Ballyoughter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ballyoughter is an eighteenth century farmhouse 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The earliest historical reference to Ballyoughter is in the Annals of Connaught which records that in 1542 Ulick Burke of Clanrickarde ‘took’ the residence of O Flannigan at Ballyoughter while on a military expedition in ‘Lower Connaught’.
The Goldsmith family acquired land at Ballyoughter sometime in the seventeenth century. Charles Goldsmith the father of the poet, playwright and novelist Oliver Goldsmith was born at Ballyoughter in 1690. Oliver Goldsmith lived at Ballyoughter with his uncle John Goldsmith for two years in the 1730’s while he attended Elphin Diocesan School. It is believed that it was at Ballyoughter that he heard the blind harpist and composer Turlough O'Carolan often referred to as the last of the Irish bards.
The Goldsmiths continued in possession of Ballyoughter until 1883 when another John Goldsmith sold the property.
