McArdle

Hello Jack, I am afraid your query is outside most available records that I am aware of, at this remove prior to say 1800 the only church records available are Church of Ireland and a large proportion of these were lost in the attack on the Four Courts in 1922, the defenders had placed their muntions in the Public record Office and it received a direct artillary hit. 

The available RC church records are here but if available can be at tricky read. https://registers.nli.ie/ I checked 3 parishes in the area of north Dundalk and the earliest records are 1838, later for the others. 

The Church of Ireland list of records are here https://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/rcb-library/catalogues/parish-re…

Such things as the Registry of Deeds are putting records on line slowly but again I think late 1700s is the best and it was not compulsory initially. There are records of wills but no actual wills to my knowledge until the later 1800s.

There is a site here about Louth but mainly lists of people and McArdle is a name found in that area so you could not pick your own out even it a townlan is given it is a leap of faith.

  http://www.jbhall.freeservers.com/ There are also various Faceboook private pages on genealogy but can be patchy depending on how soon the query is seen before it goes down the page. 

You may wish to consider a professional genealogist and a list is on the site of the National Library, they would normally scope the work and quote a price if they think the can find something, but pre 1800 in Ireland is considerably difficult unless there is a court record or something made any newspaper of the time/.

https://www.nli.ie/en/commission-research.aspx ;

Sorry the news is not better, there are also some good County Down sites and the library in Dundalk are helpful but if there are no records thats it.

https://www.louthcoco.ie/en/services/library/reference-local-history-li…

Regards

Pat

Hi Jack, the Dundalk library is the main research library in the county and the archives are also in Dundalk, you can see the resources online for both under the Louth County Council site but an advance email might assist you. The County Louth Arch. & History Society have been producing journals since 1904 and some have listed graveyards however I do not see one for Castletown but then I do not have the full set which is behind a paywall at JStor but cheap I think, the British Newspaper Archive also has the largest collection of Irish newspapers for historical reasons.

Enjoy your stay and I wish you good luck except in the Euromillions as that is reserved for me!!!. 

Feel free if you want any more info I live in Drogheda about 23 miles away so am aware of local transport etc

Pat

HI Jack, my Gaelige is not up to the job but I have emailed it to a friend of mine who is a native speaker so await a reply, it appears to be something about a fist and the last word is a black something I imagine a bird but thats a pure guess from the picture.

I looked up McLysaghts Surnames of Ireland and McArdle is an anglicised version of a an Irish name meaning, wait for it "High Valour" and is the sept (Gaelic Clan in Irleand) is part of the McMahons in the Oriel which is North Louth and Monaghan East as they join. McMahon is I believe the first ever surname in Ireland. 

Will return when I hear back.

Pat