ancient patrimony of the family.
The power and influence of the sept paralleled the historical vicissitudes of their kinsmen, the o'connors. with them, they managed to retain possession of their ancestral estates down to the seventeenth century
However, like most of the ancient gaelic and catholic families, they lost heavily in the cromwellian wars. the defeat of the stuarts which brought about the ruthless confiscation of the lands of the irish nobility who cast their lot with the cause of king james dealt a death blow to the material fortunes of the hanley clan.
in irelend today the family name, hanley, is found most frequently in counties roscommon, galway, clare and cork. in their ancient home land in roscommon and galway the name is usually spelled hanly. the cork branch of the family regularly uses the spelling, hanley.
in county clare the spelling hally is common. the traditional home of the hally branch of the clan is the modern district of ballyalley, near bunratty in county clare. this family is so closely allied to the o'hanlys of connacht that there seems to be little doubt that they were originally members of the o'hanly clan.
And from. The Book of Irish Families Great & Small, the quotation on the O'Hanly's
This is the tartan called Connaught. It's supposed to be the tartan of the Hanley family. But as far as I can tell the areas are wrong and Cork - the Hanley home is not mentioned as part of the area covered by the tartan
But Paul Coppinger (Sir Walter's 9 times grandson) writes:I always did love a good story. The version I prefer is that Sir Walter went out gambling and told his servant If I'm not back by [some time] then I will have lost the property while gambling and you should burn it down. He won but due to the following celebrations he forgot what he had told his servant and returned home to find the place in flames. There are also stories of golden gates, pots of gold and a gibbet on the gable end of the house to hang serfs who displeased him.
Unfortunately Sir Walter (my 9 times great grandfather) actually died in 1639. The property was burnt down by the rebels in 1641. There is also a rumour that one of the rebels was a younger son of Sir Walter, the eldest son having inherited the property. But I guess you had to be there to know.
- 1514 firkins of butter
- 102 casks of pork
- 44 hogsheads of whiskey
- 844 sacks of oats
- 247 sacks of wheat
- 106 bales of bacon
- 13 casks of ham
- 145 casks of porter
- 12 sacks of fodder
- 28 bales of feathers
- 8 sacks of lard
- 296 boxes of eggs
- 30 head of cattle
- 90 pigs
- 220 lambs
- 34 calves
- and 69 miscellaneous packages
All while Irish peasants starved so English gentry could dine in style. And you wonder why there's an "Irish Problem"!
