The Bowles of Limerick Town

The earliest Bowles I have found in Limerick town so far were there in the mid 1700's.

In the earlier parish records, the literacy and accuracy of the clerks and the entries they made appears to be somewhat suspect. Perhaps no-one ever expected these records to matter to any one. There are single Fowles, Towls, Bowly and Bowler baptismal entries between 1724 and 1739 which may have been Bowles as those surnames do not re-occur again in the register and the given names sound correct for the Bowles. references

After 1748 the above surnames do not re-occur but the Bowls, Bold, Bolds, Bowles etc. names appear and on one occasion there is a Fowles entry which is known to actually be a Bowles reference. The Bold and Bowles families seem to have been separate originally but some later Bowles can be shown to have come from the Bolds line. Both families appear to have originally been in the Protestant Merchant class but the Bowles line gradually developed into a rather wealthy landowner line while the Bolds line all but disappeared. Catholic lines of both surnames also developed in the late 1700's.

For Bold/Bolds we have many baptisms, marriages and burials between 1752 and 1797 after which there are only occasionally references with the latest in 1861. List of Bolds b/m/d Register Entries in 1700's to 1800's Limerick town

See The Bolds of Limerick

For Bowles, the earliest entries seem to indicate that two Bowles, Henry and Robert, possibly brothers, arrived in Limerick around 1748. Their history is yet incomplete as while we have a lot of church records their relationship has not been sorted out and there are more stray records than certain entries in their trees. List of Bowles b/m/d Register Entries in 1700's and 1800's Limerick town

See The Henry Bowles of Limerick Line

The Robert Bowles of Limerick Line (under construction)