Townley Family Name
About the Family Name
At the time of the "Cromwell Adventurers" (around 1650), lands were taken from the native Irish peoples and given to English settlers willing to re-settle in Ireland, thereby consolidating Cromwell's hold on Ireland. Records show the name Townley among these 'adventurers' given Irish lands. The earliest Townleys in England were Catholic, and as the Irish lands were only available to Protestant settlers, the Townleys who wished to receive these lands, renounced their Catholic faith.
The Townley name was apparently already established in Ireland at the time of the battles with Cromwell's forces. (For example, a Major Charles Townley and his wife Charitie had several children in and around Dublin. Charles was murdered by Cromwell's soldiers at Gowran Castle.) So the family name goes further back than the period of Cromwell's Adventurer's.
Whether there is an actual connection of the original English Townleys to those found in Ireland is unknown. It remains a possiblity that not every Irish Townley necessarily is descended from an earlier English Townley. Given that the name Townley in England began as a means of identifying a clan based on where they lived (in the "lee of the towne" of Burnley in England's Yorkshire County), it is entirely possible that a native Irish family might have also taken the same name with essentially the same reasoning.
About the Family Crest
References exist in Heraldry records of the family crest used by the Townley families in England. There were two variations with slight differences. The above pictured crest is believed to be representative of the most common one to have existed. (The other variation omits the silver star in the middle band. Sometimes a falcon is also depicted, perched upon the helmet.)
An on-line reference has been found that suggests one of the two variations was also used by a Townley family in Ireland.
The motto associated with the crest in England is "Tenez la vrai", translating literally to "Hold the truth". Whether this (or another) motto was used in Ireland is unknown.
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