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Historical Guide to Clogheen (Copyright Edmund O’Riordan) Introduction The Little town of Clogheen in South West Tipperary’s Galtee-Vee-Valley owes its name to the Gaelic Cloichin an Mhargaid (Little Market Stone). If we are to believe the translation of historian - and former Clogheen Parish Priest - Fr. Everard, it could also mean the Stone market place. An impressive Cut Limestone rock which stands in the grounds of the local Saint Mary’s National School is said to be the very Market Stone which gave the town its name, and on which, long ago, traders and farmers at market signified their acceptance of a deal by striking it with their blackthorn sticks. This booklet explores Clogheen’s past from earliest times down to the late nineteenth century, and outlines some of the major events which affected the town during those years. It also includes some items of less historical significance which will be of interest to locals and visitors alike. For those of you who are interested in tracing family roots, a short chapter on genealogical research in South Tipperary is included. This chapter is designed to get you started by pointing you in the right direction with details of places and sources of material, thereby saving you valuable time in your research. Further information can be obtained from local tourist offices where you can also purchase maps of walks on the Knockmealdown mountains which were published in 1996. Contents Introduction Contents Earliest Years Seventeenth Century Eighteenth Century Fr. Sheehy Cavalry Barracks Royal Irish Constabulary Volunteers Public Floggings Clogheen Mills Fairs and Markets Churches Schools Famine Years Aid to Genealogical Research Items of Interest from Clogheen’s Later Years Rian Bó Phadraig Shanbally Castle St. Cathaldus Historical Guide to Clogheen Earliest Years Sometime between 2000BC and 500BC when wolves still roamed the country and Ireland was, to a great extent, still covered by forest, Bronze Age man found the area around Clogheen hospitable enough and fertile enough to establish a settlement there. In August 1982, archaeological excavations on the Cork-Dublin gas pipeline discovered the remains of a Bronze Age village type settlement in the townland of Croughatoor, about a mile north of Clogheen on the Cahir road. Further evidence of Bronze Age Man’s (and woman’s) use of the area can be seen in the number of cairns or burial places on the top of the Knockmealdown Mountains, most notably the cairn on the summit of Knockshanahullion, just south of the town. A mapped walk recently published and available from the local tourist office, takes you to this summit. A Bronze Age axe head which was found in recent times at Carrigmore townland, two miles west of Clogheen, can be seen in the Tipperary County Museum in Clonmel. Rose Cleary, a local archaeologist, based at University College Cork, suggests that it was these Bronze Age people who cleared the valley of the forests which would have covered all of Ireland at one time. There is compelling evidence of continuous occupation of the Clogheen locality in the large number of ringforts still visible in the surrounding countryside. The ringforts were large circular earthen enclosures inside which families lived, and into which they brought there animals at night to keep them from being taken off by raiders. These ringforts date from the early Christian Period and were used right into medieval times. Their remains have been held sacred by our forefathers for many hundreds of years. The belief that the forts were home to the fairies and that they would exact fearful retribution from anybody cutting trees or bushes on their forts has ensured that they have remained largely untouched by the chainsaw and bulldozer. Today, all ringforts and other archaeological monuments are protected by the National Monuments Acts (1936, 1954, 1986). Even before St. Patrick came to Ireland in 432, St. Declan of Ardmore had made his mark on the area in the form of a roadway or track that traverses the Knockmealdown Mountains near Clogheen, and links Ardmore in County Waterford to Cashel via Lismore. This track, known as Rian Bó Phadraig is still in existence and is popular with hikers who want to experience the historical heritage as well as the beauty of the Galty-Vee-Valley. Information on Rian Bó Phadraig can be found in a later chapter in this book. Chronologically, the next event of importance in Clogheen’s history must be the founding of a monastic settlement at Shanrahan, one mile west of the town, by St. Cathaldus in the seventh century. After a few years at Shanrahan, St. Cathaldus traveled to Palestine on a pilgrimage. However, instead of returning to Ireland, he journeyed to Italy where he became the Bishop of Taranto. From the eighth to the eleventh century, the Danes, or Vikings, continually invaded and settled in Ireland. No concrete evidence presents itself that the Danes ever cames as far inland as Clogheen. ( A sweathouse built in the Viking style can be seen at Parson’s Green just outside the town). There is a vague local tradition that the Danes had heard that local stone could be burned and used as fertilizer, but they had not been instructed in the difference between limestone, which can be burned, and sandstone which cannot. After many fruitless attempts to burn the sandstone, they gave up, but the small ridge to the east of the Knockshanahullion peak on which they conducted their experiments was know by the old people as Little Hell. Following the defeat of the Danes at the Battle of Clontarf in Dublin in 1014, there followed a long period of political and social instability in Ireland as the High King of Ireland, Brian Boru, has also been slain at Clontarf. In the 12th century, the Anglo-Normans invaded Ireland and during the next few centuries they consolidated their position by building castles in most areas of the country. In the immediate vicinity of Clogheen, castles were erected at Castlegrace (DeBirmingham), Ballyboy (Earl of Desmond) and Shanrahan (Earl of Desmond). The ruins of Castlegrace castle are still fairly extensive, but sadly, very little remains of Ballyboy castle. In Shanrahan, the castle which was built in 1453, is now only recognisable by a solitary, ivy covered tower. Ownership of the two latter castles had passed to Sir Richard Everard by the beginning of the 17th century, and Shanrahan was described as “a favourite residence of Sir Richard”. Father Everard writes that Sir Richard and his wife lived at Shanrahan in 1627, and later on lived at Ballyboy. In 1640, probably having acquired more land, Sir Richard and his wife moved to their new castle at Burncourt. Ten years later, during one of the blackest period of Irish history, Oliver Cromwell attacked and destroyed Burncourt Castle. It is believed locally that the Everards burned the castle themselves rather than have it become one of the spoils of the Cromwellian campaign. Sir Richard is said to have been hanged after the Siege of Limerick in 1651. At this stage, it is possible to look more closely at the development of Clogheen through the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and this we shall attempt to do over the following pages. Seventeenth Century The river tar which rises in the Galtee Mountains and joins the River Suir at Newcastle, forms not only a townland boundary between Clogheen Market and Ballyboy West but is also the geographical dividing line between the parishes of Clogheen/Burncourt and Ballylooby/Duhill. In the 16th century, it was the bridge over this river, at the lower end of Clogheen’s Main Street, that gave its name to the original settlement here: Droichead Abhann Tear ‘Bridge of the River Tar’ ( Prof. Wm. J. Smith). A glance under the arches here shows that the original bridge was only half the width of the present structure. It is not possible to determine with any precision just when the name ‘Droichead Abhann Tear’ gave way to the modern name of Clogheen. However we do know for certain that this was the name being used in the early 17th century. In 1643, Sir Richard Boyle, the Earl of Cork, recorded in his diary: “…on Friday evening, the 26th May, 1643, my son Francis, together with the forces of Lismore, took, plundered and burnt the town of Clogheen.” That attack on Clogheen was described in History of County Waterford as follows: “ So long as history shall be read, and treachery and cruelty hated, that deed shall thrill the mind with undiminished horror. British soldiers were never so cowardly and ferocious. That iniquitous burning was not warfare…It was assassination on a large scale, and under circumstances every detail of which adds to the inexpressible painfulness of the fact. It is lamentable that the character of the Boyles should be blackened by so foul a stain.”. Two nights after the attack on the town, the Earl was to record, again in his diary: “…On the 28th May, 1643, this Sunday morning about two o’Clock, 200 rebels (from Clogheen) with a party of horse, in revenge, before it was day, entered the town of Lismore and burned most of the thatched houses in the town to the outgate of my castle.” (Sir Richard Boyle was the father of Robert Boyle, philosopher and father of modern chemistry.) In 1649, Oliver Cromwell, having recently overthrown and executed Charles 1 of England, arrived in Ireland to begin his never forgotten campaign of slaughter and plunder. There is a local belief that he billeted in Clogheen following the capture of Burncourt Castle. As already noted, Sir Richard Everard is credited with the burning of the castle rather than let it fall into the hands of the Cromwellian Roundheads. So, Cromwell came to Clogheen and he is said to have declared that the town was full of “pigs, peasants and papists!” One of the legacies of the Cromwellian campaign in Ireland that we should be grateful for is the number of records that were compiled at the time. One of those records, the 1654 Civil Survey of Ireland contains a few entries concerning the Clogheen area, most notably the following: “Proprietors names in ye year 1640 – Sir Richard Everard of Everards Castle (Burncourt) Knight, Irish Papist. Clogheen Markett: The said half ploweland of Clogheene is bounded on the east with the lands and mountains of Ballyboy in the parich off Tullaghorton, on the south with the mountains of ballynasagard in the County of Waterford, on the west with the plowelands of Shanrahan in this parish, and on the north with the lands of Garymore… The said Sir Richard Everard proprietor in fee by Patent from the Crown of the said half ploweland of Clogheen as wee are informed. Upon the said half ploweland stands some cabbins. In the town of Clogheen aforesaid was held a ffayre twice a year, one on Wheitsun twesday anmd the other on the 18th of October, and a market every twesday, all wch Markett and fayres were lately removed by order to the garrison of Castlegrace. This land hath the acoomodation of the River Ountearr runinge by it.” Unfortunately, the Census of Ireland taken in the year 1659, does not list the names of the inhabitants of the various parishes and towns. It does, however, tell us that the parish of Shanraheene, now parish of Clogheen, contained 376 people, (presumably only landholders were recorded) and that 361 of those were Irish. ‘Clogheenmackett’ (undoubtedly Clogheen Market ) had a population of 82, and 78 of those were Irish. Another useful record from those years is the Hearth Money Records. Hearth Money was a tax of two shillings (Sh,) which was levied on all fireplaces and the following is the listing for Clogheen compiled in 1666: Name Hearth Sh. James Prendergast 1 2 Morish Casey 1 2 William O’Connor 1 & forge 4 Thomas Peazeh 1 & forge 4 John Moore 1 & forge 4 Anthony Kinsfoile 1 2 Philip Wolfe 1 2 Connor McConnor 1 2 William Borton 2 4 Thomas Longerdon 1 2 Teige Hickey 1 2 John Heilane 1 2 Teige McWilliam 1 2 Edmund Cleary 1 2 John Barr 1 2 John Bore 1 2 Daniall Corkra 1 2 Morrish Heiland 1 2 William Looby 1 2 John Leddy 1 2 Miles McSwiney 1 2 Edmund English 2 4 Conor McWilliam 1 2 Nicholas Barron 1 2 Henry Oglethor 1 2 Thomas O’Maroe 1 2 John McWilliam 1 2 Denis Carroll 1 2 Miles Heiferna 1 2 James Keife 1 2 Daniell Sullivan 1 2 Thomas Conry 1 2 Thomas Jellett 2 4 Seaven Wast howses 7 14 The removal of the fairs and markets from Clogheen to Castlegrace in the immediate post-Cromwellian period must have curtailed the development of the town for same years, but at some time in the years following, the fairs and markets were restored and development was once again under way. By the end of the seventeenth century, the small market town at the crossing over the River Tar was busy enough to warrant the setting up of an inn there. The lodge at the entrance to Coolville House, and the lodge garden, are reliably pointed out as being the site of the old Garter Inn. Small thatched houses linked the Garter Inn and the Market Square and formed the nucleus of the town, which gradually extended to include the present Main Street and a series of lanes running north and south. The crossing over the River Duag was simply a ford which was about 100 yards down-river from the present day bridge. From this, we can see that travellers through Clogheen in those years would have crossed the River Tar, passed by the Garter Inn, continued southwards on Chapel Lane (now Mountain View), crossed the ford on the Duag and traveled on towards the Knockmealdown mountains. This accounts for the alignment of the two storey house opposite the entrance to Glenleigh house and gardens on the Vee road. Even though it has recently been modernized, this house was built in the 1700s. The present Vee road over the mountain was not constructed until the early nineteenth century. Prior to that, the little roadway that can be seen passing right beside Baylough was the road from Clogheen to Lismore. Prior to that, the little roadway that can be seen passing right beside Baylough was the road from Clogheen to Lismore. This old road known locally as ‘the Soldiers Path’ is now a forestry path and forms part of one of the walks available from the local tourist office. Eighteenth Century Following the demise of the Everards as a major landholding family, the early 1700s saw the O’Callaghan family gain prominence in the area. Having acquired great wealth through astute marriages and political endeavour, the O’Callaghans, with their newly established family seat at Old Shanbally, near Burncourt, gradually came to control over 35,000 acres of land including almost all of Shanrahan parish. Clogheen prospered under the O’Callaghans; its fairs and markets thrived and small traders established their businesses there. Weavers and spinners, blacksmiths and farriers, inn keepers and merchants all contributed to and took advantage of the towns growing prosperity. All was not well, however. Poverty and hardship, both in the town and the surrounding countryside were rife, and under the Penal Laws which were enacted in 1690, religious freedom was denied to Catholics, and ownership of property became almost impossible for them. Against this background, secret societies such as the Whiteboys began to appear in many parts Ireland, and, in South West Tipperary, events began to unfold that are talked about to the present day. Fr. Sheehy The Penal laws seem to have been sufficiently relaxed in the area, so
that a priest could go about his religious duties with impunity, and in
1740, a thatched chapel was in use at Carrigavisteal in Ballyporeen. Thirdly, in this trio of events, was the fact that Fr. Nicholas Sheehy was appointed Parish Priest of Shanrahan -Ballysheehan -Templetenny. It was evident from the outset that here indeed was a champion of the downtrodden and oppressed who were his parishioners, and he quickly became a marked man. The fanaticism of the Whiteboys was equalled, if not surpassed, by some
of the Protestant gentry, causing Lord Charlemont, himself a Protestant,
to write at the time: The ruling class were terrified of a French invasion of Ireland, and locally, they believed or pretended to believe, that Fr. Sheehy who had been educated on the continent, was a link between the French and the Whiteboys. They maintained that there was an ongoing conspiracy in which the Whiteboys were being funded in an attempt to destabilise the country in advance of this feared invasion. They decided on a course of action, and Fr. Sheehy was to be the target of that action. In an article about Fr. Sheehy, Exshaw's Magazine noted at the time that he was a man 'with a passionate sense of justice'. and it was this passion that caused him to openly take part in the levelling of a wall at Drumlummin, a neighbouring townland. He had also offered resistance to a tithe proctor, named Dobbin, in Ballyporeen, who had tried to collect five shillings for every Catholic marriage. This was the opportunity that his enemies had been waiting for, and he was now charged with high treason. He was also charged with assaulting one John Bridge, (described as a local halfwit), who had been suspected of stealing a chalice from Carraigavisteal church. Fr. Sheehy had to go into hiding and was obliged to spend his days in the O'Callaghan family burial vault in Shanrahan cemetery. At night he crept out and was given food and shelter by the Griffith family who lived in a farmyard beside the cemetery. The Griffiths were a well-known Protestant family and they could never
have known that their actions would be applauded by a classroom of
Catholic schoolboys almost two hundred years later, and that by their
action, they had passed on a valuable lesson in Christian fellowship to
those same boys. (To be continued) |
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