During the 15th century, the O'Deas set to work building
towerhouses. These were tall narrow towers of between 60 and 80
feet height usually containing four major stories and six minor
anterooms. The towers were surrounded by high farmyard walls
knows as bawns and many had banquet halls and other adjoining
houses. Between 1450 and 1550, over 210 of these houses were
built in Co. Clare although there are less than 80 standing
today, many in a very ruinous conditions. The Dysert O'Dea
towerhouse was built between 1470 and 1480 by Diarmaid
O'Dea.
During the 16th century, many fierce arguments occurred
within clans because of the the new English legal system that was
slowly replacing the old Brehon Laws. According to English law,
the eldest son of a chieftain automatically became the heir, not
only to his land and possessions but also to his "title". This
was of course not acceptable to most Irish clansmen who had been
electing their leaders for over a thousand years. Many chieftains
and landowners could see the benefits of this new system,
particularly for their own descendants, and so Ireland became
immersed in numerous petty wars.
The Inchinquin Manuscripts, which cover the period between
1500 and 1900, contain several references to the O'Deas,
referring to land titles, inquisitions, and letters. During this
period, land was often mortgaged and the mortgages traded between
speculators. The confusion was aggravated by the problems of
language and the slow change-over from Brehon to English Law.
Often Gaelic deeds were declared null and void by English juries
who used the law to acquire land for themselves. On the other
hand, many Irish landowners could be equally vindictive and
refused either to redeem a mortgage or quit the premises on the
grounds that they were ignorant of English law.
During the 1500's, the Dysert O'Dea castle and town changed
hands many times. One of the most important manuscripts of the
Inchiquin collections is an award of Dysert Castle and lands made
by Connor O'Dea Bishop of Kilmacduagh to two of his kinsmen,
Diarmaid Og O'Dea and Domhnall O'Dea. The deed was agreed to at
Dysert in 1568. But the ownership was not secure for long.
Another document, dated October, 1594, is a "Precept issued by
Thomas Dillon, Chief Justice of Connaught to the High Sheriff of
Clare to give peaceful possession of certain lands in Dysert and
Inchiquin to Daniel Neylon Bishop of Kildare and John his son, on
the grounds that the present occupiers have been found guilty of
various crimes and disturbing the peace!"By 1659, most of the
O'Dea property in Munster and Leinster had been confiscated. The
census of that year shows only 11 O'Dea landlords left in the
Barony and all of those seem to have been tenants on one hundred
acres or less.
After the Cromwellian and Williamite wars in the latter half
of the 17th century, thousands of Irishmen emigrated to France
where they were guaranteed service in the army of King Louis. The
O'Deas were no exception. Two sons of Michael O'Dea of Dysert,
James and Donough, followed their uncle James into the Irish
Brigade.
Thus began the demise of the poor Catholic peasantry left
behind, leaderless after the cream of Gaelic nobility had been
forced to leave for the continent. The population of the O'Dea
lands, though greatly reduced by war, emigration, and enforced
slavery in the West Indies, was supplemented by transplanted
Catholics and new English settlers. It rose steadily in the
parish of Dysert from about 2,000 people in 1690 to over 7,000 by
1840. Most of these were now landless laborers living in cabins
and ditches, surviving solely on potatoes and buttermilk. When
the potato blight came in 1846 and 1847, it brought destitution
and starvation. The great Potato Famine resulted in over one
million deaths in Ireland from starvation and disease, and the
emigration of over one million people to Britain, the United
States of America, and Australia. For this reason, most O'Deas
and O'Days live outside of Ireland.
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