A recent enquiry about the Lombard tomb at Old Kilbannivane, Castleisland revealed the long association of this name with the town. Jerry Flynn, a member of the committee of Castleisland District Heritage, has compiled data from the tomb and reports as follows:
The tomb comprises approximately a 4 meter square, bottom rectangle about 3 meters high in the form of a tiered structure. It would be typical of an Altar Tomb – a solid, rectangular, raised tomb or grave marker resembling ceremonial altars of classical antiquity and Judeo-Christian ritual. It forms part of the graveyard wall and the name stone is located on the outer leaf of the wall near the front gate. The name stone is badly weather worn and only partial names are visible. An upper name at the right-hand section indicates ‘Nora (or Norah) Lombard.’ The bottom indicates a date of ‘1840.’
Lombard Name History
Recorded in several forms including Lombard, Limbart, Limbert, Lombard (British and Irish), Lombart, Lombardi, Lombardo (Italian), Lombardet, Lombardy (French), Lombardo (Spain), and others, this is a surname which perhaps surprisingly, is of Germanic origins, of which it has two. The first is locational, and describes a person from Lombardy. This province within Italy was from the 5th century AD peopled by a Gaulish tribe called the ‘Langobardi’ (Longbeards) who arrived from Northern Germany and drove out the then occupants of the area. The second possible origin is status occupational, and in medieval times described a banker or money-lender. It would seem that early Italian merchants to Britain in those far off times were famed for their dealings, and hence the word ‘Lombard’ became the standard term for anyone concerned with finance.
The Lombards were located in county Cork from at least the mid-17th century. In 1724 James Lombard married Mary, daughter of James Uniacke of Mount Uniacke and they later built and went to live at Lombardstown in the parish of Kilshannig, barony of Duhallow, county Cork. They had a son, Reverend Edmund Lombard, who in turn had a son, Captain Edmund Lombard. The Captain bought Danesfort from his brother-in-law, James Butler Stopford and was living there in the 1830s. In 1786, another James Lombard of Lombardstown married Anne Becher and was killed in 1799 in county Wexford.
He left four children, all daughters, and in the 1850s the Lombardstown Estate in the parishes of Clonmeen and Kilshannig was held by his daughters and co-heiresses, Lady Cotter, Misses Henrietta and Elizabeth Lombard and also James Delacour who was married to the fourth sister, Harriet.
Daniel Lombard of Temple Street, Dublin was the owner of over 400 acres in Kerry and over 250 acres in Cork in the 1870s. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation, he was one of the principal lessors in the parish of Killaha, barony of Magunihy. In the 1870s William Lombard was proprietor of over 550 acres in county Kerry. This land was mainly in the parish of Molahiffe.[1]
The following has been compiled from the archive of Castleisland District Heritage which may assist researchers of Lombard lineage. Among the townland names linked to the family in the Castleisland district are Dulague, Knockane, Clydane and Nohoval.
18th Century
The Cronins lived at Rathmore until 1712 when the family came to Killarney and built The Park House. The will of Daniel Cronin of Knocknagree [and of the Park, Killarney] is dated 1756; and his nephew, Daniel, of the Park, near Killarney, died in 1786, without issue, leaving his estate to his sister’s grandson, Daniel Duggan whose father was Denis Duggan of Mount Infant in Duhallow, son of Captain Duggan who was on Sarsfield’s staff at the siege of Limerick. Daniel Duggan adopted the name of Cronin, and married Mary Lombard having issue three sons, Daniel, James and John, of these Daniel Cronin married in 1814 Christina, daughter of John Coltsmann of Glenflesk Castle.
Nineteenth Century
1820, July, in Cork, Daniel Mahony Esq of Killarney married Mary, daughter of late Aeneas Lombard Esq of Castleisland
1825, 9 January, Mary Lombard born to John Lombard and Mary De Courcey. Her brother John Lombard was born on 4th July 1827, went to Melbourne Victoria, Australia, in 1853 and died there in 1917
1828, John Lombard held Dromulton, otherwise Droumultonmore
1833, December, James Lombard Esq died at Nohaville, county Kerry
1840 Death of a Lombard (perhaps Nora/Norah Lombard) as per inscription on the Kilbannivane tomb
1843, 4 March, Aeneas De Courcy Lombard Esq, eldest son of late James Lombard Esq of Nohaval married Julia, youngest daughter of late Philip Foley Esq, at Lismacfinan, Co Kerry
1844, 8 April William Lombard of Villa Nova, Cork was among those in attendance at the Great Munster Banquet to the Liberator organised by the Cork Repeal Committee, held in the Lancasterian School House, Cork, the only venue large enough to accommodate the great numbers (600). A description of the décor in the dining room is found in the Kerry Evening Post, 10 April 1844 (‘The Provincial Repeal Dinner’)
1854, November, John S Walsh, auctioneer and executor of late John Lombard of Clydane, instructed to sell by auction stock and utensils on farm of Clydane. ‘Mr Lombard, at his death, did not reside on the farm held under Mr Herbert. He was also tenant of another very large landed Proprietor, on whose property he died. He left a very large stock of cattle which he grazed on both farms. He made a will by which he appointed a respectable relative – a merchant in Cork – his executor and guardian of his infant family and he immediately recommended the surrender of his farm and the sale of his stock. Two boys – minors – were desirous to have them held on. The landlord of the premises upon which he resided, and his most respectable and tenant-right agent considered it would serve the interests of the minors that the lands should be held for them until they attained their majority; and he, with the sanction of the Proprietor, offered to give those lands to the executor at a less rent than was proposed for it by other solvent tenants, and than it is held at, at present. Notwithstanding this … he surrendered the lands and sold off the stock and other property’ (Tralee Chronicle, 3 April 1857). ‘The late Mr Lombard always resided on Clydane, the farm held under Mr Herbert, he died there, and he never resided on the other farm to which he was tenant. The family he left were grandchildren, whose parents were dead. Only one of them was a boy. The executor never sought for the farm of Clydane for this boy – it was never offered him. He did seek for it for another of Mr Lombard’s grandchildren – not under his tutelage – and used all his influence to obtain it but was unable to do so. He has, I regret to say, since paid the debt of nature or I would confidently appeal to him as to the truth of those facts … Mr Walpole has the benefit of all the improvements effected by the late John Lombard’ (Tralee Chronicle, 7 April 1857)
1854, 2 December, at Nohavile House, Co Kerry, Aeneas De Courcy Lombard, Esq, eldest son of late James Lombard Esq, died
1857, 24 November, Martin Nolan Esq, Dromtrasna House, Castleisland married Miss Elizabeth Lombard of Knockane, Castleisland, only daughter of late James Lombard Esq of Nohoval, in the RC church, Castleisland. The ceremony was performed by his brother Rev Thomas Lombard. Their children were: William M Nolan, who died in 1902 aged 44, worked for National Bank Tralee for over 20 years, and was made manager in 1900; Martin Nolan (b1864) of Dromtrasna, Castleisland (married Annie, 3rd daughter of Richard Cussen, Creeveen, Causeway on 27 April 1893. Five children in Census 1911, three sons, two daughters; also a son Martin William Nolan given on earlier Census. In 1905 Martin Nolan Esq, Dromtrasna House, sworn in as JP); Rev James Nolan (b 1859), CC, Rathmore and Milltown; Mary Juliana, a nun in the Dominican Covent, Drogheda in 1902. It was said on death of William M Nolan in 1902, his mother was a near relative of the brother of Mr James Lombard, banker, Melbourne, Australia, a near relative to the DeCourseys, the Curtins of Castlefarm, and Miss Lombard, the present Rev Mother Mercy Convent, Killarney. His grandfather, who married a Miss Sparks, held property in the county and was closely connected with the resident gentry of his day. Miss Sparks was a Protestant but became a Catholic on the morning of her marriage. Through her he became connected with Mr Norris of Cork, the rich butter merchant, and several gentlemen in this county at that time. Mr Nolan’s grandfather’s children were Martin Nolan, Dr Nolan, Miss Nolan, Mrs Counihan of the Munster News, Limerick, Fr Thomas Nolan, PP Lixnaw, and Michael Nolan. All the members of this respectable family were remarkable for their charity
1865, James Lombard, Aeneas Lombard and Richard Lombard with others were fined 10s at the Castleisland Petty Sessions for shouting and abusing the police
1867, Saturday 2 March, Anna Helena Lombard (in religion, Sister Mary Paulo) daughter of the late Roger Lombard Esq of Woodville, county Kerry, died at the Convent of Mercy, Providence, Rhode Island, United States on after twenty-one years devoted to the service of God and the poor
1892, 1 November, Miss Mary Lombard died at Knockane, Castleisland, aged 66 years
Ballinvariscal House: Ballinvariscal House (Mount Prospect), Nohoval. Roger Lombard lived there in the early 19th century
Woodville House: Woodville House, Ballyegan, Castleisland. The Norris-Lombard and Fitzgerald-Lombards were associated with this property
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[1] Data taken on 13 August 2023. Some references taken from Landed Estates https://landedestates.ie/family/2665
