Uncovering the Dark Secrets of Aisling Bea's Ancestry

Aisling Bea's Journey Through Family History

Aisling Bea struggles with the truth as she learns about her family's past during the latest episode of BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? The award-winning actor, comedian and screenwriter from Kildare, Ireland appears on Tuesday's (May 20) instalment of the popular programme where she goes back through the archives to find out more about her heritage. In County Limerick, Aisling meets historian Dr Richard McMahon, who has some intriguing documents.

Revelations of Her Ancestors

Aisling learns that her three-times great-grandparents James and Martha Sheehy were substantial farmers in the area, which gave them a decent income and social standing in the community. A newspaper article reveals that the Sheehys were the victims of a violent crime: a group of men broke into their property, destroyed farming equipment, robbed arms and money from the house, and attacked Aisling's three-times great-grandfather. Richard tells Aisling that the nature of the attack means it's quite likely to have been motivated by economic grievance rather than just robbery. Aisling learns that James died as a result of his injuries, leaving her three-times great-grandmother Martha a widow with a family to support. Letters from Martha to the Lord Lieutenant General, Governor of Ireland, show Aisling's three-times great-grandmother begging for financial help, with no success. These letters date from just before the Great Famine and Aisling is worried that things do not look good for Martha and her family. However, documents from the early 1850s, a few years after the famine, tell a different story as it shows Martha substantially increased the amount of land she leases. While many poor tenant farmers were pushed off the land, Martha took advantage of the situation to increase her holdings. For Aisling, this is difficult to reconcile. She admires Martha's tenacious ability to survive and provide for her family, but is also conflicted by learning that her family flourished during a period of extreme deprivation and devastation for many people in Ireland. Aisling, who was pregnant at the time of filming, tells Dr Richard: "That is hard to hear I'll be honest. Having spent all of our childhood learning about the Irish famine in our history classes it does make me feel shameful to be honest." Who Do You Think You Are? continues Tuesday, May 20 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 9pm