-Mallow Flolcl Club. JOURNAb. CUMANN ARSAIOCHIA JS STAJ!Ui MHALA. Mallow Archaeological & Historical Society PRICE : o.

Size: px
Start display at page:

Download "-Mallow Flolcl Club. JOURNAb. CUMANN ARSAIOCHIA JS STAJ!Ui MHALA. Mallow Archaeological & Historical Society PRICE : o."

Transcription

1 -Mallow Flolcl Club JOURNAb / CUMANN ARSAIOCHIA JS STAJ!Ui MHALA Mallow Archaeological & Historical Society 1 o. 1 PRICE :

2 MAIN ROADS '.JTH'R ROADS Map based on the Ordnance Survey by permission of the Government RAILWAYS :;> I I 11 o z MILES

3 Mallow Fiolcl Glub JOURNA1' CUMANN ARSAIOCHT A IS ST AIRE MHALA Mallow Archaeological & Historical Society NO

4 Published by Mallow Field Club Ed. Committee : Rev. Robert Forde Donal Nunan Seamus Crowley Sean O'Rahilly-O'Mahony The views expressed by individual authors are not necessarily those of the Editorial Committee. Cover design by John Kavanagh. Copyright retained by the Publishers. Printed by Oriel Press Ltd., Charleville, Co. Cork. 2

5 INDEX Page FOREWORD By Sister M. Angela Bolster. 4 HISTORICAL WALK THROUGH MALLOW By Jim Copps 6 SISTER M. ANGELA BOLSTER By Rev. Robert Forde. 20 NEWBERRY By Sean O'Reilly. 21 "THAT DEAR LONG AGO" By Sean O'Rahilly-O'Mahony. 26 The Story of Canon Sheehan and William O'Brien. THE ANTIQUITIES OF KILSHANNIG By John Kavanagh. 39 MALLOW DURING THE FAMINE 51 By l lacra Na Feirme, Mallow. MALLOW RAILWAY By Michael O'Sullivan. 63 A MALLOW RAILWAY NOTE By Seamus Crowley. 78 SEAN CHAS By C.J.F. Maccarthy. 81 EMIGRATION OF ORPHANS FROM MALLOW WORKHOUSE By Macra Na Feirme, Mallow. 87 O'CONNELL'S MALLOW DEFIANCE SPEECH 96 By Fred Buckley. DR. BARRY EDMOND O'MEARA By Jim Copps. DONERAI LE PARK - AN HISTORICAL NOTE 109 By Seamus Crowley TOBERAROUGHTA By Sean O'Reilly. 129 ASPECTS OF EDUCATION IN MALLOW IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY By Rev. Robert Forde. 131 MALLOW FIELD CLUB By Sean O'Reilly

6 FOREWORD It is with genuine pleasure that I welcome the inaugural issue of The Journal of the Mallow Historical and Archaeological Society. A publication of this nature has a manifold significance in that, among other things, it arouses and fosters interest in things local; it preserves important historical knowledge for posterity; it signposts new and exciting areas of research and it provides an outlet for the expression of local talent. History, today, means to us both study and writing about the past and about the events which form the subject of our study and writing. It is primarily concerned with out human existence, with the world and its origins, and, at a more personal level now for Mallow people - thanks to the new Journal - with our town and its origins. In this respect, the Journal recalls for me an important theme from the Constitution of the Church in the Modern World [n.5] which tells us that 'the destiny of the human community has become all of a piece, where once the various groups of men had a kind of private history of their own.' The obvious conclusion is that Mallow scholars are now given the opportunity to share the riches of the town's private history with people everywhere. Recently, in a book entitled The First Christian Histories [p. 70], I came across the very interesting statement that 'in every present-tense moment one stands at the nexus of a set of converging cause-effect chains fanning back into the past like the tributaries of a mighty river.' To me, Mallow represents such a nexus, and I look forward with pleasurable anticipation to the ongoing presentation of its history in its cultural, educational, literary, civic, political, social and archaeological aspects through the pages of the Journal. And because Jesus Christ as man represented a new and decisive action of God in human affairs, the ecclesiastical ethos of Mallow's history which goes a long way back, will be seen to have been an important bonding element in the growth and development of our town. Only in this way can one get a comprehensive over-view of a great cultural centre which is unique in the number and variety of the personalities it has produced. I congratulate all contributors to this new and historic venture. I am particularly delighted to find contributions from young people, from university student Michael O'Sullivan, 15 year-old Fred Buckley, and from youthful Macra na Feirme. May their efforts encourage others to write and research. 4

7 I also congratulate the Committee of Mallow Field Club, and I express a special word of appreciation to the Editorial Committee and in partiuclar to Father Robert Forde, Jim Copps and Sean O'Reilly whose dedication to history and cultural pursuits is rightly applauded in the highest academic circles. To all these belongs the credit for making the Journal of the Mallow Historical and Archaeological Society a proud reality. Guim rath Qe ar lucht taighde agus luct scriofa an iriseain seo, agus f6s ar lucht a leite. December, Sister M. Angela Bolster. Sr. Angela Bolster 5

8 .HISTORICAL WALK THROUGH MALLOW By Jim Copps We are standing at the top of O'Brien Street; behind us is the front wall of the Old Market Place. This site, once known as Ard Teampal, must have been a place where a Church stood in medieval times. Older than the 12th. century Church of St. Ann whose walls still stand, in fact the bell tower of St. Ann's is still intact and it's bell is rung for Service in the adjacent St. James' Church. The Pre Reformation Church of St. Ann was badly damaged during the Williamite wars, later repaired and used for worship until the Church of St. James was built early in the last century. New Street was built by C.D.O. Jephson, M.P., of Mallow Castle: (later Sir Denham Jephson Norreys, M.P.) He also built the Market Place and Market House, a new road leading to Fair Lane, or Kilmallock Road, and gave two fields where Fairs were held. Formerly, Fairs and Markets were confined to the Main Street. We are looking down on the Town Hall which replaces an earlier building burned down by the 'Lancers' in 1920 as a reprisal for the shooting of Sergeant Gibbs when Mallow Barrack was captured by Republican Forces. Prior to the Town Hall, a drapery business was conducted on this site by the Rafferty family. Mr. Rafferty later sold the building to Mallow Urban District Council. The premises were much improved when a limestone frontage was added. Before Mr. Rafferty's tenure, the building was known as The Queen's Arms Hotel, with Mr. Ned Riordan as hosteller. We shall now traverse the eastern side of O'Brien St. (New Street). At the end of the street, in the house owned by Mrs. Dinan, Patrick Augustine Sheehan was born on 17th. March, "Priest, Poet, and Author." His works were translated into many languages, and were greatly admired by Tolstoy. Canon Sheehan, was a lifelong friend of William O'Brien, M.P. The Clinic was built on the site of Mallow's first Vocational School. Prior to the school there was a Methodist Church on this site. The house above the Clinic was Mallow's first Munster & Leinster Bank. Next door to this, now Marian House, was one of the local R.I.C. Barracks; then was another in Ballydaheen. 6

9 Later, the Barrack in O'Brien Street was the Garda Barrack. This same building was at one time a boarding and day school for "Young Ladies". The second house at the top of the street was known as The Dispensary; which was provided for the benefit of the sick poor. It was given at a nominal rent by Sir Denham Jephson-Norreys when the Mallow Infirmary was forced to close through lack of finance in The premises at the top of the street, FitzPatrick's Bar, was once the home of Joseph Rankin. Mr. Rankin was a lay preacher at the Plymouth Brethern Meeting House, now Nos. 1 & 2 Court View. In front of the market wall and facing the street was a weighbridge and horse-trough; alas, both are long gone. We shall now survey the western side of the street; the first premises of note is Burrowes, the present business was established by the late Stephen Burrows towards the end of the last century. A similar business was conducted here by ;_he Keane family prior to Mr. Burrowes. Before Keane's it was Clarkes: Clarkes processed tobacco here; the Clarke family resided at Ballymagooley. Next Miss Nora Evans' school where pupils were grounded in the three R's. Miss Evans also taught music. Many of her pupils entered the Church and professions. At Burrowes' Yard there was at one time a saw-mills, the mills supplied electric light to the Mallow Club at Bank Place. When the saw-mills were accidentaly burned down electric light was provided for the Club by Messrs. Webbs' Mills at Quartertown. I must mention that Burrows were the first retailers of petrol & motor oil in Mallow. Petrol was not sold from a pump as it is nowadays. Customers were supplied from tins. At the junction of O'Brien Street and Landscape Terrace, on the evening prior to a Fair, the Coffee-Van was horse drawn from Mallow Castle Coach Yard in readiness for the early morning Fair. Coffee and tea were provided for the farmers and dealers. It was hoped to combat intemperance. Credit must be given to the Temperance Society of the congregation of St. James' Church for this innovation. Round the corner at No. 1 Landscape Terrace we had The Cloyne Diocesan School, which was first established in Barrack Street in A new school wa s built at Annabella Lawn with the entrance from Shortcastle (now the residence of Mr. P.A. O'Meara, M.D.). The Diocesan School had its home at Annabella until it closed in

10 Next building of note along this site at Landscape Terrace is Mallow Court House, built in the latter half of the last century to replace the old Sessions House at Gallows Hill. The Sessions house was later converted to a Fever Hospital of which now no trace remains except the walls which surrounded the building. The present Court House was burned by Republican Forces during the Civil war. ft was re-built later. Formerly it had a Bridewell at the rear of the building. On the eastern side of the market on tllp of the cliff are the remains of an old Pump House; this was used in conjunction with a Salt Works during the last century. The Salt Works was established by the O'Connor family (O'Connor & Dudley) and continued to be operated by the next owners Robert Barry and later by his son James. We shall now ramble down the Muddy Hill passing on our right the remains of an old limekiln until we reach the 'Dogs' Heads. Across the road to the left is the Spa House, built by C.D.O. Jephson of Mallow Castle C Water is piped from the Well Room in the house to the Dogs' Heads. The Spa House re-places an earlier building on the same site. Thirty years ago the building was extensively repaired and the exterior greatly altered; old photographs of the building will prove that it's appearance has not been improved. The Mallow Gas Works stood on part of the site of the present garage with a row of little houses from it to the corner of Spa Square and a frontage of three houses facing towards the F.B.D. Insurance Office. The Mallow Gasworks functioned for nearly ninety years until it closed for ever in December, The back wall of the building was known as the hot wall, the furnaces were just behind it, and it was a rendezvous for many on a cold winter night. Many a poor fellow or tramp was known to sleep at the hot wall. On summer evenings small boys played handball against it. The Spa Road was not built until ; prior to that the open stream flowed until it went to ground in the vicinity of the site of the Clock House. THE LONG ROOM The Long Room occupied the site of the present Clock House. It was a two-storey building and extended to the centre of the road. Built by Colonel Anthony Jephson of Mallow Castle as a place of public entertainment for visitors to the Spa where balls and 8

11 public breakfasts were held, it was said to compare favourably with other famous Spas such as Bath, Tonbridge Wells, and Scarborough etc. To quote "Pues Occurrances" for 1739, - "Mr. Murt Murphy has taken the Long Room from Colonel Jephson of Mallow, and he will take care to provide the best teas coffee chocolate and other things necessary, and also some of ' the best Dublin newspapers twice a week." The Long Room was opened on May 16th., When the Spa went out of fashion, not being able to compete with Bath as lodgings became too dear etc., the Long Room was converted to Mallows first National School for boys. Canon Sheehan and William O'Brien were pupils at this school. It was later demolished when the Spa road was built a5 it was an obstruction stretching out onto the road. THE CLOCK HOUSE: was built by Sir Denham Jephson-Norreys in The clock was brought from the tower of old Mallow Castle. The bell of the clock was cast at Millerd Street, Cork, and came to Mallow via Buttevant. The Clock House was originally a licenced premises, its first tenant was Mr. Michael Nunan. THE LITTLE MAN In front of the Clock House once stood a water trough over which was a statue of "The Little Man". This was presented to Mallow by the Right Honourable Judge Johnson. Judge Johnson was M.P. for Mallow in 1880, and in gratitude to the townspeople He presented the town with this water-trough, and the Little Man sitting on top, with a gas light over that again. This was a distinguished landmark for many years, but was unable to survive the hazards of modern traffic as the following poem by the late Mr. John Hyde records, with an addition to it by the late Mr. Wm. J. Roche: THE MAN OF THE FOUNTAIN Oh, ye exiles now residing, across the deep blue sea. You all with me will mourn At the news I now send ye. Our hearts with grief are torn, For we ' ve lost a lifelong friend, Who always was a guiding light Around by the Spa bend. 9

12 At the Clock House there, he stood on guard, A friend to one and all. He never spoke, nor said a word Nor issued forth a call. But silently he did hold sway, As a king upon his throne. No statesman throughout all the world Like him was better known. The traffic laws he did uphold No speeding round took place. As every motorist took the bend He kept them to safe pace. No accidents did there occur, He filled them all with awe. He was by one and all respected As a guardian of the law. Our Little Man of the fountain now Is no longer holding sway. Our hearts are drear' we miss him so, By night and more by day. For, by an unfortunate trick of fate, A lorry laid him low. Sad to relate, I now must state, It was a cruel blow. But hark, the challenge has gone forth, From townsmen one and all. From the children whom he always loved, Whose hearts he held entralled. Ye Councillors of Mallow town, Your troubles will be mountin', Until you give us back again, Our Little Man of the Fountain. John Hyd, The Fountain & "Little Man" was accidentally destroyed in February,

13 Now many years have passed away, And he was not replaced. To the Council Yard they took him, And there he hid his face. The Mallow Field Club found him ' And took him from that store. They washed him, and they polished him, And he shone as ne ' er before. They retired him to the Museum ' His proper place to be. Where young and old could see him, And read his history. THE INFIRMARY William J. Roche, At the bottom of Gallows Hill, now Saint Joseph ' s Road, Infirmary lane runs up to the right towards the Castle. An Infirmary was established in Mallow in 1784 for the benefit of the poor people of the district. It was supported by public subscriptions from local gentry, and was the first hospital in the County outside of Cork city. At first it occupied temporary premises, and the permanent Infirmary was erected in 1787 on a site presented by Sir James Cotter. Although it was built for the benefit of the Mallow district, grants from the County Grand Jury transformed it into a County Infirmary, and people came here for treatment from as far away as Macroom in the west, and Fermoy, Tallow and even Dungarvan on the east. As it depended on subscriptions to keep going, it was often in financial trouble, in spite of the efforts of the Jephsons who were primarily responsible for setting it up and keeping it going. It finally had to close for lack of funds when a grant intended for Mallow was diverted to Cork Infirmaries. On its closure Sir Denham Jephson-Norreys made a dispensary available in O'Brien Street for treatment of poor patients. By 1867 the Infirmary was occupied by the local militia - The North Cork Rifles - from which it gets its name of Infirmary Barracks. When they were finished with it it was converted into tenament flats, and as housing conditions improved these were eventually condemned as unfit for human habitation. In 1958 the building was sold to Mallow Urban District Council for storage purposes. 11

14 Mallow Infirmary. Spa House, Mallow 12

15 (For further details of the Infirmary see "An Anglo-Irish Miscellany" by Maurice Denham Jephson; Alen Figgis, Dublin, 1964). On retracing one's steps down the short steep hill from the Infirmary you will not fail to notice the old paved cobbled roadway looking much as it did two hundred years ago. On the eastern side of Infirmary Lane there once stood a line of little thatched houses and behind them in a secret place was a cockpit where cock fights were held and money changed hands. At the end of the lane was the corner shop. The house still stands, but is no longer a shop. We shall proceed up Gallows Lane until we come to a walled enclosed area on the left of the road. Those walls once enclosed Mallow's Sessions House as the Court House was nlled. The building was later converted to a Fever Hospital when the present Court House was built in 1830 at Landscape in O'Brien's Street or New Street as it was then called. The old Fever Hospital played its part during the famine in the last century. The walled enclosure had to be raised to obstruct the view of the more morbid minded people from looking at the bodies of the dead piled up outside the hospital. Returning from Gallows Hill Lane and passing the junction with Infirmary Lane we enter Bridewell Lane which runs parallel with Bridge Street with a connecting lane at the rear of the Clock House known as Narrow Lane or Little Bridge Street. Bridewell Lane as its name suggests once contained a Bridewell, Horse Police Stables, Blacksmith's Forge, Whitesmith's Forge, a Nailer's Forge and a school. A new Bridewell was built on a commanding site in Bridge Street overlooking Mallow Bridge. This building is now the premises of Mr. J. Golden. It was not Mallow's last Bridewell; another was yet to be built at the rear of the present Court House. Outside the entrance to Mallow Castle Main Gates and on both sides was a stand of elm trees. These were taken down ; the walls on either side were also removed and replaced by chains supported by stone pillars. From the right of the Castle entrance as you face it and as far as the fifth house down the street taking in the old Ball Alley this site contained Mallow's first Military Barracks. The remaining houses as far as the Reevogue were thatched, those were destroyed in the Flood of November, It also swept away the big elm at the Bridge. During the Williamite War much blood was shed around Mallow Bridge, not the present Bridge but its predecessor; a battle was fought in the Long Meadow by the Bridge (Town Park) in Mac Donough, leader of the Irish was routed and a great number of his party was killed. The year prior to this (1689) saw the 13

16 burning of Mallow Castle by order of King James II rendering it uninhabitable.. Mallow has been described as a humpbacked town with an irregular roof line. The hump is of course Tuckey' Hill, nam. ed after James Hingston Tuckey who was born m Greenhill, Mourneabbey. Tuckey was the first white man to navigate the Congo River at the beginning of the last century. Strange to relate another man associated with Mallow, Arthur J. Mounteney Jephson of the Mallow Castle family, navigated the Congo River in The road through Mallow town prior to the age of tarmacadam was coated with rough loose stones. At certain points paved crossings were provided for pedestrian traffic. From Golden 's Corner across the road was such a crossing. At the Clock House similar crossings radiated to Miss Lane's shop and to the Spa Corner. There were paved crossings also at the foot of O'Brien Street to the opposite corner of the street and a crossing to what is now The Ulster Bank, again at the junction of Fair Street and Bank Place and at various other parts of the town. Many private dwellings had, and some still have, railings around their lower windows behind which evergreen shrubs grew ; this was to prevent mud from the roadway being splashed on the front windows. Another feature of Mallow was the number of bay-windows dating from the days when the Spa held it's fashionable season, people sat in their windows to watch the promenade to and from the Spa. Alas, many of the bay-windows are gone and replaced with more modern windows, a change which is not an improvement. The town was lit by Gas-Light well into the present century with lamp standards at street corners and other strategic places. On the western side of Bridge Street the first house was built in 1785; it was a licensed premises and known as The Hounds Ditch. No. 6, also a licensed premises, was the birth place of the two Purcell sons, both of whom became Archbishops. No. 6 The Australian Tiger No. 8 A bakery No. 15 was a licensed premises known as Rats in the Garret. No. 17 was the last house built in the street, prior to its building there was a low protection wall and steps down to the stream; water for washing was brought in buckets from here and it was al.so the practice to see women washing clothes in the stream. The water at that time was free from pollution, although unfit for drinking. Number 20 Bridge Street was the first shop to boast a plate-glass window in the town. Nos. 23, 24 and 25 were one premises known as Stack's Hotel with a livery-yard at the rear. The Hotel was badly damaged by the flood of November,

17 The premises of Messrs J.A. Barry Ltd., was one time an orchard, with a building where dances and concerts were held. It was here that Daniel O'Connell, M.P. made his famous Defiance Speech in June, O'Connell was entertained at a banquet as guest of the.mallow Repeal Committee. Later a tannery was established by the Haines family on this site. When the tannery closed the business was taken over by the Williams family who founded a grist mill in place of the tannery. The milling business was continued by three generations of the Williams family until it closed in At the entrance to the mill was a pawnshop and dye works both owned by Messrs. Williams and ceased to operate early in this century. Two doors up from the archway which leads to Messrs J.A. Barry's premises was Wallaces' Bakery, formerly Reilly's Bakery. Wallaces was the last bakery to operate in Mallow. At one time there were no less that eight bakeries in the town, and at a time when the population was much less. Originally the grounds of St. Ann's Church extended as far as the Main Street; later a frontage of houses was built leaving a passage way at the rear parallel with the Church and the main street, known as New Shambles Lane as distinct from Old Shambles Lane on Tuckey's Hill. A passage to the Church from the Street was left. This passage was later converted to a shop which was recently incorporated in the Monument House. Edward Sullivan lived in what is now the Monument House; his son, also Edward, became Solicitor - General in 1865 and Lord Chancellor in He was M.P. for Mallow in 1865 until He was created a Baronet in Sir Edwards youngest son, John, became a barrister and later entered the Jesuit Order. Reverend John Sullivan, S.J. died in The story of his life is well known and it is expected that he will one day be a canonized saint. Nowhere is this event looked forward to more than in the old town of Mallow where his forebears were well known for more than two centuries. The saintly Father John was son of Sir Edward, grandson of another Edward and great grandson of James Sullivan who served as butler to the Jephson Family at Mallow Castle. Across the road from The Monument House is a building now owned by The Winthrop Cleaners, one time a bakery and home of the local leader of the F nians. He was known locally as the "Boss"; a shop-keeper in good standing, his name was John Sullivan. (No relation of the Sullivan family previously mentioned) Further down Main St., we come to Nos. 72 and 73, at one time one premises, known as The Swan Inn. It was here that Thomas Osborne Davis was born on 14th October, His 15

18 Main Street, Mallow Bank Place, Mallow 16

19 Father was a Welshman and his Mother, prior to her marriage, was a Miss Atkins of Firville, Mallow. Davis graduated from Trinity College, Dublin and was called to the Bar in He contributed articles and poems to the "Dublin Morning Register" and he was a member of the Repeal Association. With Mr. Gavan Duffy and John Blake Dillon he founded "The Nation Newspaper", in which Davis published many of his poems. Baptised in the pre-reformation Church of St. Ann, the Record of his Baptism may be seen in the Register at St. James' Church, Mallow. The Historian, Daniel Owen Madden, was born at 75 Main St. It was also the birth place of Dr. Richard Quain, Physician to Queen Victoria. He was later knighted, but is best known as a famous anatomist. His memorial tablet in the Church of St. James states :- Born 1790 died This family gave it's name to Quaines' Lane. It's earlier name was Madden's Lane. At the entrance to the lane on one side was "Widow Callaghan's Inn", and on the other side "The Red Lion Inn" with the little house below and adjacent to it called "The Bulk". Next is The Central Cinema, originally a Carriage Building Establishment established in the last century by Mr. Edward Donovan, later converted to a Cinema and still held by the Donovan Family. Edward Donovan also built Spa Terrace and Glenview Terrace across from the Spa House. When the Sullivan family reitred from business in Mallow, their premises in Main Street were taken over by the Haines family. The Haines' were leather merchants and had two tanneries operating in the town. One at Main St., prior to Williams Mills and another at the western side of the west end adjacent to "Patrick's Place." There were two families of the name; they were cousins. One family resided at West End and the other at Sunnyside. Mr. Homan Haines of Sunnyside had a daughter who was King Edwards VII nurse. When His Majesty and Queen Alexandra travelled to Killarney, the Royal Train made a stop at Mallow. The county folk flocked in their morning suits to meet the royal couple: there was hardly standing room on Mallow Station. A tall old gentleman dressed in his best Sunday tweeds and bowler hat moved through a sea of gentry and social climbers who tried to keep him back. But Mr. Haines had the advantage of stature and was beckoned forward by the King. They chatted for some little time, His Majesty warmly shook Mr. Haines hand, boarded the Royal Train and waved to the crowd. Mr Haines strolled from the platform to his horse and trap: there must have been many blushing faces among the crowd. Two houses down from The Central Cinema was a licensed premises known as "The Seven Sisters" and next the entrance to 17

20 Norcott's Lane. This Lane contained workshop, stores and a row of thatched dwellings towards the end of the lane on the western side; the dwellings were demolished in this century and a store built on the site. On Main Street two doors down from the entrance to Norcott's Lane was a licensed premises known as "The Harp"; it is now Bohans' Dry Cleaners. This ends our ramble from the Town Hall in a circuit to Mallow Bridge, Bridge St., and Main St. to The Town Hall. From the Town Hall to the Railway station remains to be explored. A chapter for another time. Old Castle, Mallow 18

21 THE OLD CASTLE, MALLOW CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE A.O John Youngest son of King Henry 11, who later succeeded his brother Richard as King of England, by tradition constructed a castle on this site to command the ford of the River Blackwater. Later on the land around Mallow was granted to the leflemings and passed into the hands of de Rupe, or Roche family by marriage The manor and manorial rights of Mallow came into the possession of the Desmonds in exchange for property owned by the Roches in Connaught. They built a new castle Following the suppression of the Desmond revolt in 1581, and the death of the 15th Earl and His borther, Sir John of Desmond, Sir John Norreys (or Norris) Lord President of Munster, established his Headquarters at Mallow Queen Elizabeth granted the castle and manor of Mallow to Sir Thomas Norreys, Vice President of Munster, younger brother of Sir John. The Desmond castle was beyond repair, and he constructed the castle, now in ruins, on the same site as the other castles. A.D On the death of Sir John Norreys, Sir Thos. (his brother) was appointed Lord President in his stead Death of Sir Thomas Norreys 1607 Elizabeth, only surviving child of Sir Thos. Norreys and god-duaghter of Queen Elizabeth, married Major General Sir John Jephson, of Froyle, Hampshire, Privy Councillor in I re land, Knight of the Shire for Hampshire The Castle withstood the siege of 3rd Viscount Mountgarrett Captured and badly damaged by Lord Castlehaven Burnt by order of - King James 11 and rendered uninhabitable Question of restoring the building studied by experts and the idea finally abandoned The ruin taken under the care of the Commissioners of Public Works for maintenance as a national monument. 19

22 . SISTER M. ANGELA BOLSTER By: Rev. R. Forde Within the last month, the second volume of 'The History of the Diocese of Cork' was launched. We are very pleased to congratulate the author, Sister M. Angela Bolster, on her brilliant achievement. Evelyn Bolster, a native of Mallow where many of her close relatives live, was educated at the local Convent of Mercy and at St. Aloysius' School, St. Maries of the Isle, Cork. She became a member of that community, and taught History and Irish in their schools for many years. In 1950 she graduated from University College, Cork with a double major in History, and in 1959 she was awarded the M.A. degree. In 1963 she became the first Religious Sister to receive the highest award of the National University of Ireland, the degree of Ph.D. From 1968 to 1971 she was an Assistant Lecturer in Modern History at the University in Cork. In 1975, Archbishop Dermot Ryan of Dublin appointed her Secretary to the Dublin Diocesan Commission on Causes, with particular responsibility for the Cause of the Canonisation of Catherine McAuley, foundress of the Sisters of Mercy. She has travelled extensively throughout the world researching her work, and she is now a Collaborator with the Sacred Congregation for Causes in Rome, and is Vice-Postulator for the Cause of Catherine McAuley. She is a prolific writer, and her articles have appeared in many historical and archaeological volumes, and in Collectanea Hibernica and Archivium Hibernicum. Her published works include: 'The Sisters of Mercy in the Crimean War' (1965), 'The Lough Parish and its Historical Associations' (1970), 'A History of Mallow' (1971), 'A History of the Diocese of Cork, From the Earliest Times to the Reformation' (1972), 'Catherine McAuley, Her Educational Thought' (1981), 'A History of the Diocese of Cork, From the Reformation to the Penal Era.' (1982). The people of Mallow, and especially the Mallow Field Club, are proud of Sister Angela. We wish her every blessing in the future, and hope that many more volumes will come from her pen. 20

23 NEWBERRY Newberry Parish was part of the ancient estates of the O' allaghan clan, whose territory came as far as the Clydagh Bndge. After 1649 they lost most of their lands to the Newmans and other Cromwellian settlers. Kilshannig (Church of Senach), was one of the earliest churches in the country, erected by St. Senach on the site of the present Church of Ireland. The old name, Cella Na-Nagac, was connected with Wenach Mac Corrill. Cill Seannaig is mentioned in the Book of Leinster, where it is stated that his ancestors had settled in Munster in the first century B.C. St. Sennach had his church in Kilshannig in the sixth century A.D. In the field of Mr. Footts, east of Kilshannig House near the road, is a huge boulder, said to mark the grave of St. Senach. Mention is made of Kilshannig in the Pipe Roll of Cloyne compiled in the 14th. century, where in the year 1262 A.D. a special grant of five carucates of land was granted by the Bishop Alan of Cloyne to Donius John De Cogan with the right of patronage of various churches, (a carucate menas 120 Irish acres of usable land). It is said that it was this powerful family who introduced the Knights Templars, the famous Military order of Monks, to Mournabbey, and together with an English Nobleman, Alexander De Sancti Hefeann, endowed it in the year 1200 with large tracts of land. The Order was suppressed in 1307, when it was succeeded by the Knights Hospitallers, who continued there until the Reformation in A number of years ago a large flagstone was unearthed here which was the lid of a stone coffin in which were interred the remains of an Abbot or Prior of the Templars. Canon Swansy, the Church of Ireland Rector of Kilshannig, a keen historian and archaeologist, unearthed it half way along the path from the main gate to the church door while carrying out repairs to the church and cemetary. It bears no date, but depicts a large cross going the full length of the stone, the figure of an Angel in full flight, and the Fleur-de-lis of the French Monarchy. The Abbot would have been interred in the full Martial Robes of the Crusaders, large gold corss, gold spurs and other gold ornaments. To preserve the stone, Canon Swansy had it inserted in the boundary wall near the cemetary gate where it can be seen. There are other things of historical interest associated with 21

24 /Ju sa ah. Cu.f._fZClM. 22

25 Newberry. It contains the large vault tomb of the Mullanes including Daniel O'Connell's maternal ancestors the Mullane from Brittas and Whitechurch, -their chief buri l place being Newberry. The Mullane tomb is situated against the south wall of the church near the centre. The inscription is in raised letters 2" long, chiselled along the top edge of the tomb in contracted latin. Some years ago a party of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society failed to decipher it and asked us to investigate it. One evening we cleared the inscription carefully with brushes and Father Wilson read it for us, (in translation) "Thaddeus Mullan and John Mullan with their wives got this made." (No date given). Fr. Wilson said it was a 15th. Century inscription. In the centre of the top slab is a much more modern inscription in English. It is dated 1724, to the memory of a young woman of the Mullane's. The English inscription on the tomb is : "Her Epitaph Beneath this stone, both had as much virtue as could live, Did vigor give, to as i'1uch beauty as could live.'' A celebrated Fr. Kelleher is interred in a Mullane grave. There are numerous headstones to them around the tomb. Fr. Kelleher was born in Mallow, his mother's name being O'Connell, and his God-father's name Jeremiah Mullane. At the south-east corner of the cemetary is the grave of John Winn, the rider of the first Grand National winner, Mathew, in The owner of the horse was John Courtney of Ballymagooly, Mallow, who also kept a pack of fox-hounds. THE CROKE FAMILY Near the centre of the western wall of the cemetary is the headstone of the Croke family. The parents of the famous Archbishop of Cashel are buried here. Nearby at the N. W. corner of the graveyard is a large block of a headstone, smooth on one side, but with no inscription. It is believed that this stone was meant for the grave of Sarah Curran of Newmarket, the friend of Robert Emmett. It was brought from Cork by cart and was left in error at Newberry at night-time. All the historians of the United Irishmen, including Dr. Madden, mention this stone. The famous Thomas Russell, 1798 leader, was baptised in Kilshannigh Church. The Holy Water bo)vl used for the occasion is still preserved in Mr. Footts at Kilshannig House. The baptismal record of 1767 reads: "Thomas born of Lieut. John Russel and his wife of Bettes bow Dec. 20th (Private Baptism)." 23

26 THE CHURCH OF IRELAND The first mention of the Church of Ireland Kilshannig was in 1581 the rector was Cors. Newman. The Parish Register starts in 1731'. In 1651 the old church was in ruins. It must have been rebuilt quickly, for in 1641 the Irish again ruined it. It was repaired n 1682 and in A new church was erected in 1719 accommodating 340 persons. It was partly rebuilt again in 1742, when the spire was erected 19 feet high. The spire was taken down in It was the Newmans who called the locality Newberry after the battle of Newberry in England in 1644, when some of them were killed fighting for Charles I. They bequeathed money on various occasions for the upkeep of the church. A Church of Ireland minister named Kingston translated the Book of Common Prayer into Irish in There was also a minister, named Baker, from Dromore, Mallow, who delivered a sermon in the Irish language in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. A Walter Baker, of Dromore, described as a strong shopkeeper, carried on business in Mallow town. He organised the United Irishmen for rebellion in Mallow in When all was ready, Fr. Barry P.P. got involved, and Walter Baker was executed. He is interred in the Baker tomb in Mourneabbey. There was a Church of Ireland minister here in 1848 named Henry Gubbins, whose mother was a sister of Henry and John Sheares, who were hanged in Dublin in Rev. Mr. Gubbins's wife was a Miss Atkins of Firville, Mallow, a sister of Thomas Davis's mother Mary Atkins. In 1963 a small discovery was made in the grounds of Kilshannig House which Mr. Harry Foott brought to the attention of Mallow Field Club. A lime tree was felled by a storm and on its bark about five feet from the base was the following inscription in Roman Capital letters three inches long; IA BUTT, and close by the letters K S G. It brought to our attention for the first time Mallow's connection with one of the most famous personages in Irish Parliamentary history. This tree was one of others that formes one side around a summer seat in the tennis court, a short distance from the hall door of Kilshannig House. At the time of the Fenian rising of 1867, a number of prisoners who had taken an active part in it in the south of Ireland were tried in Cork courthouse. Mr. Isaac Butt the renowned Senior Counsellor conducted the defence of the prisoners, and lodged for the duration of the trials at Kilshannig House, residence of Canon Swansy. Mr. Butt was married to a sister of Canon Swansy. Mr. Butt had a special liking for the 24

27 summer seat and used it in preparing his briefs. When the trials were concluded and as he was departing for Dublin, he cut his initials on the tree and a member of the Swansy family carved the other initials. The block of wood with these initials has been preserved irt Kilshannig House since. Mr. Butt was one of the grear constitutional lawyers of his time. An important link between the O'Connell period and that of Parnell, he was the founder of Home Rule and was leader of the Irish Parliamentary party in the British House of Commons at that time. He resigned the leadership in favour of the more active policy of Parnell. Close to this summer seat a century ago two strange sculptured stone figures were unearthed. One of them has a hare or rabbit on its left arm. A minister named Baker and Canon Swansy said they were pre-christian. We brought a Scottish Archaeologist, Miss Kathleen Dicksie M.A. of Edingurgh University to see them and she also said they were pre-christian and could have been brought there from Greece. There is an unusual, very narrow stone bridge here crossing the Glaisequak stream. It is known as a pack-horse bridge. There was no road here in The old name of the place was Kilbolatone. In 1692 this was spelt Kilbealaton, in 1840 Kilvaleton, and today it is Kilvealton. Newberry Mill is a sub-denomination of the townland of Newberry called "Kilveledy", about 32 chains N.E. from Newberry church. It was a small mill principally employed in grinding corn for farmers. It is called a "Manor Mill" and belonged to Walter Bann. In 1815 a Colonel Newman resided in Kilshannig. He was killed in 1816, and two people were executed for the crime. Canon Swansy lived here as a tenant of the Newmans from 1849; in 1898 Mrs. Martha E. Grubb from Co. Tipperary; in 1904 Edmond Tanner; and in 1908 Col. Kilpatrick. 25

28 THE STORY OF CANON SHEEHAN AND WILLIAM O'BRIEN told by Sean O'Rahilly Mahony Going through some treasured correspondence this Summer I came across a letter from a ninety-two year old lady, of 45 Rue de la Chapelle, Neully St Front, Aisne, France. It sent memories trailing back to the story of her famous husband and of their great friendship for another Mallow man : a friendship that lasted a life-time. The letter was from Mrs. Sophie O'Brien, widow of the great William O'Brien, born on the 2nd. October, 1852, and who was a most intimate friend of Canon Sheehan, born on Patrick's Day in the same year and who died on Rosary Sunday, October Sth., In the course of her letter Mrs.O'Brien says : "My husband's anniversary is on October 2nd. for he was born in He would be one hundred years old this October. I do not wish him back on earth. I long to meet him again in a happier world when Our Dear Lord calls me; but while on earth I pray for you and for all who remember him and what he did for Ireland... " The letter goes on to speak beautifully of the "kind friends who look after me, and at my age (92) one cannot expect to be as young as one was long ago... that dear long ago so full of sunshine and of joy... " It is with that same lol'lg ago that we wish to speak about in this feature : that period made famous in Irish History by the patriotism of William O'Brien and no less renowned by the writings of his great friend, Canon Sheehan. Canon Sheehan was born on Patrick's Day, 1852 in O'Brien Street, Mallow, in the house which is now the residence of Mrs. Maureen Dinan. Eight months later, William O'Brien was born on October 2nd. in Bank Place now the offices of Dermot 0 'Meara, Solicitor. But the resemblance does not end there. O'Brien and Sheehan grew together and went to the same school for a part of their young days; literary fame came to both of them; even when circumstances changed their paths in life that friendship still continued right through to the end, the death of Canon Sheehan when both men were sixty one years. O'Brien lived on irr retirement for another fifteen years. It is well to record here that the Mallow people have remembered both these great sons of her own. There are streets called after Sheehans most famous novels, Glenanaar, Lisheen and Kilmorna; while his friend has been remembered in the names of O'Brien Street and O'Brien Buildings. 26

29 Wm. O'Brien. William & Sophia O'Brien, Bellevue. 27

30 O'Brien's record of national service is too well-known to be detailed here. For over sixty years he was one of the leading political figures of the country. From his brother, James, who took part in the abortive Fenian Rising of '67 and from another Fenian Charles G. Dorna, O'Brien received his first inspirations to active politics. Even as a young boy of sixteen years he had written a letter to the London Daily News entitled "An Irish Rebel's View of the Idsh Situation." Both in conception and in eloquence this letter was an expression of statesmanship. But even more important was it an introduction to O'Briens later policy of "Friends if you will let us; rebels if you will drive us." The convictions he expressed at his age remained with him right through life. From the ambitious days when he first wrote for "Young Ireland" right through the Land War, the Parnell debacle, and the bitter dis-illusion and apathy that enchained the people's hearts during the next decade - all through this period O'Brien proved himself the valiant soldier of Ireland. He was thrown into prison no less than nine times; but each time he returned to the fight with greater determination. The loss of health and the greater loss of money and comfort never deterred him. Like his League, O'Brien's life was "All for Ireland." Perhaps not so well known and appreciated was Canon Sheehan's very real patriotism. This virtue of his cannot be denied. All his books are written with the heart and eloquence of a true Gael. Take, for instance, the conclusion of Glenanaar (which at the time of writing he considered his best). "Come back! Come Back! Back to the land of your fathers. Let Us hear once more the sound of the soft Gaelic in our halls; the laughter of your children beneath our roofs; the skirl of the bagpipes and the tinkle of the harp in our courts, the shout of our young men in the meadows by the river, the old heart-breaking songs from the fields the seanchus here where our broken windows stare upon weed-covered lawns. Come back! Come back! The days are dark and short since ye went away; there is no sunshine on Ireland, and the nights are long and dismal. And there in the moonlit Abbey by the river, lie the bones of your kindred! Their unquiet spirits haunt every mansion and cottage and the wail of the Banshee is over the fields and up along the hills! They shall Never rest in peace 'till your shadows sweep across their tombs and your prayers, like the night winds, stir the ivy on the crumbling walls!" What heart, loving Ireland, could write more eloquently? When William O'Brien's own paper The Cork Free Press appeared, Canon Sheehan wrote a long feature in it in the course of which the purity of his own patriotism shines "The great Irishmen of the past, in whom, as they stood in the dock, Isaac Butt, a Protestant, 28

31 and in one sense an alien, discerned the most perfect dis-interestedness, the keenest sense of honour, the spirit of self-immolation, and the most absolute love of truth; these patriots of the past, whose motives were sublime, even if their methods were impracticable, are now scorned as 'hill-siders' and 'tinpikers' and that generous policy that haunted the imagination of Wolfe Tone a hundred years ago; that was accepted 80 years &go by O'Connell as an indispensable factor in his efforts to repeal the Union; which, sixty years ago Thomas Davis preached with his own marvellous eloquence and sincerity; and which thrity years ago, Parnell accepted in his famous truism, 'Ireland needs the services of every one of her children, 'is now derided as a fancy only fit for the disinterested imaginations of Bedlamites. Every principle of Nationality is now subverted; all the teachings of the nineteenth century, and of its golden periods '98, '48 and '67 are voluntarily discarded; political expendiency has taken the place of political morality; and men shrug their shoulders to-day at events and words and works and toils, that at one time evoked the enthusiasm of the entire nation. No wonder that the young men of our generation look on in blank amazement; no wonder they ask for some guidance - some voice that will tell them whither we are tending; some new and powerful influence that will keep the flame of patriotism from dying down into dead ashes in their hearts. It is well known to the writer of these lines that such is the case. Dazed and bewildered in the tempestuous politics of to-day, looking in vain to blind leaders of the blind, they have to turn away in a kind of despair, and ask themselves, 'Where is the truth, if truth exists at all?' And who is going to sift the true from the evident falsehoods that are current everywhere? The echoes of great words and greater deeds are in their ears; the vision of triumphant Nationality is before their eyes. But the din and confusion of contemporary politics dull the one and blind the other, and leave them helpless and bewildered and sceptical. There never was a generation of Irishmen so sorely tried. It is the worst and darkest period of the nation's occultation." The view of Sheehan on the political scene in the first decade of the century reflects the gloom and near despair that lasted long after the debacle of Parnell. All through his life, Unity obsessed Canon Sheehan, not merely political, but also the urgency of Catholics and Protestants. He hated hypocrisy and half-measures: the dreamer in him could see only the reality. "Are we in earnest about our country at all, or are we seeking to perpetuate our wretchedness and backwardness by refusing the honest aid of Irishmen? Why should we throw into the arms of England those children of Ireland who would be our most faithful allies, if we did not seek to disinherit them? A weaker brother disinherited by a 29

32 stronger will naturally be his enemy, not his ally. Do we suppose for a moment that any English electorate, Whig or Tory, Radical, Socialist, or Conservative, will grant autonomy to Ireland, until it is assured that the rights of the minority shall be safeguarded and respected? Do we think that protestations of toleration on our part will be accepted, if the minority keep aloof, and maintain a suspicious silence? Do we hope that the minority will ever again speak, until it is generously invited into the nation's councils? And see what we are losing. It is from the Protestant minority that every great Irish leader for 150 years, except O'Connell, has sprung.it is that minority which has given us our greatest orators, our greatest statesmen, our leading merchants, our greatest archaeologists, our first linguists, many of our greatest poets. Influence of Irish Genius To-Day "Think what Ireland would be to-day, if all that intellectual energy had been combined and exercised within the limits of Ireland. Think what Ireland would be to-day, if that stream of genius that has come forth from her schools and universities for the last hundred years had been diverted towards the needs and wants of Ireland, instead of being utilised by other and even hostile nations. But is the stream dried up, and the fountain sealed! No. Not by any means. There never was such intellectual power in Ireland as there is at this moment. It is everywhere. For Ireland's sake let us give it a fair chance! It is not true that our Protestant brethern are hopelessly alienated from Ireland. It is not true that they are, any longer, an English garrison. No power on earth can persuade us that a class which has given us such prodigies of genius as the first half of the nineteenth century did - genius, too, always devoted to the cause of Ireland has been smitten with sudden barranness.'' His friendship with Protestants convinced him of the necessity of their help. When The Cork Free Press appeared, O'Brien was the proprietor, but it was Sheehan who wrote the editorial. "For our country's sake, let us not despise or alienate such generous help as is now offered. It is absurd to suppose that a nation which excluded from all political fellowship one-third of its population, representing half its wealth and intelligence, can make any progress towards independence or prosperity. Thfrty years' failure of such policy ought to have convinced the nation by this time that Home Rule 1s absolutely unattainable without the consent of our Protestant fellow-countrymen; and it needs no great forethought to understand how unworkable a Parliament would be withouth their co-operation." 30

33 31 Canon Sheehan

34 For Canon Sheehan CONCILIATION was a priority. Later in the same editorial he wrote : "Ireland alas! has had the talent of estranging and expelling her own children, and turning them, like disinherited and dishonoured heirs, into her deadliest enemies. It is time that all this should cease, if we still retain the ambition of creating a nation; and if we prefer our national independence to the rancour and bitterness of sectarian strife, and the material advancement of our country to the dismal futility of nursing those passions and prejudices that have hitherto thrown back one generation after another of Irishmen into political methods that were reactionary; and social schisms and cleavages that make life one long sorrow to every patriotic and disinterested man." The admiration Canon Sheehan had for William O'Brien and his politics was returned in equal measure. On the day of Canon Sheehan's death O'Brien wrote that "the people of Ireland were indebted to the Canon for having inaugurated the peaceful settlement that brought the Wyndham Land to success." William O'Brien had been Canon Sheehan's friend from boyhood, following him through his studies and his priestly life, watching Canon Sheehan the priest became Canon Sheehan the writer. Few people knew him better. How well-equipped William O'Brien was to watch his progress. In politics, in fervent spirituality, they were very similar. The close relationship formed in boyhood had grown with the years. The difference in their careers was only accidental. What united them was their goal: All for God, All for Ireland. It was beautiful, noble. It had the glory and the chivalry of the nobility long lost and almost forgotten. Both were dreamers. Both were convinced that their dreams were fully attainable if clergy and people united together. Of the two, O'Brien was lucky in that he had as distraction the rough and tumble of political life, the tensions and the worries inseperable from his work in the world's biggest city. Here the gilt could melt from the dream amid the teeming masses. Sheehan had only the hills of Ballyhoura, the rainbow overhead, the seclusion of his garden, the security of knowing that his home was a three storey house at tr'! end of the Main Street of his village, and th-at nobody could take these away from him. He might have had a nice cushy life if he had kept to his work as P.P., but his convictions forced him to be up and about his Father's business, to bring the force of religion into life. To an equal measure Patrick Sheehan loved and. admired William O'Brien, In the English Fortnightly Review in December, 1910, Sheehan wrote "Mr. O'Brien is one of those men who must excite violent antipathies as well as unbounded enthusiasms. It is said he is an idealist, a fanatic, a kind of cloud-gatherer who 32

35 dreams a great deal but who has not the firm grip of the earth on which he stands. Strange to say, we have formed the very opposite epinion. It is quite true that in the eyes of this much materialised and commercialised generation there is a touch of Don Quixote in the man who threw up 10 to 12 hundred a year in a great journalistic appointment to take up the editorship of United Ireland at a nominal salary of 400, of which we received one half, and there is also a touch of Quixotism in the man who flung 1000 pounds among the poor of Mallow when probably he had not 1000 shillings left..... "And there is something of old-world romance, about the man who would have thrown himself like Winkelried, on the naked bayonets of the soldiers at the Green Park, Youghal, to assert the right of free speech and in the outlaw, who, like Dwyer of the Glens, and many another hero of Irish romance, had his home on the mountainside when the Curates of Cloyne remained up all night, their supper tables ready, waiting for the tap at the window that would tell them that the fugitive from English persecution was to be their honoured guest... But with all that, Mr. O'Brien has been a practical politician, and all his forecasts were verified, and every project of his brought to completion, except when he was thwarted by his own countrymen... We have not met an Irish priest who has been fifteen or twenty years abroad, in America, in Australia or on the Continent, who did not break at once into the prologue : 'How narrow, how insular, how reactionary you are all here; it must be the close boundaries and the stooping skies that make you all so limited in your ideas. Abroad, we have differences in religion, etc., but we are all citizens of the commonwealth under which we live, and we would no more think of excluding a man from the privileges of citizenship on account of his religion than we wuuld think of quarrelling with the colour of his necktie.'' The David and Jonathan relationship of the two Mallow men lasted, through their different careers and was broken only by Sheehan's death from stomach cancer on October 2nd., It was a relationship beautified by the idealism of their characters, reflected in their writings, understood perhaps best of all from the stories of their contemporaries. The tremendous understanding that united these friends from childhood worked best when it involved an examination of each other's literary output. There would be no need to search for meanings and messages : their minds and hearts were so closely knit that appreciation became easy and natural. 33

36 On April 30, '98 after finishing O'Brien's novel, Wreckers" Sheehan wrote :- "The Dear William, "I think you have produced a memorable book. It is your greatest step towards realising the vocation that many have foreshadowed for you - that of being the Walter Scott of Ireland. What will strike everyone most is its peculiarily Irish flavour. You did a wise and artistic thing in giving the Irish expressions as they occured, and inserting the Irish Idioms in the dialogue. But it must have cost you immense study in history and in language. It is a grand Irish novel, and will be taken to the hearts of the people. But it is all so pitiful, so sad, the eternal story of Irish trustfullness and English perfidy.'' My New Curate, the most popular on publication of all Sheehan's novels drew this letter form O'Brien in Sept :!mber, 1898: "I cannot resist letting you know how far the fame of My New Curate has extended... The rewards of Irish authorship are not so numerous that one should not be deprived of the pleasure of knowing how far the pleasure your charming story had made itself felt. It is something very different indeed from vanity, to have the consoling knowledge, that you have been the means of giving so much delight to so many of your countrymen, and have been, so to say, in such intimate communion with the spirit of our race... I hope that the pen which gave us Daddy Dan will not rest before making another rich addition to our not too splendid national literary possessions... I am sure that you will be glad to know that the sea trip so far has served me vastly and that I have hope of returning in completely restored health." William O'Brien writing from the Hydro, Blarney, in October, where he was staying on holidays wrote about 'Lisheen': "Dear Canon Patrick, "I delayed in writing to you about Lisheen until I had read it through. I have now done so from beginning to end with the intense phychological interest which no work or fiction has raised in me for many a day... The book will do a vast deal to give intelligant strangers a better opinion of us that we can sometimes get to have of ourselves... " 34

37 ; ' 'ir '... " "II' l '> Mrs. William O'Brien. 35

38 Of all Canon Sheehan's non-fiction, The Intellectuals is the compendium of his highest thoughts and aspirations for an Ireland free both intellectually and politically. Parerga, and Under the Cedars and Stars by comparison are easier reading; their entertainment is always at hand. When one comes to The Intellectuals one has to prepare for the heady climb to the heights; it can be done if the above volumes have been read. Canon Sheehan had planned for the social and political orga,i1isation of Ireland, and the subtitle of The Intellectuals was "an Experiment in Irish Club-life." Its characters included a Catholic and a Protestant, an Irishman, and a Scotsman, reflecting different convictions as the man of affairs, the thinker, the scientist and the professional man. It was a most ambitious and comprehensive undertaking -. and much more besides. Within its pages it could be regarded as Canon Sheehan's "Apologia." Through it he offered a plan to solve the problem of self-government, to educate the people at home and abroad about the existing evils of the day and, finally, in order to make his ideas both critical and constructive, he suggested methods and lines of action. Anticipating the objections that might be advanced to his grandiose scheme, he offered a number of clear solutions. So it was little wonder that The Intellectuals appealed to William O'Brien, whose own policies and hopes for the future were enshrined in the very title and policies of his party "All for Ireland." The volume was published in the Spring of 1911 and William sent a letter from Westrninister on September to his friend in Doneraile in the course of which he wrote : "Nearly everything you depict as to the friendly mingling of races and creeds would be possible if you could only realise your first postulate i.e. that a tolerant and sympathetic minded Irish priest should be the inspiring force of the reunion. Alas and alas... that postulate is the hardest one to supply. The Bishops, and priests in general, in place of playing that glorious part are (unconsciously of course,) the principal force in making supreme the enemies of peace and National Regeneration... However, as long as there is one Fr. Dillon, and there are a good many, we must never despair of HIS wisdom and noble courage, sooner or later, taking hold of his brethren... It is in your power to give to our young people in large draughts, an inspiration as wonder-working as your ministrations at a death bed, and far more so than a doctor's drugs..." 36

39 The Queen's Fillet appeared in It was a novel dealing with the French Revolution, and was a distinct and wise breakaway from Sheehan's previous literary locale. Sheehan anxiously awaited the opinion of the man he know was an expert in history. It would be a relief at least from the disappointing critiques he had already read by some Catholic readers. Interestingly, the non-catholic press had given the book a better welcome. So it was a delight to read what his old friend thought: "It is amazing how prolific your mind is in half dozen works of study, any one of which would be enough for the normal literary life... I am sure that in the Elyssian fields the Queen and her brilliant court will feel a pang of pride that they should still be celebrated so charmingly by a pen like yours." Here was praise worth waiting for by the lonely writer in the very quiet country village where he had written to Father Russell a year previously in reference to his aims in writing "I can only say that my intentions were always upright and sincere in trying to lift the minds of men to higher levels of thought, through the medium of literature." Sheehan's reflections on such var;ous topics as philosophy, science, history, art and allied subjects were gathered together in two volumes Under the Cedars and the Stars and Parerga. They complement each other and afford a quick and fruitful insight into the many splendours of a mind that could turn out fiction and nonfiction with consummate artistry. All that Sheehan wrote bore the touch of professionalism; never was there a hint of haste or shodiness in thought or expression. When Parerga appeared in the Spring of 1908, O'Brien wrote on May 12th to Sheehan lines that reveal an unusual glimpse into the dark corner of which history does not speak, leaving us to guess and wonder what degree of heartbreak shadowed the married life of Sophie Raffallovitch and her "Aiglon", William. "I have spent four or five charming evenings by the fireside, enjoying the rich, if often sad, philsophy of your new work. There is so much in it, including the experiences, which reflects in a more erudite way my own view of life. Where any ground for sadness should come in a life like yours, which has all the charms of the cloister, of the library and of a scholar's little rural world in whose happiness you count for so much, would be utterly puzzling to me, and I dare to say the fact that life (and especially public life) suggest so many tragic reflections. to myself, who has a private grief to sadden me, is an equal puzzle to you. It is a common fate in a world "where but to think is to be full of sorrow and leaden-hued despair." Happily, the brail which can be such an instrument of torture, can soften its own casualties (especially within the spiritual region in which your 37

40 thoughts must so continually lie.) Under the very best and happiest condition, material life is wholly incapable of satisfying us." Canon Sheehan never had real robust health. In his Maynooth days he spent an entire term at home in Mallow resting from the intense studies. It is known from his contemporaries that, as a priest, he looked strohg but not vigorous; the figure at first thin and spare, grew slightly round in middle age, the skin was inclined towards roughness. But the educated accent, influenced no doubt by his time in England gave him a mystique of aloofness - something that would have hurt the heart of Daddy Dan. Irish people can be cruel in their assessment; they proved this potential with Canon Sheehan. The Parish Priest of Doneraile got his first real warning of his health in Dublin on September 8th Eight months later he was in Cork, this time to spend five months in the South Infirmary. The fateful decision given in Dublin by Sir Charles Ball, was being confirmed. Now it became his wish that he would ''not be a confined life and a burden to others.'' 1-iis wish was granted He came back in the Autumn of 1912 to spend tha last year of his life by the "gentle Mulla" and the blue hills of Ballyhoura, and the country people he loved. William O'Brien and Sophie called not very often, probably out of a desire not to disturb the ailing man, or in sorrow at the prospect of the loss of a life-long friend. It was Rosary Sunday October 2nd., 1913, a little after six o'clock in the evening when Canon Sheehan died with his brother, Denis beside him. He had been born sixty one years before in the same year as his friend William O'Brien who sat down that same evening to pay tribute to "one of the truest men of genius who have illustrated the Irish name, and one of the truest saints who have ever sanctified the Irish soil." Canon Sheehan was buried in a spot chosen by himself right in front of Doneraile Parish Church; William O'Brien who died in London on February, 1928 rests in the family grave behind St. Mary's in Mallow; his wife, who died in January 1962 a few days before her hundreth birthday is very far away in Neuilly St. Frent, Aisne, France. These three might have found a better resting place, side by side. in Mallow. 38

41 THE ANTIQUITIES OJT KILSHANNIG BY JOHN KAVANAGH 1. LIOSANNA Commonly known as fairy forts, those ancient dwelling sites are quite numerous in our parish. They vary in size but are basically of a circular pattern. Experts conclude that the majority of the old liosanna had no military significance and that they were specially built to protect families and farmsteads and other possessions. Although a number of those sites have disappeared. due to land-reclamation and inprovements, the people had a great respect for those places and rarely interfered with their structure or location. Ordnance survey maps show that there were 55 ancient fort sites in Kilshannig. They generally consisted of one or two protective rings or trenches; but in the townland of Gneeves there appears to be a unique three-ringed fort, the outer ring of which is all but denuded by the passing of time. Indications are that those ancient sides were constructed by the Celts who arrived in Ireland about the 3rd century B.C. It would appear that the stone-age people easily succumbed to the Celtic aggression. Having settled in strongly built forts or "cahers" along the coast, they eventually ventured inland and occupied the islands and shores of the great rivers and lakes. They built numerous hill-forts and thus had commanding positions overlooking the great valleys and glens. For many centuries, the ancient civilization and legends of our country had been greatly influenced by their traditions, beliefs and customs. Some of the old forts in Kilshannig were taken over and fortified by marauding bands of Danish invaders in the 9th and IOth centuries. IN BRITTAS There were five forts in this townland. Indeed the name originated from a fortified "observation lios" erected in an elevated position above the valley. It had two rings and usually this type of fort had a special "look-out" for archers. Such constructions were knows as "bretasche" or Brittas forts, likely Norman strongholds. CABERA VEELANE [CAHER-a-VEELANE] i.e cathair an Mhaolain Maolan (Mweelaun), diminutive of "MAOL": bald, bare or blunt - usually descriptive of a "round-hill." Cathair (caher) is the old Gaelic for round-shaped, stone-built fort or "Lias" and is very 39

42 common in Irish place-names. It also means a mansion, chief or chief city. The only "caber" or "cathair" in this area, it probably had some significance as a "cathair-lios". Tradition has it that a Quaker named Meelan (?) had a hunting lodge near this lios. t is unlikely that the name of the townland - Chaer a veelane - denved from this mountain "lodge." LISSALEA [LISS-a-LEA] i.e. Lios an Liaigh or Lios na Liaigh. The old Gaelic "Liaigh" mean "healer" or physician. That would convey that it was known as "the healer's Lias" or fort. It is in the townland of Laharn. LISSANISKA [LISS-an-ISKA] i.e. Lias an Uisce, meaning the fort of the water, or the "watery fort", or the "damp fort," located in Laham. Another fort bearing the same name was situated near Glantane. RATHCOMANE [RATH-COMANE] i.e. Rath-comain. "Coman" is a Gaelic plant-name depicting "coltsfoot." The leaves of this plant were once much used in herbal cures or medicine. LISSALEEN [LISS-a-LEEN] i.e. Lias an Lin. "Lin" is the genitive case of the Gaelic noun "Lion" or flax. It is unlikely, however, that it would mean "the fort of flax." The name probably originated from "Lion na mban Si" or fairy flax or perhaps from "Lion Raibe" - "a blueish-green stringy herb with a yellow flower, once used for pig food."(1) The fort was located near Laham Cross Roads. LISSANARGID [LISS-AN-ARGID] i.e. Lias an Airgid. "Airgid" of course is the Gaelic for money or silver - airgid being the genitive case of the noun. This indicates that the fort was in some way associated with silver or the herb "airgead-luachra" (meadow-sweet). It is in the townland of Glantane near Skarragh Hill. LISSNAGILKY [LISS-na-GILKY] i.e. Lios na Giolcaighi. "Giolcaighi" (gilky) is the genitive of the noun "giolcach" or common reed. Hence the "reed-lios" or "reedy-fort", the name pertaining to its "reedy" location in the townland of Dromore South near Clashmorgan Bridge. LISHEENBEG [LISH-in-beg] i.e. Liosin Beag or Little fort - in the townland of Carrigcleena More. (1) Irish-English Dictionary - Dineen P. 40

43 LISHEENTOO TAGH [LISHEEN-TOORTAGH] i.e. Liosin Tuart gh or L1osn Tuarach. "Tuarach" derives from "tuar" eạnmg paddock or pasture. It is likely to be descriptive of a mght-yard" or shelter for cattle. LIS f;enacar GE [LISH-EEN-A-CARRIGE] i.e. Lios-in-na Carr age or the Little fort of the Rock also in the townland of Carngcleena More. Golding's Fort and Sweeny's Fort were two more ring-forts in this townland. KILCULLEN FORT [KIL-CULLEN] i.e. Cill Cuillin. Fort - near Sean Oge's Cross Roads in Lackendarragh. Surrounded by tall white thorn bushes that crown its perimeter, this lios is a place of great antiquity. Within its confines is an ancient ''holed-stone'', an underground passage, the location of a Cill and a burial ground. Tradition has it that it was a Mass-station during the penal times and that the priest used to tie the horse's reins to the "holed-stone." The word "cullen" or "cuilinn" may have its roots in the old Gaelic name (noun) "cillineach" depicting a place set aside for the burial of unbaptised children. Usually a "cillineach" was located near a lios. RING-FORT NEAR PENDY'S CROSS: Situated in O'Connor's field, about 250m. north-east of the cross-roads, this impressive dpuble-ringed fort measured 85m. in diameter. It is in an elevated location in direct line south of the old Danish fort near the Gazebo, and also in a direct south-easterly line from Brittas forts. In olden times this strategic position was of paramount importance to its inhabitants, as the other forts could be observed or signalled. The traditional belief is that the surrounding area was the site of an ancient village or settlement. 2. SOUTERRAINS Many of the ring-forts had underground passages or tunnels and archeaologists refer to these as sou terrains. It is not uncommon to find these underground structures outside the fort wall, but they are generally sited within the enclosure. There are many such structures in the parish of Kilshannig, and the ring-forts in the townlands of Gneeves, Lackendarragh and Laham merit special mention. They were sometimes referred to as "caves" and they were also located near the old "liosanna" in Carrigcleena, Garrane and Kilcolman, but some of these have been filled in or levelled. Expert knowledge and excavations are needed to study these 41

44 ., «,. 42

45 underground chambers. The studies of archaeologists have re\'.ealed that they were used for a variety of purposes by their pre-historic inhabitants. Some were specially built as places of refu e, others for d:efensive purposes, more for storage, and, possibly the vast majority as dwelling places. The Irish always regarded both the "Hosanna" and their ub terranean chambers with awe and apprehension. They were the supposed haunts of faries and other mysterious beings. "Lios an Phuca", or the fairy-fort, was often mentioned in frie-side stories and make-believe tales of the "little people." 3. MONUMENTS AND CIRCLES The large number of "standing stones" in the parisn reflects the customs and beliefs of a long forgotten race of people. Standing-stones or pillar stones are the simplest of all ancient monuments or memorials, and, they are known as ''dallan'', "gallan", "liagan," or "leacht." The townland of Beenalaght (Been-a-laht) i.e. Bin na Leacht comes readily to mind. "Bean" (Binn) has its origin in the Gaelic "Beann" which means pinnacle or hill-top. "Laght" (Leacht) is as referred to above. Hence, Beenalaght is the hill of monuments or "monument-hill". This is obvious from the six large standing stones located on the western side of the townland. An important archaeological site, it is known locally as Rean Thesure and the "stones" are called "the Seisures." REAN THESURE i.e. Rean or Rian Sheisear meaning the sign or the division of the six - sheisear or seisear being the Gaelic for six (people). Stone alingments like this are not very common in Ireland and experts conclude that they are connected with pagan ritual. Subsidence has caused one of the stones to topple. There are two large standing stones in the corner of a field near Monkey's Bridge. About a mile further west in the townland of Glandine is the location of "Bert Standing Stones." The Gaelic "bert" i.e. "beirt" denotes two, a couple or a pair. The site is completely surrounded by the modern forest-plantation of "Bert Hill," and on visiting it on 20th. October, 1979 I did not locate the stones. The story is that they were thrown down by a local man who had a dream that treasure was buried on the site. Prof. Berry states that he saw the monuments "lying flat on the ground." Pairs of standing stones are common to many parts of the country and they generally had a special cult significance in ancient times. CARRIGCLEENA ROCKS also presented an interesting picture in by-gone times. "Piles of rocks rising twenty feet above the neighbouring fields and forming separate groups, that are divided 43

46 44

47 by considerable open intervals; and stand one at the east, north-east, north-west, south-west, and south-east. In the last group is what is called "the door" - a square stone standing upright. The area is equally divided by a rude range or line of large stones running south to north, standing on end, sometimes together and sometimes with considerable gaps. "(2) More stone monuments are found in Nurstown More(l), Gneeves(3J, Knockdrislaght(2), Garrane(4), Knocka vaddra(2), and Lackendarragh(4). "Bailocke" rocks are in the north east of Laharn mountain. It is assumed that this name derived from the Gaelic "buaileach" which means cattle mountain-pasture or field; and that the rocks were in some way associated with cattle. LEABA CAILLI Or Leaba Caillighe : Genitive cause of the Gaelic noun "cailleach" i.e. an old woman; a veiled woman; a woman cilibate; or an old hag - hence The Hag's Bed. This rock monument is situated on elevated ground in the townland of Bweeng East about a half mile north-east of Bweeng village. I spent many hours trying to locate it, and with my efforts almost exhausted I was finally led to the site on the evening of 30th. August, My guide was Daniel Dennehy, and ably assisted by Patrick O'Sullivan, on whose land this ancient monument once stood, we trudged up the narrow path to the site that was known locally as Leaba Caillighe. The dolmen was barely recognisable with its large cap stone and supporting rocks forming a part of the ditch that extends on both sides of it. Patrick O'Sullivan recalled that in his younger days, about 1915 or so, the rock firmly capped four standing stones, and that he often sheltered under the monument. Gradually as the land was reclaimed, earth and loose stones were pushed under the large cap-stone. It is remarkable that this is the only recognised dolmen in the parish of Kilshannig. Its construction is still clearly visible under its cover of briars and furze bushes. It is believed that in Penal Days Leaba Caillighe was used as a Mass Rock. Basically, dolmens were crude tomb-constructions consisting of a number of standing stones that supported a cap-stone. On studying these structures - quite numerous throughout the country - one's curiosity is aroused as to how the huge cap-stones were placed in position. Various theories are put forward but no definite conclusion has been arrived at; although modern scientific research and experiments have been most revealing. (2) Windele, John. 45

48 Although archaeology proves that most standing stones mark ancient graves, yet local tradition and beliefs should be considered carefully; and site locations and markings should be studied. It was believed that ancient signs were etched on Leaba Caillighe, but now this can only be verified by excavation. The word "leaba" frequently appears in place-names, and in the folk-lore and legends of our country. It is also in the stories of old Celtic romances of Scotland, and it usually relates to a resting place a grave or a bed. Leaba Dhiarmada - Diarmaid's Bed - in West Kerry and the Long Woman's Grave in the heart of the Cooley Mountaisn in Co. Louth are two examples that come to mind. Another megalithic monument bearing the same name is situated near Glanworth. CARRIGTOOMA [Carrig-tooma] i.e. Carraig Tuama or the Rock of the Grave. This rock, in the southern part of Carrigcleena, was probably an extension of the famous rock-formation. The 'grave' was linked with a legendary giant buried near the rocks. BWEENG OGRAM: Ogham scores, or markings, are etched on many pillar stones throughout the country, but are more numerous in the south-west region than elsewhere in the land. The interpretation of the "code" has been known since the 13th century; and although scholars differ regarding its age and original function as a "scdpt," it is generally accepted that this form of "stone-writing" was used between the 4th - 8th centuries - thus preserving for us the earliest known forms of the Gaelic language. It was also much used between the 12th - 16th centuries as a system of musical notation, and must have been the bards' and the harpists' means of preserving their music.(3) This ancient inscription, found on the side of the pillar stones, gives very little information, and is read from the base upwards. With the exception of a small irregular slab of clay-slate discovered by the Rev. David Coleman C.C. near Bweeng Church in 1855, none of the pillar stones in Kilshannig carry an unusual scores or Ogham lines. The eminent scholar, Brash (1879), ascertained that the markings were genuine Ogham, but Dr. Rhys of Oxford University concluded that the slab was "a clumsy forgery." It was standing in the "hallow field" on the farm of Timothy Cremin, about 80 yards south of the main road, opposite the Church. It was removed and placed in the "east face of the West fence in the south-west corner of the field." The inscription on the stone had six characters and stood for the word. "MONGUS." (4) Three Ogham stortes were found in Burnfort, one in the old (3) O'Boyle, Sean : Ogham, The Poet' Secret. (4) Studies in Irish Epigraphy McAlister, R.A.S. 46

49 47

50 fort of Rath an Toiteain, and two in the townland of Green Hill. Like the Bweeng Ogham, the stone found in the old fort became the subject of a long controversy between John Windele and the Rev. Charles Graves - two leading archaeologists of the time. The Green Hill stones are still in the townland. Another Ogham pillar was discovered in the townland of Barachaurin in the parish of Aughbollogue. This can be seen in the stone corridor of University College, Cork.(5) STONE CIRCLES There is little evidence to suggest that the monuments known as Stone Circles were ever erected in Kilshannig parish district as we know it to-day. However, the Stone Circle in the townland of Gow lane (north), just south of the parish boundary, in Donoughmore, is of special significance. This mysterious circle, together with above mentioned ancient field monuments, constitute one of the greatest concentrations of pre-historic relics in Ireland. Stone Cirlces essentially enclosed an open area or burial site. The Circle was also a place of worship primarily dedicated to pagan ritual.(6) 4 CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS What is really known of pre-historic Celtic communities, and their customs and beliefs, linger somewhere between the frontiers of myth and reality. That their leaders were initiated into the mysteries and magic ceremonies or rituals of the pagan tribal religion, and learned the natural science, astronomy and mythological lore of their faith, is evident from archaeological study and discoveries. Their "priests" - the Druids - served the local king or "ri-tuatha" who practised the "druidic" religion. This was essentially a fertility cultus in which the gods had to be propitiated with sacrifices to ensure that they would grant the tribes such varying needs as good crops, children and successful hunting and fishing and other essentials. Worship was based on a deep respect and fear of those natural phenomena which man could not comprehend. The sun was regarded as the giver of Life; and the feast of Samhain - November lst. - was a favourite time for sacrifice, because it was then the power of the warm gods of air and light was waning.{7) (5) Buckley, Liam : 'Ogham Stones of Duhallow.' Seanchas Duhallow O'Riordain, Prof. S.N. : Antiquities of the Irish Country-side. (7) Malet, Hugh : In the Wake of the Gods. 48

51 5 COOKING PLACES Archaeological evidence suggests that there was an abundance of food for the pre-historic communities that once lived near the present-day sites of the modern homes and farmsteads in the locality. Ancient cooking centres are marked on Ordnance Maps as "Fulach Fiadh" or "Fulach Fian." Such places were found in the townland of Dromahane, near the boundary of Dromore (n.) north-east of Pendy's Cross Roads; near the old burial ground at Kilcolman; in South-east Lackendarra, and north-west of Carrigcleena Rocks. It is reasonable to assume, that many more cooking sites were disrupted through landimprovement and reclamations. "Fulach" is the old Gaelic for "cooking, roasting, boiling place or pit." "Fian" is pertaining to "na Fianna" - the great warriors of Celtic Mythology. These cooking pits - usually located near a strea m - were extra large, and this probably explains their "Fenian" connection. These pits were watertight, expertly built and lined, and the water was brought to the boil by means of very hot stones. Wooden Troughs Relics of mounds of Fulach Fiann are quite common and are characterised by lumps of brittle clinker-like stones. One of these sites was excavated near Ballyvourney and revealed two hearts, a wood-lined pit or trough for boiling, and a stone-lined pit for roasting. Experiments proved that the cooking - roasting and boiling - could be done quite well with heated stones; and that tthe water in the wood-lined trough - containing about 100 gallons - could be boiled in 30 minutes.(8) A wooden trough was unearthed at the western base of a Fulach Fiadh at Carrig Cleena in 1893.(9). BURNFORT EXCAVATIONS The stone monuments show that the philosophy of the Druidic religion had a great influence on the inhabitants of the ancient forts; but in order to have a better understanding of the significance of those pre-historic relics, we must extend our search (8) O'Riordain Prof. S.P. : Antiquities of the Irish Country-side. (9) Cork Historical and Archaeological Society - Journal Vol. II

52 beyond the Parish boundary, and further rely on the experience and scientific knowledge of historians and archaeologists. The old fort at Burnfort - Rath an Toiteain - was a place of Druidic ceremonial worship. Built on high ground, this fort is surrounded by an earthen mound. It contains a stone-faced entrance to a circular underground chamber. Also near Burnfort is a remnant of an astr0physical centre or stone circle with a pointer aligned in a N.E. direction. Just over a quarter of a mile south of this circle is an excavated burial mound built with stone slabs. Comj'Josed of three separate chambers running parallel from East to West, it is believed to have contained the ashes of cremated human bodies; but some human bones were also found during excavations in 1967.(10) TUROC, CO. GALWAY The excavations at the large Lios at Turoc, Co. Galway led to astonishing discoveries about life in ancient times. The habitation area consisted of two compartments or "rooms" built of stone flags. Several domestic objects were discovered; and scattered through the soil at various levels were quantities of domestic animal bones. Ox bones comprised 800Jo of the total - an indication that these early Turoc people were very much dependent on cattle.(11). A similar lifestyle must have prevailed in the ring forts of Kilshannig. (10) O'Sullivan, John F. : Kerry, Kingdom of Romance. (11) Raftery, Joseph, Dr. : The Celts. References Buckley, Liam : Ogham Stones of Duhallow. Seanchas Duthalla Cork Historical and Archaeological Journal, Vo. II, Dineen, Padraig, Dr. : Irish/English Dictionary. O'Boyle, Sean : Ogham, The Poet's Secret. O'Riordain, S.P. Prof. : Antiquities of the Irish Country-side. McAlister, R.A.S. : Studies in Irish Epigraphy Malet, Hugh : In the Wake of the Gods. Raftery, Joseph, Dr. : The Celts. O'Sullivan, John F. : Kerry, Kingdom of Romance. Windele, John: Cork Historical and Archaeological Journal, April

53 --- I MALLOW DURING THE FAMINE (With special reference to the Potato) By: Macra Na Feirme, Mallow A Report on Mallow and its neighbourhood(!) in 1775 p esented to the Royal Dublin Society provides us with a graphic picture of Mallow at the end of the eighteenth century. The small farmers, cottiers and labourers lived in most miserable and distressed circumstances; "From November until May, their food is Potatoes without milk or butter or any other kitchen, but a grain of salt when they can get it. No liquid but the pure element to quench their thirst. From May until August they must live on corn, kale and cabbage, sprinkled with salt, and for several days successively on a draught of sour milk. "(2) Their general living conditions were deplorable. About 1770, a murrain(3) hit the cactle and sheep of Europe, and as a consequence the prices of Irish stock soared. The landlords of Mallow and the surrounding areas realised this, and in order to get more land for grazing, they carried out wholesale evictions on the fertile plains of the Blackwater valley near Mallow. The writer of the above report "knew about one dozen villages in the parish of Mallow inhabited about fifteen years ago by six or eight snug, warm cottiers, and at present there is but one dairy man in each of these villages, and in some few of them one or two labourers.. (4). I Tillage decreased all over the locality, while the number of animals increased. In the 1775 report on Mallow, the writer gives a stern warning on the possibility of famine.(5) "Two-thirds will starve or perish for want of food, whenever God in His anger is pleased to visit this land with such another great frost as 1789." He strongly advocated that different types of vegetables should be grown more widely, and condemned the discontinuing of tillage in favour of cattle.(6) In the next seventy years, there were several partial famines before his words were tragically realised in the terrible disaster of Mallow in On January 30th. 1846, Mr. E. Mu'tphy of Leopardstown Agricultural College travelled through the Mallow area.(7) He describes a soil, mostly made up of limestone, which should be very suited to the production of all farming crops. But the crops were not there. "It will sufficiently indicate the state of agriculture in the 51

54 The Workhouse graveyard. 52

55 district to state that, except in the demesnes of the gentry, I did not observe a single field of turnips or rape, and scarcely a field laid down with grass-seeds or clover. Such a thing as a thorn hedge, with the same exception, is not to be seen, although wherever this plant exists, as in the vicinity of the houses, its luxuriance proves how well it would thrive if encouraged." The fields were small and irregular, and, to say the least, showed a marked absence of care and of comfort. Potato. In the middle of th 19th. century the food of the bulk of Irish rural families was potatoes.(8) Mallow was no exception. Mr. Murphy in January, 1846, states that the potato was almost exclusively in use in the central portion of Co. Cork, especially in the Mallow area.(9) The methods of production and growth were very primitive. Ploughs were generally not in use and the main implement of cultivation was the spade. The land was trenched on beds anything from 2 to 6ft. wide according to the wetness of the land. The intervening trenches were about lft. wide and 2ft. deep. The sets were laid on the surface of the ground or on the sod in grassland, and earthed up from the trenches. This meth,od enabled a crop to be taken from the wettest of land as the trench'es provided a system of drainage.(10) The land around Mallow was found to be very wet in 1846 by Mr. Murphy, and he commented very unfavourably on the lack of knowledge of proper drainage systems by the farmers of the area. This proved to be a great handicap when the blight struck.(11). The chief varieties of potatoes grown in Ireland immediately before the famine were the Black potato, the Irish Apple, the Red Potato, Lumpers and Cups.(12) The Black Potato was grown as early as 1730 and was very popular throughout the country. The Irish Apple was first heard of in 1770 and was an excellent variety, and always brought high prices. Cups were used for the table by all who could afford them, but the Lumper, a coarse and prolific potato, was the food of the great majority. The potato almost exclusively grown in Mallow at that time was the Lumper. Unfortunately while the Lumper was easy to grow and very prolific it was hardest hit by the blight of the famine years.(13) The normal method of storing the potatoes was in pits. In the autumn of 1845 around Mallow the potatoes were carefully picked and pitted and only those without the slightest trace of disease were put in the pits. The damaged potatoes were put aside for immediate consumption.(14) In January, 1846 Mr. Murphy himself 53

56 examined many of the pits around Mallow and saw many f ers opening the pits to check for damaged potatoes. "I made 1t my business whenever the opportunity presented itself to examine the state of the pits, and of these, as the people were very generally engaged in opening them on fine days and removing the damaged potatoes, I must have seen some hundreds, and sorry I am to say that in very few instances did I find a pit in which the disease was not making steady, though happily not rapid, progress."(15) He estimated that from one-tenth to one-third were being picked out and thrown away. Workhouse Questionnaire. At the beginning of 1846 a very interesting and informative Questionnaire(16) was sent to the Mallow Board of Guardians by the Poor Law Commissioners in Dublin. There are 23 questions in all, and the answers provide us with vital information, unavailable elsewhere, for the Mallow area. The Guardians reported that all localities in the Union were equally affected by the Blight; in some areas, however, fields were less affected than others adjoining them; the reason given was the different time of planting.(17) In the 1845 attack, the early varieties escaped as they had been lifted. Unfortunately for the poorer people, most of their crop was of the late variety, and therefore was very badly damaged.(18) Some farmers around Mallow did not dig their potatoes, but left them in the ground, and these fared much better than those who pitted their potatoes or left them on top of the ground.(19). A very interesting l'iece of information emerges from Question 7 of the Questionnaire. The Guardians were asked what proportion of the dug and undug potatoes respectively grown on the Workhouse land was found diseased. They answered "the portion unsound not worth notice." This fact is indeed difficult to explain, as at this time, the blight had hit the surrounding areas very severely(20). When asked what proportion of the potatoes sent in by the contractors for the supply of the workhouse was found diseased. they replied: "The house fully supplied with sound potatoes."(21) Throughout the Mallow Workhouse Manuscript, we find many examples of contractors being dismissed, or their products severely scrutinised. The workhouse was obviously a good market for the local growers, and to keep that market they picked the best for the workhouse. Unfortunately that left themselves with a very poor selection. 54

57 The Guardians were asked to ompare the acreage under tillag in th Union in 1846 to the previous years. They gave a _ cryptic but informative reply. "More land cultivated, producing less of poorer quality. "(22) The people facing the crisis planted more in the hope of saving enough to survive. Some farmers in the Mallow Union fed the decaying potatoes to cattle and pigs, and according to the report no ill effects to the animals were reported.(23) Up to the beginning of 1846, the medical doctor reported that the potato had no ill effects on the health of the inmates of the Workhouse mainly because they were not confined solely to the potato. However, he said he had found many cases of fever and gastric disease throughout the Union caused in his opinion by the bad quality of the potatoes.(24) Experiments on the Potato. Many experiments were carried out on the potato, whole and diseased, in an effort to make it more palatable as a food. On May 27th., 1846, a Mr. Rodgers presented the Guardians of the South Dublin Union Workhouse with a full meal made completely from Potaotes.(25) "Everyone present was astonished at the rich treat provided on the occasion, which consisted of soup, stirabout, milk-porridge, jellies, blancmange, Spannish Flummery, and pastry of all kind, made, as we have alr.eady stated, principally of the produce of the potato, either as meal, flour or fecula." Great efforts were made in many parts of the country to make some use of the diseased potatoes. The decaying patotoes were boiled and made into potato cakes. This was not successful, as the unpleasant taste and disagreeable smell still remained.(26) In January, 1846, Mr. Murphy describes this method as seen by him in his journey through the Mallow area:(27) "It was easy to see the extent of the disease by noticing the baskets of them which were draining at the cottage doors after being washed for boiling and which presented an appearance that made it sickening to look on them, and to think that any fellow creature should be reduced to the hard necessity of endeavouring to subsist on such food." Another method tried was to boil the diseased potatoes and to force them down into airright vessels, pouring over them a quantity of melted fat. This method also failed. A third method, and apparently a more successful one was to extract the starch of the potatoes, dry it, and to mix it with the pulp which results from that operation, having first dried it, and converted it into meal. A final method was to cut the potato Into thin slices, steep it in vitriol and water, or in salt and water, and then dry it in an oven.(28) 55

58 In the Mallow Workhouse no steps were taken by the Guardians to employ the inma.tes in the manufacture of starch or meal from the diseased potatoes, or to preserve the substance of the diseased potatoes in any other way. However, in their answer to the Commissioner's Questionnaire, they stated that some individuals in the Mallow locality did attempt to preserve the decaying potatoes for use in their own families.(29) Wages Details of the wages are also given in the questionnaire. Males got 8p and females 4p to 6p per day without diet. During harvest and potato planting and raising, males got from 10 to 12p and occasionally more. In some districts men could be got for as little as 4p per day. Nearer the town, wages were always higher.(30) In the year 1846, an interesting incident occured in Mallow. The local Board of Works fixed the wages at 7p per day. and immediately a group of 218 labourers marched to the Workhouse and forced their way in, demanding that they be admitted as paupers, rather than be abandoned to die slowly of hunger on 7p per day. The wages were raised to 8p per day, and the Mallow Relief Committee described this in a memorial to the Lord Lieutenant as 'arbitrary cruelty', and declared that the "men on the works are starving. "(31) At many of the meetings held in Mallow during these Famine years, again and again, the necessity of paying a "family wage" to the workmen was emphasised, especially since the potato, which up to that time formed part of the essential diet, had disappeared. Public Meetings At an important meeting(33) of landowners held in Fermoy, on January 14, 1847, the Parish Priest of Mallow, Very Rev. Dr. Collins summed up the situation. He described the appalling condition of the tenant and the working classes. He advocated that the landlords should return some of the rent to the tenants to enable them to buy seed to start the Spring sowing. They had no capital to enable them to buy the necessary seed. He also advocated that the landlords should give some money to their tenant farmers to enable them to hire the workers, thus providing them with the necessary capital. "Hitherto farmers were enabled to pay their labourers with potatoes, but now they had them not, and were compelled to turn those labourers on the Public Works for employment.'' 56

59 Public Works The public works in question were projects organised and financed by the landowners c f each locality. They involved the reclamation of waste land, drainage, and improving of already cultivated lands.(34) A big road improvement scheme was set in motion: a new road was built between Mdllow and Liscarroll cutting five miles off the old journey; a new road to Doneraile, despite underhand opposition from some of the landowners, was begun; unfinished works in the Navation Road were once again activated; and a new road between Beechmount and Kilknockin was passed, but not built.(35) Many times during these years propositions were put forward to deepen the Blackwater to enable steamers to come from Y oughal to Mallow, and to alleviate the ever recurring flooding of the lower areas of the town. This proposition was opposed by the "gentlemen fishermen". This work was never undertaken.(36) At a meeting in Mallow Court House in early September, Mr. R. Barry, Secretary to the Board of Guardians, informed the meeting that Mr. Bernard Beamish was in the area to purchase land for the building of a new railway line.(37) He advised the farmers not to ask exorbitant prices for their land as it could be taken compulsorily. If all went well the work would begin the following month. The work did begin, and provided much needed money for the area at a very critical time. In the winter of 1847, due to bad weather, the work stopped for some time, and caused great distress. The Contractor was William Dargan, and on January 15, 1847, he gave 50 to help Mallow Soup Depot, which had been established by his Chief Engineer, John Edwards.(38) Export of Food. Despite these Public Relief Works, the condition of large numbers of the people in the locality was deplorable. The potato, their staple food, had almost completely disappeared by the spring of Other sources of food were available. The Commissioner's questionnaire makes it clear that considerable amounts of wheat, barley, oats were grown in the Mallow area in Wheat was sold at 11/- to 12/- per cwt. to the four extensive flour mills in the town; Barley was sold at 7 /- per bushel of 50 lbs; oats at 7 /5 per cwt. and potatoes were sold at 2p per stone.(39) But most of these products were exported by the landlords. In any case, the people had no money to buy food. An interesting entry appears in the Cork Examiner on January 16, 1848: 57

60 Port of Cork. Exports of Provisions for the past fortnight. Butter... 16,432 firkins; 50 kegs; 14 cases. Oates... 5,457 barrels; 1,224 sacks; 18 puncheons. Wheai barrles; 794 sacks; Flour.... 2,509 sacks; Oatmeal tons; 226 sacks; Indian Corn tons; 8 sacks. Indian Corn Meal tons; 200 sacks. Barley sacks. Rye Meal... 8 sacks. Biscuits cases. Pork tierces. 599 barrels; 47 casks, 57 half-barrels. Bacon ,181 bales. Provisions tierces; 47 barrels; 101 casks. Hams puncheons; 11 hands; 40 barrels; 15 casks. Tongues... 6 half-barrels; 10 firkins; Eggs boxes. Fish boxes. Sprats boxes. Herring barrels. Fowls cases; 20 boxes. It was almost incredible that so much food could be exported from Cork when so many people were literally starving in Rahan and Mallow, only fifteen miles distant. On the other side, an effort was made in 1846 to import potatoes from the United States, and on September 21, a cargo of potatoes was unloaded in Cork, and they were sold at lop per stone. The Press reporter commended: "We understand this is but the commencement of an extensive import trade of the one staple commodity of Ireland. "(40) His hopes were apparently not realised. There is also evidence that the people of Mallow got financial help from abroad during the Famine times. On December 28, 1846, a contribution of 5 was forwarded by Edward Conrad, Merchant, Manchester on behalf of Rusholme Road Chapel under the pastorate of Rev. James Griffin "which the contributors wished to be disposed of in food to such of your afflicted neighbours as you may judge fit. "(41) Famine-stricken Mallow. We get first hand information about the sufferings of the people of Mallow from public statements by the Relief 58

61 Committee,(42) and deputations to Lord John Russell and others. Here we confine ourselves to statement by Rev. Dr. Collins, P.P. of Mallow, who later himself died of fever contracted in the Workhouse. At a.public meeting in Mallow held by the Relief Committee he said "they (the people of Mallow) are in the very verge of starvation, resorting in some instances (their potatoes being run out) to nettles, corn kail, or other weeds for the support of nature. "(43) The Relief Committee held their meetings in a hotel in Mallow. At their August meeting in 1846, the hotel was surrounded by 500 people, 'representing 3,000 mouths seeking employment or relief'. and the Parish Priest was asked to speak to them. He asked them to be patient as the Government would help them in a few days; 'I was met by exclamations from them declaring that every day was a fortnight, that the hunger was going like thorns through their sides, that they could not go home from excessive weakness, that they were miserable, and their wives and children." Commenting on their only food, the potato, he said: "The potatoes are so bad that the stomach rejected them; they were wild and black, and offensive to the taste, and that it was by a mixture of salt and water they were able to swallow them."(44) In September, 1846, the Mallow Relief Committee set up a sub-committee 'to go through the lanes and alleys and discover the degree of distress that existed in the area.'' They gave a graphic description of the cabin of Michael Sullivan of Rahan,(45) which was representative of many houses which they visited. A high bank of earth appeared to constitute part of a front wall and one of the gables of the cabin. The front and back walls were five feet high, and the doorway was not quite so high. There were no windows or window-holes in the cabin, and when the door was shut, light was supplied through a large open chimney, and through the holes in the roof and chinks in the door. The house consisted of one small apartment. On entering the house, two children started up perfectly naked from a bed of stones, shaped like a blacksmith's fireplace, behind the door. The stones were veiled with a light sprinkling of hay. The bed of stones was the only bed for the whole family, and their only covering was a thin sheet. It was twelve o'clock, and the children had nothing to eat since the previous morning. Their mother was out on the mountain searching for food for the family. A child of twelve months belonging to the family had died a fortnight before for want of proper food. They had no means of providing milk, and 59

62 the two naked children looked pale and emaciated. They were obviously sick. The furniture of the cabin consisted of one table. one coop, two pots, one stool, two basins, three plates and the bed of stone and hay and the old sheet for covering. Michael Sullivan, the owner, paid 1.15s. a year for his cabin, and 2.5s. for half an English acre of potato garden. He paid his rent with his labour at the rate of 6p per day. Apart from Sunday, it took him one hundred and sixty days or half a year's labour to pay for his miserable hut and his half acre of mountain bog. The terrible story of Michael Sullivan was the story of many others. We take our final quotation from the Cork Examiner, July 3, 1847: - "To give you some idea of the mortality in this neighbourhood of Mallow, I will quote you the words of Mr. Winn, P.L.G. at a meeting of the Town Commissioners. He said that 'On Saturday the dogs rooted up a corpse in the graveyard and were eating it; that people come by night to bury their friends by stealth; that in manv cases the coffins were not two inches below the ground.' At 6 o'clock this evening five paupers were brought on the workhouse cart to be interred in the graveyard." Suffering, starvation and death stalked the streets and the roads of Mallow and the surrounding areas during those terrible Famine Years. 60

63 REFERENCES 1. "Mallow and Its Neighbourhood" in 1775; Cork Hist. & Arch. Soc. Journal: 1921 Jan.-June. p June-Dec. p June-Dec. p Ibid June-Dec. p "Irish Disturbances and The Irish Church Question"; George C. Lewis; p. 8; London, "Gentleman's Magazine"; Vol. XXXII; p. 182,3, quot. Cork Hist. & Arch., vol. 1895; p. 133, "Mallow and Its Neighbourhood"; Cork Hist. & Arch., Jan-June, 1921; p Ibid. July-Dec., p Ibid. July-Dec., p The Irish Farmers Journal, 1846: 1846; p. 82. Farming in Cork, 4 Feb., 8. "Social Life in Ireland, ; Ed. R.B. McDowell; Rural Life; T.P. O'Neill. p The Irish Farmers Journal; Farming in Cork; p "The Great Famine"; Edwards and Williams; Dublin, 1956; p The Irish Farmers Journal, 1846; p "The Great Famine"; Edwards; Agriculture; Green; p Ibid. Famine in Irish Oral Tradition; R. McHugh; p The Irish Farmers Journal, 1846; p Ibid. 16. Mallow Workhouse Minute Book; , p Ibid; Question 2; p "The History and Social Influence of the Potasto"; Redcliffe Salaman; p. 292; Cambridge Univ. Press Mallow Workhouse Minute Book; Q. 1; p Ibid. Q. 7. p Ibid. Q. 6. p Ibid. Q. 18; p Ibid. Q. 5; p

64 24. Mallow Work House Mintue Book; Q. 13, 14; p The Irish Farmers Journal; 1846; May 27, Artificial Preparations of the Potato. p The Irish Farmers Journal, 1846; January 28; On Conversion of Diseased Potatoes into Food; J.F. Hodges M.D.; p The Irish Farmers Journal; Farming in Cork; Feb. 4; p. 82. "The Great Famine"; Edwards; Famine in Irish Oral Tradition p The Irish Farmers Journal, 1846; Jan 18; p. 75. On Converting Diseased Potatoes into Food; 29. Mallow Workhouse Minute Book; Q. Q. 9, 9. p Ibid. Q. 16; p "The Great Famine"; Edwards; p. 95; Agriculture; E. Green 31. "The Great Hunger"; Cecil Woodham-Smith; p "History of Mallow"; Evelyn Bolster; p. 71; Cork, The Cork Examiner. Sept. 4, Ibid. Jan. 15, Ibid. Sept. 21, Ibid. Sept. 8, Ibid. Sept. 8 and 21, Ibid. Sept. 8, Ibid. Jan 15, Mallow Workhouse Minute Book; Q. 15, p The Cork Examiner, Sept. 21, Ibid. Jan. 1, Deputation (Rev. Dr. Collins P.P., Rev. Justin McCarthy, Rev. C.B. Gibson author of History of Cork, and others) appealing for aid to Earl of Claredon, Sept., Cork Examiner, Sept. 27, The Cork Examiner, Sept. 21, I Ibid. Sept. 21, Ibid. Sept. 4,

65 MALLOW RAILWAY - OPENING OF THE RAILWAY TO MALLOW: On the sixth of August, 1844, permission was granted to the great Southern and Western Railway company, by the Tory Government of Sir Robert Peel, to establish a single Railway System covering most of Ireland. What the Act authorised was a mainline from Dublin to Cashel and the branch to Carl w. The choice of Cashel as the terminal point was due to its position; it was then the chief town of the county of Tipperary and lay on the established main route for Cork. In fact the promoters had not yet decided whether the railway should run east or west of the Galtee Hills, and in the following year on the 2lst of July, the company obtained a second Act which prescribed the western Route, running by Charleville and Mallow. Section 27 of this Act States: "And be it enacted, that the Railway hereby authorised shall commence as a junction with the Great Southern and Western Railway in a field near the town of Thurles, in the townland of Commons, in the Parish of Thurles in the County of Tipperary and shall terminate in a piece of waste ground at or near the junction of the new Mallow and old Cork and Dublin roads in the townland of Kilbarry, in the Parish of St. Anne's Shandon." The GS and WR directors contracted William Dargan to construct the 78 miles from Thurles to Cork at a cost of 600,000. In 1846 Mallow was still popular with the Landed Gentry while the majority of the population were close to starvation. Any work to be found enabled labourers to earn, at most, 6d a day. A typical "meal" consisted of nettles, corn Kale and some bad potatoes. H.C. Brockfield writing in 1846 states: ''The Mallow district offers a picture of a countryside in the grip of a peasant subsistance economy with intense pressure of population on the land. Such conditions as there exists near starvation, under-employment, rack-renting, grinding rural indebtedness to flourishing money lenders and Gombeen men and the cultivation of the very poorest land are more familiar in the environment of Asiatic countries than of Western Europe." 63

66 64

67 65

68 After prolonged negotiation, William Dargan was granted a Government Loan ofbalf-a-million pounds to provide employment for thousands of the near starving. He guaranteed a minimum wage of 1/6 a day; three times the going rate. It is of interest to note that when a soup kitchen was proposed by the Work House in Mallow, William Dargan "desired" to have his name "put down" for But when told that the leading gentry of the place had not subscribed even one tenth that sum, he was put down for 50.QO. Subsequently Mallow was one of the better off Unions in the South owihg to continued financial aid by the GS and WR. At the half-yearly general meeting of the GS and WR on Monday 21/9/'48, the engineer-in-chief, Sir John McNeill, gave his report in which he proceeded to give a detailed account of the nine divisions of construction between Thurles and Cork. ''The sixth division commences at Buttevant and extends to Goolds Hill, two miles south of Mallow, a distance of 9 miles. The earthwork on this division is in a very forward state; not more than one third remains to be done. Great progress has been made with the Mallow embankment for the last two months; 1,000 cubic yards of stuff per day from the side cutting, and from the cuttings in Goolds Hill and Walsh's Hill have been run into it, in both of which men are employed day and night. There are 12 contract bridges on this division, including the Blackwater viaduct, six of the piers of the Blackwater viaduct have been carried above the water level. the three remaining piers will be commenced immediately. There are two cattle passes under the Railway, both of which are finished. The cul vets and drains on the division are all completed.'' Mallow station was opened on the l 7th. March, 1849 only two weeks late. A contemporary press report reads: "The town of Mallow was, on Saturday last, the focus of much interest and attraction, occasioned by the publicity of the fact that the extension line, connecting Mallow with Buttevant on the main trunk, would be formally thrown open, and that the trains, heretofore running between Dublin en route to Cork would on this day, steam up to the terminus. "It may consequently be supposed that an event fraught with so much importance to the public of Mallow and the surrounding localities, and calculated, as it must be, to affect so materially their future condition and interests, whether considered socially or commercially, would be availed of by them as a fitting one for the exhibition of those characteristics which the production of the novel or wonderful never fails to call forth

69 The streets and thoroughfares were crowded by thousands of all grades and classes, high and low, rich and poor, thronging on to the Terminus to behold the great and to many of them, astounding innovation.... The hour named for the arrival of the train from Dublin was 2 o'clock, long before which every foot of the ground in the vicinity of the station house and Terminus had its occupant - the grounds adjacent, which rise to a considerable height, and consequently command an extensive view, being also thronged by hundreds and it was with much difficulty that even the track itself would be kept clear - such was the ruw:ming, pushing, diving and pressing in all quarters... Again the shrill whistle gave the note and the near approach of the long expected train was announced by the large volumes of dark smoke which were lost into fantastic wreaths by the varying winds. At length it appeared and was welcomed with a tremendous cheer and waving of hats. On, on it came the great engine panting, hissing, screeching and fuming whilst the peasantry cheered or stood mute, in wonder, occasionally uttering ejaculations of surprise and astonishment. On nearer approach the green flag was seen waving in the front whilst laurel bows and branches were wreathed over the carriages - a goodly train of which, and well filled, were yoked to the engine. Another burst of cheering ran from end to end of the line of spectators, and amidst long protracted cheering on came the leviathan loco, hooting, steaming rapidly and steadily up to the terminus where it was brought to, amid increased acclamation from the multitude.'' The train had covered the distance of 145 miles from Dublin in five-and-a-half hours with eleven stops, en route. The half-yearly general meeting of the shareholders of the GS and WR was held at one o'clock on Monday, 21st March, 1849, in the Board-Room, at the King's-Bridge terminus. The Secretary read the following: "By reference to the last half-yearly report, the proprietors will see that the works on the line were then stated to be so far ahead as to warrant a prediction that a further opening, for traffic, to Charleville, Buttevant, and Mallow would take place by the month of March of the present year. The directors have now the pleasure of announcing that this has been accomplished, by the persevering energy of their contractor, Mr. Dargan, notwithstanding a very unfavourable season for the execution of public works, and a further distance of 38 miles has been to this day opened to th public service." 67

70 From the Report of the engineer-in-chief, Sir John McNeill, comes the following extract: "To enable the shareholders and the public to judge of the state of the works between Mallow and Cork, I will now give a short description of them. The Mallow embankment and Viaduct is the first heavy work between Mallow and Cork, and commences just after passing the station at Mallow; the embankment is far advanced - it will contain when completed, 580,000 cubic yards, of which 500,000 have been already put in. The South abutment and four of the piers of the Viaduct are up to the springing of the arches; the north abutment is nearly to the same height, and the remaining five piers of the Viaduct are to the average height of 20ft. each. Arch-sheeting is cut and dressed to complete six arches; 150 stone-cutters are daily employed in preparing the remainder. The Goolds Hill cutting on the South side of the embankment is nearly completed." OPENING OF THE RAILWAY TO CORK: On Thursday the 18th of October, just six months later, the line was opened to Kilbarry in the outskirts of Cork. On that morning a special train left Cork for Mallow to meet the dignitaries from Dublin. A press report reads : "When the train entered the station-house at Mallow, it was received with a loud cheer by a large crowd of people, including a number of the navvies. A party of Military of the 17th and a body of Police, in full dress, were drawn up on the Platform to give his EXCELLENCY (Lord Clarendon, Viceroy of Ireland), the salute of honour.'' Gentlemen present from Mallow, included Sir W.R. Beecher, Mr. Newman, Mr. Croher, Rev. Justin McCarthy, P.P., and Rev. Mr. Greene. "At length, the whistle was heard and the train, a particularly long one, soon after arrived, and drew alongside the platform, when the state carriage, containing the Viceroy and several noblemen and men of rank became the chief centre of attraction.'' Among the.sc present were, Sir Denham Norreys, Charles Bianconi, Edward McDonnell, Chairman of the Company and Sir John McNeill. Having switched trains, the party proceeded with a detailed inspection of the Mallow-Cork line. ''On coming to the Mallow Viaduct, that crosses the Blackwater, the Train was stopped, and almost the whole party,. 68

71 got out of the carriages, with the intention of viewing the works from the level of the river. The Viaduce is seventy feet in height and consists of ten arches, sixty feet high and of forty-five feet span. Viewed from below, the effect is particularly fine, the noble arches forming magnificent frames for as sweet pictures as could be seen, and having all the rich tone of colouring belonging to this season in wood, stream, sky and background. The prevailing character of this as of all the structures on the line is an appearance of graceful lightness: and yet no works can be more massive or substantial, the foundations being deeply sunk and material being of the very best stone, which the country affords and the workmanship such as could not be faulted." On Monday 29th. October, 1849, without any special celebration, the first ordinary train left the Blackpool station for Dublin, at a.m. For the first few months only two trains daily ran all the way between Cork and Dublin. One of them, the mail, took seven hours, the other, carrying 3rd. Class passengers and stopping at all stations, needed 12 hours for its tardy journey. It cost 20 shillings for 3rd Class travel from Mallow or Cork to Dublin and back. KILLARNEY BRANCH :- The Killarney junction Railway, in which the GS and W, had invested, was sanctioned as early as the 16th of July, 1846, m anticipation of the main lines reaching Mallow. The route of the railway was to branch off near Two-Pot House and travel westwards on the northern bank of the Blackwater. This was amended on 24th. }uly, 1851, to state that the junction would now commence on the southern bank of the Blackwater adjacent to the Viaduct. William Dargan received the contract for building the Killarney Junction Railway for a sum of 375,000. Regular services between Mallow and a temporary Terminus at Freemount (28 miles) began on the 25th May, 1853, and on 15th July, the 41 miles from Mallow to Killarney were opened. The Tralee and Killarney Railway, sanctioned in 1853, was opened on 18th. July, By the 1880's, there were usually five trains between Mallow and Tralee on weekdays and on Sundays. lst. and 2nd. Class passangers could leave Dublin at a. m. and be in Killarney at 6.00 p.m. 3rd. Class passangers arrived at the same time but they had to take the Parliamentary train which left at 7.00 a.m. A quarter of a mile from the junction with the main Dublin-Cork line, a siding was built into Webbs Mills at Quarter Town. An advertisement for the Mills in the Cork Examiner of 69

72 27th. Mav, two days after the opening of the line, states that, ''Pri me Flour, Indian meal and clean bran would be delivered in Cork, Limerick and all the stations on the GS and WR on moderate terms for cash." FERMOY BRANCH :- The 17 mile branch from Mallow to the garrison town of Fr.rmoy was opened on 17th. May, It was built by the GS and WR. which had taken over the powers of the Mallow and Fermoy Railway in 1857; this was an independent company incorporated in 1854 as a revival of an earlier one of Dargan took the contract for building the br.'!_dch for 51,000. The branch line curves away to the east from the junction on the north side of Mallow station. Before the work was completed, it had cost over 109,000, the greater part of the extra cost being due to difficulties with Kilcummer Viaduct, about half way along the branch. There were usually four trains over the branch each weekday and one on Sunday, the time taken for the 17 miles being about 45 minutes. From 1906 to 1967, the branch formed part of the route of the Rosslare-Cork boat trains, but when the Mallow-Waterford line was closed on 27th. March, 1967, these trains were diverted to run via Limerick Junction on the main line of the former Waterford and Limerick Railway. 19th CENTURY ACCIDENTS:- Early on the morning of 8th February, 1864, the 2.30 a.m. - the Mallow-Killarney ni ht goods, consisting of fifteen wagons and two brake vans, was diverted onto the siding running to Webbs Mills. On this siding, the train came up against the wall of a corn store. The guard on the train suffered severe in]uries. Photographs taken at the site of the incident are the earliest surviving pictorial record of an Irish railway accident or indeed of a steam engine on Irish soil. The siding to Webbs Mills was "spiked" (closed) on Sunday, loth. October, On 6th. March, 1867, near Rathduff, over 1,000 men ripped up rails and shovelled tons of earth and boulders on to the line, as part of the Fenian Rising of the time. On the l 3th. August, a ballast train coming into Mallow off the Fermoy branch was run into in the rear by a down mainline goods which had come into the station out of control. The goods engine, no. 163 and nine wagons were damaged. 70

73 Mallow Rail Crash, Christma, Crash at Webb's Siding, Quartertown, Sth. Feb.,

74 KANTURK AND NEWMARKET BRANCH:- The Kanturk and Newmarket Railway was opened on lst. April, 1889, from Banteer to Newmarket, a distance of 9 miles. The train service was usually three or four mixed trains on Weekdays and one passanger train on Sunday; time taken varied from 20min. to half an hour including a stop at Kanturk (3 V4 miles) the only intermediate station. Passenger services were suspended during the 1947 fuel shortage, the branch remaining open only for occasional excursions and monthly cattle specials. In 1957 a daily goods train was put on, worked by a small light weight Diesel locomotive, an inovation which postponed, but did not prevent the final closure on lst. January, LOMBARDSTOWN ACCIDENT 1912: An accident involving a train carrying English excursionists from Killarney to Dublin occurred at Lombardstown on the 5th August, Lombardstown station had one platform and a passing loop. The platform was occupied by a stopping train which had been held there to allow the excursion to pass. The driver of the latter misread signals and entered the loop at 40 m.p.h. The train was derailed, one passenger being killed and 96 injured. MALLOW VIADUCT- CIVIL WAR:- The ten Arch Masonry Viaduct at Mallow was blown up during the troubles of the early 1920's. While the main line was thus cut, the trains from Dublin terminated at Mallow, and passangers had to make their way by road to a temporary station at Mallow South (rear of Majestic ballroom), from which a local service connected with Cork. The journey between stations was allowed 45 minutes, the usual cost being 1/6. The new Irish Government wanted communication between Dublin and Cork restored without delay and as the rebuilding of the Viaduct in stone would have taken time, it was decided to replace it in steel. Construction was done under military protection and the new bridge'was opened on 16th. October, 1923 by a special train hauled by the new engine, locomotive no. 405, with the President T. Cosgrave on the foot-plate. BEET FACTORY:- In 1934, Beet Factories were constructed at Mallow, Thurles and Tuam. Sidings to the Mallow factory were laid down about one mile from the main line junction on the Kerry line. The firm of 72

75 Orenstein and Koppel of Berlin supplied one 0-4-0T steam engine to each of the factories. A signal cabin, engine turntable and water tower were installed at the sidings. During the mid-seventies, one end of the shunting yard was spiked due to the increase of road hauled beet to the factory and increased rail haulage to Thurles and Tuam. Two diesel shunting locomotives were supplied to the factory in the mid sixties from the Ruston locomotive works of England. One now acts as a spare part supply for the other. MALLOW ACCIDENT 1955:- At 5.00 a.m. on the morning of 21st. December, 1955, the Dublin-Cork goods crashed into the rear of the night M'lil, just leaving Mallow Station. As it was Christmas time the tv1ail had been delayed. Thus the goods was stopped to the North of the Station, but it lost its brakes and ploughed into the mail at the Book-stall and came to rest at the South Cabin. No one was hurt in the incident as the mail was moving away, but a large portion of the main canopy was destroyed. MALOW STATION:- The station is situated on a hill overlooking the Blackwater valley and the town of Mallow. There are earth filled embankments on both its northern and southern approaches. The station building itself has remained unchanged since building in The canopy over the main platform is one of the few of its kind in the country. The Killarney bay, platform 4, adjacent to the upline, and the Fermoy bay, platform 1, on the north side of the station building, were installed when those branch lines were constructed. The "Carriage" sidings, behind the South Cabin, the Goods yard, and the North yard, were all installed during the l 870's. The Carriage sidings were so called because there existed a carriage shed where the sorting office now is. When the Carriage dock was walled off, the sidings became known as the Gas and Milk sidings. Gas Lighting was used in Railway Carriages from the 1890's onwards and Mallow station was one of the "gasing" points, thus the name; "gas siding'1 Wagons containing milk and cream for the Rosslare boat trains were put into the "Milk" siding. Across the main tracks from the South Cabin was "Sutton's Dock." Here coal was shovelled from wagons into bunkers beneath the rails and then distributed throughout the town by horse and dray. This operation ceased in the early 1960's. For shunting purposes the goad's yard is controlled by both signal cabins, the yard being divided into the 'North Yard' and the 'South Yard.' Before the reconstruction of the late 1970's, the 73

76 good's yard boasted six "roads", each of which had a name. Prom the Killarney bay, platform 4, to the Old Goods store and cattle dock, the ''roads'' were known as ''Number 16'', ''Number 4'', "Middle Road", "New Siding", "Store Road", and "Stone Dock." If a train was being shunted down 16, a shunter would call "down straight", to the signalman; whereas up 16 was just simply, "up 16". Horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, etc. were loaded at the cattle dock where holding pens existed next to the old goods store. Livestock transport from Mallow station, terminated on November 3rd., It was one of the last stations to close its livestock handling facilities, along with Cork, Sallins and Hazelhatch. The modern equivalent of sidings 16 and 4 are now all that remain of a yard that once handled the goods of Munster. The North Yard, behind the North signal cabin, was known as the Engine yard. The engine shed, now defunct, still stands as a constant reminder of the days when steam engines dropped their fires and crews swigged tea from billy cans. The water column stands like a gaunt sentry with amputated limbs. The engine turn-table was installed in It is now redundant as diesel engines can be operated from either end. The transition from steam to diesel began on C.l.E. in 1955 and continued until the early 1960's. In steam days the station had a number of "whistle codes". To move from the station to the engine shed, the driver blew one long and two short whistles. To move into the goods yard; one long and the Fermoy branch; three long. To walk on the North Yard to-day is like walking on hard chocolate crumb, owing to the innumerable engines that dropped their load of "clinker" between sidings. The yard is now overgrown and little used except to hold wagons for repair or carriges of the electrical department, also in a decrepid condition. The Fermoy branch now remains as a "stub" about Y4 mile long, which runs out over the Limerick road. This is occasionally used to hold goods trains. Across the tracks from the north yard, two long sidings were installed during 1915, known as the "Dardanelles", in memory of the battle of that name, fought on the straits between the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. Reconstruction activities removed these sidings to form a fertilizer yard. On the same side the new Goods store was built during the 1960's, as the older store became inadequate. This was partially renovated in the late '70's to accommodate pallets of cement. 74

77 Between stores is a building known as the "forge" owing to its use in former days by the maintenance department; it is now the permanent way inspector's office. Also between stores is the water tank set back from the goods yard road. It has a capacity of 138,442 gallons, the second largest tank in the country. It supplied the two water columns once situated on Platforms 2 and 3 and the column in tbe engine yard. In the appendix to the working timetable of 1935, three entries were made regarding shunting in Mallow station:- "Webbs siding - An engine cannot run around wagons at Webbs siding and it will be permissible therefore to propel no&. m ire than 12 wagons from Mallow stations to the siding. A brake van with a shunter, acting as guard, must be attached in front in all Cases." "Banking of Up Road Goods etc. - In order to assist heavy goods and live stock trains in starting up road from Mallow, a "banking" engine may, when necessary, assist such trains in rear, to the Mallow North Cabin up main advanced starting signal." The "banking" engine will not be coupled to the van, and will return to the station immediately on the up-line." "Shunting" - North and South Yards:- While shunting operations are in progress simultaneously in North and South Yards, there must be proper understanding between shunters in both yards " "Signalman in South cabin is in no circumstances to allow a train out of the goods yard until he has obtained authority from signalman - north cabin. Latter to ascertain from shunters in North yard if it is safe to allow train out." TWENTY YEARS A-GROWING :- Mallow station is mentioned in "Twenty years a growing'', written by Maurice O'Sullivan. On 15th. March, 1927, he left his island home on the Great Blasket and travelled via the Tralee and Dingle light railway and the GS and WR from Tralee to Dublin. Of Mallow station he writes, "The men in the horn-peaked caps were running up and down, taking an echo out of the place: 'change for Dublin, "change for Cork." "Change for Dublin." O'Connor nudged me, 'You are asleep," said he, "I am near it. Is this Mallow?" "It is. Let us get out." 75

78 My eyes opened wide to see men and women, their bags in their hands, walking across a bridge. What a great work! What hand of man made it? But I let on there was no wonder on me. "What will we do now?" said I to the two.. "Oh, follow me, said the girl with assurance, walking on. She led the way up the stairs, across the bridge, and down the other side. Ariother train was there before us. 'This is the Dublin train now;' said she, "get inside." In we went comfortably, sat down, and away with us once more." ''I fell asleep. I do not know how long I was so when I awoke, the train was at a standstill, and the ticket man before me. 'Tickets please'; said he. I showed him mine, he looked at me, he put a whisper in my ear: "Where are you going?" "I am going to Dublin." "I think you have made a mistake, you are half-way to Cork." That night he stayed in Cork and travelled to Dublin the following morning, observing Mallow station with a weary eye as the train passed. LOCOMOTIVE 90: The engine situated at the back of Mallow Station since 1967 was built in 1875 by A. McDonnell at Inchicore for the Gortalea and Castleisland branch of the South Kerry line. Originally it had a four wheel carriage portion whose frame was contiguous with that of the engine. It was transferred to the Fermoy and Mitchelstown branch during the early 1890's when heavier rails and engines were introduced to the Castleisland Railway. In 1915 the carriage portion was taken off. It continued on the Mitchelstown and Fermoy until the mid-forties when it travelled to the Timoleague and Courtmacsherry in West Cork and hauled beet there for a number of years, until its retirement in Resurrected in 1959 for and l.r.r.s. trip to West Cork, it was afterwards placed on display at Fermoy Station. When the Mallow-Roslare line closed in 1967, it was placed in its present position. RECONS1 RUCTION:- Following the McKenzie report on the state of the railways in 1971, C.l.E. proposed a modernization plan. for the wh? le netw rk in The first signs of this plan appeared m Mallow m 1978 with the demolition of the old Store and Cattle I?ock. Soon aft r ardṣ, the sidings in the "Dardanelles" and the majority of the sidmgs m the goods yard were removed, and the foundations for a ru!l ning gantry installed. In June 1979, the Gantry became operational, transferring containers from articulated trucks to empty wagons alongside. 76

79 Further reconstruction at the station includes realignment of the mainline platforms and changing the position of the signal cabins, but work on these projects has yet to commence. REFERENCES:- Railway Acts of the Great Southern and Western Railways, Vols. 1, 2, 3, Cork Examiner reports on Railway matters "Railway History in Pictures" - Ireland Vols Alan McCutcheon - David and Charles "The Railways of the Republic of Ireland" Michael H.C. Baker - Bradford Barton "A Railway Atlas of Ireland" S. Maxwell Hajducki - David and Charles "Irish Railway Album" C.P. Boocock - Ian Allen "Outline of Irish Railway History" H.C. Casstley - David and Charles "Great Southern Railways" Rule Book "Appendix to WorkiDj Timetable" "Journals of the Irish Railways Record Society" "Great Southern and Western Railway" K.A. Murray and D.B. McNeill - l.r.r.s "A Decade of Steam - on C.l.E. in the 1950's" D. Donaldson, B. McDonnell, J. O'Neill. R.P.S.I

80 A MALLO\\. RAIL\\'AY NOTE m=mmmmd On the 29th of October, 1847,(1) Thos. B. Huthwaite, on behalf of The Great Southern And Western Railway Company, posted a cheque for seventy five pounds from the Company's office at 94, South Mall, Cork,(2) to Edwim Taylor Esq., Clogheen, Co. Tipperary. Edwin Taylor was Estate agent of Lord Lismore of Shanbally Castle, Clogheen, and the seventy five pounds, drawn on the Bank of Ireland, Clonmel, was "the amount of his Lordship's Compensation for lands at Ballydahin." Huthwaite's letter continued - ''If you will be good enough to return to me the Conveyance and receipts, I hereby undertake to procure for you a Duplicate and have same forwarded direct from our offices in Dublin, where all these deeds are prepared." The Dublin office referred to was that of Barrington, Son & Jeffers, Solicitors to the Company, 10 Ely Place, Dublin.(3). The Conveyance returned to Mr. Huthwait in Cork from Edwin Taylor's estate office in Clogheen(4) was dated 27th. October, 1847, from The Right Honourable Cornelius Lord Viscount Lismore(5) to The Great Southern And Western Railway Company (Ireland), conveying "portions of the lands of Ballydahin, in the County of Cork, held under lease dated 1826." The Conveyance refers to an Indenture dated 1826 in which McCarthy Flyn of Westwood Cottage,(6) County Cork, leased to Viscount Lismore - ''part of the lands of Ballydahine, otherwise, Ballydaheen, containing three acres, three roods, and thirty perches, Ertglish Statute measure, and also that other part of the said lands and the dwelling house theiron, containing one rood and five perches of like measuer, situate in the Barony of Fermoy, and County of Cork", for sixty one years, starting on the 29th of September, (7) The rent paid to McCarthy Flyn was thirty five pounds, eight shillings, and eight pence per annum. The Company needed some of these lands and being enabled under the Railway Acts to acquire them, paid Lord Lismore seventy pounds for - "those pieces or portions of lands and premises with the house and buildings thereon and the appurtenances thereunto belonging, situate in the Townland of Ballydahin, parish of Mallow and County of Cork, containing one acre, one rood and twenty seven perches plantation measure(8)... and numbered 16, 17, 18, and 19 in the map and book of reference deposited with the clerk of the peace for the County of Cork." The Railway Company paid Lord Lismore another five pounds for disturbance to his remaining lands at Ballydahin. 78

81 Earlier on January 8th. 1847, a Company official named Fr ncis B. Beamish, had written to Taylor in preparation for this deed, enclosing "the agreement for his Lordship's signature, for the amount of compensation this day awarded by Mr. De Lacour. "(9) He also looked for details of the lease for title, and the name of his Lordhsip's solicitors.(10). On January, 12th., Taylor replied seeking an uninterrupted passage to the rearnining lands. He regretted leaving the lease with His Lordhsip's arbitrator at Mallow,(11) but would write for it. Beamish returned the altered agreement for signing on January 14th. with the clause that - "one communication to the Quarry,(12) to be a continuation of the lane No. 12, and for which additional land has been purchased from Mr. McCarthy Flynn", shall be given to Lord Lismore, whose rent was also reduced by 19.5s.4d. per annum. The surveyors had plotted and mapped the new line of railroad before this, and our conveyance was, no doubt, only one of hundreds of such legal transactions that had to be completed before any work could be done to make the railway extention from the "Town of Thurles to Penrose's Quary, in the City of Cork. "(13) Building a railroad was no easy business, and involved the talents of epople in many parts of the country. The railway was opened to Mallow on 19th March, 1849, to Blackpool, Cork on 18th. October, 1849, and the extention through the tunnel to Glanrnire Station in 1855.(14). FOOTNOTES 1. This short note is based on old papers of Lord Lismore's estate, which the author has been able to examine. 2. Later in 1862, when the Killarney Junction Railway was being built, the Company's office was at "Kings Bridge Terminus, Dublin". 3. The firm of Barrington and Son, closed down on 31/12/1974. (Information kindly supplied by Mr. Charles Meredith, of McMahon & Tweedy, Solicitors, who now occupy 9/10 Ely Place.) 4. Taylors office was at the Agents house, a Georgian residence at Clashaphuca, on the Ballyporeen road from Clogheen. S. Descended from a North Cork O'Callaghan who became affluent enough in the late seventeenth century to purchase the large Everard estate that surrounded Burntcourt, stretching from the top of the Galtees to the top of the Knockmealdowns. He also owned an estate in Banteer, Co. Cork, which included the townlands of Banteer, Gurrane, Gortmore, Mohereens, Duinch, Clonmeen, Gougane, and Curraghrour. 79

82 6. Westwood Cottage is on the Navigation Road (Killarney road from Mallow), and is now owned by the Comyn family. 7. Lord Lismore owned 3S,94S acres in Tipperary, 6,067 acres in Cork and 1,194 acres in Limerick. One wonders then why he had to rent land at Ballydahin, unless it was to accommodate some friend or retainer. 8. It is interesting to note that the Railway Company used Irish Plantation Measure when purchasing their land. 9. There is no indication of who Mr. De Lacour wr..s. He may have been one of the Mallow Banking family. 10. S.S. & E. Reeves & Sons, 17 Merrion Square East, Dublin, who still operate at Sl, Merrion Sq. East, Dublin. 11. The arbitrator is not identified, unless we assume he was the Mr. De Lacour mentioned earlier. 12. There are up to seven quarries shown in Ballydahin on the 1842 O.S. map. The railway affected two, obliterating one where the Killarney line meets the Cork line. The quarry and buildings in the lease appear to be further south where the line crosses into Gouldshill, and opened onto the old Dromahane road which followed the townland boundary behind the cemetary. The only piece of this road left seems to be from Lang's shop along the top of Dromore Drive. The 1842 map depicts a "Subteraneous passage" at the entrance to this quarry, and one wonders if this was an ancient souterain. 13. Memorandum of AgreeQient in 1847 describing the setting up of the Railway Company under Acts of Parliament passed in the 8th, 9th. and IOth. years of Victoria. 14. Murray and McNeill - "The Great Southern and Western Railway" p

83 - SEANCHAS PARTY NIGHT AT A VONDHU Twelve months after the death in 1874 of his father Kilner Brasier, the new master of Ballyellis (now Avondhu) celebr ted his coming of age. Brooke Richard Brasier was nearing 23, born into an old landowning family who came into this county in the late eighteenth century when a Brasier first married a Creagh heiress. This marriage between Kilner Brasier and Mary Creagh of Creagh Castle took p1ace in five years later the bridegroom became High Sheriff of the county. Their eldest son, Brooke set up house on the townland of Ballyellis just east of Mallow and south of the Blackwater. In the Cromwellian fortfeitures this townland was lost to the Roches and passed through many hands over the last three centuries. Avondhu later became well known to the students of the De La Salle order - learned Jim Meagher at will recalled many famous men who passed through the Avondhu classrooms. Avondhu is now the property of Crown Chemical Company. Grove-White records that around 1760 two local magnates - Colonel Jephson and Sir James Cotter - fought a duel on Ballyellis Inch. Jephson was hit by a pistol ball, but recovered from his wounds, Cotter, bearer of an illustrous name, was not wounded. On a December night in 1875 Brooke R. Brasier, who later went to live at Ballygarret House, Mallow, had a party - "where there was collected for the Fancy Ball to mark his coming of age all the beauty, rank and fashion of the neighbourhood." Lady de Burgho, who must have then resided in Mallow, came attired in the court dress of the period. "She", notes a report, "with her usual hospitality, left not a stone unturned to make the fancy ball the immense success that it was". What a night at Avondhu: "from the entrance gate to the mansion, along the avenues on either side were hung huge Chinese lanterns, which illuminated with very pretty effect the frost-clad approach and the surrounding lawns." Inside the house the festive scene was lit with Japanese lanterns and "dancing was kept up in the banquetting room without intermission until supper.... and renewed with equal vigour after supper." The report continues: "until the small hours of the morning quadrilles, walses, galops and lancers followed each other in rapid succession." The deities of the area were there in force: from Ballyhooly came the Earl of Listowel, descendant of a highly successful 18th century Cork City property man, he wore the uniform of the 81

84 Duhallow Hunt. A mere baron, came from Rathcormac, Lord Fermoy, descended from an _ ancient line of Cork i: noney-lenders! e wore the uniform of the Umted Hunt. Maybe Winston Churdull s grandfather was also there, in dress of the reign of Queen Anne, maybe my notes are not correct? Sir James Cotter of Sunny Hill, Mallow, was also there, said to be the last baronet to have exercised the ancient right of knighting his tldest son. The Cotters, long respected in this country, have taken up residence in the south of England in recent years - may they return someday! From Warrenscourt, near Macroom came another baronet, Sir Augustus Warren, long associated with what was later the 4th Battalion of the Munsters and earlier the South Cork Light Infantry. One Mr. A. Braddell danced away that night ' n cricket uniform' among the resplendent army uniforms and the style of those in fancy dress : there were Spanish matadors enough for a dozen bull-fights, dive s other "quare fellows" including a Penrose man as Mephistopheles. Newmans, Harold-Barrys, Crofts and Purdon - Cootes, they and their ladies were all there. Lady Mary Aldworth came as Mary Queen of Scots, the Harrison females were there : mother as a Spanish Donna - a costume that proved to be not unique. Her two girls were dressed as Night and Ice respectively, Miss Croker was Snow and the Maid of Athens was none other than Mrs. G. Brasier-Creagh of Buttevant. These ladies must have been last among a score or more of fairies and every peasant-girl costume in Europe - French. Bohemian, Normandy, etc. etc. That must have been a great night, in the hey-day of the Brasiers of Ballyellis, the empire and landlordism! WHEN THE SEIGE GUNS CROSSED THE BLACKWATER AT MALLOW Cork's first newspapter The Irish Mercury in it's issue for 25 January to 25 February, 1650 tells much of Cromwell's wars during the closing years of the Great Rebellion. Starting at the foot of page five, Btoghill (Roger Boyle, , Baron Broghill, later Earl of Orrery) is ordered into action by Cromwell - 82

85 "... the Lord lieutenant sent the Lord Broghill orders to attempt old Castle Town (near Kildorrery), a garrison which interposed it selfe between his new and Old quarters, his Lordship went immediately to Cork, where mounting two battering peeces (seige guns) he brought them to Mallo, the Bridg there not being ablt to bear their weight, nor any Boat then on the River, he drew them over the Blackwater under it and next night he raised his Battery, planted his guns (at Old Castletown)." Cromwell marched from Youghal northwards via Conna and Castletownroche, on a se;:uch and destroy mission, on 29 January, 1650, en route to Kilkenny. His mobile force, 600 strong, crossed the Blackwater eastwards of Mallow as is averred by local tradition. Two days after he left Youghal, the castle of Kilbenney knew his fury, he also played havoc with castles and strong points between Clogheen and Cahir. To return to Old Castletown and the Irish Mercury story: ''and the light no sooner appeared, but he Broghill saluted the Governor (of the castle) with a Summons and a Declaration of giving him no quarter, if then refused; but the Gentleman being so far from receiving conditions, that he imposed some, the Canon playd, and so successfully, that having entered the Court (yard), those in it being two Companies cryed out for mercy, the Soldiers had it as to their lives, but the Officers being left to discretion, they were immediately executed, and why not? They shot at us whilst they could do it, though unlawfuly, and we shot at them after Land and by a Concession of their own by Articles." The Mercury continues: "This exemplary Justice will teach Castles how to avoyd the Cannon and the same night got us a considerable one. on the.tremity of the County of Corck." "Those places being thus gave me much command (together with some other holds we have) of the White Knight's and ltoche's Country and of all the land from Mallow to the Suir side especially by the. help of another Castle called Oldcastletown which since my march was taken by Lord Broghill''. - Cromwell to the House of Commons, 15 February,

86 The castle of Oldcastletown (now owned by Mr. Casey), has been illustrated and described by J. Grove-White, in Vol. 2 (pp 127/139) of his Historical &.Topographical Notes. That writer records: "to the sou h of the castle is some low-lying ground in which quantities of human bones were found." killed in 1650 by Cromwell's men? SIXTEEN SIXTY SIX : the year of the colonels. When the great rebellion was over and a Stuart was once aga,in on the throne of England, royal land patents gave away Irish land. Many a Cromwellian trooper had his earlier grant confirmed and sanctified by a royal hand. In later years, when Cromwell was a baleful memory, the trooper's descendants could later say (and indite in their family story) "our ancestor was an army man who got a royal grant of lands in Ireland". Col. John Gifford got Lombarts castle in Buttevant with 5 acres of garden and orchard, his biggest hand-out was the townland of Templemary nearby, containing 490 acres. Gifford's total acreage under this grant, enrolled in 1666, was 662 acres for a rent of 7.81! Lieut. - Col. John Widenham's patent, also enrolled in 1666, covered 1627 plantation acres (2635 statute acres) all for a rent of This. Widenham grant included: "Castletowne alias Ballytona, Raghaneene, Ballygowen and Ballyrama.'' Hence the re-naming of the old Roche castle as Castle Widenham. "John Hodder, Coll." is one of the many signatures to the Declaration to Cromwell in October, 1649, made by royalist officers in Cork City. John Hodder of Cork was only 'a sort of a colonel', he had been somdime agent to the Percivals, earls of Egmont whose estates lay to the north-west of Mallow. He was also an army commissary and an eager-beaver kind of fellow, a well-known toady of Broghill he had many royal grants - one in particular enrolled in the year This totalled 2302 plantation acres (3729 Statute) for a rent of 35, the lands comprises: "Bridgstowne, Counmore alias Clonmore, Grange, part of Gurtinknoyer, Ballyheene, Ballinvogher, Ballymisteale alias BallymcMichtall". All the lands in these royal grants were then in the barony of Fermoy of which to-day Mallow is, of course, the chief town. Widenham, Gifford, Hodder, all betrayed the cause of the Stuarts - Widenham helped to seize the town of Youghal, the latter pair were active in Cork that October night in 1649, when royalist officers seized the city for Cromwell. Their well documented desertion to Cromwell in 1649 was well known when the royal patent was issued to them 17 years later. 84

87 WHY FRANCES SMITH WAS BOYCOTTED A century ago Cork county was in the grip of a land war. which mounted daily in intensity. The landowning classes formed the Cork Defence Union in 1885 with offices at 69 South Mall Cor.k. Thẹ Union was powerfully led by it's chairman, Arthu; Hugh Smith Barry of Fota. A.H. Smith Barry ( ) was created Lord Barrymore in 1902, he was responsible for many victories (so called) notably that over the town-tenants of Tipperary, the Cork dockers, the Cork cattle trade and he lent powerful aid also to the bitter fight in east Cork where the Ponsonbys defeated their tenants. The boycott was the weapon of the tenants and this weapon was attacked by the Cork Defence Union who as part of their attack published in 1885, Boycotting Cases in County Cork. The Mallow area seems to have been almost free of the boycott, only one case is recorded in tye Defence Union's book - "Case No Mrs. Frances Smith, Blossom Fort, Mallow, Landowner. (She is affected) through ''action of the League, unable to let dairy farm in her possession, unless large reductions of rent are first given to the tenants. (She) will not give the reductions demanded (by the tenants on her estate)". MALLOW IN 1788 "This town was once reckoned to be the best village in Ireland and though not incorporated till anno 1688, it had the privilege of sending two burgesses to Parliament." So records The Compleat Irish Traveller, published in London, 1788 and illustrated "with elegant copper plates". Touching on the Spa we read: "Here is generally a resort of good company during the summer months, both for pleasure and the benefit of drinking the waters. Near the Spa there are pleasant walks, agreeably planted and on each side are canals and casades... their is a long room where assemblies are held for dancing and card-playing." The Compleat Traveller also noted that there was a fine stone bridge, over which a road goes to Cork "which is distant only 13 rniles... near Mourne abbey some venerable oaks stretch their long arms across the road." This writer of two centuries ago admired Mallow and the country around dotted with the great houses of the gentry. The Compleat Traveller 85

88 The Remains of Old Castletown, near Kildorrery Bnisier of Ballyellis 86

89 Side by side with the tragic story of famine, fever, starvation and death, we discover. an unexpected development ' one which brings its own trial of sorrow, but this time also, success and ha J? pines, at least for some. We speak of emigration to Australia, which qwte suddenly and unexpectedly appears in the Minutes of the Mallow Workhouse, During the year 1848, the Home Government of Australia decided to invite to the Colony of New South Wales a supply of female labour, consisting of orphan girls selected from the poorhouses of Great Britain and Ireland, but especially from Ireland. ( 1) On December 23, 1848, the Poor Law Commissioners wrote to the Mallow Guardians stating that Lieutenant Henry, the Emigration Officer would call in the immediate future to Mallow to inspect and submit a final report on the female orphans for emigration. (2) He visited the Workhouse early in January, and on the 8th. January, 1849 he forwarded the names selected by him to the Poor Law Commissioners. (3) Unfortunately, the list is not given in the Minutes. However, the names of the twenty appear on the passenger lists now in the State Library Archives in Melbourne, (4) We have two of those names, Ann Barrow, aged 17, and her sister, Mary, aged 14. (5) It cost the Guardians to get the girls ready for their journey. While all this was in progress, the Guardians found themselves in a strange and unforeseen situation. The emigration plan was agreed to, mainly because it relieved the Union of the responsibility of these young people at a time when the Workhouse was szrosslv over-crowded. However, when the news of the emigration facilities got abroad, "very large numbers of females left their services and sought admission to the Workhouse avowedly in order to be placed on the list as candidates for emigration." (6) The local, employers lost cheap labour, and the Workhouse numbers were further increased. On January 19th., 1849, the Guardians ordered the Relieving Officers to inform their Districts that no other emigrants, male or female, would be transported. This decision and the reasoning behind it was accepted by the Poor Law Commissioners on February 7th., (7) 87

90 The only other reference to emigrati n from the Workhouse is found in a pathetic letter from Mr. Rawhnson, Master of Grange Gorman Female Convict Depot, Dublin to the Governor of Mallow Poor House. (8) He states that the Government had granted leaye to the children of Mary Murphy a convict, viz. Margaret and Mar_Y Murphy, at that time in Mallow Workhouse, to accompany their mother to Australia provided they were in good health, and that they were sent immediately, comfortably clothed, for the voyage. The. Guardians agreed, and the children must have. been sent to Dublin, as there is an entry on the 30th. March, stating they were not in Mallow Workhouse. (9) On January 29th., 1849, the full rigged ship, "Pemberton", 1253 tons, under Captain J.H. Richardson, sailed from Plymouth for Melbourne, Australia. (10) The accommodation was good: "Her passenger deck runs flush from stem to stern, with an average height of 8 Vi feet between decks; the starboard quarter is fitted for a hospital, and the starboard bow is screened off for two Irish marrieq cou_ples. oassengers. Double-bed pla es for the girls, measuring six feet long by three feet four inches broad, are arranged in two tiers all round the sides of the ship, the lower tier being one foot from the deck to admit a free ventilation underneath. "(11) Dr. John Sullivan was the Suraeon Superintendant. Un board were eleven married couples, 317 single women, three male children, and one female child, under 14 years. The orphans were between 12 and 20 years old, 'had a fine healthy appearance, and seemed well pleased with their destination'. (12) They had been selected from the Poor Law Unions at Roscrea (60), Nenagh (40), Limerick (50), Kilrush (30), Lisnakea (20), Tipperary (40), Mallow (20), South Dublin (7), Dublin Royal Hibernian Military Asylum (24), anr. Cork Foundling Hospital (16). In all there were 307, under the charge of a head matron, Miss Daley, one school mistress, and four sub-matrons. The Female Emigration Employment Society provided them with books, and appointed monitors, mainly trainees from the Dublin Asylum and the Cork Foundling Hospital, to teach them to read and write during the journey. 'The mental abilities of those from the Unions have received little or no cultivation - scarcely any one can write, and very few can read'. (13) The Pemberton docked in Melbourne on May, 14th, To help the young immigrants, the Sydney Government appointed a committee made up of the Protestant Bishop, Dr. Perry, the Catholic Bishop, Dr. Goold; Rev. P.B. Geoghegan, Catholic Vicar General; Rev. Irving Hetherington, Presbyterian Minister; Rev. A.C. Thompson, Episcopalian Minister, and others. (14) Dr. Goold and Fr. Geoghegan were both Irish born, and took a personal interest in the Irish Catholic orphans. (15) 88

91 1 1:here were some, however, who did not approve. The Argus newspaper and its founder Mr. William Kerr charged the orphan girls with "grossest incapacity, dishonesty and immorality and averred that it was from their ranks that Melbourne street harlotry was recruited."(16) In 1850 Alderman Kerr moved a olutfon in t e City Cou cil that aq address be sent to the Queen protesting agamst the contmuance of the pernicious system'. After mu.eh hesitation, the protest was forwarded. The Catholics of Melbourne reacted immediately and effectively. A public meeting was held on 18th. April at St. Francis' school-room, off Lonsdale Street, at which Bishop Goold presided. The meeting was addressed by men whose names show their Irish connections: Dean Coffey, Fathers Downing and Slatterv Messrs. O'Shannessy, Lynch, Duggan, McDonough, Kenneay. They passed strongly worded resolutions: a]. "Denouncing in the most unqualified language the charges as 'a base calumny. A wilful contradiction of facts and experience."'. b]. "Pledging protection and encouragement to a highly virtuous and deserving class of immigrants'': c]. - "Declaring the City Council had no right to meddle in such a question". d]. "The appointment of a Committee to prepare a Memorial to the Queen, in contravention of the mis-statements in the Council Manifesto". The Vice-President of the St. Patrick Society, who was attached to the Herald newspaper, entered the controversy. On the 7th. May, 1850, in a crowded St. Patrick's Hall of over 700 people, he publicly refuted the allegations made by the Argus news. This appeared to put an end to the accusations against the Irish orphan girls. "The unproved rashness of the City Council was long remembered; but time, which sooner or later s9ftens every animousity, gradually effaced the impressions of the injustice from the public mind. "(17) Of the 307 orphans who landed in Melbourne on 14th. May, 1849, twenty came from the Workhouse in Mallow. Of those twenty, we have detailed information about two sisters, Mary and Ann Barrow. We do not know where they were born. A search of local Baptism Records did not reveal any information. Ann's death certificate states that her father's name was Barrow (no christian name given), and her mother's was Stanton '(18) There is a. tradition in the family that Ann's mother, Miss Stanton, was a daughter of a member of Parliament, and that as a young girl, she had run away from home with an Irish groom, and had been disowned by the Stantons.(19) But records show that there was no Stanton in Westminister or Dublin Parliaments in the 50 years before (20) 89

92 Mary Barrow was 14 years old when she landed in Melbourne. She was apprenticed to Brgt. Redwood for three yea s at 5 per year.(21) The only other i p, formation. we.h ve on her 1s that she married Doherty, and that she was still livmg, but very frail and just able to sit up in the home of her daughter in Sebastapol on June 20th., 1906"(22). Ann Barrow was apprenticed to James Gardner, Elizabeth St., Melbourne for six years at 8 per year.(23) In the 1851 Directory James Gardner is listed as 'Hairdresser & Perfumer of 49 Elizabeth Street'.(24) She spent only six months in that employment. On 7th. November, 1849, she married Samuel Phillips, a widower, who was a shoemaker by trade.(25) Ann could neither read nor write, and in the Marriage Certificate, her signature was an 'X her mark'. Her marriage appears to have been a very happy one. She lived for 52 years in Melbourne, and died on the 12th. October, She had ten children: on her Death Certificate they are given as: Mary, 50; Ann, 48; Ellen, dece; Samual, deed; David, 42; Emily, 40; Lydia, 38; Thomas William, 36; James, 34; William Charles, 32. Ann's age at death is given as 70. Her husband, Samuel Phillips, had died at the age of 67 in 1876, so she had been a widow for 24 years. The family appears to have been very united, and to have got on very well. The eldest son, Samuel, became a school-master. Another son, David Phillips, was elected Mayor of the City of Brunswick, on the edge of the City of Melbourne.(26) Ann's great-grandson, Sir Ronald East, who has written most of the '::Orrespondence, and done so much of the Australian research, is a Civil Engineer and has spent his professional life in directing the development of the water resources of south-eastern Australia, the designing and building of very large dams, great irrigation projects and two water supplies.(27) David Phillips, the Mayor, was a very famous building contractor. He built a number of shops in the Main Street of Brunswick City (Sydney Road), including the home that his parents lived in. He inserted full-sized sculptured stone heads of his mother, Ann, and his father, Samuel, into the second-storey wall facing the street, of his own home and of a number of other houses. They remain to this day, and we have exceilent photographs of two of these houses. The delicate, refined features of Ann and the strong manly face of Samuel are beautifully portrayed.(28) David Phillips was married in 1889, and his brothers and sisters presented him with a framed illuminated "Address" with 90

93 photographs of all the family with their parents.(29) The address Itself aptly sums up the spirit of this wonderful family: "DAVE" "Dear Brother, On the occasion of your marriage, we have thought it good to address a few lines to you appropriate to such a special event. In the year 1876, on the 12 day of March, our dearly beloved father passed away from this earth, leaving Sam to take his place as head of the family; this our dear brother nobly performed, being a guardian to us all, and a great comfort to our dear mother at this her time of sore trial and bereavement. His hands were nobly upheld by you and on the 17th of June, 1882, dear Sam also passed from our mortal sight, leaving you to fill the responsible position alone. Although our dear mother had a very heavy burden to bear in the loss of her loving husband, and affectionate eldest son, yet we know that her anxiety was greatly lightened in the knowledge that one was left to her in whom she could thoroughly depend to help her in managing for the younger members of the family. We, one and all, sincerely feel that you have thoroughly done your duty and have felt it no cross whatever to help us to the utmost of your ability in starting out on the sea of life, and you have set us an example of diligence and perseverance that we shall do well to imitate. In entering upon new responsibilities we express a hope that in all things you may be guided by Our Heavenly Father, and that every needful blessing may rest upon you and yours. As our earthly parent was sustained by Divine Grace, so may you be kept in every circumstance of life, and when the changes of earth shall be over, may we meet as one unbroken family in Heaven, 91

94 when change and time shall have ceased, and Eternity begun. Please accept the accompanying gift with our Loving affection. January 30, 1889." We can certainly be proud of "the pauper girl, Barrow" of the Mallow Workhouse. Part of Mallow Workhouse. 92

95 Ann Barrow (Mrs. Samuel Phillips) Emigrant from the Workhous ". on the wall of a building in 653 Sydney Road, Brunswick, Victoria, AUSTRALIA. Samuel Philips and his wife, Ann Barrow on a wall of a bl!lldlng In 669 Sydney Road, Brunswick, Victoria, Australia. One of t!wlr ' "' became Mayor of Newbrunswick and he was also a famous &anding contractor : Hence the sculptures. 93

96 REFERENCES We wish to sincerely acknowledge our indebtedness to the Late Mr. Padraig O'Maidin, former Cork Count 1:ibriarian, who provided, and allowed us to use, most of the ongmal documents used in this article. 1. "The Chronicles of Early Melbourne". Garryowen; p Mallow Workhouse Minutes: ; p Ibid. p Letter from Sir Ronald East, 57 Waimarie Drive, Mont Waverley, Victoria, Australia. (Great-grandson of Ann Barrow.) December 10, We have sent for a photostat of the complete list, but to date, it has not come. 6. Mallow Workhouse Minutes: , p Ibid. No. 8145/ Ibid. p March, Ibid. p We have no further information on these children. Much fruitful research awaits to be done on the Emigrant Ship Lists and other sources of this hidden portion of Irish History. 10. Sydney Morning Herald, 22 May, 1849; P. 2; Shipping Intelligence. 11. Ibid. p.2, Emigration. 12. Ibid. 13. Ibid. 14. "The Chronicles of Early Melbourne"; Garryowen; p "A history of Irish Catholicism; Vol. VI; Australia; J.J. McGovern and Patrick J. O'Farrell. p. 30, "Chronicles of Early Melbourne"; Garryowen, p Ibid. p. 494, Letter from Sir Ronald East, Mount Waverly, Victoria. 10 December, Letter from Sir Ronald East.; 10 December, Sir Ronald East wrote to the House of Commons Library, and received replies from Mr. Menhennet of the Research Dept. and E.L.O. Mullens of the History of Parliament Trust. 94

97 21. She was said to have been a Dressmaker. List of Passengers on 'Pemberton' in State Library Archives, Melbourne. 22. Letter of Sir Ronald East; 10 December, List of Passengers on 'Pemberton' in Statr Library Archives, Melbourne Melbourne Directory. 25. Letter of Sir Ronald East; Marriage Certificate. 26. Ibid. 30 April, Ibid. 4 February, Life sized busts of Ann Barrow and Samuel!'hilijps -:an be seen on the outer wall of 669 Sydney Road, New Brunswick, Victoria, Australia, and one of Ann on 653 Sydney Road. See 'To-day' in Cork Examiner, May 12, 1975; Padraig O'Maidin. 29. Letter from Sir Ronald East. - THE ILLU<;TR..\TF.ll T.O:'\DO:'\ K.F.WS. \I u: , I ij4i.'j.] Railway building gave much relief work in famine times in Mallow. 95

98 The following notice appeared in the Cork Examiner on June 9, 1843: REPEAL-REPEAL-REPEAL O'Connell in Mallow A PUBLIC MEETING will be held at MALLOW on SUNDAY next llth inst., to petition Parliament for a REPEAL of the Act of Union. A Procession of Trades etc., etc., will start from the Market Place at 12 o'clock precisely, and meet the LIBERATOR about Three Miles outside ihe Town on the Limerick Road. The turnpike gate at Mallow is Toll Free to all carriages, vehicles, cars, horses etc. joining the Procession, the Committee having made arrangements to that effect. The Liberator will be entertained at a Public Repeal Banquet on the evening. Tickets to be had at GRAHAM'S HOTEL; of the Secretary, or any member of the Committee. It is PARTICULARLY REQUESTED that no BAND will play near any PROTESTANT Place of Worship during Divine Service. Mallow, June 5th., R. BARNETT BARRY, P.L.G. Honorary Secretary. This notice was but one of the many which appeared in the Cork Examiner on that day. In fact, many similiar notices appeared in the Press throughout the previous year. The year, 1843, had been named "The Year of Repeal" by O'Connell. Fourteen years earlier he had won Catholic Emancipation, and now he concentrated all his efforts towards the Repeal of the Act of Union. In the year 1843 alone he had held over forty so-called "Monster Meetings" in centres throughout the country, when people flocked in their thousands to hear his soul-stirring speeches. On the Sunday before the Mallow meeting he had addressed over 100,000 people in Kilkenny. The meeting arranged for Mallow was held at a time of rising tensions, as on the previous Thursday the British Cabinet had met to consider the situation in Ireland. Things were beginning to come to a head. The Mallow meeting presented an obvious opportunity for O'Connell to. issue a definite challenge to the British Government. 96

99 PREPARATION: Sunday, June 11, 1843 was a very fine day with glorious sunshine. Through the pale dawn light thousands could be seen converging on the town. At first Mass that morning, the Rev. Dr. Collins P.P. repeated his frequently given advice - he cautioned the people against even the slightest breach of the peace. Fortunately. this advice was heeded. The party of the loth Hussars. the two companies from the 56th Regiment and the large number of Police who had been drafted into the town for the event got little to do and remained in their barracks throughout the day. The town was suitably decorated for the occasion. Branches of trees hung from the windows and banners floated from the houses. At each end of the town stood a triumphal arch. Emblazed on the arch at the eastern end were the words "See the Conquering Hero comes", while the one at the West End carried a carved representation of Hibernia with the words from Moore's poem, so often quoted by O'Connell: "Ireland as she ought to be, great, glorious and free. First flower of the earth, first gem of the sea." Apparent everywhere were signs of the gay and jovial mood which prevailed. Excitement grew. THE PROCESSION: The order of the Procession, which in itself is a social history of. Mallow in was as follows: "Labourers. Painters with banners. Brogue makers with banners. Stone cutters with banners. Nailers with banners. Shoe makers with banners. Tailors with banners. And Adam and Eve drawn on a carriage similiar to Cork Carpenters with banners. Masons with banners. Slaters with banners. Curriers with banners. Victuallers with banners and band - a fine body of men who attracted the particular attention of the Liberator Bakers with banners. Smiths with bannen,. 97

100 Sa\Vyers with banners. To those were added many of the Cork trades with their magnificent banners who came from Cork to do honour to the Man of the People." A group of Shopkeepers and Shopboys came from Fermoy accompanied by the Temperance Band. "It appears that Mr. Bianconi gave the use of his cars for the Temperance Band but he would not allow his horses to work on the Sabbath, and the IllUsicians had to provide horses." (Cork Constitution, June 13, 1843). Bv one o'clock the crowds had formed themselves into an orderly. procession, and under the direction of stewards left Mallow. O'Connell had spent the previous night in the residence of Fr. McCarthy P.P., Mitchelstown. Accompanied by a large group of people, he came to Doneraile, where he was welcomed by the Mallow Procession about two o'clock. As they proceeded towards Mallow they were joined by thousands of people from the surrounding districts, each group led by their priest. Orderly grou_ps of men came from Glounthane,_ Newmarket, Kanturk, Clonmeen, Banteer, Skeville, Buttevant, Charleville, Ballyclough, Shandrum, Donei:aile, Newtown, Kilmacahee, Anakissa, Clounts, Powerstown, Kil worth, Castletown, Killavullen, Blarney, Donoughmore and Carrignavar. When the Procession eventually reached Mallow, it was estimated that there were over 400,000 people, marching, singing, cheering, chanting and waving banners and flags. Above the music of the forty bands O'Connell could be heard shouting "Old Ireland," "Repeal" and "Ireland for the Irish". while the crowd answered with vehement dn'1 vigourous cheering. We do not know exactly where the Meeting was held. Two sites are mentioned - the site of the present Mart at the top of O'Brien Street and the present Town Park, then known as the Long Meadow. THE MEETING. There was a large number of people on the stage with O'Connell, including Thomas French, Levally, Michael Jones, Goulds Hill, Walter Dennehy, Fermoy, E.B. Roche M.P., Trabolgan, Michael Ahearn and John Ahearn of Mallow and over twenty preists. The Rev. Dr. Collins P.P. Mallow was the first to speak. He praised the people for corning, and thanked them for obeying the stewards. The next speaker was Edmund Burke Roche M:P. who spoke at length and then introduced O'Connell. 98

101 Hopn got his lnsplmion for this statue of O'Connell trom Thomes Davis... - The author st1ndlng b ide Hogan's statue of O'Connell in the City Hall, Dublin. 99

102 / O'Connell rose to speak and was acknowledged by loud nd continued cheering. He began by praising those who had orgamsed the meeting. He then turned his attention to the people and described them as "the most moral, the most temperate, the mos orderly, and the most religious people in the world.'' He continued: "You are too great, you are too many, you are intelligent, you are too wise, you are too temperate to be slaves. (loud cheers)." He then stressed the importance of "peaceful agitation, while restoring to the country the national dignity of which it had been deprived and vilified. (loud cheering)". He told them: "Yol.l will be guilty of no breach of the peace. You will not allow the poor policeman to wear out his shoe leather in running after you." He considered the Irish people his clients: "I have no other. I gave up the profession in which I was bred, in which I was successful, and now for the remainder of my life, which will not be long, (cries of 'God forbid'), I am resolved to devote myself to the advocacy of the Irish people and Old Ireland. (Vehement cheers)." He spoke at length. He referred to the Treaty of Limerick, he mentioned Fr. Mathew, he distrusted the English Government, especially Peel and Wellington, and he encouraged his listeners to be loyal to the Irish Cause. There was great enthusiasm amongst the vast crowd, and at the end of the meeting they dispersed without incident. However, the most important and indeed the most controversial event of the evening was still to come - the Banquet in his honour. THE BANQUET: At half past seven that evening an estimated 600 people attended the Banquet which was held to entertain O'Connell. It took place in a large hall on the site of the present Barry's Cash and Carry, off Tuckey's Hill, and was given by Mr. Graham of the Commercial Hotel. Catering and decorations for the Banquet were undertaken by Kate Nagle, mother of William O'Brien. The Queen's Arms were placed over the Chair, and a gallery was erected at the opposite end of the Hall to accommodate the ladies. The Chairman for the evening was Dr. Curtin of Cora boo (Corabower?). The following Grace was said by Fr. Mat. Horgan P.P. of Blarney: Beannaig, A Dhia, an phroinn Is eist ar nguidhe go humhal. Go dtugadh ar Righbhean og Comhdhail Eireann dhuinn. Db bless, 0 Lord, this food And hear our humble prayer; 0 May our youthful Queen, Grant Erin the Repeal. 100

103 A ter the eal, the Chairman rose to propose the first toast. " Mr. Vice-President and gentlemen. In rising to propose the first to ast on our list this e. ". ening, I believe I may confidently assert that Inshmen have at all times been remarkable in their devotion and attachl! lent to the throne, (hear, hear), and although some of our Sovereigns have ruled us with a rod of iron, while others havt> treated us with marked indifference and contempt, yet we ne..ie \ witheld the respect and homage that are undoubtedly due to royalty. (cheers). But thanks to that Providence that rules over us, we have now on the Throne one who bv her exaulted virtues has won the hearts and affections of all her subjects of every class and denomination (hear and cheers). Gentlemen, I give you the Queen, God bless her. (Drank with loud cheers)." Toasts were then given to Prince Albert, the Royal Infants, the Duchess of Kent, while the toast to "The People" was taken with tremendous ch ering which lasted for several mintues. A song was called for, and Mr. Buckley gave that beautiful and touching melody of Moore's, "Oh! where's the slave so lowly!" When he came to the lines: ''Who could not burst His bonds at first Would pine beneath them slowly." the Liberator stood up and exclaimed, "I am not that slave!" The whole company rose, the ladies in. the gallery. waved handker hiefs, and much excitement and enthusiasm prevailed for some mmutes. When order had been restored, the Chairman proposed the toast of the evening: "I will give it to you at once - it is 'Daniel O'Connell and Repeal' (tremendous cheering that was renew. d and prolonged for several minutes.) I w ll ot restram your impatience for I know you are w1shmg to hear your great Lt:ad r. Let your glasses, then, overflow with wine as your hearts do with gratitude to our great. nd mig ty Liberator (deafening and prolonged cheenng, which lasted for. several minutes, with waving of handkerchiefs etc.)". When O'Connell rose he was received with most tremendous bursts of applause which were repeated at least a dozen times. It took some minutes to restore order. "My friend Counsellor Maguire has made an excellent speech (hear). But do you know I never felt such a loathing for speechmaking as I do at the present (laughter and cheers). 101

104 Then came the first in a number of totally uncharacteristic remarks: ''Gentlemen, you may soon learn the alternative is t? 11ve as slaves or to die freemen (hear, and tremendous cnes of 'we'll die freemen'). No, you will not be freemen if you be not perfectly in the right and yo _ ur enemies i the wr. ong (cries of 'so they are'). I thmk I perceive a fix d disposition on the part of our Saxon traducers to put us to the test (cheers). The efforts already made by the have been most abortive and ridiculous (hear). In the midst of peace and tranquility they are covering our land with troops. '' O'Connell then refers to the cancelling of the meeting of the House of Commons on the previous Thursday to enable the Cabinet to discuss the situation in Ireland: "You are mistaken1if you think others will not assail you. Do you think I suppose you to be cowards or fools? Thursday was spent in an endeavour to discover whether or not they should use coercive measures - yes, coercive measures, and on what pretext? - Ireland was never in such a state of profound tranquility." He makes an extraordinary reference to his loyalty to the Queen: ''The Repealers are peaceable, loyal, and attached to the Queen, and determined to stand between her and her enemies. If they assailed us tomorrow, and that we conquered them, as conquer them we will one day (cheering), the first use of that victory that we would make would be to place the sceptre in the hands of her who has ever showed us favour, and whose conduct has ever been full of sympathy and emotion for our sufferings (hear and cheering)." Inevitably the Repeal of the Act of Union is mentioned many times: "An Act of Parliament binding two countries together is!nsisted on being repealed by the Irish people (hear, hear); 1t was not a compact but a fraud and an imposition, and we are those that should have been party to the contract; and let me ask you if any of your properties were taken by fraud or violence, have you not a remedy in the existing law?" 102

105 In dr tic. and emo onal passage O'Connell brings his audience to a high pitch of excitement: "Have we not the ordinary courage of Englishmen? Are we to be called slaves? Are we to be trampled under foot? Oh, they shall never trample me at least (tremendous cheering which lasted for a few minl.ltes). f was wrong, they may trample me under foot (cries of 'no, no' and cheer ng). I say they may trample me, but it will be my dead body that they trample on, not the living man(loud and tremendous cheering)". Then comes his attack on Peel and Wellington, comparing them to Cromwell: "Yes, Peel and Wellington may be second Cromwells; they may get his blunted truncheon, and they may - Oh, Sacred Heaven! - enact on the fair occupants of that (pointing to the Ladies' Gallery) the murder of the Wexford ladies (Oh, Oh!). But I am wrong, they never shall (tremendous cheering nd waving of handkerchiefs). I assert, there is no danger to the women, for the men of Ireland would die to the last in their defence (the entire company rose and cheered for several mintues.)" His final remarks summed up the emotion, the fears, and the hopes of this defiant speech: "I hope my dreams of conflict will never be realised, that it is an empty vision, but let none of us be to blame; let us stand shoulder to shoulder on the Constitution, and let not Ireland be abandoned to her foes by the folly, the passions, or the treachery of her children." At the end of O'Connell's speech, a number of toasts were taken, including "The Protestant Repealers of Ireland". As it was then twelve midnight, the proceedings concluded. It had been a memorable day for the people of Mallow, and especially for O'Connell: "I thought that Charleville, where f began my campaignin_g with my respe ted friend Dr. Croke P.P., was the largest meeting I had ever beheld. Cork, however, surpassed it, and what I have this day witnessed in Mallow transcended in many respects anything I have ever beheld." He then took his leave, the Chair was vacated, and the whole company left quietly. O'Connell and the Head Pacificator of Ireland stayed the night with the Rev. Dr. Collins P.P., and on the morning at ten o'clock O'Connell met delegations from the area. 103

106 DECLINE: O'Connell did not repeat this language of defia c. e which _ he had used in Mallow. Indeed he quickly withdrew the impression that he might favour physical force. On Ju e 2 nd., _ two weeks after the Mallow Meeting, at a large gathering m Skibereen, he emphatically declared: "I am not determined to die for Ireland. I would rather live for her (cheers). For one living Repealer is worth a churchyard full of dead ones." This was the beginning of O'Connell's decline. Davis and the Young lrelanders now definitely decided to break from him, to follow the path of physical force, and to prepare for armed rebellion, which culminated in the Rising of For O'Connell, the final decision came before the Monster Meeting at Clontarf in October, just four months later. He failed to meet the challenge of the British Government, and lost the support of the people. He died. a broken man, on his way to Rome, on 15th. May, HOGAN'S STATUE: As a result of the Mallow Meeting, the Repeal Association commissioned John Hogan, the internationally famous Cork sculptor, to execute in marble a statue of O'Connell delivering the Mallow Defiance Speech. Hogan was then living in Rome. He chose a very large, faultless block of marble, so large that it was thought its weight would damage the street over which it was carried, and his studio had to be enlarged to receive it. They asked that on the pedestal would be enscribed O'Connell's own words: "They may trample upon me, but if they do, it shall not be on the living man, but upon my dead body.'' But by the time Hogan had completed the statue, O'Connell's reputation had declined, and these words were not included on the pedestal. Today, this coloss statue of the Liberator stands in the foyer of the City Hall, Dublin. Almost twenty feet high, O'Connell can be seen wearing a Roman Toga, his right hand outstretched in defiance, with 'Catholic Emancipation' Written on a scroll under his foot, and 'Repeal of the Union' in his left hand. It is signed - "Hogan fecit MDCCCVL." "AFFAIR OF HONOUR": On Saturday, June 17th., 1843, the following appeared in the 'Dublin Evening Post': 104

107 "We learn that. a duel took place in!\fallow on Thursday between Mr. Dillon Croker, a promment Conservative in the previous evening Mr. Creagh. At supper at the. Club _on the previous evening Mr. Croker made some obnoxious remark respecting Mr. O'Connell, whoch on the remonstrance of Mr. Creagh, a Catholic gentleman he intimated his readiness to extend to him. A hostil received an injury in the hip, and is severely, but not, it is stated, dangerousely, wounded." On the following Tuesday, June 20th., 'The Cork Constitution' carried this reply: "As the Dublin Evening Post of last Saturday has given a substantial account of a duel between Mr. Creagh and me, I should feel obliged by your stating that every word of the paragraph from beginning to end is a base and meticulous falsehood (except my being a Conservative and Mr. Creagh a Roman Catholic.) With that gentleman nor with anyone else, had I the slightest difference. I beg to say the same of my sons, as it is also reported that two of them have been similarly engaged, and badly wounded. These excerpts portray the spirit of the time. OBSERVATIONS: Your obedient servant, J. Dillon Croker, Quartertown. I would like to make two final observations. Thomas Davis, who was born in No. 73 Main Street, Mallow on October, 14th., 1814, was one of the founders of the Young Ireland Movement and editor of the 'Nation' newspaper. It is of interest to note that despite his Mallow connections he was not mentioned by O'Connell on that day, nor was he present on the platform with the Liberator. Neither did O'Connell advert to the fact that he was speaking in his maternal ancestral territory. His mother\ Catherine O'Mullane, was born in Whitechurch near Cork. she was descended from the O'Mullanes of Brittas, a townland about four miles from Mallow in the parish of Kilshannig. References to these O'Mullanes are to be found in the Fiants of Queen Elizabeth as far back as These lands on the banks of the Blackwater appear to have remained in the possession of the O'Mullane family until 1826, when, on the death of John O'Mullane, the lands were put up for auction. Either then or shortly afterwards, Daniel O'Connell purchased the O'Mullane interest in the lands at Brittas. As late as 1880 Mrs. Morgan J. O'Connell is named as one of the principal 105

108 landproprietors in the parish of Kilshannig. The O'Mullane tomb is situated in Newberry cemetery close to the wall of the Protestant Church. SOURCES: "The Cork Examiner", June 9th., 12th., and 19th., "The Freeman's Journal", June 14th., "The Cork Constitution", June 13th., and 20th., "The Dublin Evening Post", June 17th., "Daniel O'Connell and the Story of Catholic Emancipation", by McDonagh (pp. 271 to 283). "Journal of the Cork Historical & Archaeological Society" Biographical Sketch - "John Hogan, the Sculptor" by J. Coleman, May "The Maternal Ancestry of Daniel O'Connell" by John T. Collins (July-De. 1949). "Daniel O'Connell, the Irish Liberator" by Denis Gwynn. "Daniel O'Connell - Nine Centenary Essays" Edited by Michael Tierney "Ireland before the Famine " by Gearoid O'Tuathaigh\972. "John Hogan: Irish Neoclassical Sculptor in Rome, " by John Turpin, Irish ACJ'\demic Press,

109 DOCTOR BARRY EDMC)NI> O'MEARA By : Jim Copps. Barry Edmond O'Meara was 'born _at Church town, Mallow, in He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin and in London, and passed as Assistant Surgeon at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland on January 12th., O'Meara entered the army in 1804, as Assistant Surgeon to the 62nd. Regiment, served with it in Sicily and Calabria and in General Frazer's expedition to Egypt in 1804, and was senior medical officer to the troops which held the fortress of Scylla. Subsequently, O'l'vleara joined the Navy and became Assistant Surgeon on board H.M.S. Goliath and the Bellerophon. Following the defeat at Waterloo on June 18th. 1815, Napoleon decided to flee the country, and if possible, to escape to America. The French Provisional Government placed two ships at his disposal. The British Navy, aware of Napoleon's defeat, were patrolling every port. In anguish and doubt he considered the proposals of eluding the enemy, but eventually decided to surrender. The Emperor's surrender was accepted by Captain F.T. Maitland, who set sail for England with his prize. Many of the French were sea sick. The ship's Surgeon was called to their assistance, and in these circumstances, Dr. O'Meara, of Mallow met Napoleon Bonaparte. The Emperor took a liking to the Irishman. When the British Government decreed that Napoleon was to be deported to St. H;elena, his doctor refused to accompany him. At Napoleon's invitaiton, O'Meara agreed to.act as his physician, on conditon he would remain a British officer.in the Admiralty's pay and under Admiralty orders. In fact, Dr. O'Meara agreed to Lord Melville's request, to spy upon Napoleon. O'Meara had forseen that his own position might become difficult. Initially, his relations with the Governor of the Island, Sir Hudson Lowe, were good. Lowe wished him to act as a spy and to report private conversations to the Emperor. The Doctor complied and obtained an increase in salary of 250 per annum. At the same time O'Meara was acting as a spy for the British Admiralty. Napoleon complained of ill-treatment by the Governor, about the poor state of his residence and about the climate, which he claimed was injurious to his health Always on good terms with his doctor, he won his sympathy and then bought him over 107

110 with a bribe of 3,000. O'Meara agreed to conceal Napoleon's remarks from Lowe unless they referred to projects of escape. He diagnosed that his patient was suffering from hepatitis. Relations between Sir Hudson Lowe and Dr. O'Meara became strained. The Governor discovered the doctor's intrigue with the Admiralty and suspected the relationship between doctor and patient. Lowe reported that Napoleon was in good health and that the British were being "imposed on" at St. Helena. O'Meara was dismissed and sailed from the island on board the Girffon in August, He was repudiated by the people who had encouraged him to send them secret reports. The Lords of the Admiralty dismissed him from the navy. O'Meara attacked Lowe in the daily newspapers, and in 1822 his famous "A Voice from St. Helena" appeared. This book was to be O'Meara's most potent weapon in ruining Lowe's career. The name Sir Hudson Lowe became accepted as a synonym for brutality and O'Meara became a hero. as:- He is immortalised by the poet Byron in the "Age of Bronze" ''The stiff surgeon who maintained bis cause Hath lost his place and gained the worlds applause." Doctor O'Meara lived at 16, Cambridge Terrace, now Sussex Gardens, London, W.2, and practised in Montague Square. He died at his home on June 16th., 1836, in the fifty-fourth year of his age and is buried in St. Mary's Church, Paddington Green. London. [Nole:- Sir Hudson Lowe appointed Dr. James Verling to the Post or physician to Napoleon as successor to Dr. O'Meara. Dr Verling was born in Cobh in 1787]. Another tenuous connection between the famous Emperor and Mallow occurred when Madame Raffalovich acquired the Persian carnet from Napoleon's prison cell on Elba, and when William O'tlrien was imprisoned in Galway during land agitation, she sent it to him to grace his prison cell. William O'Brien later married her onlv daughter Sophia. This carpet was sold with the effects of the late Mrs. Clarke of Springfort Hall, within the last twenty years. Interesting to relate also is the story that Napoleon's charger "Marengo" was said t..j have been purchased at the old fair of Cahiramee. 108

111 DONERAJ.LE PARK AN HISTORICAL NOTE BY SEAMUS CROWLEY Doneraile Park, former residence of the St. Legers, Lords Viscounts Doneraile, is now being developed into an amenity park by the Forest and Wildlife Service of the Department of Fisheries and Forestry. An increasing number of visitors are requesting information on its historical background, and the following notes are an effort to fulfill this need... For the student of local history there is nothing new presented, the aim being to have information in very scattered sources more readily available. IDSTORICAL BACKGROUND Situated in the middle of Munster on a rich vein of land, the Doneraile area has been inhabited from an early period, and, according to local lore, played a role in the disputes of some ancient famous people (Maps 17 and 25) (1). In pre-norman times, it formed part of what was described as "the noblest tuath" in the western half of the ancient territory of Fear Muighe (Power)(2), "the tuath of Magh Finne in which is Cathair Dubhagain" (Map 2S: 19cms. S.; 31.7cms. E.)(3). We are further told that "Ard gceannuis" (Scardgannon) - Map 17: 10 ems. N.; 20 ems. W.) and "Dun ar Ail!" are ont baile(4), and from it are Hi Fhaelain (O'Phelan), and Hi Uirisi. The tract then states that "Cill Fhada (is) the burial ground of this Tuath and it is (Mochaemoc) Mac Congairb that blessed that church" (Map 25: 18.7cms. E.; 1.5cms. S.)(5). Coming down further to the Norman period, the good land naturally attracted the invaders, and they settled in strength betweeen the Nagle Mountains and the Ballyhouras. From an article published in 1909 by Mananaan Mac Lir,(6) we learn that the Norman Synans settled in Doneraile and built castles in the area. This account is stated to be derived from ancient documents of the Synan Clan. We are told - "... the Synans, of princely extraction in Wales, came to assist De Cogan and Strongbow as a body of bowmen in the invasion of Ireland in They eventually settled at Shandon, Kilbolane and Rathgoggan (Rathluirc) in Co. Cork, and afterwards occupied Doonerfoyle or Doneraile." 109

112 A Giolla Chreest Synan founded a church at Rathgoggan, amd when the Synans moved to Doneraile, he built Teampall a Carrig near Old Court house (Map 17: 6.4 ems. N.; 37cms W., noted as "Carrigtemple"). Conor Synan (Roe) built another church at Cloustoge.(7) To quote Mananaan Mac Lir again - "Their original dwelling place at Doneraile was a fort near Byblox, (Map 17: 7cms. N.; 38 ems. W.)(8), built by Garod Synan head of the clan, and from thence they went out, and having waxed mighty, MacRichard Synan (Oge) built Richardstown castle, (Map 17 : 8 ems. N.; 45.8 ems. W.) A.D. 1291, and Geoffrey Synan (Roe) built Castlepook 1381 (Map 17: 21.2 ems. S.; 18.2 ems. W.).... The Manor of Lisnagrouth (Map 25: townland name) was also built by William Synan. Mac William Synan (Mor) built Doneraile Castle A.D (9) It was he who took particular care to have the family annals compiled." In the fiants of Elizabeth, it is apparant that the Synans were embroiled in the wars of the Desmond Rebellion, and the clan suffered as a result. Portion of their lands, which they held under the Roches, were granted to the Featherstonehaughs of Doneraile, who held them until 1630 (Mac Lir). However, in the year 1600 A.D. one Nicholas Synan was affluent enough to present a richly gilt silver chalice to the Friars Minor in Buttevant (Mac Lir). The Synans hold on me lands of Doneraile was finally broken in 1636, when they released their interest in Doneraile to Sir William St. Leger, Knight, Lord President of Munster, for - ''... The sum of Three Hundred pounds sterling current money of and in England in hand paid to us..." The lands mentioned in the release are - "Downerayle, Ballyellis, Ballyandrew, Byblocks, Castlepooke, Knockshrahan, Kilbrack, Carkerbeg, Ballyno Russell, Ardigillibert, Ardadam and Carrigines.... conteyning by common estimation Thirteen plowlands bee they more or less and now in the actual and real possession of the said Sr. Willm. St. Leger." The release is signed by - "Nicholas Shynan" and "Cateline Shinan" (their marks), 'Francis Synan" and "Andrew Synan." (M.c Lir and An. Hib.) Though no longer lords of the land, the Synans maintained a presence in Doneraile. In 1642 they built the Red House, also called Doneraile House and afterwards Oldheadinn, in the main street of Doneraile, where a branch of the family lived untill This house was demolished about 1840 by the Creaghs (Mac Lir.) ST. LEGERS. The St. Legers were a Norman family who accompanied William the Conqueror to England, and settled in Kent. (Grove 110

113 White). Sir Anthony St. Leger was sent to Ireland in 1537 by Henry VIII to oversee the dissolution of the monasteries, (MacCurtain p. 11) (10) and in 1540 succeeded Lord Leonard Grey as Lord Deputy of Ireland (11) His grandson Sir Wareham St. Leger was chief governor.. of Munster and died on lst. March, 1600 from wounds received outside Cork, where he met in single combat Hugh Maguire - Lord of Fermanagh - who also died in the encounter. (Hayes McCoy)(l2). Sir Wareharns son, Sir William St. Leger was made Lord President of Munster by Charles I on April 4th. 1627, when he resided in Mal.ow (Smith ii. p. 60) (13), In 1627 Mallow was exempted from a tax to support the army because Sir William resided there! (Smith). Amongst other things he ordered a ban on football and hurling on the streets of Cork, which the Corporation are said to have carried out (Dictionary of Nationa! Biography). The transfer of Doneraile to St. Leger is best traced from 1593 when the Svnans leased Doneraile to "Francis Wainman of Mallo, gent," and enfoeffed it to Sir Thomas Norreys for )v. (An Hib. No. 20 p. 57). In 1595 Sir Thomas Norreys, Thomas Butler and Nicholas Shinan "of Newtowne, Co. Cork, gent." granted to "Francis Waynman of Donerayle, Co. Cork, esq."(13a) "the castle, manor and four plowlands of Donerayle." (An. Hib. No. 20, p. 58). In 1623, "Sir 'Frauncis Waineman of Donniraile, Co. Cork, Kt., son and heir of Frauncis Waineman, esq., deceased," granted to - "Thomas Bettesworth of Moallow, Co. Cork, esq. and Andrew Arnold of Moallowe, gent.; the castle, town, lands and tenaments in Downeraile, "etc. (An. Hib. No. 20, p. 60). In a conveyance by "Sir Francis Wenman of Caswell, Co. Oxon., Kt., and Thomas Bettesworth of Moyollo, to Sir William St. Leger, Kt., Lord President of Mounster, for 1,800; of the castles, towns and places called Downeraile, Bally Ellis," etc. etc., gives us the first involvement of the St. Legers in Doneraile. (An. Hib. No. 20, p. 63). Other deeds listed in the Doneraile papers show them buying out the interest of any other party having a claim in Doneraile, culminating in the release by the Synans in 1636, noted above.(14) Their hold on the lands of Doneraile and parts of Tipperary were further strengthened by a grant from Charles I in 1639, called "The Black Letter Patent of Doneraile Estate".(15) The St. Legers were to retain unbroken possession of Doneraile Park and Court down to 1969, when the Department of Lands took over the remnants of the estate. (Cork Examiner 28/11/1969). 111

114 THE ST. LEGERS AND DONERAILE CASTLE. Having come to Doneraile, Sir William St. Leger made his castle the abode of the Presidency Court of Munster. (Cox)(l6). As such it must have been the period when Doneraile was of note. Around the castle we can see the settlement of officials and artisans expanding, with accommodation perhaps for litigating parties who would have to come here with their legal wrangles during that period. There must also have been accommodation for a respectable garrison, and across the road we have the townland name of Horseclose, which could have its origin in the castle stables. In recent years during tree planting operations large areas of paving stonc:s were encountered north of the castle site, between the Beech Walk and the main avenue, as well as some road paving under the soil leading eastwards into the North park. When the 1641 rebellion broke out, St. Leger took to the field at the head of his army, but ill-health soon ended his career. (Grove White p. 43). While he was acknowledged to be a good soldier, he was also very hasty, and his indiscriminate hanging of innocent and guilty during this campaign is said to have helped spread the rebellion in Munster. (Diet. of Nat. Biog.). After his death in Doneraile in 1642, his son-in-law Lord Inchiquin took over the government of Munster, but the office of Lord President was allowed to lapse due to the turmoil in England. (Smith II pp 70; 77). In 1645 the Irish Confederate army under Lord Castlehaven captured Doneraile and burned the castle and part of the town. (Cox). Meanwhile St. Leger's eldest son, another Sir William, was killed in the battle of Newberry in England in 1644 (Jones p. 15), and the estate in Doneraile went to his second son, John St. Leger, a captain of the local Militia (An. Hib. No. 15, p. 340). The castle was rebuilt during the 1660's (Cox)(l 7) and garrisoned against the threat of a French invasion, and later when the St. Legers had moved to Doneraile Court it was used to garrison a troop of horse. (Smith). John St. Leger died on 3lst. March, 1696 (Burke),(18) and was succeeded by his eldest son, Arthur. On the 23rd. June, 1703, Arthur St. Leger was created Baron Kilmayden, Co. Waterford, and Viscount Doneraile, Co. Cork (Burke): He died on 7th. July, 1727 when he was succeeded by his son Arthur, the 2nd. Viscount. (Burke). The St. Legers were now established in Doneraile Court on the south side of the Awbeg river. It has not been firmly established when the St. Legers moved house, and information on them during the period 1645 to 1727 is very scanty.(19) The date, 112

115 1725, on the front of Doneraile Court, has led to the belief that it was built on that date, but this is challenged on two fronts. First we have the story of the Lady Freemason. This relates that a daughter. of the first Viscount overheard a meeting of Freemason Lodge No. 44 being held in Doneraile Court. On being discovered it was considered necessary to induct her into the Freemasons to secure her secrecy (Grove White p. 47) The room in which this event took place is trationally pointed out as being on the right hand side of the present entrance hall of Doneraile Court (Grove White p. 46) The lady Freemason's tombstone records that this event took place in 1712.(20) Secondly it is the opinion of some people that the architectural features of the basement area put the building back into the late 17th. century at least (Grove White p. 46) The most likely theory then, is that the original house on the site of Doneraile Court was the home of some of the St. Legers from the 1690's at least, and that 1725 is a date of major renovation. Whether John St. Leger reared his family here we do not know, but the lst. Viscount may have occupied it soon after 1690 when he got married. Hopefully, architectural historians will some day read the history of its walls from the vaulted basement of the central house to the 19th. century bows and front porch. Doneraile Park contains four hundred acres within its walls today, and its sweeping landscape echo the days of landlord grandeur when the Lord of the Manor was the law of the land in the locality, and had power to plan and implement the decoration of his residence on a grand scale. It also reflects a rather bleak era for the Irish people, but to-day the wheel of fate has turned, and the ordinary people can divert themselves in, and enjoy the beauties of the park that former landlords created. LANDSCAPING: From an historical point of view, within the confines of Doneraile Park, can be traced the development of estate-landscape over a period of three hundred years. Starting with the seventeenth century walled and terraced garden centred around the old castle, we can trace a gradual process of change to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century layout. This landscaping on a grand scale, which was brought to perfection in England by people like "Capability" Brown, is still the dominant feature in Doneraile to-day. Based on the centre-piece of Doneraile Court, great vistas radiate out over the landscape, using water in the hollows, and uninterrupted grassland reaching off around groves of trees to the perimeter woods. Into this framework less spectacular changes have been introduced, as new species of exotic plants became available, and to satisfy the particular interest of succeeding occupants. 113

116 .. 0oURAJLll, 17.S. 114

117 This eighteenth century landscaping has been particulalry enduring in Ireland because it is a very simple concept based on natural native ingredients. It entails makirnz the most soectacula1 use of water, grass and trees on an undulating countryside which enjoys a moist oceanic climate. The simplicity of the concept should not blind one to the artistry needed to produce the spectacular effect. In Doneraile Park the Awbeg river has been ponded with weirs to give large pools of water in the hollow. Likewise the fish ponds or "canals" are artificial creations. Fences instead of being built up are suhk into the ground to leave th landscape free of obstacles. Groups and bands of trees have been expertly sited to give the effect that the open grassland areas are clearings in a primeval wood. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: In tracing this activity the first historical reference is Cox - (Regnum Corcagience 1687) when he wrote: - "... Donerayle, a sweet seat and a pretty market towne belonging to the heir of Saint Leger, once Lord President of Munster, who kept his Presidency Court here, and had a fine house and a curious park adjoining,... " The reference to a "sweet seat" and "curious park" must indicate something out of the ordinary, and intimates the early development of the park as an area for recreation as well as utility. Cox in 1687 is referring back to the 1630's when Sir William St. Leger lived there. The house referred to was Doneraile Castle north of the river, opposite the Church of Ireland, and it was here the "curious park" was situated, (Map 17; 4 ems. N, 31 ems. W). We can envisage a Tudor-style high-gabled mansion, with its adjoining terraced garden firmly walled in for protection. The days of the fortified castles had passed and the concept of the bare walls securing a small area under the castles had been extended to include a larger area of flower and vegetable garden. This larger garden had evolved from small patches of vegetables and herbs used for medicine and seasoning foods which were kept within the secure confines of castles and monasteries of an earlier period. Gardening at any time is, to quote Colvin(21) :- "... essentially an art of peace and can be practised only by people enjoying a fairly comfortable standard of living." 1728 MAP: The next source available is a very informative map drawn in 1728, presumably on the occasion of the succession of the second Viscount after the death of his father the previous year. It is headed "An Upright Prospect of Doneraile Town",(22) and depicts the front elevation of every house in the area it covers. It is a very valuable record of Doneraile and gives us unique information on the town and park as they existed two hundred and fifty years ago. 115

118 In the park, the refurbished castle north of the river was still the main feature in It stood in the area now occupied by the pound, and Mr. Dick Roches garden & Forge. The castle yard was where the Forestry Department now have their machine and storage yard, with an opening straight onto the road - the pillars of which can still be seen in the demesne wall. Some buildings stood against the road wall and north wall of the yard. Around the castle on its grounds are c}early depicted the gardens, orchards and groves of trees which were features of the seventeenth century garden. The castle garden stretched down to the river in three terraces, in what is now referred to as "Jones' Garden".(23) Each terrace had rectangular plots probably demarcated with hedging, inside which were patterns of beds and paths, all drawn in great detail. The walls around the area are still there to-day, and the three terraces are clearly defined. Leading out from the castle along the top terrace a straight path led through bowed walls eastwards to further rectangled patches outside. This is an extension of the walled inner garden, and reflects the trend to expand the garden landscaping out into the farmland in more secure times. This bowed wall can still be seen, but the opening is now walled up. What is now the "Beech walk" was referred to as the "Ash Walk" in It did not open on to the Turnpike road as it does now. It stopped at the eastern wall of the castle yard. Between that and the road was the inner yard of the castle, with houses along the inside of the road wall where the gate to the Beech Walk now stands, and further houses along the wall of the yard. There was open space where the forge and dwelling houses now stand. Above the Ash Walk was the "Upper Orchard" and above that an "Oak Grove," while along the lower areas of the present car park was the "Lower Orchard", and below that a "Firr Grove." There was no access within the demesne from this area to the present Doneraile Court. The "Great Meadow" stretched from the yard wall north towards the Turnpike, including the Tennis Grounds. The "Deer Park" was to the east on both sides of the river, from the lower orchard across the "inches" and up to the Fish Pond Lane. physical features of the surrounds of the castle can still be traced on the ground, and present work is carried out to cause as little disturbance as possible. South of the river things were much different than they are now. Main Street ended in "Mallow Lane" as it does to-day, but the New Road was not yet built so there was no junction at the top of the street. Neither was there a gate into Doneraile Court. A line of single-storey houses on either side of the street, with long gardens behind them, stretched up to the start of Mallow Road. 116

119 FISH POND LANE : The road to the south from Doneraile was "Fish Pond Lane", which took off from the Main Street opposite Convent Road - then called "Buttevant Lane". Fish Pond Lane ran right across the front of Doneraile Court, and can still be traced between the two fish ponds and through the South park to Ryall's Cross (Connor Noonan's Cross Roads). Along the side of its track inside the South park stands a large stone, locally called the "Toll Stone," with some peculiar holes in it, which seem to indicate that a toll gate stood at this point at some time. A large two-storey house is shown where Doneraile Court now stands, showing that the original foundation here was a house on the side of Fish Pond Lane. A garden stretching towards the canal was approximately one hundred yards each way. Here again were square and rectangularly laid out plots with.paths in the fashion of the time. On the town side single-storey houses stretched up on both sides of the lane from the Main Street to within a short distance of the Court. Across Fish Pond Lane oppusite the Court was another walled garden, with paths, rectangles and orchard which reached about two thirds of the way to the river. Between that and the river was "A Firr Grove". This garden would have enclosed the area in front of the Court where the larch and copper beech trees stand, and its eastern wall continued down to the river to meet a similar fence around the fir grove on the other side. The deer park was downstream of these fences. The present wooded area and lime walk of the Pleasure Ground was simply "Nagles Fields." SMITH 1750: The next source of reference is Dr. Smith, in Doneraile he describes as "... one of the most pleasant and beautiful villages in this kingdom", but was "...indebted for the greatest part of its beauty to the fine house and extensive improvements of Hayes St. Leger, esq., situated on a rising ground at the south-east end of the town, facing the river Awbeg, which is formed into a fine cascade and reservoirs.... The out-offices are large and regularly built; the gardens well laid out and of a very considerable extent. In this is a wilderness and labyrinth; and towards the foot of the gardens is a canal of 370 yards long and 140 broad, well stocked with fish. The water is constantly supplied by a large wheel that casts up a part of the river Awbeg into a reservoir, which is conveyed under ground into the canal, and returns back over a cascade onto the road. On the other side of the river are pleasant lawns, and an extensive deer park, well planted and enclosed: and to the east of the house is a fine decoy(24). Near the bridge, to the west end of Doneraile, the river is broad and deep, being retained in a fine basin for supplying the cascades formed by it as it passes the above improvements; and it is adorned with islands, planted with groves of fir, which add an inexplicable beauty to this place." 117

120 Doneraile Court, Sunken Fence or Ha-Ha. 118

121 Here we have a record of the existence of the weirs and cascade on the Awbeg in 1750, which are not shown on the 1728 map. The main weir, built of cut limestone, broke down around the 1920's, according to local people who remember it. The cascade and associated canal got silted up, and became overgrown with scrub and bushes as a result. Since 1978 the canal has been dredged and the cascade uncovered, while a new concrete weir to the design of Fishery Department engineers, replaced the old one. To-day, this excellently engineered eighteenth century water feature is the centrepiece of the amenity development of the park. Smith draws attention to well laid out and extensive gardens, by implication reaching down as far as the canal or fish-pond in what is now referred to as the "Pleasure Ground". This gives us a rough date for the enclosure of this area as a garden or pleasure ground as it was plain ''Nagles Fields'' in The wilderness and labyrinth are no longer there, but the canal well stocked with fish has been joined by the smaller lower pond. The upper canal was kept supplied by a water wheel, and the water cascaded out onto the side of Fish Pond Lane on its way back to the river. YOUNG 1777: In 1777, Arthur Young(25) took in Doneraile in his ''Tour of Ireland", and commented again on the lawns, woods and cheerful aspect of Doneraile Park. He elaborates on the water wheel, saying it was "... an improvement on the Persian(26), which raises a regular stream 28 feet; the stream which turns it is confined by a double wall to the exact dimension of the boxes, which take in the water, and it works constantly and regularly without trouble or cxpence". There is no trace now of the water wheel, neither is there any tradition of its existence or location left in the locality. Young's description would suggest it was located on a narrow stream, such as flows from the powerful springs in the "Lady's well" area, and the remains of masonry foundations further down this stream may indicate the location of the water wheel. This site is hidden from the house, and would have been an out-of-the-way place before the present avenue system was built. In long dry spells nowadays, the canal waters go very low as the catchment area is very small, indicating the need for the water wheel in bygone days when the supply of fish to the lord's table was a matter of importance. Young also noted that near the house was shrubbery with paths through new plantations. This must refer to the Pleasure Ground - Bird Enclosure area, and may give us a date for the lime-walk and other plantations there. Like Smith, Young noted that the North Park was "entirely margined with wood". However he noted another innovation in the form of a cottage in a wooded scene with the park lawn rising above it, the work of Lady Doneraile, and which was a credit to her taste. 119

122 NINTEENTH CENTURY: In 1810 the Rev. Horatio Townsend in his "Statistical Survey"(27) noted the "great ornamentation" etc. etc. of Doneraile Park. He mentions "the late Lady Doneraile", a woman "of most superior understanding" who did much to embellish the pleasure grounds. Dr. O'Donovan (Ordnance Survey - Quoted by Grove White p. 46), described Doneraile Park in 1817 as "... a very happy mixture of the antique English and Flemmish style and the picturesque of nature." He visited "... a sweet cottage erected from a plan of the Hon. Miss St. Leger, who superintended the building. It is situated on a small island, round which flows Spencer's Mulla..... The interior consists of a very elegant and commodious apartment." This single-roamed cottage, which presumably is the same one mentioned by Young forty years earlier, was situated on an island in the Aw beg near where the stream from the canals join the river. Its foundations only can be traced on the ground at present, and its garden has given way to a laurel and sally wilderness. It would have been a garden tea-room or "Gazabo", well removed from the main residence, and again typical of the fashion on estates of the time. O'Donovan also mentioned "the Forest Garden" planted by Mrs. Stawell, a daughter of Lord Doneraile, "formed in an open space, near the fine piece of water". This must be along the upper canal. Windele in 1853 (Grove White o. 47), mentions "magnificent old trees", in Doneraile, especially oak, elm, ash, and Spanish chestnut. He mentions an oak tree for which 60 was offered, its bark valued at 20; reminding us of those pre-industrial age times when the oak tree was one of the most valuable items of commerce. Its bark was needed to tan leather, and its hard, strong and durable timber was put to a multiplicity of uses. Irish oaks are still a most impressive feature throughout Doneraile Park, with some massive boles up to three hundred years old. The elms, unfortunately, like elms everywhere in the locality have suffered the ravages of Dutch Elm disease in recent years. Lewis, (Topographical Dictionary of Ireland ), noted the extent and beauty of Doneraile Park, ''interesected by the river Awbeg, over which, and within the demesne are several neat stone and rustic bridges." He noted the recent addition to the mansion of -" a large conservatory stored with the choicest of plants", (later known as the Orangery). Lewis was writing at the time of the fast Ordnance Survey, and the 1842 issue of the six-inch maps give the position as it had changed since 1728, and as it is with few exceptions to-day. 120

123 The biggest change to be noted on the Ordnance maps, which was missed by contemporary commentators, was the closing of the.public road which ran through the Park called "Fish Pond Lane", and the opening of the New Road around the west and south wall of the estate. In the 1823 Doneraile rental there is mention of tenements on the "New Road", which meant it was well established by then. A gate was first put across the entrance of Fish Pond Lane, and the pillars can still be seen on the lane behind the Arch, opposite Convent road. The houses on either side of the lane were cleared away, and eventually the house through which the present Arch runs was built across the opening to the lane. A public right-of-way was always maintained here, and now there is a pedestrian entrance to the park there for the convenience of public entry. Hand in hand with the closing of Fish Pond Lane went the making of the present avenue and entrance gates to the court from the top of the Main Street. This led from the Court on to the Mallow road, giving the St. Legers a driect route to Mallow which with its Spa in full swing was the social hub of the locality. The next major change to be noted is the internal avenue system with the stone and rustic bridges mentioned by Lewis. The architecture of the main gate on the Turnpike road is reputed to date from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, and probably coincides with the closure of Fish Pond Lane. The main avenue winds for a mile through the park on its way to the Court, through open grassland, groves of trees, and past vistas of river, bridges and the Court itself. This was the period of final landscaping in the Park that we have to-day, and as Bence-Jones noted (Irish Times- 26/3/1963) led into "the golden age of Doneraile, when the village, immediately behind the house, was the most fashionable place in North Cork. The line of gentlemens carriages outside the church on Sundays is said to have been a mile long." Tree lines were established, vistas created, and ornate bridges built as features on the landscape. The treble-arched avenue bridge of Limestone, sited on a curve of the avenue over the Awbeg, was highly decorated on the upstream side which would be viewed as you travelled in either direction. Likewise the stone footbridge near the cascade was designed to be viewed from the avenue, and is a complicated structure going at an angle to the canal over which it is built, with two slanted arches in the direction of the stream. The third stone bridge, known as "The Hunting Bridge", is situated at the lower end of the park, giving access between the North and South parks. It is a lovely cut-stone, hump-backed bridge, which spans the Awbeg with a single arch. It is reached by following the avenue through the South park. 121

124 FISH PONDS: The building of this avenue to Creagh Castle gate, had the side effect of creating the lower or smaller fish pond. This pond is now being developed for wild-fowl and some geese and ducks are already established with suitable grazing areas on either side. These fish ponds, because of the limestone nature of the surrounding soil, are a very rich habitat for water insects, etc., and can support a large stock of fish and bird life. Fish ponds were another feature common to estates, castles and monasteries in by-gone days, acting as a handy larder from which fish could be easily obtained as needed. Like a lot of ancient utilities, fish ponds have gradually evolved into items of decoration. In the upper pond, water-lilies were planted over half a century ago, according to local tradition, and have grown so rampant from neglect as to have become an eyesore, completely blotting out the water surface in summer. Half of it has now been dredged of lilies and accumulated mud, giving the canal a new lease of life. To-day there are pike, perch and roach in their weedy waters, but in 1823 the upper fish pond was rented for per year to the representatives of Robert Atkins, whlie the lower pond and a tenament were rented to Richard Atkins for ts per year. (Estate Rental list). Another major element in the landscaping of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was the "ha-ha" or sunken fence. This evolved in England in the early eighteenth century and quickly spread as an estate feature.(27a) It allows stock to be fenced out of the immediate garden or house grounds, without obstructing the view. There are some fine examples in Doneraile, around the Pleasure Ground near the Court, and around the Tennis Ground in the North park. OLD TREES: Grove-White (1913)(28), noted the fine beech and fir (Scots pine) trees in the park, while in the Pleasure Grounds and in front of the Court were - "... some magnificent larch trees, believed to be the oldest in Ireland." These fine European larch trees are still with us, though knarled with age. They are a mountain variety with branches sloping down and out from the trunk, which enables the tree to shed heavy snow and ice without breaking its branches. Fitzpatrick (Scientific Proceedings, R.D.S. Vo. 20), noted that European larch (Larix decidua), was probably first planted in Ireland about He noted that five trees in Donerail Park were said to be of the original importation sent by the Duke of Atholl. Other interesting trees in the Pleasure Grounds include a cork-oak, Chosan palms, plane tree, redwoods, Spanish chestnuts, box, yew, cherry, varigated sycamore, as well as the fine lime walk. The cork-oak (Quercus suber), is native to Portugal and Spain, where they strip its bark for the cork every ten years without 122

125 R.t Deer, Doneraile Park. Exotic birds that once inhabited the Doneraile Park "Bird Enclosure." 123

126 harming the tree. Its foliage is imila_r to the evergreen or holm-o k (Quercus iles), another Med1teraman tree that can be seen m Doneraile Park. EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY : Grove-White mentions improvements "... effected in the demesne during the past few years. The river has been widened at the waterfall opposite the front of the house; new paths and roadways have been constructed; new forcing houses added to the gardens; red deer introduced about There is also a herd of Fallow deer.'' Rainbow and Loch Levin trout had been introduced into the river. Lord Castletown(29) had enclosed the upper canal and a portion of the Pleasure Ground to create the "Bird Enclosure," in which rare acquatic birds - rheas, demoiselle, cranes, etc. were kept. The "Bird Enclosure" is still with us as a name for the area, but the rare birds have long since gone. A hcronry of fifteen nests noted by Grove-White is still there at the top of the Bird Enclosure, but the number of nests in 1982 was reduced to four. The red deer introduced in 1895 are still in Doneraile Park, but the fallow herd has disappeared. Fallow deer would have been the animals of the deer park from the seventeenth century, and were the more common deer emparked in demesnes and estates since the Normans introduced them to Ireland. At present the red deer are kept in the large North Park enclosure, while the South Park is also enclosed for deer. Grove-White also informs us that "The Doneraile Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club" was established in 1910, and that a former club was held on the same ground "some time before." From this club we still have the name of "The Tennis Ground" applied to the area of the Park nearest the Turnpike cross, which is enclosed by a "ha-ha" on two sides. In April 1912 the Doneraile Golf Club was established in the North Park (Grove-White) "By the kindness of Lord and Lady Castletown." The winds of change that blew through the first half of the twentieth century had their effects on Doneraile Park. It was an era of gradual decline for the estate, and when there was no successor to the title of Viscount Doneraile, the Land Commission got involved in It was purchased by the Forest and Wildlife Service bf the Department of Fisheries and Forestry in Doneraile Court and outbuildings were leased to the Irish Georgian Society, who have undertaken to restore them. In 1978 work began on restoring the remaining four hundred acres of parkland to their former grandeur. A large car park has been established as a new focal point, and all the old avenues, paths, waterways and bridges are being restored. Deer parks have been re-fenced and ageing woodlands re-planted. Doneraile Park now belongs to the people, and hopefully will be a place of peace and enrichment to its visitors for generations to come. 124

127 footnotes. 1. All map and map numbers refer to Ordnance Survey six-inch sheets for County Cork. 2. "Crichad and Chaoilli" - being the Topography of Ancient Fermoy. Ed. by Patrick Power, M.R.I.A. D. Litt., Cork University Press The extent of Tuath Magh Finni was approximately from Mallow to Buttevant on the west, Buttevant to Carker on the North, Carker to the Nagle mountains on the east, and the Nagle mountains on the south. 4. Dun-ar-Aill; the original site of the Dun-on-the-cliffs was in the townland of Oldcourt, where the sixth green of the golf course is now located. The site (map 17; 7.5 ems. N.: 37 ems. W.) is marked "Old Town of Doneraile" on the Ordnance map, and is a natural promontory over the north side of the river, with steep slopes on three sides. The defence trench across the base of the headland can still be traced on the ground. 5. Power p notes that the building at Kiladda, the "Long Church", was fifty eight feet by twenty feet, the ruin having one pre-norman window on the south wall. Using the remnant of the circular enclosing fence as a guide he judged the site to be about four acres in extent. In 1982 there is only a fragment of the wall with one side of the pre-norman window left on this site. The rest of the church and surrounding fences having been cleared away in agricultural reclamation. 6. "The Synans of Doneraile", by Walter A. Jones, J.P. Doneraile and Mananaan Mac Lir (Late D.A. O'Leary, Kilbolane); Cork, printed by Guy and Co. Ltd., 70 Patrick St., Cloustoge Townland - old church site depicted in the townland of Kilconnor, just south of Cloustoge - map 18; 22.5 ems. N; 10.2 ems. E. 8. Byblox is south of the river from the old site of Doneraile noted at footnote 4 above. 9. The site here is vague. Was it the original site of Doneraile or the site of the castle within the present Demesne walls (map 17; 4.lcms. N.; 30.lcms. W.) In an article in J.C.H.A.S., Vol. II, pp 38-42, Walter A. Jones writing on "Doneraile and Vicinity", states that a plague occured at the old site of Doneraile and Byblox and the chiefs moved to the northern banks of the Awbeg near Tober Coneela (Map 17; 4.6cms N.; 34.l cms. W.), so perhaps the Demesne site is the more likely in

128 10. "Tudor and Stuart Ireland" - Margaret MacCurtain. Gill and MacMillan, St. Leger believed the Irish should be won over by diplomacy rather than by warfare. He pushed through parliament a bill recognising Henry VIII as king of Ireland. (MacCurtain p. 38). 12. Hayes McCoy - J.C.H.A.S. Vol. XLVII, p Charles Smith M.D. - "The Ancient and Present State of County and City of Cork", 1893 Ed. 13a. Grove White P. 21: "Circa 1598 : The Country round Doneraile much distrubed. A great Sheepmaster, Mr. Wayman, fled from Doneraile." 14. Grove-White mentions St. Leger purchasing the estates of Sir Walter Welmond and John Spencer. Ref: James Grove White; Vol. III, "Historical and Topographical Notes Etc., on Buttevant, Castletownroche, Doneraile, Mallow and Places in their Vicinity" Cork, p J.C.H.A.S. Vol. XLI Sir Richard Cox - "Regnum Corcagience", J.C.H.A.S. Vol III, 2nd. Series, p Grove White, p. 45, mentions Earl of Orrery placing a garrison at Doneraile and assumes Doneraile castle to be repaired then. 18. "Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage" 19. The Doneraile papers are at present in the National Library uncatalogued and unavailable for research. 20. The Lady Freemason was Elizabeth St. Leger, daughter of Arthur lst. Viscount, and later Mrs. Aldworth whose tombstone is in St. Finbarr's Cathedral, Cork. It is a flagstone on the floor near the pulpit, and the inscription reads:- "In pious memory of the honourable Elizabeth Aldworth wife of Richard Aldworth of Newmarket, Co. Cork. esq., daughter of lst. Viscount Doneraile. Her remains lie in this spot. Born 1695; died Initiated into Freemasonry Lodge No. 44 at Doneraile Court in this County 1712." 21. Brenda Colvin - "Land and Landscape" Evolution, Design and Control, 2nd. Ed I am indebtedl to the late Mr. Callaghan O'Call'!ghan, of Main St., Doneraile, for a copy of this map, and also for many insights into the history of Doneraile generally. 23. A brother of Mr. Walter A. Jones whose publications are already mentioned, was the local chemist, and carried on commercial gardening on this area of the estate for a number of decades up to the 1950's. Mr. Jones was also famous for a cure for scour. 126

129 24. A duck-decoy was used to capture wild duck for commercial sale. The birds were attracted to a pond by feeding, and the warden with a well trained dog lured them along covered channels where they were captured. The area where the decoy operated is still known as "the Decoy" by people in Doneraile. 25. Arthur Young - "Tour of Ireland ". 26. A Persian water-wheel was mounted vertically and had bucket paddles on its circumference. It was operated by a stream running underneath which drove the paddles, and as each paddle lifted up it brought a quantity of water in its bucket. if the Doneraile water-wheel was twenty eight feet in diameter, it must have been a spectacular feature on the landscape. 27. Horatio Townsend - "Statistical Survey of the County of Cork, with observations on the means of improvement; drawn up for the consideration and by the direction of the Dublin Society,'' Dublin a. Encyclopaedia Brittania Vol. 13; P Re Stowe Estate Buckingham, laid out 1714: mentions that it was here "Charles Bridgman built the first ha-ha or Sunk Fence,... " 28. See footnote No. 14 for reference title. 29. The 2nd. Baron Castletown married Ursula Clara Emily daughter of Hayes St. Leger 4th. Viscount Doneraile in 1874, and they lived at Doneraile Court. She died in 1927, and he died in The last Lord Doneraile, Hugh St. Leger - 7th. Viscount, died in His wife, Mary Isobel, Dowager Viscountess Doneraile, died in

130 ' DONERAILE CASTLE SITE 9. BIRD ENCLOSURE 2. DONERAILE COURT 10. PLEASURE GROUND 3. CAR PARK 11. UPPER FISH POND 4. JONE'S GARDENS 12. LOWER FISH POND 5. CATARACT & FOOTBRIDGE 13. TOLL STONE 6. TENNIS GROUND 14. DECOY WOOD 7. NORTH PARK 15. l\l'ain ENTRANCE 8. SOUTH PARK 128

131 On the original edition of the six-inch Ordnance Survey map of Mallow, in a corner of what is now the Goods Yard of Mallow Railway Station, is marked. a holy well, Toberaroughta, the name of some forgotten saint. In olden times and even down to the beginning of the present century, it was an object of attraction and piety for many pilgrims, suffering particularly from Ailments of the eyesight, at which famous cures had been declared. The exact history of it cannot be traced, but that the public were much interested in devotion to it was evidenced by the fact that when the original railway station was being constructed, a special archway was erected beneath the lines. This facilitated people using the pu lic right-of-way from the Back Road off Beecher Street leading to 1t. This right-o-way was gradually lost sight of and the archway was closed by the Comoany to the indignation of the people. The holy well was filled with refuse and cinders. and the inhabitants of the town viewed it as a desecration. It was the whole topic and a strong feeling was current. The Urban Council was indignant but it was of no use, and the memory of the well passed into oblivion. In the year 1912, the Company was constructing a new siding on the spot. A number of men were engaged, cutting down a tree near the site of the well. One who worked a saw at a part of the tree found his saw to snap in half, without any undue pressure. He then got an axe and the head of it flew off. In trying to force the tree to break away, which was twenty six inches in diameter and about fifty feet high, it suddenly snapped up the middle. The half upwards of where the saw worked fell away and the other half for a considerable height upwards remaining erect, and revealing prominently a well defined crucifix. Further down was a small cross quite distinct. The men ceased work and ran. Later when calm was restored, the portion of the tree with the crosses was removed to a nearby workshop, where it was visited all day long and for a number of days by hundreds of people. Considerable interest was aroused by the incident and persons (if different creeds and classes frequented the scene and viewed the tree and manifestations of the crucifixion upon it with wonderment. A strong local feeling prevailed that the Company should not have been permitted to close µp the well, nor to block the arch, thus preventing the full access of the public. All newspapers gave it large publicity and published photos of it for a long number of days. 129

132 It is believed that the portion of the tree showing the crosses got smaller each day from the number of visitors collecting souvenirs, till it finally disappeared. I believe that portions of it could yet come to light from the homes of the oldest residents of Mallow and there may be some railway people still alive who could pin-point the site of the ash tree. 130

133 ASPEC1'S OF ED(JCA l ION IN MALLOW IN THE By Rev. Robert Forde NINETEENTH CENTURY The eighteenth century was the century of the Penal Laws in Ireland. The section of the Cod dealing with education was particularly oppressive. Lecky, the English Protestant historian of that century wrote: 'the principal object of the Penal Laws was to reduce the Catholics to a condition of the most extreme and brutal ignorance. '(1(1) A Catholic was excluded from attending a University; he was not permitted to open a school; to act as a private tutor or to send his children to be educated abroad. A reward of 10 was offered for the discovery of a 'popish schoolmaster'. The implementation of these laws depended to a large extent on the local landlord. We have little information on Mallow during that century. The landlords in and about Mallow seem to have been more considerate than most. But the laws were nevertheless in operation. A letter written from Castle Hyde in 1712 comments on the apprehension of the Protestants of the area, and states that a trunk was seized near Mallow 'containing popish trinkets, books and letters. '(2) To counteract the Penal Laws on education, hedge schools sprung up all over the country. We have references to a number around Mallow. Edmund Bourke, the famous English statesman had his first lessons in the Classics from O'Halloran, an Irish speaker in an Irish-speaking illegal hedge school held in ruined Monanimy Castle Near Killavullen.(3) As the century progressed it became obvious that the Penal Laws had not fulfilled their objectives. Fearful of the spirit of the French Revolution and influenced by political trends at home, the Government passed the 1793 Education Act allowing Catholics to establish their own schools and even to take degrees in the University of Dublin. From 1793 onwards the Penal Laws in general were slowly but consistently relaxed until Catholic Emancipation was achieved in The nineteenth century then opened with great hopes for the majority of the Irish people.(4) In this article, I intend to deal with five apsects of education in Mallow during that century: 1) the schools of Mallow in ) an educational project in Rahan 1821 to ) general state of education in Cork County in ) The Diocesan Free School of Cloyne. 5) the Brothers' Schools in Mallow and the National System. 131

134 Al'PENDIX TO SECOND Rl!PORT FROM Tiii'! Appcnc.lia, N u.-parocllial lletullns: '3!.) -COUlfTT O JUNE CO It K--uHti1n1ff. TOTAL l>escriptioh " NA.ME RELIGION ""''..' Te lll.aft4 lnl.'olle }.... "... ".. IA.RO?!'!' N111u ICllOOL llouu, MASTEi\... :/... u4pttmble l MdatN )fou u,.n.i11c -L... cosr.... MllTRESI. Miw tt. tf..e1,. " hhd e:,,_,im:sttioo.i. i. rnf. ---,_ ---- p quartcri. Mallo... 11,...,. Ran9Ch, M:illow. Dnl 1 ri '-' P.hllow. D D" Ch:ird-lanc, ii>'.)!ni.ololn'o l1nc, Ja,es Slicehu,,- iu'.) 7.S' Srn llr, (U'.) u u nroom lane, (U'.)!=r llr., (0'.),, D' D' Richard MurrJ'ir - 1 uolnl&nl William llcarjan H. athnlic: J2nc Carey - John Co11cyo Corn' Connell It.catholic H.cuh.lic: n. calholic: n.u1holic Jolin Foley It. catholic Math Calb;;hau Sarah Coodon Micl1ael W&11h ll. catholic n. catj1olic n.catholic I 1 i Jon ane, Lu r,./ net atiu 11.. catholic C I ----j ---- fer IOY-<01tli"iuJ. ' I lrhllo - Cloyne- l12rr2ch, Jui Ann1tron' co1tli u1nl. culi,..cj. 1 (fthllow.) I j M : ; rc'et, I tu D2bing1on I D' J. Jolin ltynn I) llri1lj:c lrec1 Ucnit M Carthy (U-.) I SionCli:a I. Fair-lane. )kl'. J'l1ilip (':i.t('n..1 Tu..t,.hlkt-, Mn. Marth:i. John1 (l'f:1ifmlfl'1:l.. 1r M:i.in atrrct Thomas I loll1nd 1'1 M:i.in 11rcct habėlla Uc11non1l ---, protealant protestant It.catholic Jiucnter rrol('jtanl prote1tan1 rrotc1lant 0 p17 14/. or 151. a tcmpnnry tchonl l'ml9j h<lum 1Mtil<J1n,,e1..t nut11 r;11i1tlt'd. r lnnc, morl::ar 1nJ 1latc1I; built (o<. 1torc 'C'. p y t!)l. ;in 11prrr room in 1lu. alum: hou c. r r about-ul.101. fl'lllctl tuolllt ;. 11 pri utc hou c. p y about 30 (- or a hirur rnom in a 36/. th:itchtll ho1uc. p 7 1bou he long room in 1hc olj tuserubly hou,c. ray I 2bo1,1t 30 l. a room in mnstcr'a J ellin" l1ou10.: pay pa1 -r:: about 10 l. \ oboul '251. I a th:i1:hej h u1c; old. r 1.1ut 100/. room in muter' d ellin,; houh. p 1 about SI. 1hc kitch n or a inall tl tllin& hou.c; 10 I. to 15 I. ' r:iy nle or P:\1 nn e rc'llent l1ou1e,, a '"'II i.;ul. forml rly 111t:tcl1C't.l to "" l"''i"""'' 1l11;old lu1r L b11rr cl1. pny 11huut So/. n l nr11r.,1:ihlc lrnu"l' rn IL ll1ymi. tn.. p :i y nhout.:,o I. n;:n111\pri1;1lc h1 u_..c, rluh l l1y 1 :.11'IL'f. p :i y about J.il up1 rr ruum i11 t\ 1.,... 1 /0011 1;. free l'\o income, lum c n11:1cluj lo lln: cl1:111d; '20/, p 3y r r (rc-c abnut 100 >n ><.-1], nthou" f:uinc:11. al.iuut40 ui. nc:i1. 'Jol.; b1... ilk1 h'lllt.:j l.iy mi trt!i. ; in111jii1t.:r'1 l1u11"c'. l 'a" nr 1l1c old a ho1ae and m.irht h1i11.1 c,i11 11 fuel. Jil:1piJalL 1l late. I I u Carmich:"1cl'1 M.irG' fitzsc'ralj l:.nc. ")_/ Killi;tr11Sc:ir C:itherine Connor h rn. Hock mill, Jolin,)cn:ihy 1U. lyahali1k. 22 protntant ll.c:itholic II. C1tho1;, I r r r:ar ro:11 about 51. " ll tm:\ll hircj room GI. ina.c11.1tda'1l C'.1hi11. :il>out 10/. 1/1c.o. ky lr.i1cl11.. n.r k.. d.. J <,.;.?41. A 1latt.:J hou c; 4u/. I 132

135 THE SCHOOLS OF MALLOW IN 1826 At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the illegal hedge schools of the Penal Law period surfaced as legal Pay-schools or Classical schools.(5) Still without funds or Go t:rnment suppor of any kind, they now began to challenge the position of the heavily endowed Protestant schools. We shall look at these schools in Mallow in 1826, only five years before the establishment of the National Shcools Act of In the Second Report from the Commissioners of Irish Education Enquiry 1826, we get a very complete list of the schools in Mallow in that year.(6) Mallow schools are mentioned in most of the Reports which began in 1791 and continued to be published throughout the nineteenth century. In 1826 there were in all 22 schools in Mallow, 8 Protestant. one Dissenter and 13 Catholic. We enclose a table of information about these schools. The Horse Barracks School The first school on the table was in the Horse Barracks. It was situated to the right of the entrance to the present Castle, and was bounded to the south by the Reevoge, more commly known as the Gully. Henry Barry in his "English Settlement. in Mallow" Jives an account of the Horse Barrack.(7) In 1752, the buildings were in very bad repair. The accommodation included rooms for a Captain, Lieutenant, Cornet, Quartermaster and Sergeant, and five rooms to accommodate 40 men. Deal-Yard Lane School The second and third schools on the list were situated on Deal Yard Lane, directly across the Main St., from Chapel Lane. The schools were built on the site now occupied by the White Star Laundry. Originally it was a girls' school, but later a boys' school was added. These were Lancastrian schools, and fees of lp and Y2p were charged, but some students were unable to pay any fees. The schools were Catholic, taught by William Riordan and Gene Carey. There were 150 boys and 143 girls attending. Chapel Lane; Shoulders Lane The school in Chapel Lane was situated where the Lane joins the present carpark. It was in this area that the 1681 chalice was found in the ruins of an old house in 1940.(8) James Sheehan taught 36 Catholic children ''in a hired room in a thatched house" in Shoulders Lane. This Lane joins the Courthouse to the Main St. and runs parallel to O'Brien St. 133

136 The Long Room School No.. 6 on the list was situated in "the Long Room in the Old Assembly House." The Long Room was a two storey building built in 1738 on the site of the present Clock House. Over 40 years later, William O'Brien remembers it in his "Recollections":(9) 'The Long Room, in the days of its pride, was the casino or assembly room where tbe Grattans and Ned Lysaghts prof erred snuff boxes and sat at the card tables and danced minuets in the evenings''. O'Brien continues with a very interesting account on the Long Room School about 1860, describing a lockout of the teacher by the students in an effort to anticipate the Christmas vacation. Canon Sheehan, who gives us a wonderful account of the Mallow of his youth in "Moonlight of Memory",(10) was a fellow student of William O'Brien in this school, and his pathetic story "The Spoiled Priest"(ll) was probably written about this school. Broom Lane and Jones's Lane There was a school in Broom Lane, in a thatched house, where 48 Catholic children were taught by Matthew O'Callaghan. This lane, made famous by-mrs. O'Brien's book "Around Broom Lane"(l2) is now no more. It was demolished when Sullivan's Place was built. School No. 9 on the list was in a "room in the old Assembly House." This house was situated in the Spa, and is now known as the Brass Castle. There were 28 children in this school, taught by Sarah Condon. There was a school in 'the kitchen of a small dwelling house in Jones's Lane. This lane runs parallel to Fair St., and connects Main St. to Shoulders Lane. Tradition tells us that the Protestant school taught by Av. Babington was situated off Main St. in present day O'Brien St. where the Credit Union Offices are at present. Zion Chapel School No. 16 on the list is interesting. Zion Chapel or the Congregational Church occupied the site of the present cinema in Fair St. from 1822 to The school was attached to the Chapel, and in 1826 the Rev. Philip Caten taught 13 boys and 7 girls there. It was a free school, and as we are told he had no income, one wonders how he supported the school. In later years, the author of "The History of County and City of Cork", the Rev. Charles Gibson, taught in the school. 134

137 Broom Lane now demolished O'Brien Street & Town Hall Ruins, Mallow 135

138 Other Schools In S.R. Lysaght's "My Tower in Desmond"(13) there is mention of a John E. Jones owning a Newsagent and Stationery shop in Main St., where Mortells now have the fish shop. This was probably the site of school No. 17, where Mrs. Martha Jones taught 22 Protestant bc1ys and 4 Catholic boys for the princely salary of 100. Isabella Desmond taught 22 Protestant children and 6 Catholic, 12 boys and 20 girls in 'the old Market House', under the patronage of Mrs. Jephson, and superintended by a committee of ladies and gentlemen who subscribed 8 to tne support of the school. This was the only school that got funds from the Association for Discountenancing Vice. The present Market House at the top of O'Brien St. replaced the old Market House in This area was originally called "Ard Teampaill" according to a map attached to an old lease. This area may have been the site of an old church, probably pre-dating St. Ann's. The old Market Place was where the car-park now is. This school could have been situated there. School No. 20 was in Carmichael Lane, which connects Main St. with the Muddy Hill. Here Mgt. Fitzgerald, a Protestant taught 5 Protestant and 9 Catholic children, in a small hired room in a thatched cabin. Carmichael was a leading businessman in town, and owned property in this lane. We cannot trace the final school at Rockmills (Ballyahalisk). SUMMARY Of the eight Protestant schools, six (three of which were rented) appeared to be in good condition. Of the other two, one was part of the Market House and the other, in Carmichael Lane, 'was a small hired room in a thatched cabin.' Of the thirteen Catholic schools, nine were in hired rooms, in some cases in the house of the Headmaster. The other six seemed to be in their own private buildings, some of which appeared to be in reasonable condition. while others, for example 'the smoakey kitchen of a thatched cabin', were certainly in bad condition. The highest salary received by the teachers was 100 guineas, which one Protestant teacher got, while one Catholic teacher received 100. Thirteen teachers got less than 30 and one teacher was paid the lowly sum of 5 to 6. In all 988 children were involved, 206 Protestants and 782 Catholics. There were 632 boys and 356 girls. The number of 136

139 catholic children attending school appears to be small relative to the overall population, which about this time was almost 10,000 people.(14) Also the number of girls relative t<;> the n mb r of boys attending school appears to be out of proportion. It is evident that a sizeable number of Catholic children in the Mallow of 1826 were receiving no education. There were i:;io _funds av lable especi lly for the Catholic schools. School buildings were m bad repair; teachers were badly paid tld poorly educated. II SCHOOLS OF RAHAN, 1823 to 1833 We now discuss an educational project in Rahan, near Mallow between the years 1823 and Rev. G.R. Cotter was appointed Rector of the Protestant parish of Rahan in December, 1822.(15) Rahan parish, between Mallow and Killavullen, was six miles in length and 2Y2 miles wide, and in 1834 had the incredibly high population of 3,843 Catholics and 72 Protestants.(16) The area has historical associations. On the north side of the river at Carrigoon was a Garrison for James II in Directly opposite, on the other side of the river, stands the castle of Ballymagooly which was garrisoned by the English, and in 1791 the Battle of Bottle Hill was fought to relieve it. A grant of a market and two fairs was made by Charles II with a court of 'Pied Poudre' for the Manor of Cotterborough. These have long since disappeared. There were three large ancestral homes in the area: Rockforest, the home of Sir John L. Cotter; Rockforest Lodge, the residence of Pierce Creagh; and Ballymagooly, the home of John Courtney. There was a Protestnat Church and a Wesleyan Church in the parish.(17) Tradition tells us of the large number of shops and dwellings that dotted the area, some situated near what was then the main Cork-Dublin road. Other houses were built near the site of the Pottery Factory, which used the local clay to make pottery for export. Samples of the pottery can be picked up in ploughed land to the present day. To-day, Rahan presents a totally different picture. One Church is in ruins, and the other is in private hands. There is one shop/bar. The Castle is in ruins, as is also the Garrison. The three ancestral homes are now the homes of prosperous farmers. Perhaps the greatest change - the population to-day is between 700 and 800. New Rector The Rev. Mr. Cotter, the son of Sir James Cotter of Rockforest, was educated at the Adaire school in Fermoy, and Trinity College, Dublin. During his ten years as Vicar in the parish, 137

140 the Parish school was built and opened, 13 Protestnat schools were established and a number of 0thers planned. Teachers were trained, Scripture readers were introduced. and Protestant Bibles were distributed.(18) He kept a very detailed Diary of all his activities, and I wish to thank Rev. Mr. Cummins, the present Rector of Mallow and Buttevant for allowing me to use it. Large sums of money were received from six different Protestant Societies. They were : The Kildare Place Society, the Society for Discountenancing Vice, The Irish Society, the London Hibernian Society, The Lord Lieutenant's School Fund, and the British Reformation Society. All these societies insisted on the use of the Protestant Bibles and Cathechism in their schools.(19) Opposition The enclosed table shows the location of the schools and their duration. Some lasted longer than others. All the schools were 138

141 opposed by the Priests of the parish, Fr. Jones and Fr. Duane, who visited the schools and strongly disapproved of Catholic children attending them. A bitter struggle followed. Letters to the Cork Constitution(20) and the Cork Mercantile Chronicle(21) give interesting details of the controversy, which reached its climax in the public excommunication of six parents in Mallow on Sunday, January 30, 1831, by Rev. Michael Scannell.(22) The Irish Schools The establishment of eight Irish schools in Rahan is a very interesting facet of this project. On June 17, 1824, the first two Irish schools were opened, one at Ballynagar and the other at Bollogue. Ballynagar was in the centre of the parish of Rahan, close to the Nagle mountains, about four miles from the Mallow/Fermoy road, and was one of the most populous districts of the area. Bollogue, on the other hand, was but a mile from Mallow on the main road. Within three years, six other schools under the auspices of the Irish Society were opened. Five of these foundations(23) - Levally, The Island, Knockbrack, KnockanaJiing(23A) and Ballynagar - encircled a very thickly populated area in the southern end of the parish. The townland of Knockbrack alone had the very large population of 1,002. The other three schools were opened in the remaining two large centres of population: Pierpoint in East Rahan with a population of 864, and Bollogue and Ballymagooly in West Rahan where 813 people lived. Spoken Irish The textbook used in the school was the Irish translation of the Bible made by Bishop Bede! of Kilmore in 1722.(24) The teachers were expected to have a speaking and reading knowledge of Irish and English to enable them to read the Protestant Irish Bible and translate it into English. The Irish Society had no interest in the Irish language but used it as an instrument to teach English(25). According to its constitution, the Irish Society 'established schools in those districts where Irish is spoken'. Irish, therefore, must have been widely spoken in Rahan, especially in the uplands, at that time. A very interesting note in the Rev. Cotter's manuscript confirms that fact: "Number of persons in the parish who cannot speak English at all, according to a very particular enquiry made by me in the course of the year (1831) : 107. At Ballinvuskig, 7; East-West Rahan, 24; Fidane, 9; Knockbrack, 46; Monee, 12; Ballymagooly, 6; Carrigoon, 3." At the present day, not a word of Irish is spoken in the parish of Rahan. 139

142 General summary of the schools of Rahan The following list of the Protestant schools in the Parish of Rahan between 1823 and 1833 is compiled from the Rahan Manuscript. The foundation date of each school, when the shcool closed, d the individuals or societies who supported the school are also given. IWll OPENED CLCBED Societies Pl.roohial lilala 22 Jlarch, 1824 Attel>llanoe Uldare Place 1 ml Jl' le greatl7.lee. for Diec Sob col, fluotuated Vice I Lond. and in 18}}, lad.1 llunater Ter;r oon- a. Carle Hiber.1 eiderabl;r Lord Lieu. fall.n off, Sohool Fund.I - lendlar.d1 Scholars. Rocldaren (June 1, 1820) Still Ill.dare Place. Gate :r-1 lluoh repaired warkidg in in 1824, 18}3 C&rri.!OClll lila7 4, 1824.!lever attempted.. opened. Bal June 17th,l824. Before Ariah Societ;r Bol.ogua Jrne 17th,l824. Before Irish Societ;r Xnocltanamg(.2 J J >ept not Kildare Plaoe man;r eh i ldren Dron Rahan.t.i;ril 11, 1825 JulJ 1827 o Kildare Place; (Pierpoint) ll 11ter Hib, Society, i: Before 1830 Irish Societ7 ( 0) hlar.d. Oct. 11, 1825 Still operat- lord Lieut, inr in 1833 Fund. hla.l>ll Before 1830 Irish Socie t;r Pierpoint 1826 Before 1828 Irish Socie t;r.!_all.,...oob 1826(? l 1827 Irish Society lnocltanan,- 'Far a TBr'J' ahart period' eome- Irish Society time be!ore 1828.:a;br-;- 1For a Tery ahort period 1 aome - Irish Socie 1;y tia before Stri}'tul't J, Reill;r - Jan 1824 bri t, Ref arm. a.. drr.;,., Fl'J'nn Sooiet11 J ocl.llth , Lon. Biber.Soo 1 J Shilehan a. J. Prioe 1 18 The eight Irish schools were all closed within fi'\le years of their foundation. Indeed, by 1833, only four of the fourteen schools were still in existence, and in those the numbers were greatly reduced. To-day, there is one Catholic school in Rahan, with two teachers and over fifty pupils. 140 Col

143 DI General Standard of Education In Cork County In 1855 On August 25, 1855, Denis Brennan Bullen M.D., Vice-President of the Royal Cork Institution and Professor of Medicine. at Queen's College gave evidence in Cork before the Commissioners of Education.(26) He was questioned on the general state of education in Cork City and County. From his interview it is evident that Post-primary or Intermediate education was far from satisfactory. Parents generally were dissatisfied with the standard, and after one year the well-to-do withdrew their children from the local schools and sent them to boarding schools in other parts of Ireland or to England. The commercial, classical and English education in Cork City and County - with the possible exception of the commercial education in the city - was most unsatisfactory and in many cases was below the standard demanded for entry to Queen's Colelge. The primary education of the poorer classes seemed to be much more satisfactory and this was particularly true of Cloyne Diocese in the middle of the 19th century.(27) The Hedge Schools, and the very many Classical and Payschools throughout the county gave the poorer classes a very good grounding in elementary education. Fr. Peter O'Laoire(28) gives a detailed account of the classical schools he attended in Macroom and Kanturk, and William O'Brien(29) received a wide classical training from 'old Fitzgerald' in Mallow in The work of Nano Nagle(30) from Killavullen very quickly had its influence on the youth of the Diocese. Presentation Convent schools for the education of the poorer classes, mainly elementary, were established in Doneraile(l818), Midleton(l834), Youghal(l834), Fermoy(l838), and Mitchelstown(l853). After 1831, National Schools were being established throughout the county. They eventually destroyed the old Hedge schools and Classical Academies, and did not supply anything like efficient substitutes.(31) Nevertheless, they gave a fundamental training at a primary level to the youth. The non-catholic sectarian societies were very active in all areas, and they expended vasts amounts of money on education but with little effect. While these many schools and organisations provided the poorer classes with education in the lower grades, there were very few institutions catering for higher education at pre-university standards. Dr. Harrington's boarding school(32) at Cobb, where Daniel O'Connell was educated, ceased when Dr. Harrington died in

144 Dr. oppinger, the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese, attempted to continue tha school as. a Diocesan Seminary and appointed Dr. Crotty, a diocesan pnes t returned from Louvain, as its first Headmaster. Dr. Crotty, however, was appointed President of Maynooth, and therefore never took over the school.(33) Fr. Fitzpatrick, another priest of the Diocese, had a school of fifty eight boys, in luding three Protestants, in F rmoy in 1824, but that school had disappeared by 1830.(34) Durmg the next thirty years, several efforts were made by the different Catholic Bishops to establish a Diocesan Seminary(35) to give higher education to the youth of the Diocese, but not until 1858 was St. Colman's College, Fermoy opened for that purpose.(36) In the meantime, Loretto Convent, Fermoy had been opened in 1853 to give similar education to girls.(37) Between 1864 and 1870, the Christian Brothers had oppened schools in Mitchelstown, Charleville, Mallow, and Midleton for the higher educaion ofboys.(38) All these Catholic institutions were unendowed, supported only by private subscriptions, and they got no financial help from the Government or from the different scoieties. There were, of course, many endowed Protestant schools in the Diocese, eager to give higher secondary education to youth - the Protestant Diocesan School at Cloyne and Mallow, Private Classical schools at Midleton, Charleville and Youghal, and an English School in Cloyne supported by Bishop's Crowe's fund.(39) All these schools were sectarian and heavily endowed. For the Catholic youth, therefore in the first half of the nineteenth century, there were few opportunities to obtain education to a pre-university standard. It is not surprising, then, that Dr. Bullen in his evidence emphasises the low standard of students presenting themselves for matriculation at Queen's College, Cork. At this time, also, Dr. (later Cardinal) Newman was attempting to establish a Catholic University in Dublin,(40) and experiencing great difficulty in getting Irish Catholic students sufficiently qualified to matriculate into the University. The absence of suitable Catholic schools to train the pupils to pre-university level was a great drawback to the youth of the county, including Mallow, in the first half of the nineteenth century. 142

145 IV THE DIOCESAN FREE SCHOOL OF CLOYNE: Now we come to another Protestant school which finished its days here in Mallow, the Cloyne Diocesan School. Up to the suppression of the Irish monasteries by Henry v.111 in 1539, the monastic schools gave the youth of Ireland a high standard of education at all levels(41) Parish schools were founded to take their place. They failed. In 1570 the Diocesan Free Schools were established by an Act of the Elizabethan Parliament. Each diocese was to defray the cost of its own school, paying the salary of the schoolmaster, the Protestant Bishop paying one third, and the other ecclesiastical persons in the Diocese paying the remaining two thirds.(42) Nothing happened in Cloyne for almost 150 years. On 6 April, 1728, the Bishop of Cloyne, Dr. Henry Maule granted 114 acre in the town of Cloyne for such a school.(43) The school was a small one. In 1788, it was described as 'a small house not fit for boarders.'(44) Rev. Mr. Slater was appointed Headmaster, and his salary was 30 per year. In 1788, according to the 1791 Report, the school had a Headmaster but there were no pupils attending the school. By 1798, things had improved, and we find 30 students in the school, under the Headship of Rev. W. Butler.(45) The Educational Commissioners of 1809 recommended the amalgation of a number of Diocesan schools into one Provincial School, and as a result, the schools at Cloyne and Roscarbery (Ross) were closed in 1823, and one district school for the united dioceses of Cork, Cloyne, Ross was established at Princes St., Cork(46) The Rev. Armstrong was appointed Headmaster at the very high salary of 100 p.a. At first, it appeared to be very successful. In 1825, there were 117 dayboys and 13 boarders attending. Very quickly, the fortunes of the school changed once more. The Urand Jury, or County Council, failed to build a suitable school, (47) and the growing competition of the National schools forced the union of the schools to be dissolved and in 1837 a separate Diocesan school was built for Cloyne, this time in Mallow. A note by the Commissioners explains why Mallow was chosen: "The size of Mallow and its position in connection with the railway communication of the South of Ireland marks it out as well situated for a Diocesan school. "(48) 143

146 Mallow The school was not a large building, as like its predecessor in Cloyne, the annual valuation was only one pound. It was built on an acre of ground.(49) The schoolmaster was appointed by the Lord Lieutenant, and received an annual salary of 92.6s.2d. In a short time, we find the school in difficulties once more. A brief note in the 1856/58 Report on Endowed Schools states: 'Mastership vacant from 1850 until September 1857' and therefore the school is closed. A further note of complaint appears in Vol. III of same Report: 'No school house built by Grand Jury, in consequence ot there having been no appointment by the Lord Lieutenant, endowment not paid by Bishop and clergymen. The land is now in occupation of a tenant who pays no rent for it. "(50) Landscape Terrace In September, 1857 the Lord Lieutenant filled the vacant Mastership of Mallow once again, and the school was reopened at Landscape Terrace. Rev. J. Wilson Wright, a Trinity graduate of distinction,(51) was appointed at a salary of 100 p.a. He was assisted by a French Usher whom William O'Brien in his 'Recollections' describes as "a bit of a dandy, but also a man of parts",(52) an intelligent man who did not gain the confidence of his students and had little control in class: The Headmaster however was quite the opposite. Quarter of the pupils were Catholic. A letter written by the Headmaster Wilson Wright in 1859 gives us an interesting sidelight on the school in that year.(53) Cloyne Diocesan School, Mallow January II, 1859 Sir, Since I last communicated with you, two RQman Catholics have been sent to me by the Priest here to apply for a classical education preparatory to becoming priests. There is a Roman Catholic College at Fermoy for Candiqate priests. And it is with a view to entering the College that they have made this application to me by the direction of their parish priest - I shall feel obliged to you if you can inform me whether the Commissioners would. oblidge me to admit those youths into this school - Of course the Protestant clergy may be expected to say that they have no right to pay for the 144

147 support of a school where Candidates for the Roman Catholic Priesthood are prepared, and it is partly in anticipation of such an objection being raised that I would now apply to the Commissioners through you, sir, to inform me whether they would oblidge me to admit such pupils, slfould an appeal be made to me for that purpose. - I trust, _Sir, that you may be able to communicate with me on this subject soon, as well as on the matter which I brought before you in my last, and I shall be oblidged. I have the honour to be Sir Your obedient servant, John Wilson Wright, Diocesan Schoolmaster for Cloyne. From this letter it seems the school enjoyed a high reputation in the town in We have been unable to trace any reply to this letter. William 0 'Brien William O'Brien, who entered this school in 1865 describes it as "the Principal Highschool of the district"(54) His remarks about his historical studies in the school gives us some idea of the course followed: "I read Hume's heresies about St. Thomas a Becket, and about the hapless Queen of Scots and about the Battle of the Boyne with as easy a mind, as in days to come I perused the Times articles on "Parnellism and Crime." The standard of Classics caused very little difficulty to O'Brien in the school during those years. "My mastery of the common Classics gave me an easy ascendancy over the bulk of my honest blunder-headed comrades, who had no soul for the languages, and whom I spent half my time helping over the style." But of course we should not forget that William O'Brien had previously attended a classical school in the Spa(55) kept ''by a worthy old soul, Mr. Edward Fitzgerald, under whose scratch wig the whole world of Greece and Rome was palpitating. By the time he was 12 years old, O'Brien "knew all about Virgil, could construct thrashy Greek verses, could tell every battle of the wars of Greece and Rome and could rattle through all the common classics, both Latin and Greek" What a standard for a 12 year old. The End Soon after 1860, a new school was built, according to O'Brien: "A pretentious villa affair in a park". It was a fine two storey building, standing in its own grounds on the Mallow Buttevant road, less than a quarter of mile fro Mallow. With the next decade, Catholic Secondary schools providing a sound classical and commercial education were established in Mallow and through the Diocese. The schools of the Sisters of 145

148 Mercy were already operating. On 19 October, 1869, the Cork Examiner gives an account of a meeting called to collect funds for the Christian Brothers' school which had already started in the town. These schools inevitably affected the Mallow Diocesan school. The end came quickly. Under Section 16 of the Act of 26 July, 1869, which disestablished the Protestant Church in Ireland, it was provided that the salaries of the existing Diocesa-1\ schoolmasters should continue to be paid to each of them during their life, and by an amending Act of 1872, it became possible for them to commute their life interest for a lump sum.(56) This arrangement terminated the Mallow Diocesan School. Its beautiful and spacious grounds were sold, and have been privately owned since then. At the present time +. it is called Annabella House, and is owned by Mr. P. O'Meara,.l:lar, Nose and Throat Surgeon, Mallow. THE BROTHERS' SCHOOLS AND THE NATIONAL SYSTEM In 1830, a plan for national Education in Ireland was submitted to Edward Stanley, the new chief secretary, by Thomas Wyse M.P. for Tipperary. Stanley consulted Bishop Doyle of Kildare (J.K.L.). By the end of 1831, a new system for schools was worked out. In essence, it meant the withdrawing of all grams from endowed and private schools, and the substitution of a system of secular undenominational education. The first Board of seven Commissioners met in December, 1831; two were Catholic, three members of the Church of Ireland, one Presbyterian and one Unitarian.(57) Catholic Reaction The initial Catholic reaction was quiet approval. Much had been gained and they were prepared to give the system an opportunity to prove itself. The presence of the Archbishop of Dublin on the Board reassured them.(58) In 1851, Bishop Mur1'ly of Cloyne summed up the situation: "I am not a wholesale denouncer of the system of Irish National Education. Like all other productions of mere human creation it has its blended perfections and defects. If I can fairly avail of the former and mitigate the later, I have no scruple in doing so. "(59) One Bishop, however, Dr. McHale of Tuam vehemently opposed the National Schools system, and refused to allow it into his diocese. He held it was the beginning of the secularisation of the 146

149 schools, and the exclusion of religion. He pointed to the fact that only two out of the sev(!n Commissioners were Catholics even though the vast majority of the children in the schools were Catholic; he objected to the religious textbooks used in the schools, to the exclusion 0f Irish history, Irish culture, and the Irish language.(60) The Bishops decided to consult Rome. The answer from Rome was that the system should neither be approved nor condemned. The decision should be left to each individual Bishop for his own diocese. There was lack of uniformity, therefore, among the Bishops.(61) Religious Orders The first half of the nineteenth century was the beginning of the great teaching Religious Orders. The Sisters of Mercy, founded by Catherine McCauley, was at this time becoming one of the largest teaching congregations in the country. Catherine McAuley discussed taking her schools into the National System with Bishop Murray of Dublin. She agreed with his approach, and in 1839 decided to associate with the National School system.(62) So also did the Presentation Sisters. Even though difficulties lay ahead and some convent schools eventually withdrew from the National Board, by the year 1870 there were 168 convent schools in Ireland, and 110 were attached to the National School system(63), Christian Brothers The situation concerning the Brothers' Schools was very different. The Irish Christian Brothers was one of the first teaching orders in the country, followed by the Patrician Brothers. Brother Rice, Superior of the Christian Brothers, hesitated to join the National System. After a number of interviews with Archbishop Murray of Dublin he agreed to give the system a trial. As a result, six of his schools applied for the grants. However, it was quickly realised that restrictions placed on the teaching of religion by the Board were incompatible with the Borthers' concept of Catholic education. At a general chapter in 1836 it was unanimously decided that ''the Christian Brothers sever totally their connection with the National Baord on account of the restrictions which that system placed on religious teaching, making it a crime to say a word or make a sign connected wfth religion during four fifths of the school day."(64) Christian Brothers in Mallow This then was the situation when in 1868 five Christian Brothers came to Mallow to take up residence in the present Monastery to teach the boys of Mallow. The Parish was responsible for maintaining the school and the Monastery, and two annual Church gate collections were held. Bishop McCarthy of Cloyne, like his predecessor, Dr. Murphy, had decjded to accept the National School system, and Archdeacon O'Regan P.P. Mallow, would welcome the grant to pay the teachers and defray the debt on 147

150 the building. As we have seen, the Christian Brothers had withdrawn from the system. Conflict was inevitable. On St. Patrick's Day, 1879, the Christian Brothers quietly left. the to n at midnight, having handed over the keys to the Pansh Pnest.. The pe? ple protested, demanded explanations, formed committees, objected strongly to the introduction of the 'pagan' National schools system to Mallow, and demanded the return of the Christian &others. On t e night of April 19, 1879, a group of people, some under t e mfluence of drink, attacked the Monastery building, brok e wmdows, burned some of the blackboards and desks, and in. all did 300 worth of damage. The R.l.C. occupied the school for some weeks afterwards, and eight men were arrested and placed in the Bridewell. Fr. P.A. Sheehan C.C. condemned the attack from the pulpit.(65) Patrician Brothers The controversy continued through the Summer. Calm was finally restored when the Parish Priest promised to search for another Order of Brothers to teach in the school. At the request of Archbishop Croke of Cashel and Bishop McCarthy of Cloyne, the Patrician Brothers came to Mallow. The Cork Examiner of October 17, 1879 carries the following: The Mallow Schools. From our Correspondent, Mallow, Thursday evening. "To-day, much to the general satisfaction of the people of Mallow, the late educational difference here was brought to a happy termination by the inauguration of the Brothers of St. Patrick into the parish as a teaching body, the schools having been taken possession of by them this morning when they met the local clergymen. The Brothers having seen the schools which are often so greatly admired by strangers were much pleased by their architecture, style and beauty, as well as with the accommodation afforded in them. The charge of the school has been entrusted to Brother Gerome McAuley. To meet the educational wants of the respectable Catholic youth of Mallow and the adjoining districts, a classical and commercial academy will be opened under the special direction of the superior. The course of studies will be such as to embrace the requirements of the new Intermediate Education Act and the Civil Service. The course in Classics will qualify students for entering any of the ecclesiastical colleges or the Catholic University, so that here a new field will be opened up for the students." Over the past 103 years the hopes of the people and pupils of Mallow were more than justified. 148

151 REFERENCES (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7} (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) "History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century" W.H. Lecky Vol. i P.148 (Longmans, Green & Co., Bombay and Calcutta, 1913). (i) "Irish Priests in the Penal Times " W.P. Burke P.371 (N. Harvey & Co., Waterford, 1914). (ii) ''Some Lists of Catholic Lay Teachers, and their Illegal Schools in The Latter Penal Times" Rev. T. Corcoran, S.J. P.20 (Gill, Dublin, 1932). (iii) "Selected Texts on Educat_ion Systems in Ireland from the close of the Middle Ages" Rev. T. Corcoran, S.J. pp.52/3/4 (Printed for Academic Use in Dept. of Education, U.C.D., 1928). "The Fortunes of the Irish Language" D. Corkery p (Fallon, Dublin, 1954) "Ireland in the Eighteenth Century" E.M. Johnston (Gill History of Ireland Series, No. 7, Gill & Macmillan Ltd., Dublin, 1972). "Ireland before the Famine " Gearoid O'Tuathaigh pp. 98/9 (Gill History of Ireland Series No. 9, 9ill & Macmillan Ltd., Dublin, 1972). ''Reports of the Commissioners of Irish Education Enquiry, ". "English Settlement in Mallow" Henry Berry. "A History of Mallow" Evelyn Bolster. P.63 (Cork Historical Guides Committee, 1971). "Recollections" Wiliiam O'Brien. P.15/17 (Macmillan & Co., London, 1905). "Moonlight of Memory" from "Literary Life - Essays & Poems" Canon Sheehan. (Pheonix Publishing Company, Dublin). "A Spoiled Priest" Canon Sheehan. (Pheonix Publishing Company, Dublin). "Around Broom Lane" Mrs. William O'Brien. "My Tower in Desmond" S.R. Lysaght. "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland" Samuel Lewis. Vol. 2, pp. 238/9. (Lewis & Co. Ltd., London, 1838&. "Parochial Records of Cork, Cloyne & Ross" M. Brady. Vol. II, pp.368/9. (Dublin, Thomas, 1863). 149

152 (16) "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland" Samuel Lewis. Vo. 2 P "National Gazeteer of Gt. Britain and Ireland" Ed. N.E. Hamilton. Vol. IX, P.276. "Parliamentary Gazeteer of Ireland" Vol. III. (Edinbury, Fullerton, 1844) P.105. (17) "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland" Samu! Lewis. Vol. 2, P {18) "Rahan Manuscript" in possession of Rev. Mr. Cummins, Mallow. (19) "Selected Texts on Education Systems in Ireland" T. Corcoran, S.J. pp (U.C.D. 1928). "Report on Education in Ireland, 1825" P. 83. "Life of J.K.L." Fitzpatrick. Vol. 1, P. 72. "Schools of Kildare & Leighlin" by Mr. Brennan. Dublin Gill P "History of the City of Dublin" by Warburton, London, II. ps 885 to 893. (20) "Cork Constitution", Feb. 5 and Feb. 15 and March 17, (21) ''The Cork Mercantile Chronicle''. Feb. 9 and Feb. 15, (22) "The Cork Constitution", March 17, (23) The Rahan Manuscript. (23A] 1825 Report on Education in Ireland, 1826, ps 952 to 955. (24) "History of Dublin" by Warburton. ps "Irish Education, a Historical Survey" by J.J. Aughmuty. Dublin, p. 42. (25) "Selected Texts on Educational Systems in Ireland." by Rev. T. Corcoran S.J. U.C.D., 1928 p Report on Education, p. 83, 84. (26) Report on Education, ; Evidence, Vol. 1, p Nos (27) "Notes on Education Reforms in Ireland". W.M. Wyse p Waterford, (28) "Mo Sgeal Fein" by Peadar O'Laoire. p Br. and Nolan, Dublin. 150

153 (29) (30) "Recollections" by William O'Brien. London, McMillan, p. 25, 26. "Nano Nagle and the Presentation Sisters." T.P. Walsh. Dublin, Oill, p (31) "Newman's University, Idea and Reality". F. McGrath S.J., p (32) History of Queenstown". Dennehy and Coleman. Cork, Ouy, p. 84, SS. Cork Hist. & Arch. Society Journal. Vol. 11; 1893; p. 33. "Personal Recollections of Daniel O'Connell" by W.J.. O'Neill Daunt. p. 116, 117. "The Cork Mercantile Chronicle". March 5, (33) "Maynooth College. Its Centenary and History". Dublin, Br. and Nolan, 1895, p (34) 1825 Report on Education, p (35) "Maynooth College" by Healy, p. 233, 402. (36) Cork Examiner, August, (37) "Mrs. Ball, a Biography" W. Hutch. Dublin, Duffy, p (38) "Edmund Ignatius Rice and the Christian Brothers" by a Christian Brother. Dublin, Gill, p (39) Report on Endowed Schools. III. p Report on Education. p. 113, 279, 289. (40) "Newman's University, Idea and Reality". McGrath. p. 372, 373, 506, 509. (41) "Ireland from A.D. 800 to A.D. 1600". J. Ryan S.J., Dublin, Br. and Nolan, p (42) 12 Eliz. C.l (43) "Records of Cork Cloyne and Ross." W.M. Brady. Dublin, p. 113,4. "Fasti Ecclesiae". Munster I. Henry Cotton, Dublin, lksl. p (44) Report on Education, (see 1856 Report, II, p. 367). (45) Report on Endowed Schools, p. 38. Rebellion Papers - Education. 1807/8. (Record Office, Dublin.). 151

154 (46) (47) (48) (49) (SO) (Sl) "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland". by Lewis. I. p Report on Endowed Schools, 1856/58. I. p. 71. Report on Endowed Schools, 1856/58. p. 38 (In 1851 the population of Mallow was see Census of 1851). ' Report on Endowed Schools, 1858, p.44. Report on Endowed Schools, 1956/58. III, p Report of Endowed Schools, p. 32. Guy's Almanc, (S2) "Recollections" by William O'Brien. p. 27. (S3) Original mss with writer. (S4) "Recollections" by William O'Brien. p. 27,28. (SS) "Recollections" by William O'Brien. p. 16 to 19. (S6) "The Diocesan Schools, 1570 to 1870" by Michael Quane. Cork Hist. and Arch. Soc. Journal, p. 48, 49. (S7) "Edmund Ignatius Rice and the Christian Brother.S" p (S8) "Edmund Ignatius Rice and the Christian Brothers". p (S9) Tablet, November 8, Towards the end of his life, Dr. Murphy had grave reservations about the National System. Shortly before his death he wrote to Propaganda: 'To speak of Catholic education in Catholic Ireland in the future will be to speak of a thing of the past existing no longer.' see 'Catholic Education: Primary Education' by Ignatius Murphy. (History of Irish Catholicism. V.) p. 26. (60) 'Catholic Education: Primary Education' by Murphy. p. 15. (61) Above. p. 17 (62. 'Nano Nagle and the Presentation Sisters' by T.J. Walsh. Dublin, Gill, p. 214, 215. (63) Above. p. 228, 229. (64) 'Catholic Education: Primary Education' by Murphy. p. 27. (65) 'Ignatius Rice and the Christian Brothers'. P From the beginning of April to mid October, 1879, the local newspapers carry many times a week accounts, letters, poems on the 'Mallow School Affair". See 'The Cork Examiner', the 'Nation', 'The Freeman's Journal', the 'Herald'. 152

155 MALLOW FIELD CLUB By: Sean O'Reilly For a number of years prior to 1952 some men in Mallow Sugar Factory discussed the history and antiquities of Mallow and other paris of North Cork at their lunch break. These included Messrs. Pat O'Shea, Gerry Sweeney, Oliver Murphy, Thomas O'Reilly and Sean O'Reilly. Mr. Pat O'Shea had made the acquaintance of Mr. William Abbott, a recent resident of the town, lodging with the Hogan family in Shortcastle. Mr. Abbott was a retired Civil Engineer who worked abroad and a great local historian. His father was Archdeacon Abbott, Church of Ireland rector of Fermoy. When Mr. Abbott enquired about the formation of an historical Society, Mr. Pat O'Shea told him of the people in the Sugar Factory who would be enthusiastic. The following day Mr. Pat O'Shea met the Group in his office in the General Stores and explained that Mr. Abbott would like to meet them. This could be claimed to be the first meeting of Mallow Field Club. On the following night Mr. Abbott in Hogan's house was satisfied with his group, and decided to issue notices for a general public meeting in the Hibernian Hotel on June 17th At this inaugural meeting Fr. Murphy (now Canon Murphy in Charleville), was elected President, Brigadier M.D. Jephson Vice-President, Mr. Abbott Secretary. The Committee were - Rev. J. Wilson, Canon Murphy, Buttevant, Fr. Cusack, Rev. F.H. Garrett, Mr. Kennedy Roche, Dr. O'Meara, Dr. Twomey, Mr. Pat O'Shea and Mr. Sean O'Reilly. A set of rules was agreed upon. The Society was to be composed of volunteers only, and strictly non-political. It was to be named "Mallow Field Club, Historical and Archaeological Society." The objects were - the collection, preservation, and diffusion of all available information regarding the past of Mallow town, parish and district, and to extend our enquiries when necessary. Also for the keeping of a record of local current events. Brigadier Jephson offered the free use of the books in his extensive Castle library to the members. Monthly outings were arranged, and winter lectures. The first outing was held in August to Leaba Callee megalithic tomb and Glanworth district. The speaker was the late Professor M.J. O'Kelly of U.C.C. 153

156 After many active years, the Field Club became inactive for a short period. In the Autumn of 1979, Fr. Robert Forde in consultation with members of the Field Club arranged a lecture to be given by Mr. Diarmuid O'Donabhain at Liberty Hall, Fair St.1 on Monday, December 17th. Due to illness, Mr. O'Donabbain wu unable to attend, but with the large number of people present it wu decided to re-constitute the Mallow Field Club. A committee was selected as follows: Chairman, Fr. R. Forde, Secretary, Mr. Sean O'Reilly, Assistant Secretary, Mr. Seamus Crowley, Treasurer, Mr. Bertie Murphy, Assistant Treasurer, Mr. Donal Nunan. P.R.O., Mr. Sean O'Rahilly Mahony, Archivist, Mr. Jim Copps. The new Committee immediately re-arranged Mr. O'Donobhain's Lecture on "Seamus Murphy, the famous sculptor," for February, Since then, a regular programme of six lectures in Winter and six 9utings in Summer has been arranged. Rev. J. Wilson, Brigadier Jephson, Canon T. Murphy and Thomas O'Reilly. 154

157 Founder Members of Mallow Field Club. Rev. J. Wilson, Mr. W. Abbott end Mr. Sean O'Reilly. Founder Members of Mallow Field Club. Mr. S..n Buck19y end Mr. Pllt O'Shea. 155

158 The Editorial Committee would be glad to consider letters and documents of worthwhile historic Interest for possible inclusion in future issues of tne Journal. Contributions to any member of the Committee, or : Seamus Crowley, Chairman, Mallow Field Club, Corcalea, Spa Glen, Ma llow. Mellow Fl1ld Club Outing,

159 ':_NIOR COMMITTEE : Seamus Crowley Mrs. Lil O'Brien Mrs. Hetty Kiely Bertie Murphy Donal Nunan Jim Copps Sean O'Reilly Sean O'Rahilly-O'Mahony Rev. R. Forde John Kavanagh Josephine Kelleher Chairman Joint Secretaries Treasurer Asst. Treasurer Archivist P.R.0. Asst. P.R.0. Noreen Weldon Pat Sheehan Kevin Myers ********************* JUNIOR COMMITTEE : Fred Buckley John Noonan Conor Cunningham Donnacha Burke Liam Buckley Margaret Kelle her Chairman P.R.O. Secretary Joh n Leahy Michael O'Sullivan Pat Healy Denis Kelleher *********************

OFFALY ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION IN CONVERSATION WITH... PART OF THE ENGAGE WITH ARCHITECTURE PROJECT 2012 IRISH LIFE AND LORE SERIES

OFFALY ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION IN CONVERSATION WITH... PART OF THE ENGAGE WITH ARCHITECTURE PROJECT 2012 IRISH LIFE AND LORE SERIES IRISH LIFE AND LORE SERIES OFFALY ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION IN CONVERSATION WITH... PART OF THE ENGAGE WITH ARCHITECTURE PROJECT 2012 CATALOGUE OF 5 RECORDINGS www.irishlifeandlore.com Irish Life and Lore

More information

TANDRAGEE Some Historical Notes

TANDRAGEE Some Historical Notes TANDRAGEE Some Historical Notes By K. KILPATRICK The town of Tkndragee was the ancient headquarters of the O'Hanlon family. The name usually interpreted as meaning "back to the wind" probably derives from

More information

Photographs taken during a visit by Bryanston Village History Group 2015 showing the interior of the beautifully kept Portman Chapel.

Photographs taken during a visit by Bryanston Village History Group 2015 showing the interior of the beautifully kept Portman Chapel. The Portman Chapel Until 1898, when the new church of St Martin s was built, the building (now commonly known as the Portman Chapel) was the Church for the Parish of Bryanston. Very little is known about

More information

World History (Survey) Chapter 14: The Formation of Western Europe,

World History (Survey) Chapter 14: The Formation of Western Europe, World History (Survey) Chapter 14: The Formation of Western Europe, 800 1500 Section 1: Church Reform and the Crusades Beginning in the 1000s, a new sense of spiritual feeling arose in Europe, which led

More information

Glasgow College as Adam Smith knew it by far the happiest and most honourable period of my life

Glasgow College as Adam Smith knew it by far the happiest and most honourable period of my life Glasgow College as Adam Smith knew it by far the happiest and most honourable period of my life ANNAN,Thomas. Photographs of Glasgow College. Glasgow, T.Annan [1866] Oblong folio album, original green

More information

Who is Croke of Croke Park?

Who is Croke of Croke Park? 1 Who is Croke of Croke Park? ~ Who is the Croke of Croke Park and how he has left a selfie of himself in the cathedral he consecrated and is buried in ~ Let s start at the end! as Archbishop Thomas Croke

More information

Christ Church Berwick Historic Church Bell and Memorial Plaques Display

Christ Church Berwick Historic Church Bell and Memorial Plaques Display Christ Church Berwick Historic Church Bell and Memorial Plaques Display July 2011 CHRIST CHURCH MEMORIALS In 1863 the Parish Plan drawn up by the State Government established a site for the Church of England

More information

Dornoch Cathedral 1. Dornoch Cathedral HISTORYLINKS SCHOOLPACKS HISTORYLINKS SCHOOLPACKS

Dornoch Cathedral 1. Dornoch Cathedral HISTORYLINKS SCHOOLPACKS HISTORYLINKS SCHOOLPACKS Dornoch Cathedral 1 Dornoch Cathedral Dornoch Cathedral 2 Background information The town of Dornoch owes its very existence to the Cathedral you see before you. Gilbert de Moravia, Bishop of Caithness,

More information

PLACES OF WORSHIP: THE CHALLENGE OF CONTINUING USE

PLACES OF WORSHIP: THE CHALLENGE OF CONTINUING USE PLACES OF WORSHIP: THE CHALLENGE OF CONTINUING USE St. Werburgh s Seminar Michael O Boyle B.Arch MUBC MRIAI Bluett & O Donoghue Architects The Coach House, Dublin Castle 23 rd November 2010 THE CHALLENGE

More information

Heritage Register - Building

Heritage Register - Building 2414 Columbia Avenue - Sacred Heart Catholic Church Sacred Heart Catholic Church 2009 Heritage Register - Building 1) Historical Name: Sacred Heart Catholic Church 2) Common Name: 3) Address: 2414 Columbia

More information

The Order of the Knights Templar

The Order of the Knights Templar THE TEMPLE church london, england by Sir Knight Robert F. McCabe, Jr. The Order of the Knights Templar was a very real presence in medieval Europe. Jerusalem was the center of the Christian World, and

More information

Sesquicentennial Year 2004

Sesquicentennial Year 2004 Richard Thornton s Endowments Sesquicentennial Year at Burton in Lonsdale Sesquicentennial Year 2004 The year 2004 was the 150 th anniversary of the building of Burton in Lonsdale Village Hall, above.

More information

A tour of Reading s Abbey Quarter

A tour of Reading s Abbey Quarter A tour of Reading s Abbey Quarter Compiled by Reading s Abbey Quarter is the area originally occupied by Reading Abbey, bounded by Blagrave Street in the West, Forbury Road in the North and East, and towards

More information

Late Bronze Age or Romano-British agricultural enclosure and field system in Gipton Wood Leeds and surrounding areas described as Agricultural

Late Bronze Age or Romano-British agricultural enclosure and field system in Gipton Wood Leeds and surrounding areas described as Agricultural People Oakwood 1000BC 400AD Late Bronze Age or Romano-British agricultural enclosure and field system in Gipton Wood 1068 Leeds and surrounding areas described as Agricultural 1086 Leeds population (excludes

More information

REMEMBERING THE BOND. The Story of the Bond Memorial Methodist Church, Benwell. St James Heritage & Environment Group

REMEMBERING THE BOND. The Story of the Bond Memorial Methodist Church, Benwell. St James Heritage & Environment Group REMEMBERING THE BOND The Story of the Bond Memorial Methodist Church, Benwell St James Heritage & Environment Group NEW BENWELL Benwell grew rapidly during the second half of the 19th century as a result

More information

Sir Walter Raleigh ( )

Sir Walter Raleigh ( ) Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 1618) ANOTHER famous Englishman who lived in the days of Queen Elizabeth was Sir Walter Raleigh. He was a soldier and statesman, a poet and historian but the most interesting fact

More information

Belmont Presbyterian Church

Belmont Presbyterian Church Belmont Presbyterian Church My thanks to Alan Rintoul who kindly sent me the photo on Page 3. The other photographs below and most of the information is from Belmont Presbyterian Church Its Growth and

More information

Our Community Service. by William A. "Steve" Stephens. [Portions Taken from my report to the members of the Moffat Cemetery Assn.]

Our Community Service. by William A. Steve Stephens. [Portions Taken from my report to the members of the Moffat Cemetery Assn.] Our Community Service by William A. "Steve" Stephens [Portions Taken from my report to the members of the Moffat Cemetery Assn.] We begin with some background. We became involved in the cemetery shortly

More information

Wakulla, A Story of Adventure in Florida

Wakulla, A Story of Adventure in Florida Wakulla, A Story of Adventure in Florida! Chapter 11: The Elmer Mill and Ferry Company Mr. Elmer made careful inquiries concerning the mill about which Mark had told him, and found that it was the only

More information

TONY BOSTOCK S LOCAL HISTORY NOTES: SWANLOW

TONY BOSTOCK S LOCAL HISTORY NOTES: SWANLOW TONY BOSTOCK S LOCAL HISTORY NOTES: SWANLOW THE OLD STAR INN Originally, in the 18 th century at least, The Old Star was called The Starr. It subsequently became the Old Star in the mid 19 th century and

More information

A brief history of Wesley Church, Perth.

A brief history of Wesley Church, Perth. A brief history of Wesley Church, Perth. 2 The building known as Wesley Church was built in 1870 for the Methodist congregation of Perth. The first Methodists arrived in the Swan River Colony on February

More information

Castle Museum. York Museums Trust. York Castle Museum

Castle Museum. York Museums Trust. York Castle Museum Castle Museum York Museums Trust York Museums Trust is one of only eight non-national general museum services in the country, which has 100 per cent designated collections. This means that all its collections

More information

St Peter s, Woolavington A visitor s guide

St Peter s, Woolavington A visitor s guide St Peter s, Woolavington A visitor s guide This guide has been researched and written by Joscelyn Johnson. Joscelyn was married in St Peter s Church in 1946 to the Rev. Charles Johnson, Headmaster of Seaford

More information

The Prince and the Pauper

The Prince and the Pauper The Prince and the Pauper Mark Twain The story step by step 11 Listen to the first part of Chapter 1, about the birth of the prince and the pauper (from Nearly five hundred years ago to and he wore rags

More information

Hebden Bridge Baptist Heritage Trail

Hebden Bridge Baptist Heritage Trail Hebden Bridge Baptist Heritage Trail This Trail covers three periods of Baptist expansion in the 17 th and 18 th centuries: 1. The work of the Rossendale Confederacy of Particular Baptists (those believing

More information

TRANSCRIPT OF THE ROSSLYN HOAX A LECTURE BY BRO. ROBERT COOPER (ATHENS LEDRA MARRIOTT HOTEL ON DECEMBER 14, 2007)

TRANSCRIPT OF THE ROSSLYN HOAX A LECTURE BY BRO. ROBERT COOPER (ATHENS LEDRA MARRIOTT HOTEL ON DECEMBER 14, 2007) TRANSCRIPT OF THE ROSSLYN HOAX A LECTURE BY BRO. ROBERT COOPER (ATHENS LEDRA MARRIOTT HOTEL ON DECEMBER 14, 2007) Well good evening everyone! I am delighted to be here in Greece; I have never been to your

More information

A remarkable story of the Grace, Goodness and Provision of God. The Oasis. Christian Resource & Holiday Centre

A remarkable story of the Grace, Goodness and Provision of God. The Oasis. Christian Resource & Holiday Centre The Oasis Story A remarkable story of the Grace, Goodness and Provision of God The Oasis Christian Resource & Holiday Centre Ysguborwen Road, Dwygyfylchi Conwy, North Wales LL34 6PS Tel: 0845 2267027 Email:

More information

St Leonard s Church, Turners Hill. Parish Profile 2012

St Leonard s Church, Turners Hill. Parish Profile 2012 St Leonard s Church, Turners Hill Parish Profile 2012 OUR VILLAGE The village is a lively community surrounded by farmland. Turners Hill is in the county of West Sussex and the district council area of

More information

Walking Tour of Oxford

Walking Tour of Oxford Walking Tour of Oxford Oxford walking tour questions Throughout this tour, there will be quiz questions which are included to help you interact with the students during the walking tour. It will also link

More information

Early History of Cropwell Butler Methodist Chapel:

Early History of Cropwell Butler Methodist Chapel: Early History of Cropwell Butler Methodist Chapel: 1773-1875 Start of Methodism Methodism first came to Cropwell Butler in 1773 when Thomas Innocent applied to register his house as a dissenting meeting

More information

Hereford Kilpeck Rowlestone Peterchurch Hay Symonds Yat and Ledbury

Hereford Kilpeck Rowlestone Peterchurch Hay Symonds Yat and Ledbury Hereford Kilpeck Rowlestone Peterchurch Hay Symonds Yat and Ledbury Broad Street, Hereford The wonderful weather at the beginning of April was the perfect encouragement to explore some of the outstanding

More information

IT is recorded that in 1079 Bishop Wakelin (cousin of William

IT is recorded that in 1079 Bishop Wakelin (cousin of William 68 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB THE ECCLESIASTICAL COURT HOUSE OF THE HUNDRED OF EAST MEON By P. MORLEY HORDER, F.S.A. IT is recorded that in 1079 Bishop Wakelin (cousin of William the Conqueror) began to.rebuild

More information

Gorey Group of Parishes

Gorey Group of Parishes Gorey Group of Parishes Gorey, Hollyfort, Ballycanew and Leskinfere Parish Notes March 2014 The Rector s ramblings: many were concerned recently at the comments made by the Minister for Education and Science

More information

Churston Court A Brief. History. Pre 13th Century

Churston Court A Brief. History. Pre 13th Century History Churston Court A Brief Pre 13th Century The Churston Court seems to have no definitive build date; it does predate the neighboring church and also appears in the Doomsday Book, which was compiled

More information

Father Anthony Gurnell

Father Anthony Gurnell SACRAMENTO DIOCESAN ARCHIVES Vol 5 Father John E Boll No 34 Father Anthony Gurnell Native Son of Glanmire, County Cork, Ireland Priest of the Diocese of Sacramento Pastor Emeritus of Saint Patrick Church,

More information

The founder of Dysons of Stannington

The founder of Dysons of Stannington The founder of Dysons of Stannington JOHN DYSON (1777-1851) J and J Dysons was founded during the early 1800s in Stannington by John Dyson. At that time the village of Stannington was fairly remote as

More information

VICKI & DON DAILY DATA REPORT: VOLUME 2018, EDITION - MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2018

VICKI & DON DAILY DATA REPORT: VOLUME 2018, EDITION - MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2018 VICKI & DON FROM HOME IS WHERE TO HEART IS: ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISE LINE ABOARD THE BRILLIANCE OF THE SEAS AT SEA ON IRELAND COAST 88888888888888888888 DAILY DATA REPORT: VOLUME 2018, EDITION - SEPTEMBER

More information

Mallow Union Newsletter. St. James' Mallow, St. Mary's Doneraile, St. Mary's Castletownroche September 2010

Mallow Union Newsletter. St. James' Mallow, St. Mary's Doneraile, St. Mary's Castletownroche September 2010 Mallow Union Newsletter St. James' Mallow, St. Mary's Doneraile, St. Mary's Castletownroche September 2010 Rector: Rev. Denis McCarthy Contact Number: 022/21473 Hope you all had a very pleasant summer

More information

England Establishes Settlements in America: 1. Religious Factors Religious, economic, and political influences led to England s colonization of

England Establishes Settlements in America: 1. Religious Factors Religious, economic, and political influences led to England s colonization of (Giovanni Caboto) It is believed that Cabot actually landed somewhere near Newfoundland. Although he had not discovered the long dreamed of route to Asia, he did claim parts of Canada for England. Cabot

More information

Speech by John Bruton, President of the Clongowes Union, at the Union s Annual Dinner in the Ballsbridge Hotel on 20 February 2015 at 8.

Speech by John Bruton, President of the Clongowes Union, at the Union s Annual Dinner in the Ballsbridge Hotel on 20 February 2015 at 8. Speech by John Bruton, President of the Clongowes Union, at the Union s Annual Dinner in the Ballsbridge Hotel on 20 February 2015 at 8.30pm CLONGOWES 1814 It is indeed a very great honour to speak here,

More information

ROINN COSANTA. Witness. Patrick Houlihan, Annascaul, Co. Kerry. Identity. Section Commander, Batt'n. Kerry No. I Brigade. Subject.

ROINN COSANTA. Witness. Patrick Houlihan, Annascaul, Co. Kerry. Identity. Section Commander, Batt'n. Kerry No. I Brigade. Subject. ROINN COSANTA. BUREAU OF MILITARY HISTORY, 1913-21 STATEMENT BY WITNESS. DOCUMENT NO. W.S. 959 Witness Patrick Houlihan, Annascaul, Co. Kerry. Identity. Section Commander, 5th Annascaul Coy. Batt'n. Kerry

More information

One thousand years ago the nations and peoples of Europe,

One thousand years ago the nations and peoples of Europe, Geographical Worlds at the Time of the Crusades 1 One thousand years ago the nations and peoples of Europe, western Asia, and the Middle East held differing cultural and religious beliefs. For hundreds

More information

FOLD&LEARN. five in a row holiday FI AR. St. Patricks s Day. March 17. Buyer: Transaction ID: j-mf92gbb0616d4a4

FOLD&LEARN. five in a row holiday FI AR. St. Patricks s Day. March 17. Buyer: Transaction ID: j-mf92gbb0616d4a4 FI AR fi v e i n a r o w l o v i n g l e a r n i n g FOLD&LEARN St. Patricks s Day March 17 five in a row holiday St. Patrick Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is credited with establishing 300

More information

The window is the bequest of Selwyn Lloyd

The window is the bequest of Selwyn Lloyd Welcome to our Church The original building was erected in the 1890s but within ten years it was felt that the lack of suitable accommodation was hindering the church and the time had come for a new building.

More information

The Church of Saint John the Baptist, Hugglescote Leicestershire.

The Church of Saint John the Baptist, Hugglescote Leicestershire. The Church of Saint John the Baptist, Hugglescote Leicestershire. A Brief Historical Sketch By Andrew G. Hodges, B.Ed. It is a very powerful building and is certainly the most imposing village church in

More information

THE HOLBROOK BELL FOUNDRY OF EAST MEDWAY

THE HOLBROOK BELL FOUNDRY OF EAST MEDWAY THE HOLBROOKS & THE HOLBROOK BELL FOUNDRY Francis D. Donovan 1989 THE HOLBROOK BELL FOUNDRY OF EAST MEDWAY The business of manufacturing bells and church or town clocks, which, in former years gave employment

More information

- Online Christian Library

- Online Christian Library The Importance of Personal Soul Winning By Dr. R. A. Torrey "He first findeth his own brother Simon. And he brought him to Jesus." John 1:41,42. The one who brought his brother to Jesus was Andrew. We

More information

People in Bardstown, Kentucky, have

People in Bardstown, Kentucky, have By Joshua J. Perkey Church Magazines Inspired by the Lord, members of this small Kentucky branch have experienced great success in family history work. A Bountiful People in Bardstown, Kentucky, have a

More information

perpendicular: (cliff or rockface) very steeply immense: huge enormous: very big gigantic: immense clustering: gathering benign: kind, gentle

perpendicular: (cliff or rockface) very steeply immense: huge enormous: very big gigantic: immense clustering: gathering benign: kind, gentle Before you read Seen from a distance, hilltops and huge rocks seem to assume various shapes. They may resemble an animal or a human figure. People attribute stories to these shapes. Some stories come true;

More information

PBVM Tercentenary Pilgrimage August 2018 Newfoundland to Ireland Celebrating Nano!

PBVM Tercentenary Pilgrimage August 2018 Newfoundland to Ireland Celebrating Nano! PBVM Tercentenary Pilgrimage August 2018 Newfoundland to Ireland Celebrating Nano! A Pilgrimage is an ancient religious practice. The journey to the sacred place is just as important as the arrival. A

More information

Light and Colour SOUTH AMBULATORY NORTH AMBULATORY

Light and Colour SOUTH AMBULATORY NORTH AMBULATORY Light and Colour on the art and architecture of Westminster Abbey and discover more from some of the artists, architects, craftsmen, masons and sculptors that were involved in its creation. 6 This map

More information

Benedict Alford August 26, 1716 After 1790 By: Bob Alford 2010

Benedict Alford August 26, 1716 After 1790 By: Bob Alford 2010 Benedict Alford August 26, 1716 After 1790 By: Bob Alford 2010 Benedict Alford was the oldest child of Benedict Alford and Abigail Wilson. He was born August 27, 1716 in Windsor, CT, according to Windsor

More information

THETFORD! THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH IN CONTEXT

THETFORD! THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH IN CONTEXT THE SOCIETY FOR CHURCH ARCHAEOLOGY IN ASSOCIATION WITH ADCA PRESENT FORYOUR PLEASURE THETFORD! THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH IN CONTEXT FEATURING: JACKIE HALL, DUNCANWRIGHT, RICHARD HOGGETT, JOE ELDERS, STEPHEN

More information

It is our PLEASURE to INTRODUCE you to the Murphy-Proud Collection.

It is our PLEASURE to INTRODUCE you to the Murphy-Proud Collection. Website: www.rockwellantiquesdallas.com Email: nevan@rockwellantiquesdallas.com Ph: +1 (972) 679-3309 JUST ASK FOR NEVAN THE MURPHY-PROUD COLLECTION It is our PLEASURE to INTRODUCE you to the Murphy-Proud

More information

Chapter 8 From Colony to Territory to State

Chapter 8 From Colony to Territory to State Chapter 8 From Colony to Territory to State Standard 2 Key Events, Ideas and People: Students analyze how the contributions of key events, ideas, and people influenced the development of modern Louisiana.

More information

Learn about... Jan Amos Comenius ( ) In the Brethren

Learn about... Jan Amos Comenius ( ) In the Brethren In the Pomlčková válka Findings in Přerov, 2012. Photograph: CTK / Vladislav Galgonek What is the meaning of the name Amos? In the years 2012 and 2013 interesting evidence about Comenius whereabouts in

More information

Sermon on the Society of Free Catholics. by Jim Corrigall Were there really Unitarian Catholics in Britain? Surely not!

Sermon on the Society of Free Catholics. by Jim Corrigall Were there really Unitarian Catholics in Britain? Surely not! Sermon on the Society of Free Catholics. by Jim Corrigall 2012. Were there really Unitarian Catholics in Britain? Surely not! Well yes, there were. A Society of Free Catholics was founded in 1914 by a

More information

Christian Street Rural Historic District

Christian Street Rural Historic District Christian Street Rural Historic District Historic Tour No.6 in the Town of Hartford, Vermont Agricultural open space defines the Christian Street Rural Historic District, a 198-acre hamlet in the northeast

More information

General Information for Schools

General Information for Schools General Information for Schools Harvington Hall is a wonderful example of an Elizabethan moated manor house. It contains authentic Elizabethan wall paintings and the best surviving series of priests hiding

More information

After darkness, light

After darkness, light Remembering the Reformation John Calvin 29 October 2017 Michael Volland Esther 10 John 1: 1 18 After darkness, light The plaza in front of Reformation Wall in Geneva is a great place to sit, especially

More information

HISTORY A (EXPLAINING THE MODERN WORLD)

HISTORY A (EXPLAINING THE MODERN WORLD) Qualification Accredited GCSE (9 1) HISTORY A (EXPLAINING THE MODERN WORLD) J410 For first teaching in 2016 J410/12 The English Reformation c.1520-c.1550 with Castles: Form and Function c.1000-1750 Version

More information

The Journey Continues, One New Canto at a Time. As an ibex negotiates a sharp mountain slope at an angle,

The Journey Continues, One New Canto at a Time. As an ibex negotiates a sharp mountain slope at an angle, Rosasharn Brown Weber School Dante: A Study in Medieval Literature The Journey Continues, One New Canto at a Time As an ibex negotiates a sharp mountain slope at an angle, placing its feet carefully so

More information

The Lord s Day. April 28, A New Man in Christ Jesus Ephesians 2:15. The Reverend Dr. Girard Lowe

The Lord s Day. April 28, A New Man in Christ Jesus Ephesians 2:15. The Reverend Dr. Girard Lowe The Lord s Day April 28, 1946 A New Man in Christ Jesus Ephesians 2:15 The Reverend Dr. Girard Lowe Things had not gone well in the home; a young man had been unhappily married. One day he took his wife

More information

Church of St Lawrence Lydeard St Lawrence. Statement of Significance

Church of St Lawrence Lydeard St Lawrence. Statement of Significance Church of St Lawrence Lydeard St Lawrence Statement of Significance Church of St Lawrence from the South West Church of St Lawrence from the North East Church of St Lawrence Statement of Significance July

More information

All Saints' Church, Turvey Parish Profile November 2014

All Saints' Church, Turvey Parish Profile November 2014 Contents Turvey... 3 Location... 3 Village Description... 3 Education... 4 Community Life... 4 All Saints Church... 4 Worship and Tradition... 4 Attendance Details... 5 Pastoral and Ecumenical Activity...

More information

Old Testament Chapter 23 KING CYRUS OF PERSIA

Old Testament Chapter 23 KING CYRUS OF PERSIA Old Testament Chapter 23 KING CYRUS OF PERSIA Tomb of Cyrus the Great Nearly one hundred and sixty years before king Cyrus was ever born, God declared to the prophet Isaiah that he would raise up this

More information

When Methods Meet: Biographical Interviews and Imagined Futures Essay Writing

When Methods Meet: Biographical Interviews and Imagined Futures Essay Writing When Methods Meet: Biographical Interviews and Imagined Futures Essay Writing Molly Andrews (University of East London) and Graham Crow (University of Edinburgh), in conversation, June 2016 This 17-minute

More information

Make a Lasting Gift 1

Make a Lasting Gift 1 Make a Lasting Gift 1 Welcome from The Dean Thank you for your interest in leaving a legacy to Winchester Cathedral. This great medieval stone building has existed for nearly a thousand years, and it would

More information

St Teresa s Saints. Upon entry to school, each pupil is allocated to a house.

St Teresa s Saints. Upon entry to school, each pupil is allocated to a house. St Teresa s Saints At St Teresa s we have a house point system, which involves four houses. These houses were named after four inspirational Saints: Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Bernadette, Peter and Paul.

More information

About the Great Fire of London (1)

About the Great Fire of London (1) BOOK HOUSE About the Great Fire of London (1) Read each of the facts about the Great Fire of London and then answer the questions. Try to write your answers in full sentences in your own words. Don t forget

More information

Hardin Cemetery No. 1

Hardin Cemetery No. 1 Hardin Cemetery No. 1 GPS Coordinates: 35 12.43 92 16.20 Township 7 North, Range 12 West, Section 27 Political Township: Enola Location and Description Located in the northeastern section of Faulkner County,

More information

The Pottersville Reformed Church

The Pottersville Reformed Church The Pottersville Reformed Church For me, it started with the bells By: Gillian Anthony 4 th grade, Tewksbury Elementary School Teacher: Mrs. Susan Wilkinson Even before I could read a clock, I could tell

More information

PASSAU CHRISTMAS MARKET where history meets enjoyment of life.

PASSAU CHRISTMAS MARKET where history meets enjoyment of life. PASSAU CHRISTMAS MARKET 25.11.15-23.12.15 where history meets enjoyment of life www.passauer-christkindlmarkt.de FESTIVE VARIETY MAP Passau Christmas Market offers a broad range of high-quality gifts in

More information

TRUE FORGIVENESS. Tonight we will take two aspects of the great mystery: true forgiveness, and the immortal eyes which see into eternity.

TRUE FORGIVENESS. Tonight we will take two aspects of the great mystery: true forgiveness, and the immortal eyes which see into eternity. Neville 04-01-1969 TRUE FORGIVENESS Tonight we will take two aspects of the great mystery: true forgiveness, and the immortal eyes which see into eternity. "He said to them, 'When two or three are gathered

More information

Fearing some foul play, perhaps by enemies or forces unknown, Earl Owain has called the Characters together to investigate.

Fearing some foul play, perhaps by enemies or forces unknown, Earl Owain has called the Characters together to investigate. Earl Gifford has summoned the Characters together in the hopes of finding out what happened to his son, Those Characters who received a written summons know of Tulwen through some direct interaction, be

More information

The Baptists of North Northumberland

The Baptists of North Northumberland A The Baptists of North Northumberland Baptist travelling north of Newcastle-upon-Tyne following the A.1, might well be forgiven for thinking that Baptists do not exist in that part of the world. In fact

More information

MESSENGER OF PEACE Luke 1:68-79

MESSENGER OF PEACE Luke 1:68-79 MESSENGER OF PEACE Luke 1:68-79 Kelly Boyte Brill Avon Lake UCC 9 December 2018 I invite you this morning to try to experience a state of peace within yourself. For a few moments, I want to focus not so

More information

FIRST SETTLERS BURIAL GROUND

FIRST SETTLERS BURIAL GROUND FIRST SETTLERS BURIAL GROUND 1635 TRUSTEES Douglas A. Noyes Patrick Gormley McDonough Mac Scanlon First Settlers Burial Ground Rules & Regulations The mission of the Trustees of the First Settler s Burial

More information

Under Your Feet. Walk through the cloisters to the church to begin your trail.

Under Your Feet. Walk through the cloisters to the church to begin your trail. Under Your Feet Most people look up at the beautiful windows and high vaulted ceilings of Westminster Abbey. Whilst we hope you do this today, why not also spend some time looking beneath your feet and

More information

1. Families Associated with Marbury Hall

1. Families Associated with Marbury Hall 1. Families Associated with Marbury Hall The word Marbury derives from two Old English words: mere (lake) and birig (house); hence, the house by the lake. The Merburie (Marbury) Family During the 13 th

More information

Tonbridge War Memorial Gardens

Tonbridge War Memorial Gardens Tonbridge War Memorial Gardens The Tonbridge War Memorial Gardens are located between the High Street and the river Medway. On Friday 25 April 1952 the local newspaper, the Tonbridge Free Press published

More information

Compton Chamberlayne War Graves

Compton Chamberlayne War Graves Compton Chamberlayne War Graves Lest We Forget World War 1 2772 PRIVATE I. J. TURNBULL 60 th BN. AUSTRALIAN INF. 27 th APRIL, 1917 Isaac James TURNBULL Isaac James Turnbull was born at Horsham, Victoria

More information

John Miller ( )

John Miller ( ) John Miller (1724-1803) Thomas E (1761-1830) Jacob (1782-abt 1845) Francis Marion (1826-1894) Jacob Franklin(1866-1949) Horace Francis (1905-1974) James Richard (1931-) James Aaron (1954-) John Miller

More information

Heaven s Ultimate Reward

Heaven s Ultimate Reward Heaven s Ultimate Reward Grade Levels: K - 2 Objective: To portray heaven as a real and beautiful place, where Jesus wants to take us when He comes again. In This Lesson Plan: Audio Story: The First Vision

More information

Heaven s Ultimate Reward

Heaven s Ultimate Reward Heaven s Ultimate Reward Grade Levels: 1, 2 Objective: To portray heaven as a real and beautiful place, where Jesus wants to take us when He comes again. In This Lesson Plan: Audio Story: The First Vision

More information

Therese of Lisieux. Look at Him. He never takes his eyes off you.

Therese of Lisieux. Look at Him. He never takes his eyes off you. Therese of Lisieux Prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned towards heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. Teresa of Avila Prayer is an intimate

More information

Presentation Sisters. Vision and Values

Presentation Sisters. Vision and Values Presentation Sisters Vision and Values 1 Introduction and Purpose of the booklet We Presentation Sisters are a Religious Congregation, founded by Nano Nagle, committed to the service of the poor and marginalised.

More information

James Rostron Riley. Riley Family and Preston roots

James Rostron Riley. Riley Family and Preston roots James Rostron Riley Riley Family and Preston roots The Riley family had been cotton manufacturers since at least the beginning of the 19 th century when Richard Riley (who died in 1827) had been in partnership

More information

All That is Within It Psalm 24 October 18, 2015 Rev. Pen Peery First Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NC

All That is Within It Psalm 24 October 18, 2015 Rev. Pen Peery First Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NC All That is Within It Psalm 24 October 18, 2015 Rev. Pen Peery First Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NC The earth is the Lord s and all that is within it, the world, and those who live in it; for he has

More information

KENNINGTON PARK. Chartism: The World's first national labour movement

KENNINGTON PARK. Chartism: The World's first national labour movement KENNINGTON PARK Executions From the 17th century, if not before, the south western corner of the common was selected as the South London site of public execution. The first execution recorded is of Sarah

More information

Written by Francis Scott Key. The Star-Spangled Banner

Written by Francis Scott Key. The Star-Spangled Banner Written by Francis Scott Key The Star-Spangled Banner After taking Washington D. C., (and burning most of the public buildings including the Capitol and the White House), the British moved on to Baltimore.

More information

Captain Samuel Brady s Daring Rescue of the Stoops Family Near Lowellville, Ohio

Captain Samuel Brady s Daring Rescue of the Stoops Family Near Lowellville, Ohio Captain Samuel Brady s Daring Rescue of the Stoops Family Near Lowellville, Ohio Researched By Roslyn Torella January 2014 Introduction One of the earliest tales that I could find documented that occurred

More information

Museum of Methodism and John Wesley s House. Teacher s Information Pack

Museum of Methodism and John Wesley s House. Teacher s Information Pack Museum of Methodism and John Wesley s House Teacher s Information Pack Aim This document aims to support teachers and school staff before visiting The Museum of Methodism, Wesley Chapel and Wesley s House.

More information

Paul Revere s Ride. By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Paul Revere s Ride. By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Paul Revere s Ride By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow A Reader s Theater for a whole class: 27 parts. Note that the lines marked All should be said in a whisper while the readers are saying their lines in full

More information

The Allegheny City Society REPORTER DISPATCH

The Allegheny City Society REPORTER DISPATCH The Allegheny City Society REPORTER DISPATCH Spring, 2008 The Journal of Old Allegheny History and Lore Acorn Hill and Thomas M. Marshall by David R. Grinnell Evidence of the past is all around us. Often

More information

ON THE TRAIL OF THE TUDORS

ON THE TRAIL OF THE TUDORS ON THE TRAIL OF THE TUDORS The Ambient Tours Concept Who we are Ambient Tours is a division of Ambient Events Limited. The organisation provides a hands on, professional, cultural heritage activity planning

More information

Source: Proverbs , 3.1-5

Source: Proverbs , 3.1-5 Solomon in All His Glory Rev. Dr. Martha ter Kuile Minister of Worship, Congregational Care and Faith Development The Story 13: The King Who Had it All January 25, 2015 Source: Proverbs 2.1-11, 3.1-5 My

More information

St Mary the Virgin, Holwell.

St Mary the Virgin, Holwell. St Mary the Virgin, Holwell. This guide is for the use of visitors to the church while in the church. After your visit please leave it for those who follow. Before the Churches: Maybe the ghosts walk Holwell

More information

Introducing Israel. Land of the Bible. 7th - 14th November Eight Days - Selected Highlights

Introducing Israel. Land of the Bible. 7th - 14th November Eight Days - Selected Highlights Introducing Israel Land of the Bible 7th - 14th November 2017 Eight Days - Selected Highlights Day 1 - Tuesday 7 November Outward Journey Assemble at London Heathrow airport and check-in for the El AL

More information

What We Need to Know:

What We Need to Know: What We Need to Know: Political Changes in Europe Causes of the Decline of Feudalism The Bubonic Plague The 100 Year s War The Crusades 3 English kings make Political Changes Causes of the Decline of Feudalism

More information