Eyre’s Church, Eyrecourt by Donal Burke
Newsletter No 10
Events - Summer 2012
Tiernascragh Heritage Project
‘Derrybrien to Tiernascragh’ Centenary Commemmoration -
Summer 2012
"The Irish American Link: People, Places, and Culture"
“The Irish American Link: People, Places, and Culture" confer-
ence will take place in the Ard Ri House Hotel, Tuam, Co. Galway, Ireland from the 12th to 16th July, 2012.
Hosted by the Old Tuam Society in partnership with Drew
University (Madison, New Jersey, USA); Galway County CounSaturday 9th June
cil; The Centre for Irish Studies, National University of Ireland
In 1911/1912 eight families were relocated from the parish of
Galway and Galway County Heritage Forum.
Derrybrien in South Galway to the parish of Tiernascragh in
The conference will explore historic connections between
East Galway. The eight families were Kelly (3), Daly/Quinn,
the West of Ireland and North America. It will focus on historical
Fahy, Flynn, Madden, and Treacy. Their arrival had a profound figures, emigration, genealogy, history and culture. As well as
effect on their new parish in terms of its impact on school,
history and important historical figures, the conference will have a
church, commercial and social life.
strong emphasis on the cultural links between the West of Ireland
They were relocated by the Land Commission to what
and North America.
was part of the Kenny estate, in the townland of Longford in
The conference will involve 28 lectures over 3 days and 2
Tiernascragh parish. They were allocated a new Land Commis- day tours, which will explore the hidden heritage of East and West
sion house on a farm of land. Though now a journey of less than County Galway.
one hour by car, it was then a very long and hard journey for
Speakers include: Professor Christine Kinealy (Department
each family. Roads were in poor condition and the journey was of History, Drew University, NJ, USA); Professor Terry Golway
undertaken on foot because they had to walk their few animals
(Department of History, Kean University, NJ, USA); Professor
to their new homes. The journey is reputed to have taken 2 days Gearoid O Tuathaigh (Moore Institute, National University of
to complete with an overnight stop somewhere near Abbey.
Ireland, Galway); Professor Ray Gillespie (Department of History,
To mark this event, Tiernascragh Heritage Project are
National University of Ireland, Maynooth); Alan Delozier M.A.
having a special mass in Tiernascragh church at 5pm on Satur(Director of Archives and Special Collections Center - Seton Hall
day 9th June 2012, followed by the unveiling of a commemora- University, NJ, USA); Dr. Gerard Moran (Department of History,
tive stone by the Mayor of County Galway (Cllr. Michael
National University of Ireland, Maynooth); Professor Bronwen
Maher). This will be followed a social gathering in the nearby
Walter (Emeritus Professor of Irish Diaspora Studies, Anglia
community centre where a short historical address by Dr Brian
Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK); Dr. Nessa Cronin, (Lecturer,
Casey entitled; Migration, Resettlement and CommemoraCentre for Irish Studies, National University of Ireland, Galway)
tion in the Parish of Tieranascragh will take place, followed
plus many more distinguished lecturers. For a full speaker and
by refreshments and music. A large attendance is expected for
conference agenda visit www.irishamericanlink.com
this very special event.
Further details are available from Patrick Madden, Chair- New Members: If you know someone that might like to become a
member of SEGAHS, or is visiting the area and may wish to atman, Tiernascragh Heritage Project at 087 6505561.
tend our events, please invite them along.
Membership Fee: The annual society membership fee is €20.
This can be paid to the society treasurer Michael Ward or assistant
Heritage Week
18th – 26th August
treasurer Philip Treacy.
The SEGAHS committee are planning to host an event during
Articles: If you have a short article, note, or query of heritage
Heritage Week 2012 which takes place from the 18th to the 26th interest that you would like to share with members of the society,
we will be happy to publish it here in our newsletter. If you wish
August. Once the event details are agreed notice will be circuto have your article included you can do so by emailing it to the
lated to members and also placed in the local newspapers .
editor [email protected]
TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN PORTUMNA … THE EARLY YEARS
Paul Duffy BE - FIEI
Following the introduction of a scheme of technical instruction in England in 1891 the Duke of Abercorn circularized
Dublin Corporation, the County Grand Juries, Town Commissioners, and Boards of Guardians of the Poor Law Unions urging them to make their views known to the British Parliament on the importance of introducing such a
scheme for Ireland. He noted that Irish farmers were facing keen competition from Denmark and America, and
pointed out that unless the quality of Irish agricultural produce did not improve in line with the expected improvement in England then Irish farmers would loose their only market. He urged the Irish Local Authorities to press for a
scheme of technical instruction for Ireland. The County Galway Grand Jury responded to the circular letter at the first
available opportunity. At the Spring Assizes of 1892 they passed a resolution calling on the British Government to
introduce a scheme for Ireland which would promote not only an improvement of the dairy industry but, also, the development of Irish industry generally.1 The Galway Grand Jury were still seeking the introduction of an Irish scheme
at the Spring Assizes of 1899 on the eve of their final dissolution and replacement by the new local authority system.2
That same year the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act passed into law. In 1901 the County Council
for the County of Galway set up a Technical Instruction Committee to implement the provisions of the act in the
county.
Given the very limited financial resources available to the committee it is hardly surprising that their first report stressed the importance of harnessing all available existing facilities to maximize the provision of technical education in the county. The existence of a convent school in an area meant that it could be used as a centre where
classes for girls could be held. The case of Mountbellew was cited. Great difficulty was encountered in implementing
the 1899 Act due to the absence of just such a school in the area.3 Some convents had begun to provide the basics of
technical education for girls in the years prior to the introduction of the relevant legislation. The Convent of Mercy,
Gort, introduced dressmaking classes in 1864 and by 1890 had developed classes in hand and machine knitting,
weaving and lace making, and, also, the domestic production of shirts and children’s clothes.4
The Convent of Mercy, Portumna, a daughter house of Loughrea, was founded in 1882 and opened a residential Domestic Science School for girls in 1898. The founding manager was Sr. Mary Joseph Pelly. The convent may
have run the school for some years prior to this as the third report of the County Committee mentions that the school
was funded by the Board of Guardians (Portumna Union) and had been in operation for many years.5 Under the 1891
Act Boards of Guardians were empowered to make grants available for agricultural education and training. The
school was established to give “instruction in the science and practice of Cookery, Laundry Work, Dairy Management, Poultry Management, General Housework, Domestic Economy, and Needlework. It had three principal objectives:1) The training of farmers` daughters and other girls in improved modes of dairying and general household
management.
2) The training of domestic servants.
3) The special instruction of girls about to become technical instruction teachers.
The admission requirements for prospective students were as follows:- Pupils had to be sixteen years of age or older.
- Applications for admission had to be signed by a “responsible person” who was well acquainted with
the prospective pupil.
- Pupils had to be able to read, write “with a fair hand”, spell with tolerable correctness, and have a
knowledge of the basic rules of Arithmetic.
- As pupils had to take part in all the work of the school and household they were required to supply serviceable dresses and aprons of plain washing material. In addition they were required to bring one good
outdoor dress, hat and jacket, a pair of towels, house shoes, hair brush and comb, tooth brush, and
clothes brush.
Whilst people might smile at the clothing requirements it should be remembered that it was always expensive to kit
out children for boarding school.
- Pupils from outside the Portumna Rural Union area had to be selected by either their Local Authority
(Union) or Committee and submitted to the County Committee for Technical Instruction for final approval.
- At the end of term (one year’s training) an examination was held under the auspices of The Department
of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland. Prizes were awarded for best exam results, neatness, and best notebook. A second terms training could be supplied if required.
- Non resident pupils were admitted at a fee of ten shillings (€0.58) per quarter.
- Pupils had to show an aptitude for the work of the school and if they failed to do so within two months
they were to be sent home.
- On completion of training pupils, who earned it, would receive a certificate of merit relating to their
conduct and exam results.
The timetable makes it abundantly clear that there was little time for distractions. The day began with a 6.00am rise,
with a half an hour for dressing and prayers. From 6.30 to 7.30 pupils were allocated various tasks such as milking
cows, work in the laundry, dairy, poultry yard, or kitchen and household duties. At 7.30am they had breakfast, following which they made up their beds, cleaned their dormitory and changed into their uniforms for the day. From 9.00am
to 1.00pm they were allocated duties in the workroom, kitchen, or laundry. Lunch and free time was from 1.00 to
2.00pm and from 2.00 to 4.00pm they were re-allocated work in the workroom, kitchen or laundry. Lecture or examination time was from 4.00 to 5.00pm followed by tea until 5.30 after which they were allocated duties milking or
work in the dairy, poultry yard or kitchen. Following this they all went to the workroom from 6.30 to 8.00pm. Supper
and night prayers filled the last hour with bed-time at 9.00pm. The subjects taught were Cooking and Domestic Economy, Needlework, Dairying, Laundry and General Housekeeping, as well as Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Geography.6 The courses were designed to be practical.
During the year 1901/1902 there were eighteen resident pupils in the school. There was also a class for day pupils which dealt with Cookery and General Housekeeping. The boarders were in receipt of County Scholarships. During the first year of the scheme, (1901/1902) these were valued at £7 per annum. In the second year of the scheme the
scholarships were increased to £15 per annum. The County Scholars and the Rural Districts who recommended them
for the years 1902/1903 and 1903/1904 were as follows:
Rural District.
1902/1903
Ballinasloe
Catherine Donoghue
Clifden
Galway
Gort
-----------------Mary Lardner
B. Jordan
Mountbellew
Nora Burke
Delia Madden
L. B. Kenny
Portumna
B. O’Carroll
Agnes Keegan
M. Langtry
Ellie Mannion
Minnie McDonnell
Nora McNamara
Bridget Matthews
Norah Cloonan
Kate Cunniffe
Bridget Daly
Nora Lyons
Tuam
Dunmore
------------------
1903/1904
Catherine Donoghue
Kate Glynn
Josephine Dunny
Nora J. Lydon
Mary Lardner
Margaret Geoghegan
Delia Lydon
Delia Burke
Lucy Kelly
Annie Delaney
Kate Ruane
Mary Kelly
Mary Cunniffe
Mary Kearns
Maggie Grady
Nora Burke
Nora Joyce
Tessie Mullarkey
Lizzie Nally
Bridget Connolly
Margaret McWalter
Nora Mannion
Nora Lyons
The teachers were: Margaret M. Riordan, Elizabeth M. Riordan, and Annabelle Gillespie.
In 1902 the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction’s Inspector reported that the school was the
best of its type to come under his notice, As a result of his report the Department requested a set of six full plate photographs showing the various sections of the school at work. The photographs were to form part of the Department’s
exhibit at the upcoming Cork Industrial Exhibition. It would seem that Portumna was to be used to set the national
standard for excellence. In 1905 the Department took over the financing of the school and augmented the courses offered. By this means the school was established as a model school similar to The Munster Institute in Cork.7
Endnotes.
1 County of Galway Presentment Book Spring Assizes (1892), p. 14.
2 County of Galway Abstract of New Presentments after Spring Assizes (1899), pp.30 – 31.
3 First Annual Report of the County of Galway Technical Instruction Committee (1902), p. 2.
4 Fahy. Sr. Mary de Lourdes, Near Quiet Waters (Ballinasloe, 2007), pp 46 - 55.
5 Third Annual Report of the County of Galway Technical Instruction Committee (1904), p. 5.
6 Prospectus of St. Mary’s Technical School Portumna Co. Galway in First Annual Report of C.G.T.I. (1902), pp 12 – 14.
7 All information on school, pupils and teachers is drawn from First, Second and Third Reports of C.G.T.I. 1902/03 /04 and Prospectus
for County Technical Instruction Schemes 1903/03 and 1903/04. Some account of The Munster Institute can be found in Coyne, William P. (ed.)
Ireland Industrial and Agricultural. (Dublin, 1902), pp 142, 143.
© Duffy Collection.
Technical School, Portumna, Co. Galway.
© Duffy Collection.
Mercy Convent, National School and Technical School, Portumna., Co. Galway.
© Duffy Collection.
The Convent Chapel, Portumna, Co. Galway.
Getting to Know Your Monuments
Christy Cunniffe
Stepping Stones
Stepping stones are often depicted on OS maps, but due to
arterial drainage they rarely survive today. This set of three
stepping stones which provides safe access over the rapid
flowing Derryoober river in the Slieve Aughty mountains was
photographed by 9 year old Ciara Clancy from Clonfert. Her
photograph clearly illustrates how these features functioned.
While impossible to date, they are nevertheless an important
feature in the landscape, and when encountered they should
be recorded and plotted. A feature with a similar function,
referred to as a ‘footstick’, is also often noted on OS maps.
These features, as the element ‘stick’ in the name suggests,
were constructed from a single plank of wood laid across a
drain or ditch, to form a simple but functional foot-bridge.
Eye Catcher/Folly
This gothic revival style folly located in the townland of Belview or Lissreaghaun
outside the village of Lawrencetown is one of a number of interesting landscape
features constructed on the Lawrence Estate as ornamental eye catchers. This example is crenellated with three pointed obelisks mounted on top of the crenels. The
ogee headed windows, pointed doorway and the pair of flying buttresses acting as
fake supporters are all meant to provide the impression of a medieval structure.
Follies or mock buildings were common features on the estates of the great houses
and were introduced to provide a focal point from the main rooms of the big house.
They were of course also constructed to impress neighbouring estate owners and
important visitors to the house. Their presence is also thought to have been an attempt at providing an air of history and longevity on the landscape for the owners.
Belview boasts a number of follies making it a worthwhile place to visit. For further reading on these features see James Howley The Follies and Garden Buildings
of Ireland (1993), Sean Rothery A Field guide to the Buildings of Ireland (1997),
and Patrick and Maura Shaffrey Irish Countryside Buildings (1985).
Fohenagh Parish Church
A fine example of a Penal-era holy water stoup (font) mounted in the
porch of Fohenagh Catholic church provides further evidence that Catholic
chapels and churches were being built throughout Clonfert diocese prior to
the time of Catholic Emancipation. While the present church was built in
1840 this stoup is dated 1782 and comes from an earlier chapel. It bears an
attractively carved winged angel head executed in a simple folk art style.
The example from Kiltormer carried in the last issue of this newsletter was
also pre-Emancipation in date. The name of the donor W. D. Browne is
clearly incised into the stone and suggests that he was no way hesitant
about revealing his Catholic sympathies. Archaeology has an important
role to play in assessing the state of the Catholic church at this time.
Flamboyant Tomb—Kilconnell Abbey
This wonderful canopied late medieval wall tomb preserved in the Franciscan
friary at Kilconnell exhibits one of the finest example of flamboyant tracery in
Ireland. The carved panel at the bottom bears six figures commonly referred to
as weepers. The six figures represented are (L–R): St John the Evangelist, St
Louis of Toulouse, the Virgin Mary, St John the Baptist, St James Major and St
Denis of Paris. The patron saint of the order St Francis and a bishop, probably
the Bishop of Clonfert are represented in the small panel at the point of the tracery. It is tempting to view this tomb as having been painted originally which
would have made it very ornate indeed. The high quality carving found on this
tomb is mirrored in many ways by the work on the west doorway at Clontuskert
Abbey and on the north doorway of Clonmacnoise Cathedral. It is uncertain for
whom this tomb was erected, there is no dedication or coat of arms to provide
any clue. However, it is very probable that it was for one of the local aristocratic families. The O’Dalys and O’Kellys are represented in the chancel; while
the O’Donnelan family patronised an elaborate private chantry chapel to the
right of the chancel area which is accessed via the nave through the south aisle.
Clonfert Diocesan Photographic Survey and our Ecclesiastical Heritage: A Reflective Stream-of-Consciousness
Declan Kelly H. Dip. Archaeology
In the early months of 1940 Dr John Dignan, Bishop of Clonfert, commissioned Fr Kevin Egan, a young curate in Ballinasloe, to accompany him on his school and parish visitations in order to compile a photographic record of life in the
diocese during the war years. The project, which we may term the “Clonfert Diocesan Photographic Survey”, was no
mean feat. Petrol had been rationed, photographic apparati was in short supply and to expedite the process Fr Kevin set
up his own darkroom in the presbytery on Dunlo Street to develop the images himself. The result of his labours are almost 400 photographs depicting many aspects of the lives of ordinary Catholics of the time. Though they mostly sat in
the form of negatives for many years, the current writer developed them over the past few years to ensure that proper
identifications could be made by elderly people within the respective parishes while there was still a chance of so doing.
Dignan believed that the survey would be of “possible interest” to future generations and we must certainly regard that
as a modest understatement. His foresight was only one aspect of a remarkable temperament. Aged 44 at the time of his
consecration, he was one of the youngest members of the Irish episcopal bench and older colleagues found his public
support of the republican cause somewhat unsettling. The 84 year old Cardinal Michael Logue of Armagh greeted Dignan on their first meeting at Maynooth in 1924 by holding his hands aloft and jocosely stating “I surrender!” One wonders, however, if the elderly prelate`s address on the same occasion in the Aula Maxima, in which he warned younger
clerics not to regard their seniors in the Church as being “superannuated”, wasn`t more than just a gentle nudge in Dignan`s direction. Dignan`s views had brought him the more unwelcome attentions of the Crown Forces while Parish
Priest of Duniry and Abbey in 1921, obliging him to flee the parochial house. In his absence the Black and Tans threw a
hand-grenade into the living room which blasted out the window, before proceeding to loot the house and torch a
neighbour`s car. Dignan fled in the guise of a labourer to Leitrim parish where his friend from their seminary days, Fr
James Spellman, hid him in a native settlement enclosure (the kind known popularly as a `ringfort`). This enclosure was
on the land of a parishioner who was a collateral descendant of Fr Andrew Griffin, the man who had built the current St
Andrew`s Church, Leitrim. Ironically, the prevalence of agrarian strife in Griffin`s time necessitated his carrying about a
walking-stick in which was secreted a long blade for self-defence. It is unknown if he ever found cause to use it.
Though Dr Dignan could at times come across as aloof, spoke in clipped tones and had a somewhat testy nature, his
sympathies lay firmly with the daily lot of the people. He was particularly anxious to encourage an appreciation for the
Christian heritage of the various parishes and in 1927 set up his cemeteries refurbishment initiative whereby locals took
responsibility for the cleaning-up of the numerous graveyards of the diocese, many of which were in a lamentable state.
It was also in his time that parishes began to ease away from the practice of burying unbaptised babies in marginal geographical areas known as cillíní, though it is interesting to note that this phenomenon, which partly developed as a result
of the narrow theology associated with the bizarre concept of Limbo, had already been eradicated in the parish of Ballinakill and Derrybrien in the late 1890s through the enlightenment of Fr Martin Larkin, P.P. This, one surmises, was
likely precipitated by Larkin`s being reared in Mullagh parish in the townland of Boleyroe which adjoined that of
Coolagh. The latter is the location of a cillín which had been the focal point of an annual pattern-day where unseemly
faction-fighting and inebriated revelry was the order of the day until Fr Thomas Coen P.P. (a nephew of the formidable
Bishop Coen) stamped it out in the 1860s after a man lost his life. Dr Dignan was also well known for his kindness to
elderly priests who had begun to feel the burden of years weigh upon them and stories of his being a martinet when it
came to his dealings with younger clergy are, on the basis of this writer`s 16 years of research, unkindly revisionist and
misrepresentative.
Kevin Egan`s contribution to Clonfert diocese is similarly remarkable. As a child he listened to first-hand accounts of
the extraordinary events that had unfolded during the land war in Woodford, his uncle Fr Patrick Egan having been a
curate there and who was once called by the Pall Mall Gazette a “firebrand.” A grand-uncle Fr Laurence Egan had
been a notable church-builder in the diocese and is believed to have been the first to adopt the wearing of the surplice
and soutane, on his own initiative, at a time when Bishop John Derry was dealing with the headache of numerous complaints about clergy wearing their horse-boots and spurs while proceeding with the sacred rubrics. Kevin`s sister had
been Dignan`s housekeeper in Abbey and the young Kevin often ran errands for the future bishop. The images he recorded during his five-year survey are perfectly consonant with a thorough, studious nature and one with a keen eye for
the historical. They are also, in keeping with his personality, respectful and considerate and one notes that there are but
two images of the funeral of Dr Ada English, the renowned nationalist. A modern photographer would perhaps take a
few dozen but this small number, it is respectfully suggested, is illustrative of the approach that Kevin would have
adopted on the sensitive occasion of a funeral.
While the survey has an inevitable skew towards images linked to catholic life, architecture and ritual, it now has a
value that neither Dignan nor Egan could initially have foreseen. A number of the churches depicted, interiorly and
exteriorly, were demolished within a decade or two of being photographed to make way for newer structures more
commodious to burgeoning congregations and latterly to better accommodate post-Conciliar directives. Thus, a record
is preserved of the architecture of these buildings which would satiate the needs of any historical archaeologist. A perfect example is the church erected in 1824 by Archdeacon Garrett Lorcan, P.P. Ballinasloe. Closed in 1914 when a
subterranean water-course caused a dangerous destabilisation of the walls, Kevin`s images give a clear indication of
the spatial layout interiorly. Its robust appearance certainly shows a religion that was finding its feet again after the
long nightmare of the penal era. Putlog sockets visible in the wall above the sanctuary also seem to confirm the local
tradition that a curate had once resided overhead in a small clerical apartment. One of the likely initial occupants
would have been John Griffin C.C. who went on to build a church in Killoran and who was, sadly, claimed by the
Famine. In fact, when Dr Dignan made a visit to Archdeacon Lorcan`s roofless edifice in the early 1930s he expressed
a regret that it had ever been closed but ensured that the bell that once adorned its humble steeple was re-erected over
the church of our Lady of Lourdes in 1933. The most of the surviving structure was demolished by 1960 though Archdeacon Laurence Dillon (the builder of St Michael`s) and Bishop Thomas Costello rest within the sanctuary awaiting
the Resurrection. Other churches photographed and now gone include those at Fahy and Killoran. One must express
regret that colour imagery was not available to fully illustrate the beautiful Puginesque decorations that adorned the
sanctuaries of virtually all of the churches and that are now only visible on the Continent.
Of course, the photographs go beyond just the ecclesiastically themed. Shots of the Fair Green in Ballinasloe (which
were taken in 1941), depict the workhouse (engulfed by an inferno in 1955) and are also notable for the absence of the
`Burma Road` which was laid in 1944. That particular thoroughfare (properly called Harris Road in memory of patriot Matt Harris who had strong local connections) acquired its distinctive moniker from the construction in the late
1930s of a famous meandering roadway connecting Burma to China. One also notes how well parents were dressing
their children for confirmation ceremonies despite the distressed economic lot with which ordinary Catholics were
grappling. Inevitably, the “Henry Martin” makes many a cameo. At the end of the First World War when soldiers
were being demobbed they were offered either thirty shillings or a cheap and a generally ill-fitting suit of clothes
made by a company in London that went by the name of Henry Martin. The latter was usually chosen as it aided with
obtaining employment and lent a respectable shape to a frame often broken by circumstance and the hauntingly persistent memories of dead comrades. The term found its way into many local lexicons and up to as recently as fifty years
ago a person attired in a rather dubiously fitted suit could induce hilarity and elicit the question “Well where did you
get the Henry Martin?”
The personalities photographed also tell their own story. The renowned artist Albert Power, directing the erection of
the statue of St Joseph and Child outside the concert hall at Garbally Park, is obviously humouring the photographer
but refusing to face the camera. Lavinia “Breezy” Sheridan, shown with her choir at St Michael`s, exhibits no such
compunction. Fr Peter Greaney, who lived for far too short a time and was lionised by all who knew him, casually
puffs a cigarette while Fr John Doyle gives a short lecture to colleagues on Kilconnell Abbey. Humour is far from absent and these same men are also shown hoisting a clearly amused Fr Louis Page onto a corbel in the wall. A
“demonstration” on the occasion of the opening of Portiuncula Hospital shows doctors and nurses attending dutifully
to the `ill`, though the broad grins on a number of faces leave us in no doubt that there is no great medical emergency.
Corpus Christi processions are remarkable for the reverence displayed on the faces of those in attendance with houses
whitewashed and bedecked with devotionalia in a manner extraordinary to the modern viewer. While there is a palpable deference commensurate with the prevailing zeitgeist, there is no hint of tension or fear. On the contrary, the overwhelming impression is of warm and cordial relations between clergy and people.
Alas, despite the best attempts of this writer over the past five years, constraints on time have meant that a goodly
number of those depicted remain unnamed, though the survey itself reminds us of the importance of recording our
finite cultural resources before they fall in the path of the steady march of time. Work in this regard, however, is
apace. This writer has photographed other features of interest in recent years as, for instance, the basal remains of the
homestead of Dr Patrick Fallon, last Bishop of Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora, who was reared in the townland of Fahy
in Cappatagle. His brother Thomas was to become Parish Priest of Ballinakill. Bishop Fallon would have been only
two years old when the people of Kilreekil barricaded the doors of their church against Fr McKeigue for three consecutive Sundays after it was united with Cappatagle in 1807. Previously united with Mullagh, they were incensed at
the loss of their elderly but beloved Fr John Dolan, P.P. whose name is inscribed on one of only two penal-era altar
tables extant in the diocese. Ironically, the same fate was to befall another Fr McKeigue when he was assigned to
Duniry in 1884 and the people of that parish bewailed the loss of their popular curate Fr James Cahalan by boarding
up the windows and doors of the parish church.
The current writer has also sought to survey and record places with a far less tenuous hold on local memory such as
Famine graves and what one might term `the archaeology of the dispossessed`. He was fortunate enough too to have met
an elderly parishioner, now gone to his reward, who could point out in Clonlahan townland in Killoran a place “where
the clergy once hid.” When documentary sources were trawled to unravel this intriguing survival of memory, the vestigial structure that had been pointed out bid fair to be the location at which Rev Daniel Kelly, Vicar-General of Clonfert in
the late seventeenth-century, had met with nervous colleagues and written to Propaganda “from our place of refugium.”
Oral tradition, one must observe, has been viewed by far too many academics and for far too long as little better than
idle gossip. Where physical and documentary evidence is concerned, it can often be a very ductile phenomenon.
Cartography has proven no less an ally in the quest for the seemingly undetectable and when O`Donovan`s Six-Inch
maps have been wed to data from the Tithe Applotment Books, have revealed the most likely spots on the landscape
where the homes of clergy who served the diocese in the nineteenth-century once stood. These include the abode of Colman Galvin, who as a younger man had cleared a number of shíbíní from the path of the proposed Attymon railway by
leading a frenetic charge with a blackthorn stick; Fr Ferdinand Whyte who as a clerical student had been put out of
Maynooth for a minor infraction of the rule, but ensured his ordination by physically standing between Bishop Thomas
Coen and an angry mob during the fraught funeral of Fr James Fahy in Tynagh; Fr Thomas Lawless, who fashioned the
high altar of Cappatagle church with his own hands. These men were the stuff of legends in their own times and if a few
pieces of masonry and a rectangular hollow in the ground can open a window on the circumstances in which they were
reared, we might well term it `the archaeology of the nineteenth-century priestly vocation.` It may seem like pointless
(perhaps even eccentric) research, but each study gives a new understanding of a past that belongs to all of us.
Dr Christy Cunniffe`s dogged combings of the fields of south-east Galway have ensured that much heritage of an
ephemeral nature has been preserved and explained anew and many more are engaged in thorough studies of aspects of
local heritage that will prove a fillip to future generations. To this writer`s mind, there is as much joy and narrative to be
found in the discovery of a hitherto forgotten lime-kiln as there is in a piece of evocative art.
That which matters most in the current discussion, however, is the very existence of Rev Dr Egan`s survey. Bishop
Dignan`s hope that it may interest future generations will hopefully be realised someday soon and may set future students of history on the quest to follow the course of a fascinating stream-of-consciousness through which flows a vibrant
ecclesiastical heritage. A bed in Heaven to all depicted in the images and to the two men whose vision created them.
Declan Kelly is a priest of Clonfert diocese, currently on sabbatical and completing an MA in Landscape Archaeology
at NUI Galway.
© Clonfert Diocesan Archive
CIVIC RECEPTION ACCORDED DR DIGNAN ON THE OCCASION OF HIS VISIT TO BALLINASLOE TO PERFORM CONFIRMATION CEREMONY — 1942.
© Clonfert Diocesan Archive
THE BRABAZON ALTAR WHICH ONCE STOOD INSIDE ARCHDEACON LORCAN`S CHURCH OF 1824 AT CREAGH AND WHICH HAD ORIGINALLY
BEEN ERECTED IN THE PENAL CHAPEL OF 1702.
INSCRIPTION: "PRAY FOR MR ANTHONY AND MRS CATERINE BRABAZON WHO CAUSED THIS ALTAR TO BE ERECTED ARPIL THE 2ND 1756."
MADE OF LIMESTONE IT HAS SINCE DISAPPEARED.
© Clonfert Diocesan Archive
KILLORAN CHURCH IN THE PARISH OF MULLAGH AND KILLORAN WHICH WAS DEMOLISHED AND REBUILT IN 1953.
© Clonfert Diocesan Archive
MONSIGNOR LOUIS PAGE HOISTED ATOP A CORBEL BY COLLEAGUES IN KILCONNELL ABBEY — 1942.
© Clonfert Diocesan Archive
HOUSES IN JUBILEE STREET, BALLINASLOE BEDECKED WITH DEVOTIONALIA FOR THE CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION — 1942.
WITHIN A DECADE THE HOUSES DEPICTED HAD BEEN DEMOLISHED.
© Clonfert Diocesan Archive
HAIL POETRY! CAST AND CREW OF BALLINASLOE CHORAL AND ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY IN THE 1942 PRODUCTION OF "THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE."
LETTERS FROM A TRAVELLER IN THE SOUTH REPUBLISHED FROM THE ULSTER TIMES BELFAST —
HODGSON AND MILLIKEN AND SON DUBLIN MDCCC XXXVII
The following is an extract from the Ulster Times reproduced here from an online source. It provides an interesting insight into a
travellers description of what they encountered on their river journey between Portumna and Meelick. Travellers accounts such as
this are useful sources of information. In this instance a rare description is given of the St Francis Day pattern at Meelick.
Illustration of an early steamer from Three Days on the Shannon by W. F. Wakeman.
“At Portumna we changed into a smaller steamer to go up to Banagher the canals and bridges being too narrow to admit the one
in which we left Killaloe. The crops on both sides the river seemed to be unusually late hay being actually mowing in some and
the corn outstanding in almost all and this on the 3rd of October. Above Portumna we passed the ruins of Torr and Redwood Castles and a little farther on the remains of Meilick (sic) Abbey once an ecclesiastical foundation of some extent and considerable
pretensions. It is now in ruins but two friars have fixed their abode at the spot and derive a handsome income from the offerings
of pilgrims. The day we passed was the anniversary of St Francis its patron and the shore was covered with crowds of the peasantry who had been celebrating what they called their procession to the Abbey. In one small boat which passed us going down the
Shannon I counted forty devotees returning from this religious ceremony. At a reach in the river close by Meilick (sic) and at the
junction of the Brusna (sic) with the Shannon the three provinces of Munster Leinster and Connaught meet Galway Tipperary and
King's County being here separated by the same river.
At Banagher we left the steamer which was to proceed two miles further to Shannon Harbour there to meet the Canal packet and
forward her passengers to Dublin. Nothing could exceed the attention of the commanders of the steam vessels and altogether we
are indebted to Mr Williams for one of the most delightful and interesting excursions we ever made Yours &c” CC
BANAGHER BRIDGE ENQUIRY!!
By James Scully
On several occasions in recent months I have been invited to act as guide on a historical tour of Banagher. My
initial reaction was positive: given fair weather it should not be beyond possibility to give an informative, even
entertaining presentation. To extinguish any doubts I decided to walk the route beforehand so as best follow a
sequence for telling the story and anticipate warranted questions. It was then dilemmas arose and uncertainties
multiplied.
Simple questions like: where to begin? Does one start at the west end of Banagher town in the shade of
Fort Falkland (1624) having invoked Sir Matthew De Renzis’ (1577-1635) earnest proposal that Banagher be
made the capital of Ireland:
‘Besides if the state weare to remove to an inland place from the sea I know of know one fitter in the Kingdom then
a place called the Benghar, lying in this territorie upon the goodly Shenen, 50 miles distant from Dublin.’
Needless to say but De Renzis’ proposal went unheeded but a town grew up around Fort Falkland and became
incorporated in 1629 thereby entitling Banagher to have two members of parliament until 1800.
Or should the walk begin at the gable end of Banagher library by including two large ashlar blocks of
limestone with their deeply-incised inscriptions: Kings County and County of Galway. The blocks formed part
of the bridge’s parapet until it was replaced by metal railings in 1971. What (someone might ask) became of
the cast iron swivel bridge replaced at the same time? Was the ironwork on that section the work of Robert
Mallet whose craftsmanship at Shannonbridge is so well preserved?
One could of course start on the West Bank of the earlier bridge beneath the bastions of Cromwell’s
Castle. But more questions? How much earlier? Did Rory O’Conor really build “a spacious stone bridge of
eighteen arches” in 1049? Was there a medieval structure here with “twenty seven arches of divers architectural form”? When Lord Leonard Greys’ thirty eight day campaign of 1538 took him to Thomond and Clanrickard’s country did he cross the Shannon at Banagher? What bridge was here when Patrick Sarsfield escaped from his daring raid on the Williamite encampment at Ballyneety?
Further research I consoled myself will appease the interrogators. Yes the maps are an abundant source
and the wondrous drawings of Thomas Rhodes in the 1830s provide further illumination but more still remains
unanswered!
Who is Fort Eliza on the east bank downstream called after? Who owned the mills and eel weirs which
were entirely removed during the construction of Rhodes’ Bridge? Were these owners compensated and to
what extent? Did the Duke of York (later king George V) receive a generous welcome as he embarked from
“The Countess of Mayo” in 1897 at Banagher Bridge?
These questions may not exercise others as much as myself but there are enough out there to keep the
pot boiling and maybe culminate in a one-day seminar on this remarkable structure and its associated history
later on in the year.
Banagher Bridge c.1820 engraving by George Petrie.