Down Survey of Castletownarra - Amended to point North

 

Multivallate Ringforts in Tipperary

 

Bivallate (purple) and Trivallate (Yellow) ring-forts in the North Tipperary area.

I've also included the Barony boundaries and it is interesting how the Trivallate ring-forts seems to concentrate in the barony of Upper Ormond.

Bivallate (purple) and Trivallate (Yellow) and Multivallate (Red) ring-forts in the South Tipperary area.

I've also included the Barony boundaries. I don't think anything jumps out as dramatically in the South except that maybe there are fewer bivallate ringforts. This may be because of agricultural practices or it may just be in how the descriptions of each was recorded (ie North & South Tipperary surveys were carried out at different times when the county was split for administrative purposes). The Southern descriptions may not be as explicit as the North Tipperary ones. Another difference is that the South includes 2 "ringforts" with 4 or more rings (marked red). In theory they should be top of the political / social hierarchy.

The map is based on a search of the descriptions of all ring-forts in the county in the Sites & Monument Record for the words - "vallate", "two" & "three".

I reviewed all of these and removed the ones that weren't applicable (eg univallate in the description). It is far from perfect as I noted that for example Rathurles - Trivallate ringfort just to the northeast of Nenagh isn't included because none of the above search words were in the description of the ringfort in the SMR.

Why is this important?

It is generally accepted that the more banks and ditches the monument has, the higher its status and is thus linked to the social status of its owner. The chief of the tuath is thought to have resided in the multivallate examples while the lower grades lived in the univallate.

 

Nenagh Friary and Town Walls

Linking Nenagh Friary with the Historic Quarter of Nenagh. 

The entrance to Nenagh Friary was recently repaired and it got me thinking again about linking it up with the "Historic Quarter" of the town around Nenagh Castle. 

One suggestion I had is to use the possible route of the town walls as a way to lead people from Nenagh Castle to the Friary following a kerb or cobble stone that would outline the potential footprint of the town wall of the town. 

The route would go south from the Castle to the Friary and then west as per the map below.

The below is an idea of how this kerb could look. 

From Dun Laoighre Rathdown report - Non-habitable Protected Structures

At the Friary there is a green area on which some information boards could be put and I think some kind of "centre-piece" could be installed here as well - perhaps a stone statute like the one below of which something is hinted at in some old records of the Friary.

The OS Letters describe - 'three fragments of a monumental stone, having raised on it the figure of a warrior in armour…composed of limestone' which was located near the NE inner corner. This tombstone is no longer visible."

Credit: Störfix

Or even something carved from wood like a Frianciscan Friar in his robes (or both to tie the towns Norman and Gaelic past). 

From http://artparks.co.uk

The town wall "route" would lead people past the Kenyon Street graveyard and railway station area and back into the central core of the town. 

O'Sullivan Beare and Latteragh

 

From - The Story of Latteragh - A Souvenir Booklet (1982)

"After St. Odhran, the character which figures most in local tradition is Donal Cam O'Sullivan Beare who on the 31st Dec. 1602 left Glengariff with 1,000 followers on his ill-fated retreat to the O'Rourke territory in Leitrim. On the 5th Jan having come through Hollyford, Upperchurch & Templederry, O'Sullivan Beare and his retinue arrived in Latteragh. Philip O'Sullivan, a 1st cousin of Donal Cam,who was sent to Spain as a refugee with Donal's young son and educated in Spain, wrote a detailed account of the retreat in "Historiae Catholicea Compendium" publish in 1621. I quoteL 

"He halted in the village of Latteragh, and threw his men into a rather small church and it's enclosure. There was in this village a fort from which he was annoyed the whole night with the firing and salliers of the garrison. He withstood the attack from the fort and monentarily awaited with drawn swords prepared muskets and couched pikes, a large crowd of the enemy assembled not far from the camp; the men going on sentry and to sleep in turns. 

It was now the 6th of January when at dawn, a storm of red-hot balls blazed on O'Sullivan as he advanced. 

This was indeed a daily salutation with which the enemy honoured him, a farewell as they drew off at night, a greeting as they turned up in the morning."

From Latteragh, O'Sullivan had to make his way to the Shannon. Which route the column followed is speculative - whether down the valley through Kilnafinch or upwards towards Toomevara - neither history not tradition offer any enlightenment. 

The local folklore relating to O'Sullivan Beare is, oddly enough, at variance with the "official" story. Local tradition has it that O'Sullivan spent the night on the moat in Garrane and many will tell you that the natives (as opposed to the de Mariscos) were friendly; or perhaps later, more patriotic generations changed the story slightly in it's telling - who knows?"

If you see this link on the moat at Garrane it has other associations with O'Sullivan Beare. 

The oldest tomb surround in Ireland at Athassel Abbey in Tipperary

 

Young describes this (p98) as "the oldest surviving tomb surround in Ireland". It comes from Athassel Abbey and is now located in the Vicars Choral at the Rock of Cashel.

It is very interesting as it is made from Dundry oolite and is likely to have been brought from Bristol in England. (Probably in rough stone and carved in Ireland).

I'm not sure if it is the oldest surround but seemingly it can be dated by apparent fire damage to the stone which is recorded in ancient records as being either 1319 or 1329. So that is its minimum age.

It is suggested that it may have been designed as the tomb surround for Walter de Burgh (d. 1271) and been reused for the Red Earl of Ulster (d. 1326).

Additional fragments were found in the 1970s and are now housed in the OPW depot in Kilkenny and Manning wrote about them below. It also features a photo of the main panel in-situ at Athassel.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/25503305

 

History of the Dalcassians - Arra by Maurice Lenihan from the Tipperary Vindicator & Limerick Reporter

 

The Tipperary Vindicator and Limerick Reporter, Friday Evening, July 17, 1868

Reminiscences of a journalist and notes on old events

No. CCLXXXVI (186)

(Written for the Reporter and Vindicator)

A visit to Duharrow ; Being another chapter in the history of Killaloe and the Dal Cais, By Maurice Lenihan, Author of The History of Limerick, Reminiscences of a Journalist, &c., &c., &c.

I visited Duharrow, or “the mountainous country,” in the Barony of Owney and Arra,, County of Tipperary, this day (Sunday, July 12^th, 1868). I was accompanied by train to Killaloe by Mr. Tr____y and M____c, and, having written to Mr. Tu____y the night before to procure a care, which he failed in doing, we got a good car, of which we bargained with the owner, Miss, Tu____y, of Ballina to convey us to Duharrow, in order to view the tombs and monuments in the old church-yard of Castletown Arra. The drive was exceedingly beautiful. We passed on, leaving Derry Castle, the residence of William Spaight, Esq., Castlelough, the residence of A. Parker, Esq., &c., &c., to the left ; and charmed with the view of the opposite shore of O’Gonnelloe, including Tinerranna &c. through which we drove last Sunday on our way to Inniscealtra.* When we had got below Aughanish, we obtained a view of the Holy Island; but in the distance, the day being somewhat dull, though excessively sultry, we were not able, even with the aid of our excellent glass, to catch a fair glimpse of the Round Tower and other objects of interest on the island. The view from the highlands we were traversing is grand indeed; Lough Derg is under you. The well wooded and picturesque shores of the Lake present a glorious landscape which can scarcely be excelled in grandeur and in beauty. Derry Castle is a noble demesne; the ancient Castle is situated on a small island close by the shore, and is called Derry (on account of the multiplicity of oak trees which abound, everywhere about, even to this day), as is also Castlelough, and the castle of Garry Kennedy, higher up. These Castles, &c. have been sung of in the late Thomas Davis’s spirit stirring Ballad of the Mc Y-Briens of Arra :--

O’Brien of Arra

Air – The Pipe of Blessington

 

Tall are the towers of O’Ceinneidigh,     

Broad are the lands of MacCarrthaig,     

Desmond feeds five hundred men a-day;             

Yet here’s to O’Brien of Arra!     

Up from the Castle of Drumineer,                   

Down from the top of Camailte,

Clansman and kinsman are coming here

To give him the CEAD MILE FAILTE           

 

 

II

               

See you the mountains look huge at eve,—         

So is our chieftain in battle;               

Welcome he has for the fugitive,              

Uisce-beatha, fighting, and cattle!           

Up from the Castle of Drumineer,            

Down from the top of Camailte,

Gossip and alley are coming here                    

To give him the CEAD MILLE FAILTE.        

III           

Horses the valleys are tramping on,        

Sleck from the Sasanach manger;             

Creaghts the hills are encamping on,      

Empty the bawns of the stranger!                   

Up from the Castle of Drumineer,            

Down from the top of Camailte,

Kern and buannacht are coming here     

To give him the CEAD MILE FAILTE.          

IV           

He has black silver from Cill-da-lua —          

Rian and Cearbhall are neighbours,         

‘N Aonach submits with a fuililin,              

 Butler is meat for our sabres!   

 Up from the Castle of Drumineer,           

Down from the top of Camailte,   

Rian and Cearbhalll are coming here       

To give him CEAD MILE FAILTE. 

 V           

’T is scarce a week since through Osaighs             

Chased he the Baron of Durmhagh —     

Forced him five rivers to cross, or he              

Had died by the sword of Red Murchadh!            

Up from the Castle of Drumineer,            

Down from the top of Camailte,

All the Uí Bhriain are coming here           

To give him the CEAD MILE FAILTE.                  

               

Tall are the towers of O’Ceinneidigh,     

Broad are the lands of MacCarrthaig,     

Desmond feeds five hundred men a-day;             

Yet here ’s to O’Brien of Arra!    

Up from the Castle of Drumineer,                    

Down from the top of Camailte,

Clansman and kinsman are coming here

To give him the CEAD MILE FAILTE

At Castletown, a new church has been built in what may be called a rustic Gothic style. Here there is a large sarcophagus of lime stone which contains the mortal remains of the son and daughter of William Spaight, Esq., of Derry Castle, and of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Barton. We wended our way by a different road to the old churchyard of Castletown, where we visited the tomb of Terence Brian, and where we were engaged for a period nearly two hours in taking a rubbing of it. We succeeded in taking the rubbing; but we did not succeed at first in making out the meaning of the very puzzling inscription which is cut in raised letters on a granite slab, and which is in the Latin language thus :-

The word “Etimologia” in this epitaph, which bears internal evidence of having been written by a schoolmaster, and which, I believe, had never been translated before now, refers to the root of the word “monumentum” viz. moneo, “I recall to memory” represented by the word “memorie” which occurs afterwards. The literal English is as follows, the bracketed words, being defaced, are supplied by us as the missing letters, and the figures being broken, enough, however remains of them to enable one to make a pretty sure guess @---

“I, Terence Brien, caused this monument to be made in memory of myself and my wife, Morine Caryll by name. According to its derivation it is made by me for memory’s sake (this day of nno), 1579.”

The word Morine means Matilda, and is a diminutive.

The churchyard is beautifully situated in a valley on the well-wooded and well-cultivated slope which descends from the road called the New Line to the water’s edge. The remains of the church may be styled a new ruin, giving one the idea of a re-edited building, roughly plastered over so as to conceal the stone of which it was originally built. The wall of the old church, as it appeared before receiving the repairs which have now crumbled away in their turn, appears externally near the tomb of Terence Mc Y’Brien, Arra, who lived in the time of Elizabeth and whose epitaph cost us considerably more time and trouble to decipher than the inscriptions on far older monuments. The other remarkable monuments, belonging chiefly to the respectable family of the Parkers of Castlelough, but the Celtic element to which the Mc Y-Brien family, no doubt, largely contributed is numerously represented ; for, on the south side almost every grave is filled by a native of the name of O’Brien, a name which was at one time, and I believe still is, very widely diffused through the barony. This barony was indeed the country of the Mc Y-Briens, the descendants of Brian Rua, King of Thomand ; the north portion belonged to the Mc Y-Brians of Arra – the south to the Mc Y-Brien – O’Gunogh, sands Owney, where it adjoined the county of Limerick. In a MS Pedigree of the 17^th century, in the British Musuem, there is shown the descent of the Mc Y-Brians of Arra and of O’Gunogh, through Brian Boroihne, ? Monarch, from his two sons Dermod, - Mr Y-Brien Arra, and Kenedi – Mc Y Brienogunogh and in this pedigree Turlough Mc Y-Brian, Arra, is stated to have been alive in 1613. That this was the Turlough or Terence whose name is inscribed as the person who caused the above monument to be erected to his own and the memory of his wife, Morine Carrul, or O’Carroll one of the illustrious family of the O’Carrolls of Ely, is very likely, if not quite certain. It is a curious fact, indeed, and one which cannot be passed over in the course of this history, that the McBriens of Arra, especially, bear, to this day, in the traditions of the people, the character of a fierce, unrelenting, if not a cruel and violent race of ?, who ruled an iron hand, in feudal style whose slaves trembled at their nod, and in whose hands the privilege of life and death rested.

The last of the Mc Y-Briens, like the Macarthy Mores, was killed by a fall from his horse. Some of family papers were long in the possession of an illegitimate son of his, and passed into the hands of a son of the latter, with whom the race died out. A terrible curse is said to have been pronounced upon the last Mc Y-Brien – I mean the Brien who was killed by a fall from his horse – by a widow whose son he had caused to be hanged, cruelly saying to her that “now he was very quiet, indeed”. The curse was :---

Go enimigh Mauria go saggart

Go enimigh Bredha leis baccagh

Agus enimigh ? Y-Brien,

As Duharra ? ? ar shulcht ar schlata

“That Mary, one of his daughters, might die without the benefit of clergy, and the other, Bridget, go common with the beggars; and that the seed of Mc Y-Brien might leave Duharrow from generation and generation and generation”. Both events took place.

I have been told by a very old man who remembered the last female of this branch that she one day called out in the chapel to the priest “was he going to allow some upstart family or other to occupy the place in front, which had always belonged to the great Mc Y-Briens?”

In our next chapter on this subject we will give from the Book of Distribution an interesting account of the wholesale dispersion by Cromwell of this race, as well from Duharrow as from Owney. There are a few remarkable modern tomb stones in the old churchyard :---

A Greek Cross

The words

Faith, Hope and Charity

Cut on the sections of the wheel.

This Cross was erected by

The

Revd. Hugh Gleeson

Atribute of Affection to his beloved father

Michael Gleeson

On the 14^th of March, 1864

Aged ? Years

May His Soul Rest in Peace

Amen

Richardson, Limk.

 

The following is rather curious :--

Erected by Patt

Molony in memo

ry of his posterity

 

And this

Gloria in Excelsis Deo.

A Greek Cross.

This monument erected

By Michael Renahen in

Memory of his daughter,

Sally Renahen who de

Parted this life December

The 4^th, 1823, Aged Six months

May she rest in peace.

(To be continued).

 

The Tipperary Vindicator and Limerick Reporter, Tuesday Evening, May 4, 1869

Reminiscences of a journalist and notes on old events

No. CCLXXV (275)

(Written for the Reporter and Vindicator)

Collections for a history of the Dalcassians

Killaloe – No. XIX

 

Though I have not my notes as to the Annals and Bishops of this ancient diocese, put in shape as yet for publication, I may state that they are in progress and that I hope to have them fully prepared in the course of the present, or of the next month. Meantime I may observe that an extremely interesting relic of the old days of the Dalcassian Chiefs remains in the ruined church and cemetery of Temple-a-Calla, to which I have already made reference, but which demands a particular description. It is situated on the hill opposite to that on which Cloughnahena? stands, both hills being divided by the hollow through which the mill stream passes to the Shannon it has all the marks and tokens of remote age about it. It forms a remarkable feature in the landscape which embraces the Cathedral and crypt, the river as it flows onwards in its bright and sparkling joyousness, the bridge, the lake, the town, the fortress of Brian Boroihme, and those other objects of interest which we trust we have made the reader familiar. I confess that I stood on evening with more than ordinary attention whilst I looked at a well-dressed, and apparently a well informed stranger, gazing on this charming avenue, and taking his pencell and sketch book, and studiously tracing the outlines of a picture of which he may have never before seen anything in his wanderings to surpass, if to equal. There is no record of the time in which Temple-a-Calla was built, but it would seem, at all events, to be contemporaneous with Cloughuafina? And to have bestowed upon it, more than an ordinary share of attention at the hands of the architect. According to the opinion of William Atkins, Esq., of Cork, an accomplished and well known architect, and a true lover of the antiquities of his country. Temple-a-Calla possesses one of the finest Roman (or Romanesque) windows of any ancient church in Ireland. The church itself gives its name to the Parish, a rather extensive one in the county of Tipperary and diocese of Killaloe. I should premise that there are two windows only in the church, viz. this to which I have just now referred, and which I shall call the oriel window, and another which faces the river, which is low down, and through which appears the branches of an aged ivy tree which has crept all over the walls, and which threatens at no distant date, to inflict permanent mischief on them, unless some devoted friends to these fine monuments of other days, should do with the parasite as the Earl of Dunraven most patriotically did with the superincumbent weight of ivy which menaced the destruction of “the Friars’ Castle” in the small island, at a short distance. It is in this churchyard that may be seen the tomb of Dr. Hickie, one of the most celebrated physicians of the seventeenth century, which is fully described in the “Fee Book of a Physician of the seventeenth century”, by the present writer. The following are the inscriptions on some of the more modern tombstones within the walls of the church

 

 

No.1

Ego Jacobus McCormack, pastor de Kibbarorn, Terryglass at Finnoe, quasi solstitialis herbs, pauilisper fui repente exorsus sum, repention occidi die ?, anno reparatoe salutis, 1815, orats pro me et requiescamus noe omnes in pace ____ Amen

 

No. 2

Here lieth the body of the Rev. Father Patrick McCormack, who departed his life January the 5^th, in the year of our Lord, 1797, aged 56 years. Lord have mercy on his soul _____ Amen

No. 3

The Rev. Father Moras McCormick departed this life September 1^st, 1827, aged 75 years ____ May his soul rest in peace ____ Amen.

No. 4

Here lies the body of John Cormick, who deceased February the 6^th, 1767, aged 61 years.

No. 5

Here lies the body of Thady Cormick, deceased June the 1^st, 1753, aged 44 years.

No. 6

Here lieth the body of Cornelius Cormick, deceased January 28^th, aged 32 years, 1767.

No. 7

Here lieth the body of John Cormick, deceased August the 14^th, 1760, aged 14 years.

No. 8

Here succeeds the father, L. Cormick, who departed this life, May the 10^th, 1785, aged 70 years. The Lord have mercy on their souls _____ Amen

No. 9

Here lies the body of Maurice Cormick, deceased April 5^th, aged 79 years, 1747.

No. 10

Here lieth the body of Mathew McKeogh, deceased November the 11^th, 1773, aged 63 years.

No. 11

Here lies the body of Conner McKeogh, deceased May the 4^th, 1757, aged 72 years.

No. 12

Here lieth the body of Murtough Brien, deceased October the 25^th, 1751, aged 75 years.

No. 13

Here lieth the body of Cornelius Flannery deceased December the 19^th, 1773, aged 84 years.

No. 14

Here lies the body of Bridget Glisan, deceased December 4^th, 1763, aged 55 years.

No. 15

Here lies the body of James Glison, deceased June the 15^th, 1784, aged 38 years. Erected by his wife, Mary Byrns.

No. 16

Connor Glisan, 1734.

No. 17

Conr. Brien died March the 1^st, 1784, aged 53 years.

No. 18

Here lies the body of Jone Carrrell, deceased October 9^th, 1783. Aged 36 years. Erected by M.N. her husband.

All these inscriptions are within the Church. There are very many curious tombstones in the cemetery itself, to which I shall refer in the next chapter. There include that of the “most skilled” Doctor Hickie, who forfeited in 1641, among the “Irish Papists” of those times, and who was one of a family of illustrious medical men, who were attached for ages as “body physicians” to the O’Briens of Thomond, the Mc I Briens, of Arra. I could discover no trace of these Hickies in the district, though I made an anxious search for them. The name is derived from “Iche”, a cure; no better one for a doctor ; and that it is a Dalcassian name there is no doubt ; it appears among the names of the Dalcassian families in Cronnelly’s curious compilation.

(To be Continued)  

 

The Tipperary Vindicator and Limerick Reporter, Tuesday Evening, June 1, 1869

Reminiscences of a journalist and notes of old events

No. CCLXXXI (281)

(Written for the Reporter and Vindicator)

Killaloe – No. XXI

A Visit to Birdhill and Kilmastulla

I visited Birdhill and Kilmastulla this day, Sunday, August 23rd 1868, with Mr. T___. The day was fine. We first proceeded on our way to view the churchyard of Kilmastulla, about one mile and a half from Birdhill.  On our way, Mr. T ____ related and anecdote of one Gorlaugh O’Cullane, who is said to have been a contemporary of Brian Borhoime. Gorlaugh’s mother, it appears, was drowned, owing to the fact that she endeavoured to make a short cut home by fording a  river, into which she fell, and where she remained.

Gorlaugh’s wise saying was this: - ‘Bliaghin agus la enew do baghagh mo mathair agus do veich so teumpoil ochen’’ – ‘’This day twelve month’s my mother was drowned: and she would be round the road home since’’. 

The Gorlaugh had a step-mother who was accustomed to make a cake for him which always had a slate in the middle of it. His observation was : -‘Bareliom go miach mo liach leith a gum ma coise meithe agum agus me um chollagdh’’ -  ‘I wished my slate were licked, my feet were washed, and I was in bed’’.

He told me an anecdote of the Gobbain Saor. When dying, one of his sons informed the Saor that a certain castle which he had built was falling or had fallen.  Impossible, said the Saor, because ‘ceid agus ceid, agus caid air ca caid’ – meaning ‘ a stone and a stone, and a stone of two stones’’. This affords us some notion of the way in which this famous artificer is supposed to have built his strong edifices. It is further said of him that he grouted all his buildings – and that he was never in a hurry in laying one course over another until the first course had had time to settle and become consistent  - and that his contracts for castle building  extended all over Munster.

Mr. Marcus  Keane told me some time ago that the Gubaun Saor is spoke of all over Ireland in the tradition of people as the builders of Round Towers & c.

At Kilmastulla Bridge, there is an inscription:

Kilmastulla Drainage

1865-6

Brenna & Costello,

Contractors.

In Kilmastulla churchyard, there are no old monuments or tombstones. The first tombstone that met our eye is one of antique shape lying flat on the ground:

Eliza Franks

Died March 1862

The following inscription is on a raised tombstone:

HIS

ERECTED

To the Memory of The Revd B. O’Brien D.D

One of the Knights of Malta

Chaplain to Louis the 16^th of France

Who departed this life

28^th December 1828

Aged 86 years

Requicescat in pace.

 

Who this Rev. B O’Brien, a Knight of Malta was, we have not been able to ascertain, I should like indeed to know some particulars of the Reverend gentleman, but the tombstone being close to another, which was erected by the late Mr. Cornelius O’Brien of  Limerick, an extensive book-seller and stationer, who was well known in the city, and much respected, we may conjecture that the Rev. B O’Brien D.D Knight of Malta was some relative of his. The second tombstone has the following inscription;

Here Rest

THE REMAINS of

Mary O’Brien

The beloved wife of

Cornelius O’Brien

Of Limerick

Who dies Decr. 24 1831

Aged 30 years

May she rest in peace.

 

Con O’Brien, as he was familiarly called, is buried I believe in the same tomb.

There are a few other tomb-stones:

O! Lord have mercy on

The soul of Patk Meara

Who dept. this life in

The 40^th year of his

Age, interred the 6^th

Of February Anno Dei 1831

R.I.P

The other tomb-stones we noticed have the following inscriptions :

O Lord have mercy on the

soul of Edmd Meara who

dept this life in the 91^st

year of his age ; interred

the 17^th Der anno Dei 1831

R.I.P ____ Amen

Erected by Ths. Meara of Bally

Cakhane in memory of his

Mother Mary Meara alias

(Here a flat tombstone lies up against the foregoing and prevents the inspection of the remainder of the inscription. )

 On the flat lying tombstone is the following:

This tomb was erected by

Timothy Meara in

Memory of his father Ed.

Meara who departed this

life in the 91^st year of his age

Interred the 17^th day of

December Anoo Dei 1832 O Lord

Have mercy on his soul

 

Near the gate as you enter to the right is a tombstone with the following inscription:

Erected by

William Donohue

In memory of his wife

Betty Curdew

Who departed this life August 1818

Aged 40 years

May she rest in peace ____ Amen.

 

There is a tomb to a person named Ryan, dated 1817, near this, but in no instance could we discover one of ancient date, though the remains of an old church are visible within the cemetery.

Just opposite Kilmastulla Church was a large house, well known about 20 years ago, and within a shorter period of time, to coach travellers on the Dublin road, as the place occupied by Mr. Bourne, as stables, &c., & c., which was built by, and had been the residence of one of the Mac I Briens of Arra, who exercised feudal sway in the district. The house was 3 storeys high and had 3 rows of windows in the front; there was a set off to the house, in which tradition has it that the Mac I Brien of the day threw the bodies of his victims, after summarily despatching them in the most treacherous manner. The site is now occupied by the farm-house and offices of a farmer named Healy, who possesses considerable property here. A man names Brien O’Brien, who was said to have been the last of the family, but who, in reality came from an illegitimate son, was resident some 20 years ago at Gurtlass (or the fortified field). It is evident that the Mac I Briens were exceedingly unpopular all over the district. The tradition of the hanging of the poor woman’s son by a Mac I Brien, prevails generally, and is repeated by all the old people.

We now went some short distance north of the church and crossed over a rather swampy field and passed a stream until we reached a bye road which leads to Ballina and Boher – on turning over a hedge we passed into the field called Green Hill, or as tradition has it ‘’ Conc na Croice’, the ‘’hill of the gallows’’. This hill is about 400 yards north of Kilmastulla church and commands a very extensive view of the country in every direction, as well towards Limerick as towards Nenagh, and the entire range of the Clare mountains about Killaloe, &c. &c. On the top of the hill where the fatal tree had been erected by the tyrant Mac I Brien, of the day, there is the site of a deep pit, which used to be filled with water, until Michael Herbert, a farmer who rents the land from Lord Dunally, drained it by cutting a trench six feet deep, some years ago, but even that did not effect his object sufficiently. Whilst making the drain his sons descended into the pit which was like the flue of a large lime kiln and  there saw  3 or 4 beams standing on end all inclining towards each other on the top, and which the found it impossible to remove. The field now (August 23rd), is occupied by wheat stooks; but over the pit there is a quantity of black dismal looking wheat growing, which would appear determined never to come to perfection. The buttons of the coats or clothes of some persons are said to have been taken out of this deep pit some years ago by the individuals who were digging for manure; and whose bodies are supposed to have been thrown into it in 1738.  The pit is eight yards in diameter; and 38 yards in the oval. An old countryman named Meara, who accompanied us, said it reminded him of the old ballad

’40 years in length; and deep did it sink

And filled it with the corpses of our heroes

When their precious blood did run,

Then the Tories thought it fun,

And their err was to murder all the Papists’

 

There is little or no surface on the hill but the ‘laac leigh’ or ‘hard gravel’ and the impression it leaves on the foot is very disagreeable.

We now walked back to Birdhill, ‘Cnoc a neneen’ and having ascended the hill, we went through fields covered all over with mushrooms to Carrigeen, the celebrated rock on which it is said Ossian stood when he threw the ball into the gorge of his dog, Bran, after the dog had killed the great monster bird which had threatened the existence of all the birds and fowl on Moan a Lua. Ossian is said to have buried his bugle under the huge red sand stone rock. The  view from Carigeen is literally enchanting and it embraces a vast distance , particularly to the south and south west where all South Tipperary and the beautiful valley of the Suir, Limerick, portions of Cork, Kerry and Clare were within the range of a good  …with which we were provided. The Cappoquin mountains, Cnocmealdoun & c are quite easily discerned. The Galtees, Kilworth and other mountains appear very near. On the other side, the view of Killaloe, Lough Derghdebeer… & c cannot be surpassed. Indeed it is impossible to see the landscape without being charmed with all that it embraces at every side. The people say that Ossian is buried in the hill and that a holly bush marks the site of his grave. But Ossians grave is said by others to be in another part of Ireland

(To be continued).

 

 

The Tipperary Vindicator and Limerick Reporter, Tuesday Evening, June 8, 1869

Reminiscences of a journalist and notes of old events

No. CCLXXXII (282)

(Written for the Reporter and Vindicator)

Collections for a history of the Dalcassians

Killaloe – No. XXII

A Visit to the Graves of the Leinstermen

I visited Killaloe this day (Sunday, October 4^th, 1868 with M_____  We were met at the railway terminus by Mr. T_________ After a short consultation we resolved to proceed to visit the “Graves of the Leinstermen” at which I had been three or four years before, in company with Mr. W. C_____, Mr. S. H_______ and the late well informed, and genial hearted, and friendly Mr. J. O’G______. Our way on Sunday last was by what is called “the middle” or more correctly speaking , the upper road between Killaloe or Ballina rather, and Nenagh. A very hilly, mountainous road, offering, here and there, some noble glimpses of scenery, particularly of the valley of the Shannon, as it stretches between Killaloe and Limerick, and further on towards the sea. The day was pleasant, ripe, autumnal day ; bright, crisp, agreeable. Another road diverges to the right, about a mile from Ballina, and by this way we proceeded, leaving to the left the direct or middle road to Nenagh, to which I have just referred. We passed the Model Agricultural School, which is situated almost fronting the two roads diverging here ; and now passing the Model School, we got again on the direct road to Nenagh, and pursued our course rather pleasantly, ? all the way the side of Tountinna, (wave of fire) mountain, until we reached a very considerable eminence, the view becoming more expansive and interesting as we got along. In the far distance were discoverable the lofty peaks of the Galtee mountains, which may be said to form landmarks all over north Munster, and a large portion of Desmond. On our way up the hill, three country lads, who were seated on a hedge, informed us, as we were already aware, that we were not far from the “Graves of the Leinstermen”; they appeared to be quite well acquainted with them. Having driven about half a mile further on, admiring the mountain which was quite close, and which we could now easily approach, by a road which seemed within a few hundred yards of us, we came to the wished for spot, of which we were in search, and which is divided from the main road by a trench and hedge, about four or five feet high, and somewhat deep, and which is rather thickly cut with furze. We entered the heath covered field in which these ancient graves are rather irregularly placed, and examined them, with the aid of one of the country lads, who pointed out to us the graves and head stones, stating that, according to the tradition of the country they had always heard that the stones they showed us were over the graves – and that a good number of small rocks and boulders which appear, here and there in close proximity to the gravestones, should not be confounded with the latter. There are marks on the largest of these gravestones, like Ogham characters ; but they are not such on examination. The other stones are lower in size ; and a few of them are nearly covered with the purple heath which grows thickly all about the mountain.

These stones number seven in all ; they are placed irregularly through the filed at distances of ten or fifteen or more feet apart. In reference to these Graves of the Leinstermen, which are noticed in Lenihan’s History of Limerick, p. 45. It should be further mentioned that about half a mile beyond them in the N. E. is the gap called Barnane Maclauahahin Mac Reighe Leighane ____ “the gap of the son of the king of Leinster,” one of these who fell on the occasion which the Graves memorialise ___ vis. In the pursuit of these Leinstermen in 1194 by Donald O’Brien, who drove them out of Thomond, and defeated the last of them just at this spot. They were commanded by the son of the king of Leinster ___ and he, wounded and dying, sought that the should be brought to the gap, from which he said he would see his own country, before he died. We drove to the gap ; and there is no doubt that the view from it is exceedingly noble, interesting, diversified, and heart stirring. Lower Ormond, belted by the Barnane Ely, Slievebloom and other mountains, lies before you like a carpet, exquisitely wrought. The view stretches up to the King’s and Queen’s counties, and beyond them. Nenagh lies about seven miles distant ; the great Slate Quarries, at Corbally, are in full work within a few hundred yards of the road. The expanse of Loughdergh shows Dromineer, Parker’s Point, Hazel Point, Urra, up to Portumna, the opposite shore of Aughanish, O’Gonnelloe, the Holy Island, with its churches, Round Tower &c.

Great stone heap which had marked the grave of the son of the king of Leinster ; and about 10 years ago, the bones supposed to be those of the prince, were taken from under the Liosmore ___ and brought into Killaloe by a man of the name of Cormack, who is said to have had such ill luck in consequence that he died a few days after the removal of them. In this district is also are pointed out Leachtnagrass, about a mile from Killaloe, near Boher, where Leachtas, another son of the king of Leinster was slain ; Keillan, near Bushfield, and Quilla, towards Shallee, where two others, sons of the Lagenian king were also killed. Having viewed the splendid panorama which stretched before us as far as the eye could reach, we returned by the same routs ; and now keeping to the right of the Model School, we drove on the direct middle road or upper road, and came to a place where there are two Forts of Lisnagry. In the middle of the large of the Forts there was an old country chapel, about 30 feet by 16 which was used in the Penal times by the Catholic worshippers of the parish of Ballina, and here the people tell that each Christmas Eve, candles are seen burning all night long. It is over two hundred years since the chapel walls were taken down, as a man named O’Brien, whose father would, if alive, be 90 years of age, states that he (the father) never remembered to see the chapel there. He added that the grandfather of a man named Riordan, who lives in the parish did speak of having seen the chapel standing. The forts are quite close to each other, and are curious for that reason.

I should state in reference to the tallest of the grave stones that it is smoothened very much by the rubbing of cattle against it, and that there are crossed marked on the front of it. We returned by train after and agreeable day.

(To be continued)

 

 

 

The Tipperary Vindicator and Limerick Reporter, Friday Evening, October 29, 1869

Reminiscences of a journalist and notes of old events

No. CCCI (301)

(Written for the Reporter and Vindicator)

Collections for a history of the Dalcassians

In continuation from No. XXV

O’Brien, The first Protestant Bishop of Killaloe – How to Borrow a Congregation

Now that the Establishment is disestablished, the publication of the following anecdotes which are handed down by tradition in Killaloe, may be of interest :-

We are told in Hamilton’s Calendary of the State Papers, (temp. Elizabeth), that O’Brien, (Terence), was sent to Oxford to study, in order to fit him for the Bishopric, and that he was the first Protestant Bishop of Killaloe. It was almost impossible at the time, according to the same authority, to procure fit men for the position of Anglican Prelates in certain parts of Ireland. It is undeniable, however, that the new Bishop had no flock of his own ; and having been informed that a government Inspector from London would visit him on a certain occasion, to see, and examine, and report on the state of his congregation, and really did not know what to do, in order to meet the difficulty. In his misery, he went to the Priest, who resided some distance from Killaloe, he being no longer permitted to reside in the town. Patronage and authority were the motives of his conversion. He saw the Priest, made many excuses, told him of the old love the O’Briens had for the old faith, and of his peculiar position ; and at length he had the modesty to ask the Pastor for a loan of his congregation for the Sunday on which the Inspector was to visit the Cathedral. It was difficult in Thomond to resist the will of an O’Brien ; and on this occasion, the request could scarcely be disobeyed. The Priest, too, not anxious to throw a serious difficulty in the way of one who was no persecutor, gave the word to the Corbans, Cooneys, the Poers, O’Deas &c, of the parish, to be present at St. Flannan’s old Cathedral on the appointed day. They obeyed, and when they saw the Bishop on his throne, and the Inspector in his place, and when they heard the Bishop speak, began to cry out in a loud voice “Glunthu aud a Shaun Poer?” (“Do you hear what he says, John Power?”) the Inspector demanded of the Bishop what the congregation were saying? They are saying nothing more, said the Bishop, than fine hymns, which they are repeating in their native tongue – hymns and prayers and wishes for the long life and substantial establishment of the church. The Inspector was satisfied. O’Brien was confirmed in the temporalities of his see__ he gave leases in abundance to his family and relatives, and thus made them rich at the expense of the church, of which he was a very indifferent supervisor.

In the above instance, as in so many others, it will be found that history has repeated itself, which is not at all surprising, considering the scarceness of Protestant worshippers in many parts of Ireland.

The story of “borrowing a congregation” with which the public are so familiar, from an amusing sketch written by one of our popular novelists, is, as usual with most of the compositions by the same writer, not only founded on fact, but actually true.

The name of the Protestant clergyman who was accommodated pro tem, with a congregation drawn from the Catholic parishioners by the kind permission of the Parish Priest, who was a great friend of the Parson’s, and who wished to save his living from being consolidated with another, as it inevitable would have been at the Bishop’s visitation, if it did not appear that he had a bona fide number of parishioners in the habit of attending his ministrations – the name of this clergyman was Maxwell, and I think his living was in Erris.

He was uncle of Mr. Maxwell, the Novelist, who lived for some time in his house in his younger days, and who has utilised this curious transfer of human stock in a very humorous manner.

I think, if my memory does not deceive me, a similar story is told in Moore’s life of Captain Rock, or in the private memoirs of the Chieftain, published in the periodical called “Captain Rock in London”. But that I am correct in my statement respecting the Rev. Mr. Maxwell, I have no doubt, as the accuracy of my own recollections of the event, as heard in the neighbourhood in which it took place, has been confirmed by a relative of the principal performer in the farce ___ which relative is at present living.

There is something very pleasing as well as whimsical and amusing in such a display of friendship between clergymen of antagonistic churches, at a time when the laws and the institutions of the country, and the very practices of society, were all colored with the blackest shade of religious bigotry that has ever disgraced any age or country.

In continuation from No. 18, we give the following inscriptions from tombstones in Temple-a-Calla churchyard :---

No. 1

Anno R.S.H

1648

Monumentum hoe

Uxori

Et posteris fieri

Fecit clarisumus

Medicine

Doctor peritimimus

This inscription is near the north eastern extremity of the grave yard of Temple-a-Calla.

No. 2

Here lieth the body

Of the Reverd Father

Patrick McKeogh Pa

Rish Priest of this

Parish died. Aug the

10^th 1760 aged 48 years

This inscription is nearly in the centre of the church inside.

That of Father John McKeogh is close to the south, wall, inside the church also, and is as follows:----

Derby McKeogh beneath this marble lies

Devout sincere just charitable wise

In time of famine kept the poor alive

And died regretted aged seventy-five

Interred in January sixty and seven

We hope his soul enjoys the bliss of heaven.

This inscription too is inside the church.

The following is the inscription on the tombstone of the Rev. John McKeogh

Here lieth the body of the

Rev Father John McKeogh

Deceased 7 ber ye 16^th 1761

Aged 72 years

(To be Continued)

The Tipperary Vindicator and Limerick Reporter, Tuesday Evening, May 3, 1870

Reminiscences of a journalist and notes of old events

No. CCCIX (309)

(Written for the Reporter and Vindicator)

Collections for a history of the Dalcassians

The journey through Arra Cliach continued through Lower Ormond To Youghal Arra

No. XXIX

(Text omitted here relating to Ormond – DR)

We at length enter Arra Cliach, the parish of Youghal Arra, in the barony of Owney and Arra, the shrine of our pilgrimage, the spot which the antiquary loves to dwell on. We enter the thriving village of Portroe, or the Red landing place, where we meet Irish hospitality and truly Irish welcome. The hill over Portroe on the left is called Cnock-a-hoglish by some, and Knockamucka by others. The older name I believe I Cnock-a-hoglish, as it is the nearer to the name of the place in which it is, vis, Youghall, or Oughill, or Oggilish, being respectively, the place of the yew trees, which formerly abounded here and from which the parish of Youghall stands in designation, as does the old borough of Youghall, in Cork County. The view from this eminence is really superb : the Lake expands widely here, and the comp d’oeil which takes in Inniscaltra and its round tower on the opposite shore, the stretch of water from Portumna to Killaloe, the mountains of Clare and Galway, the highlands of the barony itself, and the delightful parks of Castletown and Landsdown, the residence of the Parker family ___ very good landlords and excellent country gentlemen ___ in one of the most magnificent and really “national” that can thrill the heard and make the Irishman love the old land with undying affection. On the left is Ballingare, or Ballingree “the place of the wilderness” the neat abode of the then respected old Parish Priest, the Rev. Mr. Milane. The Bridge of Castletown, about half a mile from Portroe, has inserted in its southern battlement a stone on which is pretty well sculptured the figure of a horse, and its northern battlement a stone which is also pretty well sculptured the likeness of a perch-fish. These bear records of the sportsman, probably the late Anthony Parker Esq. under whom auspices very likely, the bridge was erected. The last-mentioned battlement also contains a slab on which is inscribed :____

 

Seven miles, one quarter, and

Twenty-nine perch to Nenagh

Four miles, one quarter, and

Eleven perch

To Killaloe  

 

 

 

1801

Close by the bridge on the right at turn towards Lough Deirghe-yierc is a glebe house, close to which a school-house has been erected. At the opposite side of the road is a very handsome church and steeple, with a weather-vane, &c, furnished with a lightning conductor. We now proceed to examine a locality which is closely connected with Dalcassian memories, and which possesses very great interest indeed for the antiquary and the historian

(To be Continued)

The Tipperary Vindicator and Limerick Reporter, Friday Evening, May 6, 1870

Reminiscences of a journalist and notes of old events

No. CCCX (310)

(Written for the Reporter and Vindicator)

Collections for a history of the Dalcassians

Arra Cliach – The Slate Quarries – The Graves of the Leinstermen, &c, &c.

No. XXX

We proceed with our decscription of Arra Cliach. About half a mile south-west of Portroe is a small truncated fort on the townland of Lisheen. Indeed the place takes its name from the fort ___ Liseen or Lisheen, being the Irish for a small fort. About sixty yards from the fort are two “gallans” or rude upright stones of granite or mill stone quartz. Each has a smaller stone close by it ; there are two stones east and west of each other, and thirty-six feet or twelve yard asunder. They are situated S.E. of the truncated cone. We proceed to visit the Duat Arra (Douharra) slate quarries, which are worked by Mr. Wm. Headech, of Clonybrien House, a gentleman who has won the good opinion of the people as a kind-hearted neighbour and a good employer ____ Some years ago, owing to differences between the labourers and one of the stewards, the latter, an intelligent man named McDonnell, was fired at and shot in the stomach. A man named Fogarty, as well as I remember the name was tried by Chief Baron Brady at Nenagh Assizes ; and the  attending Doctor (Dr. Dempster) having sworn that the wound was dangerous to the life of McDonnell, and that there was no hope of McDonnell surviving, the prisoner was sentenced to death ; and he was hanged some few weeks afterwards in front of the County Gaol in Nenagh. Dr. Dempster, of course, firmly believed what he swore ; and the attack on McDonnell was, no doubt, a murderous one ; but the truth is that he (McDonnell) not only survived the wound, but up to a late period, at all events for several years afterwards, he lived in the enjoyment of the full ability to transact his business at the quarries. Indeed I don’t know but that he may be alive to this day. The scene at these quarries is wild and fearful in the extreme ; it at once reminds you, not only of the “dangerous trade” of the samphire gatherer in Shakespeare, but of the exceedingly perilous position of the bird-catcher on the western coast of Clare, particularly at the cliffs of Moher. The men at work in these extensive and highly-prosperous quarries are perched on iron staples, which they drive into the rock while suspended from above by ropes ___ an appalling chasm lies beneath ___ an awkward movement one way or the other might be attended with certain death. It is gratifying, however, to state that accidents are exceedingly rare ; and that the local records mention but few of them within the period of about thirty years that the quarries have been at active work. Various qualities of ? are developed from these quarries ; the chief part of them are highly recommended and in the best favor for building purposes, and, I believe, Mr. Henry Ellis, the respectable and worthy agent of the quarries, resident in Clare-street, Limerick, has been doing a thriving business for the Company, and that every one speaks well of him and of his satisfactory mode of dealing. I am happy to take occasion of the opportunity presented to me to bear very willing testimony to the high character of Mr. Henry Ellis. At the time of my visit to the quarries, and perhaps up to the present moment, a large iron water wheel worked a mill, which grinds for the use of the labourers employed ; raises loaded lorries by a chain running over iron rollers on an inclined plane furnished with a railway. The mill wheel also works a large crank, which pumps and keeps the quarry empty. I should state that the quarry is on the side of Ballymillane mountain rises 1,127 feet above the level of the sea. The quarries are over 500 feet above the sea. There is a police barrack at Corbally, which was placed here to keep order among the miners, who, indeed, it must be stated, are well conducted. From the quarries our course lay in a pathway through the fields towards N.S.W., which led up the mountain and brought us on the highroad leading to “the Gap” (a’ Barna), north of the summit of Thomthinna (wave of fire) mountain, which is 1,517 feet over the sea, and which is remarkable for the symbols of an ancient volcano and crater-like cavity, now filled with water, and forming a mountain lake, to which Captain Grantham, who was buried in Killaloe Cathedral, and who was a scientific engineer and thorough sportsman, conveyed a boat to enjoy such fishing as the lake produces. The gap is called in Irish “Barnane Meclaughiahin Mac Reighe Leighnane” Half a mile west of the Gap are the “Graves of the Leinstermen” at an elevation of 926 over the sea. I have before now referred to these graves, and described them. In my History of Limerick I have given a full account of them. They are large, rude, uninscribed stones, which I have particularly noticed in Reminiscence No. CCLXXXII, 4^th October, 1868, published on the 8^th of June, 1869. This place is said to be the site of a battle between the forces of Donal O’Brien and the men of Leinster. The King of Leinster’s son (Maelaugshin) fell in the battle, and was buried at a rock on Toumlock mountain, immediately over the gap, at an elevation of 950 feet over the sea. The place of his internment is called “Knockanreligan (the hillock of the single burial place) ___ Some years ago the young King’s son’s bones were found here at the foot of the rock ; the skull was taken away by a shopkeeper named McCormick from Killaloe who ominously died there soon after. It is probable that this mountain takes the name Tomlock from its being the place of the King’s son’s sepulture. “Tuaim” is the Irish for a grave or burial place, and “leacht” is a sepulchral flag or carn of stone. Tuamleacht was easily changed by Anglo corruption into Tomlock, the name given to the place in the Patent of Charles II. ; and the Ordnance gentry corrupted that again into Townlough ___ a horrid barbarism ; and, no doubt, thought it bore some reference to Lough Deirg-yeric, which is seen from this point in all its majesty and beauty. Tomlock is the estate of the highly respected Chairman of Tipperary, Charles Rolleston, Esq., Q.C. (recently Charles Rolleston Spunner, Q.C.), and than whom no advocate was more popular on the Leinster circuit for many years. He succeeded John Hatcheel and Abrabam Brewater in the defence of prisoners ; and I believe his latest but, alas ! most unsuccessful defence was that of the unhappy brothers Cormack in Nenagh, whose trial and its attendant circumstances caused a deep sensation, and the worst feelings among all who witnessed or heard of it. Ballingeare or Ballingare is the name of the place the Priest of Portroe or Castletown Arra resided at the time of this visit. At the foot of the mountain, on the banks of Lough Deirg-yeric is a place called “Balleeillareic” the town or house of the King’s grave. I returned by Clonybrien. Here Mr. Headech, who works the quarries, lives __ a neat place, newly walled in; opposite to his halldoor, at a distance of about fifty yards is a delicious spring rising from under the base and fantastic roots of a huge ash tree. This spring, like many others, was dedicated to the Patron Saint of Ireland, and is known by the name of “Patrick’s Well”. On the roadside between Clonybrian and Portroe, I found in plenty Salvia Alpina (mountain sage or mountain ? ?), called in Wicklow “abair lish,” and “ubar sliab;” in Ulster “? na fish” and “? Fihain” and “ever alainhe”. I should observe that part of the mountain towards the Shannon is called Lough Tea___quere, “Liac Tig__carne house. We shall not dwell on the many incidents of historic interest which are suggested by the locality. They are numerous ; nor shall I linger longer on the transcendent splendour of the scenery which charms the eye and elevated the soul as we look North, South, East or West.

(To be Continued)

The Tipperary Vindicator and Limerick Reporter, Tuesday Evening, May 10, 1870

Reminiscences of a journalist and notes of old events

No. CCCXI (311)

(Written for the Reporter and Vindicator)

Collections for a history of the Dalcassians

Youghall Arra – The Ancient Church and Graveyard – The Holy Well of St. Coulan and its Trout – The Tombstone and Inscriptions, &c

No. XXXI

We now proceeded to a place called the precipices on the Ordnance Survey Map of Tipperary No. 19. This place is on a small rivulet running from the quarries into the Youghall river. The so called precipices are only slight landslips occasioned by the mountain floods of the river. Pursuing the course of the rivulet along the left bank, we arrive at Youghall Bridge, which we crossed in the direction of Monroe (red bog), where there was a castle some years ago, which fell about the year 1848___ a year fatal, it would seem, to many castles in Tipperary ; and from thence we went to the ruinous church and ancient burial ground of Youghall Arra. To our astonishment we found a ball-alley in the burial ground amindst the graves! And no doubt many a rubber has been played there, perhaps over the last resting places of those endeared by the tenderest ties to the parties engaged in the active exercise ; but as I have heard observed many years ago, by a wise person who was thoroughly conversant with human nature in all its phases, the child, who is most fondly attached to the parent in life, and who, soon after death, mourns and would not be consoled for the loss, will dance on the grave-stone of that parent, and think nothing of him or her “who sleeps the sleep that knows no waking,” as time wears away the strong emotions of early grief, regretted to see this venerable old church-yard indecently trampled over by a flock of geese and some sheep. The Rev. Henry Wakeham was the Protestant rector at the time of my visit ; and there is no doubt that if he had not been personally aware of the circumstances, he ought to have been informed by some one who respected the dead, and he ought to have endeavoured to keep the cemetery in some sort of order. The dilapidated walls of the church were yet standing ; they exhibit two very curious windows ___ one of them is round-headed on the inside and formed of a single stone, but on the outside of the wall the window is round. The second window is narrow and round headed ; splayed on the inside with cut off angles above. This church, from the north wall of which grows an aged ash tree, was dedicated to St. Conlan, whose patron day was kept on the 24^th of July. There is an ambry and piscina in the south wall. The old “pattern” as the word “Patron” is called in the country, is no longer kept as it used to be formerly in large assemblages and often in drinking and rioting ; the people, in this respect, owing to the unremitting exhortations and nervous discharge of duty by the respected parochial clergy observe the day in religious exercises, rather than in those pursuits which not unfrequently ended in quarrels and riots, and in their appearance afterwards in the police court, amid mutual recriminations, and subsequently before Barrister Howley in Nenagh, or perhaps before some more unrelenting member of the bench at the next assizes in the same good town. Father Mathew did immense service too in changing the manners and habits of the people for the better. Though a generation has passed away since the illustrious Apostle of Temperance began his mission, the good effects of it continue to be felt and appreciated. There is a well near at hand in the same old graveyard, dedicated also to St. Conlan ; it holds its reverential place among the holy wells of old Ireland, and it is shaded by venerable ash trees, under which, on a fine summer’s day, it sparkles to partake in its refreshing coolness, and invites the wayfarer to partake of the purest, the best all beverages. The well is reported to cure sore eyes and headaches ___ no doubt, as there is no more powerful detersive and refrigerant than spring water, and nothing, therefore, more grateful to the eye ; whilst at the same time, when drank, it is an excellent medicine for the blood. We are not surprised that these wells should be so popular ; whilst, no doubt, faith, which is strong in the Irish heart, works wonders.

The genii of the olden times

Still hover round these holy wells ;

Transferring to a faith sublime

The worship of old pagan spells,

Now consecrated to the creed

For which our sires were doomed to bleed

There are two very large red or golden trout religiously preserved in this well ; and it is said that if the person ailing happens to see one of them it is a prognostic of his cure. Trout, I need not say, are to be found in the principal among the holy wells of our country ; they are looked upon with the greatest regard by the people ; many startling stories are related of those who attempt to meddle with them, to injure them, or to deprive them of life. Our readers will remember the fate of the ferocious soldiers of the Black Horse in Limerick garrison, who robbed Penny Well of its trout, and made an effort to roast it. The fish is an emblem of our Saviour ; and all over the Christian world the emblem is associated with the Redeemer who came to earth, to die for and save mankind ___ The Fisherman’s Ring is the official seal of the most ancient and the most venerable of earthly monarchies, as it is the most closely identified with glorious traditions, and the great preserver of order amid the world’s constant changes ___ There are trout in the holy wells of St. Quan, in the parish of Mothell, county Waterford ; in Cragg, near Newport, county of Tipperary ; and in various other holy wells ; in the well of All Saints, or Tubbernanave, in the King’s County. There are some remarkable grave stones in the church and burial ground. The tomb of the old and respectable family of Power of Monroe ___ a branch, I have heard, of the Waterford Powers and intimately related to the Dickson family of the county of Limerick __ forms a prominent object here. It is well slated with the slates of Corbally ; it is spacious and has a solid iron door. The space in front of the tomb contains various pretty shrubs and evergreens, and is enclosed with a high wall, having a gate made of open bar iron. On one of the grave stones in the church is the following :---

“Here lieth

The body of Darby

O’Brien deceased

Nov THE 30^th 1789

Also his wife Mary

Jany 7 17??

Lord Have mercy

On their souls.”

On a headstone is the subjoined :---

“Erected by Matthew and

Mallachy Brien in memory

Of their father James Brien

Who dep this life Oct : the

6 1842 aged 50 years – also

Their brother John Brien

Who dep this life the 20 of

April 1822 aged 3 months.

May their souls rest in peace

Amen.”

The fraternal piety which thus offered up a prayer for the repose of the soul of an innocent infant twenty years after its death is very remarkable. Upon a flat stone at the base of the headstone last mentioned is inscribed :----

“Vain man, reflect ---- think on the day

That you will here like me decay.

Adieu, my friend, cease for to deplore

The loss of me who is no more.”

By far the greater number of the occupants of this burial place are of the name of O’Brien ; descendants, no doubt, of the ancient McIBriens of Arra, to whom we shall come as we proceed, or of the O’Briens, as the monumental inscriptions sufficiently testify. I found two gravestones here dated 1691. On one of them was visible merely the date within a circle, and the words THADY oBRIEN ; on the other was inscribed a cross, surmounted by a rude representation of an angel. The letters DOB ran across the foot of the cross, the interior of which is hollowed like a bowl and has the date 1691 inscribed within its circumference. Then there is a death’s head surmounting two cross bones, under which is the monogram D, with S in the half circle of the D, and the whole within a circle (O), probably meant for “Deus Omnipotens Salvator.” I found a similar monogram on other slabs here, and on one of them it was the only inscription. Upon the northern edge of the sepulchral slab I have been describing were the words :- JOHN HYRLY TERENCE OBRIEN M ORO oBRIEN And on its western edge was DAN oBRIEN.

From the church of Youghall Arra we went to Garrykennedy (Kennedy’s garden --- very likely a favourite resort of one of the great O’Brien sept in other times), a delightful place ; we passed through the handsome and improved demesne of Captain Bernard, Youghall Cottage, and by Youghall House, the fine residence of Mr. Smithwick, J.P. At Garrykennedy are the ruins of a square castle, which an individual who was on the spot at the time of our visit told me in the gravest manner possible was built by the Danes ! What in Ireland has not been built by the Danes, according to the testimony of some of our country people? The proper name of it is Slanger Castle ; but there is no doubt that over the doorway before it was ruined were the letters “O’B” in rude stone work incised, and these letters showed that it was the residence of the O’Briens in olden days. Here was the gallows trees also in former times, as the O’Briens did summary executions on every obnoxious person within their territory. A clerk or overseer of Mr. Headech has converted the upper closet of the castle into an office when we were there. Here was an anchor outside the harbour the “Midge”, a small but neat pleasure yacht of Mr. Headech ; and the harbour was occupied by three large sailing lumber boats belonging to the same gentleman, which ? ? in conveying slates raised at the quarries, and in bringing back timber, &c. Near Garrykennedy House, the Terry Alta, in the days of their rampancy, dug a grave in a plantation and affixed a threatening notice over it for Mr. Colleton, an English gentleman, who then resided here. He immediately began building a round tower for his own protection. It is 20 feet in diameter and 45 feet high. The joists were laid in it for three floors, but it never was roofed or finished. The entrance door is some ten or twelve feet from the ground ; and, like some of the ancient Round Towers, or the more modern Martella Towers, approachable only by a ladder ! ---

What an idea Mr. Colleton had of self protection.

I should state that at Ballingeer or Ballingare, the property of Charles Rolleston, Esq, Q.C the very much respected Chairman of Tipperary, is an upright stone, marked as “The Stone” on the Ordnance map. This townland contains 341a., and his lands of Tomlough, 217a ? 28p and Tomlough Lower 200a. Mr. Rolleston was always popular in Tipperary.

Portroe stands partly on the townland of Shesharoe (red ploughshare) but principally on that of Garrykennedy. I am reminded by a valued friend, and an excellent Irish etymologist that Lough Tea, as mentioned in the last Reminisence, is not a grave carne, but Leacht Aodh – Hugh’s grave – said Hugh no one can tell anything about in tradition or story ; and that Tom Leacht (latin ?) may also have the same derivation as Toom, Tomies or Tames – a place of water spouts, as in Kiltanon, county Clare.

(To be Continued).

The Tipperary Vindicator and Limerick Reporter, Tuesday Evening, May 10, 1870

Reminiscences of a journalist and notes of old events

No. CCCXII (312)

(Written for the Reporter and Vindicator)

Collections for a history of the Dalcassians

Castletown Arra Graveyard – Terrance MacIBriens Tomb – The Parksers, The Heads &c.

No. XXXII

We now resume our visit to Castletown, which we merely touched on in No. XXIX, having been drawn away from a more particular examination of the place by the more immediate attractions of Youghall and Portroe, &c. The church at Castletown is erected on an artificial platform of earth, very much circumscribed. The country here is beautifully wooded by umbrageous ash and elm trees, intermixed here and there with large quantities of the Alnus Vulgaris (alder), in Irish Fearnog, the bark of which serves for dying instead of ?, and the green bedewed leaves of which, spread in bed-room and shortly afterwards removed, is effectual according to Threlekeld and K’Eogh in taking away those pests ___ the fleas ; the wood of this timber, dry, like poplar, and known by the name of Irish mahogany, is much used on the banks of the Shannon for boat building &c. With a couple of friends, a few years ago, we paid a visit to the old parish church and cemetery of Castletown, on the verge of the Shannon, and to the tomb or ancient vault of the family of McIBrien of O’Brien, which is situate under the north sidewall of the church. The slab informing us of the name of the occupant is mutilated and overgrown with grass and weeds. We made a rubbing of the inscription, which is in verge of the slab. The style of writing is abbreviated ; and in some parts of the inscription the letters have been so injured that it is impossible to discover what they are ; whilst in others they have disappeared totally. In the Archaeological and Historical Journal of Ireland, in my illustrations of the Fee Book of Dr. Thomas Arthur, the inscription is fully set out, and very beautifully and very accurately printed. Without reproducing it here, I shall merely give a translation of the monumental record, which will be quite sufficient for our present purpose. When these “Collections” shall have been gathered together in more permanent form than they now appear in, as I trust I shall be able to place them, the inscription must be awarded its pride of place with all the attention that can be bestowed upon it :___

“I Terence Brien caused this to be made in memory of myself and my wife Mori Ni Carroll. This second monument for the sake of his own, likewise all of his names’ memory, caused to be completed.”

I do not say that this is a very elegant translation ; but it accurately renders the rather barbarous latin in which the inscriber indulged ___ Who this Terence Brien was, how largely he figured in his day, and what posterity he left, shall all appear in due form as we proceed.

This old churchyard is principally covered with silent tenants of the names of Brien and Parker; with several of the old stock of the Gleesons too, who, in their day, filled rather remarkable places in the beautiful district of Duharrow. On a tomb S.W. of the church, and encompassed by a spacious walled enclosure is ____

“Underneath are deposited

The remains of Aninus Parker,

Of Castletown, Esq, J.P. and

D.I. for the County Tipperary

Who departed this life

The 4^th day of May, 1837,

In the 68^th year of his age

This Monument was erected

To his memory by his Son,

Anno Domini 1838

I should say of the Parker family that in the length and breadth of great Tipperary no name enjoys a higher reputation for goodness in practical dealing with their extensive tenantry, or in the exercises of popular neighbourship. They are respected by all classes ; and by the poor, in particular they have always beloved for their generosity, and for the absence of that miserable proselytising spirit which more than anything else has created the most bitter feelings in the minds of the people against such of the gentry as indulge in it.

The next monument I happened to examine is calculated to make us think less of youth, beauty, fortune, and all that the world admires and aspires to, than the majority of mankind are accustomed to think of them ___ This tomb records the early death of an accomplished and lovely lady, the pride of her home, and the admired of all who had the privilege of her acquaintance. The inscription tells a tale which must impart reflexion to the mind of youth as well as age :----

Here lies the body of

Maria Head, eldest daughter of

Michael Prittie Head,

Of Derry Castle, in the

County of Tipperary, Esq,

Who departed this life Oct. 19^th

1819

Aged 20 years.”

The Head family whilst they held Derry Castle, in the possession of which about thirty years ago they were succeeded by the late Francis Spaight, Esq., J.P., of Limerick, were ever held in the highest estimation by the people of the neighbourhood. The Heads are an old family in Tipperary, and are now represented by William Henry Head, Esq., of Modreeny House, for whom his Majesty Willaim IV. Stood sponsor. The family is descended from Michael Head, Esq. of the city of Waterford, who in the year 1672 was Sheriff of that city, and Mayor of the same in 1684. John Head, Esq., of Waterford, the son of Thos. Head, Esq., of Head’s Grove, in the county of Kilkenny, married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Samuel Wade, Esq., of Derry, the descendent of General Samuel Wade, the debenturer of Cromwell’s army, who obtained large grants of the O’Brien property, in Duharrow, and whose portrait in armour is said at present to ornament one of the rooms of Derry House. Between the inscription above given, and Sir Bernard Burke (Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland), who represents  Maria as the second daughter, and married to William Gore, Esq., there is an obvious discrepancy. How to reconcile it I really know not ; but I would say that the inscription is the better evidence, and that until Sir Bernard Burke shall bring forward proof more positive that a printed pedigree, to remove or upset the earlier and more oft seen slab, we must pronounce in favour of the monument. Nothing, indeed, is it to her whose remains lie beneath the tomb which or which not may be pronounced the genuine record ; but we should say that one or the other must be in error. The beauteous young lady, of whom death this tomb is a memorial, was called away ere she had tasted the sorrow of the world’s unaccountable and often sudden changes, and felt the pang of seeing the unparalleled scenic attractions of Derry Castle, for so many years the proud patrimony of her ancient and respectable family, pass for ever into other hands. I may state of Derry Castle Demesne that the drive through it is exceedingly agreeable, whether from the Ballina (Killaloe) side or from the Nenagh side. At the time of the Public Works in 1847, a very fine roadway was made here, which cut off a rather precipitous hill which travellers hitherto were compelled to ascend or descend in their journeys to or from Nenagh by this pleasant route ; and this was one of the chief benefits conferred on the district by the Public Works in question. I must say of Mr Spaight, the present owner of Derry Castle, that he affords every facility to pic-nic parties to enjoy the pleasure of a drive through, and of every accommodation in the demesne, viz., the Cottage which has been a favorite resort with casual visitors.

Close by the foot of the last described monument is a less aristocratic headstone, which tells of a similar visitation in a more humble sphere of life. But the moral is equally instructive ; it shows that the grim and unrelenting tyrant “knocks alike at the castles of the great and the huts of the poor”.

There are several remarkable tombstones and inscriptions in this old graveyard, to which we shall pay attention in the next chapter.

(To be continued).

The Tipperary Vindicator and Limerick Reporter, Tuesday Evening, May 17, 1870

Reminiscences of a journalist and notes of old events

No. CCCXIII (313)

(Written for the Reporter and Vindicator)

Collections for a history of the Dalcassians

Castletown Arra Continued – The Churchyard – Reflexions on the Tombs – The Heads _ The Gores = A Correction – The Parkers “The Counsellor” And the Tenant – Ballyvalley, &c.

No. XXXIII

The humble monument briefly glanced at in our last chapter tells us that it was erected by Mary Meara in memory of her daughter, Eleanor, who died November 14^th, 1818, aged 24 years. It states that “she lived beloved and died lamented ;” and it concludes with the pious aspiration, “May she rest in peace.” Here we find two young, and, doubtless, blooming creatures ---- the one in the midst of an aristocratic circle ; the other in the lowly, though not less virtuous, circle of the peasantry --- the one the daughter of the owner of Derry Castle ; the other heiress to the stern duties imposed by the will of Providence on the more lowly born, cut off by death in the same year. Their remains repose or moulder near each other in the bosom of our common mother, Earth ; their respective parents and surviving relatives were left to mourn their premature departure, like that of meteors from the scenes which they momentarily illumine by their sudden splendour. On one, and the more wealthy tomb, there is no other record than the cold, formal inscription which tells the melancholy tale, and fixes the date with a strong hand ; on the other and the humbler, the feelings are moved to sympathy, and the lips involuntarily reecho the prayer, to which the heart beats responsive, that the tender young maiden who sleeps below may find everlasting repose in the world where there is perpetual spring, and no winter ; where all is happiness, and all unfading beauty, which the worm does not spoil, or the rust corrode, or death conquer. It is the singular privilege of the professors of the old faith to be able to send up a prayer to Heaven for the endless rest of the beloved ones who have left them ! What a grand, and delightful, and consoling thought this is, that the grave, though it closes on the once animated form, does not separate us altogether from the tenant of the tomb, but that when we think on her or him who player her or his part in life beside us, and who has been called off in the early prime of life, or in the sere and yellow of the leaf, we can say Requieseat in pace ! Surely this is a noble privilege for the Christian who believes in that middle state, which the Church of Ages teaches exists after death. I am reminded by a respectable gentleman, who says “Je suis fort en genealogie commesont tous les sots qui ont de la memoire,” that a Maria Head, sister of Michael Prittie Head, of Derry, married William Gore, son of a Bishop of Limerick. He goes on to say : “There is a genealogical problem which I cannot solve ; for many generations the Gore family has proclaimed that the ancestor was married to Miss Wickliffe, niece of the beheaded Earl of Strafford. The published history of the Wentworth family states that Black Tom had only three sisters, none of whom was married to a Wickliffe. If it were the case “my respected informant states” he should be a Plantagenent from his great-great-grandmother Gore, which he believes he is not.

On a rough slab, which measures about 3 feet in length by 2 ½ feet in breadth, is incised a cross within a circle ; this is the Chaldean type of the earth. Above the circle is an artificially delineated figure of a cherub, and at the bottom of the stone are the letters M:M:K: mm. The cherub is manifestly the work of the same hand as one I have met with on a funeral slab in the burial ground of Youghall Arra, and which bears the date 1691. The character of the middle M, with the cedilla over it, is an Irish abbreviation for the word ‘Maille”.

Before we proceed to the examination of the other monuments in this romantically situated churchyard, I may briefly refer to some few anecdotes respecting the Heads and the Parkers which are current in this district. One of the former family is said to have had a dispute with one of the Catholic Priests of Ballina and Boher, in the Penal times ; how the dispute originated I really know not ; but it is said that it did not eventuate happily. Of the Parkers, it is well known that no more benevolent neighbours or landlords ever lived. I have heard the following anecdote on the most reliable authority :--- “The Counsellor”, as he was familiarly called, who resided at Ballyvalley, near Killaloe, was particularly charitable. In the hard times, some twenty or twenty-two years ago, he saw, one day, a very poor looking man in the demesne ; but the poor looking man was evidently apprehensive and reluctant in the extreme to approach the hall-door. With head down, and most pensive look, he was the personification of distress. The Counsellor, observing that he had determined apparently not to come nearer, asked, in a loud voice, who he was, and what he wanted ? The trembling tenant, for tenant he was, told his name, what was his mission, how much ashamed he felt at meeting his honor, how far he came in the cold of the winter morning, and what he owed, and how little he had to pay it “All I have, in the world, your honor, are these nine pounds, a small thing out of my rent ; but here it is with a blessing ; and I am sure you will have patience with me for the arrears until the times improve.”

“And how did you scrape the £9 together,” asked the Counsellor?

“To tell your honor the truth,” replied the tenant, “I had a couple of pigs, and two little heifers, I sold them at the fair of O’Brien’s Bridge ; and that is the way I made up the rest. I wish I could do more.”

“And what have you reserved for your wife and children ?” said the Counsellor.

“Nothing but Providence and the good will o the neighbours,” sighed the poor man ; “I give your honour, now, all I have in the world.”

“And you tell me you have no provision and no stock?”

“I tell you the truth, your honor.”

“Then,” said the Counsellor, “what brought you here?”

“To give you the £9, your honor.”

“Take it home with you,” said the Counsellor, “and take this receipt in full too for what you owe. You can not stock your farm and purchase provisions, and when the times improve I am sure you will not forget your landlord. If I took what you are giving me, your hungry wife and children would fall to cursing Counsellor Parker for taking what you had from them. Id prefer their prayers to their curses.

The poor man went his way rejoicing, and his case was the case of many other tenants on the same estate. “The Counsellor” delighted at times in crossing the river and feasting his eyes on the magnificent panorama, of which Ballyvalley forms a feature of the most attractive loveliness. He was accustomed, too, to walk into Killaloe frequently ; and, as he passed up by the New-street, he was sure to be encountered by crowds of applicants for relief, to whom his usual donation was a half-crown, of which he kept a pocket full always about him on such occasions. When dying he kissed his watch and handed it to his steward, telling him to keep it in memory of his master, and to ask the people to pray for him when he should be no more. I have heard that he did not care to seek the ministrations of the clergyman of his church (the Protestant), for what reason I am not aware ; but he died deeply and deservedly regretted by all who had the slightest knowledge of his many truly admirable qualities. By name, the Parkers are said to have come to North Tipperary from Cork, and to have purchased there and in Clare ; but the truth is, that the first Captain Parker was a debenturer, and got large grants in Duharrow, which are set out in the Book of Distributions and Down Survey ; but I have always heard that there could not be more unexceptionable landlords, or better neighbours. The origin of the family is said to be of Windsor, where they were employted by the Kings of England as Park-carers, hence the derivation of the name Parker. Ballyvalley House has been rebuilt and much enlarged, and a cutting and clearing of a large quantity of the aged timber which crowded the demesne enables a view to be had of the house ; and from the house an extensive view of Lough Dergh in its wide expanse up to Portumna. There was a grand pic nic there last week, when the gentry of Tipperary, Clare, and Limerick assembled in the demesne ; and the day being pluvious, the feast intended for viridi super fronde was given in the new house, where there was much enjoyment until the sun’s rays next morning, glancing over mountain, lake, and bower, told that it was time for the company to depart for their respective homes in the three counties. About fifty carriages crossed or passed the bridge of Killaloe at six o’clock a.m. It was a great house-warming.

The Tipperary Vindicator and Limerick Reporter, Tuesday Evening, May 24, 1870

Reminiscences of a journalist and notes of old events

No. CCCXIII (314)

(Written for the Reporter and Vindicator)

Collections for a history of the Dalcassians

A Correction – The Parker Family – Arthur Young at Castlelough and Derry

No. XXXIV

There can be no hesitation in making a correction where an error has been fallen into ; and it is one of the advantages of the mode I have adopted in the publication of these Reminiscences and Notes in the column of this journal that the moment an error has been made it can be at once detected, and the remedy applied without delay.

In reference to the Parker family of Duharrow, I was made aware, before I received the following note, that I had made a mistake in confounding Captain Parker, one of Cromwell’s favourites, and a large debenturer, as appears by the Book of Distribution and the Down Survey, with the present Parker family of Castle Lough and Ballyvalley, who I find have held by purchase the broad and beautiful lands on the banks of the Shannon, a considerable portion of which, according to the testimony of Arthur Young, was reclaimed and brought into perfect cultivation by Anthony Parker, Esq., the purchaser, in the last century. These are the words of the Tourist :--

“October 3^rd, taking my leave of Johnstown and its agreeable and hospitable family, I took the road towards Derry, the seat of Michael Head, Esq., through a country much of it bordering on the Shannon, and commanding many fine views of that river ; but its nakedness, except at particular places, taken off much from the beauty of the scenery. Near to Derry there are some finer views. From one hill, the road commands the bay of Scarriff, Lough Derg back to Johnstown ; and the river turning under the hills of Achnis, a promontory or wood, which separates them, is fully seen ; there are also many hedges, so well grown with scattered trees on the higher site as to have a pleasing effect. I found Mr. Head on my arrival, just going to dine with a neighbour, Mr. Parker, whose father had worked a very fine mountain improvement, and who would probably be there ; this was a sufficient inducement, had there been no other, for me to accompany him. I found Mr. Parker’s house, so near the river, as sometimes to be washed by it. The improvement I had heard of is a hill above 40 acres, which was covered with ling, furze, &c. and not worth 6d a mere thirty-two years ago when the work was begun. He grubbed, ploughed it, and sowed oats, and marled the stubble from the Shannon ; the marls, from the steepness of the hill, being carried on the backs of oxen. Upon this be took a crop of wheat, and another of oats, both exceedingly fine, and with the latter sowed the seeds for the grass, which still remains, and has been improving every fence ; it is now work 30s. an acre, and a very pleasing object to the eye, especially since Mr. Parker, junior, has added to the fineness of the verdure and herbage by feeding it with many sheep.”

Now to a letter which has been received from a highly respectable member of the Parker family, who has forwarded a private note with the subjoined, to which he appends his proper name, but not for publications ----

“TO THE EDITOR OF THE REPORTER AND VINDICATOR

“Sir --- In fairness I hope you will allow me to correct some mistakes in an article headed “Reminiscences of a Journalist,” which appeared in your paper of the 17^th.

“The Captain Parker mentioned as a ‘debenturer’ in the Down Survey was not one of the same family as the Parkers of Castletown ; the last representative of Captain Parker’s family having died in the parish of Youghall Arra, where he resided, about fifty years ago ; his property being all sold after his death. In the next place, the Parkers of Castletown came from the County Limerick (of which County the writer’s grandfather was High Sheriff in 1761, and his great-grandfather in 1740-41) to the County Tipperary, and NOT from Cork, as stated ; and obtained whatever lands they hold by purchase, and NOT by grant.

“There are several other matters relating to the late William Parker of Ballyvalley, which are also entirely incorrect ; but, if I were to enter upon them, it would occupy too much of your valuable space, without in any way interesting your readers.

“I remain, sir

“Your obedient servant,

“ONE OF THE PARKER FAMILY.”

In the above letter there is an error as to the year that Anthony Parker, Esq., of Dunkip Castle, became High Sheriff of the County Limerick, which was in 1738, not in 1740-41. Anthony Parker, junior, Esq., son of the above, and apparently during the life-time of his father was High Sheriff of the same County in the year 1761. (See Lenihan’s History of Limerick). It wants but seven or eight years of a century since Arthur Young visited Derry, Castlelough, &c. The observant and painstaking traveller spent no less than four days at Derry, and though the account he gives us of his visit to that extremely picturesque and exceedingly interesting neighbourhood is rather lengthy for republication in our columns, yet it is so fraught with so much interest that it cannot fail, under present circumstances ‘to be of use, and I think the statement will prove to be the source of no small pleasure and instruction to my readers in general :___

In the same conversation I also learned a few particulars of a bog of twelve acres , part of one of 150 , improved by Mr. Minchin , near Nenagh . ' The first operation was to cut main drains six feet deep , and cross ones of 18 inches or two feet , and as soon as it was a little firm , covered it with lime - stone gravel three inches thick , before the bog would bear a car ; but did it by beginning at the edge , and advancing on the part gravelled . Part was tilled , and part left for grass without ploughing : the meadow thus formed has been exceedingly fine . One uncommon circum stance was , his having paved the bottom of the drains with gravel , in order to prevent cattle from being bogged in them . The expence of the whole improvement £ 8 an acre . 

The profit immense . 

It is to Mr. Head's attention that I am indebted for the follow ing particulars concerning the barony of Owna and Arra . ' The soil is a light gravelly loam , on a slaty rock , which is almost general through the whole . The rent on an average 158. for profitable land , and ls . for mountain ; and as there is about half and half , the whole will be 88 . The rise of rent , in twenty years , is about double . Estates are generally large , scarce any so low as £ 500 or £ 600 a year . Farms are all small , none above 300 or 400 acres : many are taken in partnership , three , four , or five families to 100 acres . They divide the land among themselves , each man taking according to his capital . The terms rundale and change dale unknown , as is the latter practice . There are no farms without buildings upon them . Laying out money in building better houses would pay no interest at all , as they are perfectly satisfied with their mud cabbins . Courses of crops on reclaimed mountain , 

1. Marle for oats . 2. Bere . 3. Bere . 4. Wheat . 5. Oats , or English barley . 6. Oats . 7. Oats . 8. Oats . 9. Oats . 10. Oats . The number of these crops of oats proportioned to the quantity of marle laid on ; but the rule is to take as long as the land will yield , and then leave it to recover itself by weeds . Another course : 

1. Potatoes in drills on an exhausted stubble . 2. Bere . 3. Oats . 4. Oats . 5. Oats . 6. Oats , and so on till none will be got . 

The quantity of wheat is very little ; for that little they sow & barrel an acre , and get 8 barrels ; medium price , 10d . to 13d . a stone . Of bere they sow a barrel , and get 15. Of oats sow two barrels , the produce 8 to 15 , according to being early or late in the course . Price of bere six - pence to seven - pence halfpenny . Oats , four - pence to six - pence per stone . No pease , beans , clover , or turnips ; but they have little patches of flax for their own consumption . Potatoes they very generally cultivate in drills ; they plough the stubble twice or thrice , and then open trenches wi the plough three feet asunder ; in which they put some dung , lay the sets on it , and cover them with the plough if they have horses , or if not with shovels . They keep them clean byconstant earthing up with ploughs or shovels . They dig them out , the produce thirty - five barrels per acre . They find that nothing is so good and clean a fallow for corn . Some poor people hire grass land for them in the lazy bed way , paying £ 3 to £ 5 10s . per acre . 

The only manure used besides dung is the shelly marle , dredged up from the bottom of the Shannon . Mr. Head's grandfather was the first who introduced that method of getting at it by bring ing men from Dublin used to raising ballast . It proved so profitable , that the use has much increased since . It lies ir . regularly in banks , from 100 to 200 yards from the shore , and under 10 or 12 feet of water in summer , which is the only time they can get it . The price of raising it is from 18. to 2s . , accord ing to circumstances , besides finding boat , ropes , and all tackle ; a boat contains 60 bushels , and requires 5 men . They land it on a quay , from whence it is taken in sledge carts to some distance for drying , nor is it dry enough for carting away till the year following . Some think it worth carrying one mile , and even two . The common people do not lay on more than four or five boat loads to an acre , but Mr. Head always ten , and the whole expence he calculates at 40s . Much bad land has been re claimed by it , and to great profit . All their dung is used for potatoes . 

The tillage of the common people is done with horses , four in a plough , which do half an acre a day : gentlemen use four oxen . The price 88. an acre . No paring and burning . 

They shut up their meadows for hay in March or April , and rarely begin to mow till September . I should remark that I saw the hay making or marring all the way ( October 3rd ) from Johnstown hither , with many fields covered with water , and the cocks forming little islands in them . They are generally two months making it ; the crop one to one ton and a half per acre . 

There is no regular system of cattle in this barony , there not being above four or five graziers ; but gentlemen , in their domains , have all the different systems . The common farmers keep a few of most sorts of cattle , except fat ones . No large flocks of sheep , but every farmer a few breeding ewes . The fleeces four to a stone . They sell either lambs , hoggits , or two- or three - year - olds ; the price of a two - year - old ewe , 108 .; they have no winter food but grass , even the gentlemen have their fat mutton all winter from the low grass lands on the Shannon , without either hay or turnips .

The marled land has a remarkable spring of grass in the winter ; the rot is very little known . All keep pigs , which are much increased of late ; their pork 328. a cwt . last year at Limerick ; Mr. Head has known it so low as 14s . No proportion between cows and pigs . 

Arthur Young proceeds at considerable length to tell his experiences of the Barony in question, of the habits of the people in it, some of which have been altogether exploded, and are now nearly forgotten. We need not add that in many essential particulars the changes which have taken place are all for the better ; and that the scenery within the past century has wonderfully improved in almost every respect.