Dingle peninsula, Co Kerry, Ireland
Gowlane, Stradbally, Co Kerry
Today there are various cottages or parcels of land called Gowlane and presumably there was a Hickson House with such a name. Various records indicate that Hicksons came from "Gowlane"
- In his book, A Genealogical History of the Eagar Family and their Maternal Connexions in the County of Kerry, Frederick John Eagar states that ; " The Hicksons came originally from Cambridgeshire, and spelled the name Hixon, and have been long of high standing in Kerry" ... " The first on record we have keen able to trace, is the Rev. John Hickson, who was appointed Rector by Patent of the parishes of Killiney and Kilgobbin, in the diocese of Ardfert. His son Thomas Hickson, of Gowlane [born ca 1590], married Frances, second daughter of Walter Hussey ... " Because of the dates we received from the Church of Ireland Archivist, Dublin, Ireland, as given in the introductory remarks, we have assumed that Rev John was too late to have been the father of Thomas, therefore we have used the dates from the Landed Gentry and give the credit to Rev. Christopher.
- Another record shows "Thomas Hickson, born 1650 in Gowlane in the parish of Stradbally, married Katherine Hussey, was killed by the Cromwellians". He was described as the son of Christopher Hickson and Ellen Stack and the grandson of Rev Christopher Hickson and Miss Hussey
- Robert Hickson, son of Thomas Hickson and Katherine Hussey, married Ellen Moriarty and they settled in Gowlane in 1736
- What happened to Robert, I don't know, but his brother, John, appears to have become a big landlord.
- About 1740 John Hickson gave the lands of Fermoyle to his eldest son, Christopher, to his second son, John, he gave Stradbally, to George he gave Gowlane and to the fourth son, James, Farrandalogue, Tierbrin.
- Robert Hickson (1749-1844), son of John Hickson and Ellen Rice, Deputy Governor of Kerry, married in 1776, Judith Murray, daughter of William Murray. Robert purchased the lands of Gowlane from George Hickson of the Fermoyle family for £750 between 1773 and 1797, as appears in a Chancery Bill filed in the latter year. Robert was not in the same line as the others, he was the grandson of Barbara Trant and Robert Hickson who, I would guess, was probably a grandson of the Rev Christopher, but this is a pure hypothesis.
- Robert bequeathed the lands of Gowlane to his son, James Hickson, DL of Lansdowne Lodge, Kenmare (reference: "Blennerville - Gateway to Tralee").
see also Stradbally
Kilgobbin is now better known as CAMP.
How to get there
From Tralee (Trá Lí) take the road through Blennerville to Camp and continue along the same road (R560). Pass the turning to Castlegregory, continue into Stradbally. This is the area of Gowlane.
