How Robert Boles Established his Business in Cahir
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Robert Boles of Cahir, the Builder
The story of how Robert Boles acquired the two
buildings on the Square in Cahir
(a personal communication from a direct
descendant Bob Boles of Dublin and Cahir)
Anyway, this Robert (of 1810) was down in nearby Lismore Castle in 1857
doing some building work for the then owner, the Duke of Devonshire (the
modern Duke still owns it and Royals occasionally dine there including
Charles and Camilla).
During the course of his work the Duke asked Robert if the Cahir Estate
(the Butler family descended from the Butlers of Ormonde or "Lord
Cahir") owed him any money and he said they did, upon which the Duke
advised him to collect his debt as soon as possible because he knew the
Cahir Estate was bankrupt.
Robert then got on his horse and rode over the mountains into Cahir
where he went home and got a promissiory note for the amount of 150
pounds that had been issued by the Cahir Estate as payment for work he
had done on Cahir Lodge, (which was the Ormondes residence after they no
longer lived in Cahir Castle).
It was common for tradespeople and merchants of that time to keep such
notes without cashing them because they bore interest annually if you
kept them.
Robert went into the estate agents office and presented his note for
payment, this led to some surprise about why he wanted to be paid so
suddenly and when he told them that he knew their secret and had heard
it from the highest authority, they challenged him to disclose who and
once he told them it was the Duke they knew that the game was up because
they couldnt accuse the Duke of telling lies.
But they needed him to keep quiet or there would be the equivalent of "a
run on the bank" so they asked him if he would accept something else in
return for his debt and to buy his silence, he agreed and said he would
take property.
They had a map of the town of Cahir which showed everything the estate
owned in red and everything they didn't own in green, the only green
bits were the military barracks and the churches, they owned the whole
town.
Robert pointed to two conjoined houses on the Square in Cahir which had
military officers in them as tenants of Lord Cahir, these two houses had
a single large back yard. He wanted the yard for his building business
and asked for the two houses and the yard.
The estate removed the two tenants (which was easy to do because
probably Lord Cahir was their commanding officer anyway) and signed them
over to Robert. The estate subsequently didn't go bust because they
married money and their fortunes turned. But to my eternal satisfaction
for a very, very long time afterwards the Boles property on the square
was the only other green spot on the map of the Cahir Estates.
Once Robert got the property he build a series of sheds and workshops in
the yard and put his various tradesmen to work in them, there was a
blacksmith or nail makers shed, a carpenters workshop, a masons shed etc
etc, my Dad pulled them down in 1961.