Drimoleague - West Cork, Ireland

Most, if not all, Kingston families originated in England. During the Munster and Cromwellian plantations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the name began to appear in Ireland. This was predominantly in the West Cork area, where land was taken from the native Irish and given to English planters. The most significant Kingston settlements in Ireland historically have been in the West Cork villages of Timoleague and Drimoleague, thirty miles apart. “The Origins of Co. Cork Kingstons” by A. Richard Kingston, published in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, Volume LXXXVI, 1981, offers the most in-depth published study of Co. Cork Kingstons. The author documents four generations of descent from a Colonel Samuel Kingston (died 1703) and concludes that many, if not most, Irish Kingstons may descend from him. However, a definite link between the Kingstons of Timoleague and Drimoleague has not been made.