In 1700, "shab away" or "shab off", meant slink away, sneak off, and in Brendan O Cathaoir's Famine Diary (1999) we read the opinion of "A County Down man", who said "the landlords of the locality should not be allowed to `shab' away to England and leave their tenants to the mercies of heartless, ignorant bog-bailiffs and screwing agents . . . ". The St George family of Kilrush House, Kilrush, in the Co Kilkenny parish of Clonmantagh, appear likely to have been the landlord of John Mansfield, of Freshford, Co Kilkenny, in 1846, and if so, it seems that they did not "shab off", as Kilrush House continues to the present day to be a St George residence.
In a letter to the Rev Luke Fowler, published in the same book, Mansfield wrote: "Reverend Sir Pardon me for letting you now my great distress I did not earn one shilling. This 3 weeks I had not one bite for my family since yesterday morning to eat . . ." Mansfield had pawned his coat and clothes belonging to his wife, and Mr Fowler averred that unless Mansfield received help, the family would die of want.
One of the five St George residences shown on Taylor and Skinners Maps of the Roads of Ireland (1778) was Kilrush House. Here in 1876 was Howard J. St George on 2,873 acres, and Sir John St George with 974 acres. (Rev Luke Fowler, Willbrook, Freshford, had 92 acres.)
On viewing Mansfield in MacLysaght's Surnames of Ireland we are directed to see De Mandeville, where we are informed that this was one of the Norman families which accompanied William the Conqueror to Ireland from Normandy in the 12th century. "From 1210, when Martin de Mandeville was a witness to the charter of Ratoath, we find the name in the medieval records of Co Meath." They were established in Co Antrim in the 13th and 14th centuries, where the descendants of Hugolin de Mandeville became an Irish sept, adopting the name Mac Uighilin. These were the Mac Quillans, Lords of the Route in Co Antrim. More settled in cos Tipperary and Waterford.
Mandeville later became Manfield, finally changing to the English surname Mansfield, "field by the hill called Mam [mother, breast]". In the late 16th century, when descendants of the Mandevilles in Co Tipperary had adopted the form Mansfield, appearing unaware of their Mandeville ancestry, the Co Tipperary family of Maydwell (de Maudwella, Maudevella), of Ballydine, changed their surname to Mandeville, apparently misreading the Latin forms in their ancient titledeeds as de Mandevella. (The "u" being read as an "n"). Mansfield in Co Kerry occurs in modern birth registrations as occasionally synonymous with Maunsel. Mandeville and Mansfield are both rendered de Moinbheil in Irish.
Analecta Hibernica (1985) contains an article entitled Abstracts of Mandeville Deeds, presented by K.W. Nicholls. Here are 45 documents dating from 1337, the majority of which relate to Co Waterford. Two documents, however, related to the early phase of de Mandeville activity in Ulster. Both relate to Liskenane (now Lislunnan), Co Antrim, one dated 1207 and the other 1336. Documents of 1601 and 1602 contains the forms Manfyld and Maunsfild.
Maps of the Roads of Ireland (1778) show Mansfield residences near Garvagh, Co Derry, and at Killygordan, Co Donegal. This latter was still a Mansfield residence in 1814, with another Mansfield at Castlewray in the same county. There was also a Mansfield at Strandcoaly (Strancally), Co Waterford, and one at Yeomanstown, Co Kildare. In 1876 at Morristown, Lattin (Lattensbog) in this latter county was the largest Mansfield holding of 4,057 acres.
Kilrush is derived from Cill Rois, "church of (the) high place", and the Irish for Mansfieldstown in Co Louth is Baile Mhic Mhairtin. Current telephone directories list 117 Mansfield entries, mainly in Dublin, south Leinster, and Munster.