Frenchpark, historically known as Dungar (), is a village in

County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

on the N5

national primary road A national primary road () is a road classification in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. National primary roads form the major routes between the major urban centres. There are 2649 km of national primary roads. This category of road has the pr ...

. It was the home of

Douglas Hyde Douglas Ross Hyde (; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as (), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician, and diplomat who served as the first president of Ireland from June 1938 to June 1945. He was a l ...

, the first

President of Ireland The president of Ireland () is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The presidency is a predominantly figurehead, ceremonial institution, serving as ...

. The nearby French Park Estate was until 1952 the ancestral

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

of the French family, Barons de Freyne. The estate was sold to the

Irish Land Commission The Irish Land Commission was created by the British crown in 1843 to "inquire into the occupation of the land in Ireland. The office of the commission was in Dublin Castle, and the records were, on its conclusion, deposited in the records tower ...

in the 1950s and was dismantled by the mid-1970s. A historic smokehouse is one of the few remaining legacies of this period. Snow 219

History

Early history

The

Cíarraige The Ciarraige were a population-group recorded in the early historic era in Ireland. Origins The word Ciarraige means ''the people of Ciar''. Ciar was the illegitimate son of Fergus, the King of Ulster. After being banished from the Court of ...

groups in ''Dún Gar'' (now Frenchpark) were the early lords of Airteach. Mac Donagh is cited as later lords of Airtech. The O'Flanagan here were hereditary stewards to the

Kings of Connacht The Kings of Connacht were rulers of the ''cóiced'' (variously translated as portion, fifth, province) of Connacht, which lies west of the River Shannon, Ireland. However, the name only became applied to it in the early medieval era, being name ...

17th to 19th centuries

The Dominican Priory of the Holy Cross, Cloonshanville was sacked during the Cromwellian campaign of the 1650s. Part of the tower still stands (in a ruined state). The site is still used as the local cemetery. The French family, originally from

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

, became the dominant landowners in this part of Roscommon in the late seventeenth century. Dominick French was granted 5000 acres of land in County Roscommon and his son John a further 2000 acres. John's wealth and influence were such that he was nicknamed ''An Tiarna Mor'' (the Great Lord).

Barons de Freyne, former owners of Frenchpark

In the 1749 Census of Elphin it was the residence of Arthur French, MP in the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland () was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until the end of 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chambers: the Irish Hou ...

who was the eldest son of John ''(An Tiarna Mor)'' and his wife Anne Gore. His son Arthur French (1764-1820) was also an MP who was said to have died "from excessive

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hounds" ...

". His son, also named Arthur French (1786–1856), became the first

Baron de Freyne Baron de Freyne, of Coolavin in the County of Sligo, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1851 for Arthur French, 1st Baron de Freyne, with remainder to his younger brothers John, Charles and Fitzstephen French. He ...

. Members of the French family were buried in the graveyard surrounding the ruins of Frenchpark Priory. At the time of

Griffith's Valuation Griffith's Valuation was a boundary and land valuation survey of Ireland completed in 1868. Griffith's background Richard John Griffith started to value land in Scotland, where he spent two years in 1806–1807 valuing terrain through the examin ...

Frenchpark was owned by Rev. John Ffrench, Lord de Freyne and was valued at £60. Later in the 1800s the family converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

French Park

The ancestral seat of the Barons de Freyne was French Park, also known as French Park House, on the outskirts of Frenchpark village in County Roscommon. The manor house, originally built in the mid-17th century before being rebuilt in the Georgian style in the 18th century, was demolished after the sale of the estate by the 7th Baron de Freyne to the

in 1952. The Land Commission removed the roof of the buildings in 1953 and eventually demolished the remaining structures in ca 1975. The present Lord de Freyne lives with his wife and family at

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

in the

London Borough of Wandsworth Wandsworth () is a London boroughs, London borough in South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main communities are Battersea, Balham, P ...

. A distant cousin of the de Freynes was

Charlotte Despard Charlotte Despard (née French; 15 June 1844 – 10 November 1939) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist. She was a founding member of the Women's Freedom League, the Women's Pe ...

(''née'' French) (1844–1939), a scion of the French family of High Lake, a British-born, later Irish-based suffragist, novelist and

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

activist. Despard spent a lot of time at French Park where her father was born. In 1908 she joined with

Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington Johanna Mary Sheehy-Skeffington (née Sheehy; 24 May 1877 – 20 April 1946) was a suffragette and Irish nationalist. Along with her husband Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, Margaret Cousins and James Cousins, she founded the Irish Women's Franch ...

and Margaret Cousins to form the Irish Women's Franchise League. She urged members to boycott the 1911 Census and withhold taxes and provided financial support to workers during the Dublin labour disputes. In 1909 Despard met

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

and was influenced for a time by his theory of

passive resistance Nonviolent resistance, or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, constr ...

. She moved to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and was bitterly critical of her brother,

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

The 1st Viscount French, the

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the K ...

in 1919–21, who, unsurprisingly, tended to ignore her. Lord French had previously served as the United Kingdom's

Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces was a senior officer in the British Army during the First World War, First and Second World Wars. The role of the appointment was firstly to oversee the military training, training and Military equipment, equipmen ...

, during the First World War. During the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

, together with

Maud Gonne Maud Gonne MacBride (, born Edith Maud Gonne); 21 December 1866 – 27 April 1953) was an Irish republican revolutionary, suffragette and actress. She was of Anglo-Irish descent and was won over to Irish nationalism by the plight of people evict ...

, she formed the Women's Prisoners' Defence League to support Republican prisoners. As a member of

Cumann na mBan Cumann na mBan (; but in English termed The Irishwomen's Council), abbreviated C na mB, is an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation formed in Dublin on 2 April 1914, merging with and dissolving Inghinidhe na hÉireann, and in 191 ...

she opposed the

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty (), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain an ...

, and was imprisoned by the new

Government of the Irish Free State The Executive Council () was the cabinet and executive branch of government of the 1922–1937 Irish Free State. Formally, executive power was vested in the Governor-General on behalf of Monarchy in the Irish Free State, the King. In practice, ...

during the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Emp ...

. She is buried in the Republican Plot at

Glasnevin Cemetery Glasnevin Cemetery () is a large cemetery in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland which opened in 1832. It holds the graves and memorials of several notable figures, and has a museum. Location The cemetery is located in Glasnevin, Dublin, in two part ...

, Dublin.

Market House

The market house is in the centre of Frenchpark, on the main street and was constructed circa 1840. The market house was a place where people went to sell their cattle and farm produce (vegetables, potatoes and oats). On market day, which was always on a Thursday, they would trade, buy and sell. There was a large weighing scales outside the building. Unsold goods were stored in the building. The first electricity was generated for Frenchpark from this building. A film was made in the market house about 'The Hanging of Robert Emmett'. The building is now empty and is surrounded by high railings.

References

External links

Frenchpark Estate Record

{{County Roscommon Towns and villages in County Roscommon Planned communities in the Republic of Ireland