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Sheil (Gortumly)
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At the time of Griffith’s Valuation (publ. 1854) John Sheil held the townland of Gortumly, 618 acres in the parish of Castlelost, county Westmeath, in fee, including offices valued at £7. A substantial house was subsequently built and is named on the 25 inch map as Gortumly house but has since been demolished. O’Brien writes that the Sheils were an old Gaelic family who remained Catholic throughout the Penal times, however they managed to amass wealth as cattle grazers. John Sheil was the first of the family to live at Gortumly in the 1760s. It was inherited by his eldest son Hugh and following his death in 1814 by his son John. Members of the family also lived in The Cottage, Gallstown, a neighbouring townland.
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