Where is Wallenstown? An Irish History Mystery

This is one of a series of posts about Maurice and Elizabeth Cunningham, their children and grandchildren, and their lives in Columbus, Wisconsin in the late 1800s. You can find the other posts here: Part 1 (overview), Part 2 (the cemetery), Part 3 (the church and farm), Part 4 (our current state of knowledge) and related posts on Robert Steven Cunningham and the Rooney farm.

Where is Wallenstown, Ireland?

We were excited, on our cemetery trip to Columbus, Wisconsin, to see Maurice Cunningham's home town indicated on his tombstone. But here's the problem: there's no such place as "Wallenstown, Ireland"!

A Google search for Wallenstown Ireland gets only one hit, an individual mention in a 1588 document entitled Calendar of the State Papers Relating to Ireland, of the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth. This is a list of court cases, and in case #68, there is reference to "Edmond Wolfe, of Wallenstown, county Limerick". However, in case #49 the same person is listed as a resident of Williamstown, Limerick. So, I remain skeptical that this reference is correct.

I tried searching for variants, such as Ballywallen or Balligwallen (which is a western suburb of Dublin), or Walkinstown (another area of Dublin). But none of these fit well. Among other things, if Maurice Cunningham had lived in Dublin, why had he sailed from Cork? It could happen, of course, but I kept looking for alternatives.

I posted a question on wikitree.com, asking for help, and one of the community members suggested a web page on Irish Place Names. It did not have a Wallenstown, either, but it suggested a much more reasonable alternative: Wallingstown, a suburb of Cork.

Wallingstown is on an area called "Little Island", about four miles east of Cork. In the 1837 Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Samuel Lewis describes some of the locations on Little Island, including "Wallinstown House", the residence of Phineas Bury, Esq, and the ruined castle of Wallinstown. My best guess is that Maurice Cunningham (and Elizabeth as well?) grew up on or near the manor of Wallinstown. I have not been able to find any reference to either of them in parish records from that area, but I will keep looking.

Here is a map of the current area known as Wallingstown, or Baile an Bhailisigh in Irish. According to this website, the area has been known by a variant of that name since at least 1301.