placenamesBallintober
Baile an Tobair
Willsgrove records the changing fortunes of a landed estate, while Leabeg connects this wider district with Boys Town in America.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Baile an Tobair · Irish · main form
- Ballintober · English · main form
Place & story
The Wills family at Willsgrove
The Wills family settled at Willsgrove in the early eighteenth century. Caspar and James Wills had purchased forfeited property in 1703, beginning a landed connection that subsequently expanded through inheritance and marriage. William Robert Wills of Willsgrove served on Roscommon's Grand Panel in 1828. Over 6,000 acres of the family's estate passed to the Congested Districts' Board in 1913. [2]
Occupied land and an empty house
Griffith's Valuation recorded two properties at Willsgrove under William W. R. Sandford's estate. One, valued at £10, stood vacant; Anne Glancey leased the other with 260 acres. The contrast between an occupied holding and an empty building precedes a further change: the late nineteenth-century Ordnance Survey map described Willsgrove as ruined. [3]
Edward Flanagan at Leabeg
Edward Flanagan, founder of Boys Town, was born at Leabeg in 1886. Boys Town's account recalls his attendance at Drimtemple School and work tending sheep after lessons. He emigrated in 1904, retaining a lifelong attachment to nearby Ballymoe. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Ballintober. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Wills (Castlereagh), estate1520 · University of Galway, Landed Estates
- Willsgrove, property1257 · University of Galway, Landed Estates
- Father Flanagan Never Lost Touch with Hometown Ballymoe,20 November 2015 · Thomas Lynch, Boys Town
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2011-11-02. How this page was prepared.