Where have all the Goings gone? Current telephone directories contain but two Going entries - one in Dublin and one in County Wicklow; whereas the 1814 Directory listed 17 Going residences, 14 of which were in Tipperary. Mac Lysaght's The Surnames of Ireland lists both Mac Gabhann and Mac an Ghabhann as the original of Smith and (Mac) Gowan, Going being a synonym. However, Sloinnte na hEireann/Irish Surnames (Sean de Bhulbh 1997) lists only Mac Gabhann, and this, or the French Gouin, is given as the origin of Going. The latter were in County Tipperary at the end of the 17th century - presumably Huguenots.
In The Huguenots and Ireland: Anatomy of an Emigration we read: "It should be noted that a number of Guions came to Ireland, especially to Portarlington". That was in 1702. But Gouin or Guion?
Mac an Ghabhann seems to be indicated in the 1588 Fiant noting the pardon of Johan' Ny an goen.(?Siobhβn Nic an Ghabhann) of the Graunge, Co Tipperary (this Fiant contains the Nenaugh (our italics). Grange names towlands in the Co Tipperary parishes of Lorrha and Knigh, both near Borrisokane.
Taylor & Skinners Maps of the Roads of Ireland (1778) shows Going residences at Birdhill, Moneyquil and Trevorstown, all in the Nenagh area. These were still Going residences in the 1814 Directory, other Going residences being Altavilla House (Cahir), Ballyphillip (Killenaule), and Cragg Castle (Newport). Spelt Craige in a Fiant of 1585, this belonged to Connor O Moilryan. The Civil Survey 1654 notes John Ryan of Craige, Esq., Irish Papist on 446 acres. "Upon the sd lands of Craige standeth the Walls of a castle and a Barbicon and the ruines of an old mill, and are at present totally wast without any Improvement or accommodation". Under the parish of Kilcomenty Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) informs that Cragg was the residence of Going Esq. "At Cragg are the ruins of an ancient church and castle". Today's Ordnance Survey shows the ruin of a castle at Cragg.
In 1808 William Going presented himself at the Quaker School in Ballitore, Co Kildare and in 1819 Richard Going arrived there. John, J.P. and Robert Going, Esq., Cragg Castle, Ambrose Going Esq., Ballyphillip and Rev James Going, A.B. Kilkeedy, Co Limerick, were listed among the subscribers to Lewis's 1837 Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. Owners of Land of One Acre and Upwards (1876) shows Going holdings at Alta Villa (313 acres); Traverstown (2,590); Liskeveen House, Littleton (2,522) with 6,398 acres belonging to William Going, Ballyphillip, Killenaule. There were other holdings in Co Offaly (349 acres); Co Clare (896) and Co Cork (222). The Topographical Dictionary informs that Traverstown in the parish of Dolla was the seat of T. Going Esq., "pleasantly situated in an extensive and well-planted demesne". Lewis informs that Dolla was situated at the termination of the Anglesea new road from Tipperary to Nenagh. The original Irish for Dolla is An Doladh, "the toll or tax". The 1778 map indicates no turnpike at or nearer Dolla, though some three miles is shown Shallee Turnpike. A turnpike was most usually a barrier placed across a road to stop passages till the toll was paid. Turnpike roads, which were maintained by a toll levied on cattle and wheeled vehicles, came increasingly into being in Ireland from 1729 on, and are numerous on Taylor & Skinners map. Arthur Young in his A Tour of Ireland 1776-1779 wrote: "This road is abominally bad, continually over hills, rough, stony, and cut up. It is a turnpike, which in Ireland is a synonymous term for a vile road ..." These roads must have deteriorated, for when Theophilus Bolton, Archbishop of Cashel wrote in 1735 enticing Dean Swift to take a southern ramble he remarked: "without doubt a southern ramble wil prove the best remedy you can take to recover your flesh; and I don't know, except in one stage, where you can chuse a road so suited to your circumstances, as from Dublin hither - you have to Kilkenny a turnpike and good inns at every ten or twelve miles end". The last remaining turnpike road was dissolved in 1857.
Some toll-houses have survived and have been receiving the attention of local committees. The renovation of the one at Glenduff on the old coach-road from Dublin to Cork, via Kilworth, is almost completed. Pike names a townland in the Co Cork parish of Drinagh.