Smith Hill or Smithhill is an early nineteenth-century house situated about 1.5 km east of
Elphin, County Roscommon
Elphin (; ) is a small town in north County Roscommon, Ireland. It forms the southern tip of a triangle with Boyle and Carrick-on-Shannon to the north west and north east respectively. It is at the junction of the R368 and R369 regional r ...
, in
Ardnagowan. It is believed that the poet, playwright and novelist
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, dramatist and poet, who is best known for his novel ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1766), his pastoral poem ''The Deserted Village'' (1770), and his pl ...
may have been born in an earlier house on the site while his mother, Ann Goldsmith (née Jones), was visiting her parents, the Rev. Oliver Jones and wife.
It was later the seat of the Rev.
John Lloyd, a kinsman of
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, dramatist and poet, who is best known for his novel ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1766), his pastoral poem ''The Deserted Village'' (1770), and his pl ...
. In 1847, Lloyd was famously murdered by his tenant
Owen Beirne
Owen may refer to:
Origin: The name Owen is of Irish and Welsh origin.
Its meanings range from noble, youthful, and well-born.
Gender: Owen is historically the masculine form of the name. Popular feminine variations include Eowyn and Owena. ...
.
Ballyoughter
Ballyoughter is an 18th-century house and park situated about 1.5 km south of Elphin, County Roscommon, Ireland.
The earliest historical reference to Ballyoughter is in the Annals of Connaught which records that in 1542 Ulick Burke of ...
where Oliver Goldsmith's father was born and where Oliver Goldsmith himself spent part of his childhood is also in the parish of Elphin.
References
* Connellan, J. A., ''Oliver Goldsmith of Elphin'', Published for the Goldsmith Society (1935).
* Enright, Aidan, 'Outrage in Elphin: The murder of Rev. John Lloyd' in Roscommon Historical and Archaeological Society Journal, vol. 11 (2009), pp. 56–63.
External links
"Irish History - Genealogy Radshow: Murder in Roscommon - The Assassination of the Rev. John Lloyd, 1847"
Buildings and structures in County Roscommon
Houses in the Republic of Ireland
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