T H E C A T H O L I C PARISH,
T H E CATHOLIC CHAPEL A N D
VILLAGE D E V E L O P M E N T I N I R E L A N D
KEVIN W H E L A N
University College, Dublin
ABSTRACT
The Catholic Church in Ireland underwent profound transformations in the
early modern period. Among the most significant of these was the need to
reconstruct its parish network and to provide places of worship for its adherents.
This reconstruction and rebuilding phase was largely compressed into the
1780-1860 period and gave rise to a radically new parish framework which was
adapted to the demographic, social and economic conditions of that time.
Chapels were also constructed in large numbers and their sites were determined
by the attitudes of landlords, the wealth of the local Catholic community and the
sponsorship of prominent Catholic families. The diffusion of chapel building
shows pronounced regional biases. Associated with this reinvigoratcd parish and
chapel network was the development of new villages, for which the chapel acted
as a nucleus and focus. The term chapel-village is used to describe them and their
economic, social and morphological characteristics are examined. Their distribution reveals marked rcgionalisation on both the micro and the macro scales,
related to historical, cultural, economic and social factors.
The theme of Catholicism has seldom been far from the centre of discourse
on the nature of Irish life. However, the centrality accorded it by other
disciplines is strikingly absent in the geographical literature on Ireland,
especially with regard to the early modern and modern periods. 1 The most
obvious reason for this may be the seemingly monolithic nature of Irish
Catholicism; however, this all-pervasive image obscures very significant
temporal, social and regional variations which emerge after a more detailed
scrutiny. For the historical and cultural geographer, an emphasis on the
uneven impact of Catholicism in its evolution in the modern period throws
light on many aspects of Irish geography. In this study, one aspect of this vast
topic is taken as an illustration — the evolution of the parochial structure and
its associated settlement features in the period from the mid-sixteenth century
onwards. In this way the insights which a geographer may bring to the study
of religious history are shown as are the reciprocal insights which a study of
Catholicism may give to the geographer.
It is necessary initially to rehearse some obvious but vital features of
religious history in this period, starting with those events which have been
loosely linked under the heading 'the Reformation'. 2 In Ireland the initial impact of these religious upheavals was to create two distinct religious groupings, which for the purposes of this paper, may be alluded to as 'Catholic' and
'Protestant'. Events linked to, but not ultimately derived from, religious
struggles in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries led to a thorough
redistribution of land, wealth and ultimately political power in Ireland. T h e
net result was the creation of a dominant minority of colonists who, for the
most part, subscribed to the established Church (Protestant) and a now
I
2
WHEI.AN
dispossessed majority population who gave their allegiance to the Catholic
Church. It was not exceptional for a ruling group to subscribe to a different
denomination from the majority population, especially in colonial circumstances. What was exceptional in Ireland was that these changes led to the
wholesale adoption of the existing parish network and its suite of features
(church, graveyard and glebeland) by the minority religious group. Backed by
political, legal and military power, the colonists were enabled to totally
disinherit the majority religious group. These changes, beginning in the midsixteenth century and concluding by the late seventeenth century, had the
very unusual result of turning the majority religion into an outcast Church,
territorially rootless and without material resources.
The Catholic Church had then to adapt itself to this new and bitter reality
and recreate a radically new set of structures for itself. Throughout the seventeenth century and for much of the eighteenth century it was institutionally
weak and characterised by an inadequate supply of poor quality churches, insufficient number of priests, severe financial difficulties and drastically
modified educational facilities. Political impotence consigned its adherents to
social and cultural subservience within the dictates of a colonial regime. As a
result, formal adherence to Catholic doctrine often co-existed in an uneasy
relationship with a form of folk religion, based on the detritus of older
religious modes and debased Christian motifs, much of which was medieval
in origin. 3 This substratum of belief was strongest in the countryside, linked
as it was to an animistic view of the universe and deriving much of its potency
from calendar custom and awareness of a symbiotic relationship with nature.
This rich vernacular sub-culture flourished most in self-contained traditional
communities where literacy and contact with the outside world was at a
minimum. However, by the end of the eighteenth century, changing circumstances led to a rapid revival in the fortunes of the institutional church. A
reinvigorated Catholic middle class, especially in the towns, developed leadership qualities and formed a bridgehead of modernisation within the Church.
The Catholic clergy, largely drawn from this assertive group, led a dynamic
Tridentine push aimed at standardising the somewhat eccentric forms of Irish
Catholicism. As class structure in nineteenth century Ireland became more
strongly biased in favour of the middle class elements, the push became increasingly successful, proceeding parallel with other modernising forces in
Irish society in the period from 1780 to 1840.4 By the late nineteenth century,
the Catholic Church in Ireland was a monolithic, heavily institutionalised
body, whose strength and uniformity belied its earlier particularisms. 5
One of the central mechanisms of change over this period was the revitalised parochial structure of the Church. A consideration of its significance must
again start with the Reformation, when the old parish network, mainly
medieval in origin, was appropriated by the established Church. In itself this
meant very little, as this network had become progressively less well adapted
to contemporary needs in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. However, the
simultaneous loss of the old churches — many of them with ancient Celtic
roots — struck at the very heart of Irish Catholicism. These old holy sites
largely lost their ritual and functional significance at this stage. The most frequent occurrence at the Reformation was for the lands associated with the old
parish centre to be alienated. The landlord, or occasionally a privileged tenant, then established a demesne and/or large farm at the former parish centre. 6
PARISH, CHAPF.L AND VILLAGE
3
This development effectively froze the site, anaesthetising it against future
developments. A church of the established religion would frequently be built
but this remained a cosmetic change in most cases as the bulk of the population offered no allegiance to this new church. This loss of majority allegiance
inhibited the village-generating ability of such centres. If one examines these
old parish centres in the field, or on the six-inch O.S. maps, one finds the
following typical features — a ruined Celtic or medieval church, a demesne
and big house (or large farmstead), and an established church and glebe
house. In one sense, then, it is possible to describe these old parish centres as
cases of arrested development, remaining fossilised at one stage in their
growth. This hiatus is one of the most important factors in explaining the
retardation of this kind of village life in Ireland in the period from 1500 to
1850. The forlorn state of these parish centres contrasts remarkably with the
important status of their continental counterparts, where the medieval parish
centres (often closely meshed with the manorial system) were the nuclei
around which village life was precipitated. Examples of such abandoned
parish centres are Ullard and Killamery (Kilkenny), St Mullins (Carlow),
Ratoo and Kilmalkedar (Kerry) and Dowth and Donaghmore (Meath). As
Jones Hughes has commented, some of these sites have been identified by
geographers (amongst others) as deserted medieval villages on the English
model.' It might be more profitable instead to turn to the traumas of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in seeking explanations for the senescence of
these centres. Not all the old centres decayed however. In areas of vigorous
colonial in-migration, they sometimes survived to become important nuclei
for town and village growth. Where the parish centre was occupied by a
dynamic landlord, the old centre remained significant if he sponsored a
village settlement there.
Unlike some other Christian denominations, the Catholic Church is
organised rigidly on a territorial basis. Therefore, the loss of the parochial
framework, the church buildings and land as well as the associated revenue,
stabbed straight at its institutional heart. From 1600 to 1800 its administrators had to cobble together a new ad hoc parochial framework, which
developed in a piecemeal fashion. The gaping lacunae were filled initially by
the activities of mobile mendicant friars, by an institution that has come to be
known as the 'station', and by the willingness of secular priests to exercise a
wide ranging peripatetic ministry. Given this fluidity the medieval parishes
lost their function and identity for Catholics and larger, more meaningful
parochial entities developed. The Counter-Reformation impulse in
Catholicism (for convenience termed 'Tridentine') had been spreading northwards from its heartland in North Italy to France, whence it was transmitted
by continental-trained priests to Ireland in the early seventeenth century. 8
The Tridentine ideal, as Corish states, emphasised that 'religion was to centre
on the parish, the parish priest and the parish church'. 9 The primary aim in
organising the new parish network was to facilitate access to Sunday Mass, attendance at which was obligatory on every Catholic. However, in the early
stages of reorganisation, this accessibility principle was frequently not
attainable for financial reasons. Despite its majority status, the Catholic
Church in Ireland was never formally endowed by a powerful elite, unlike
many of its counterparts on the continent, and therefore it was essential that
each parish community be able to financially support its pastor and services.
•1
WHF.I.AN
This financial constraint dictated larger units, often violating the accessibility
principle. This meant too that the intensity of the parish network was linked
closely to the distribution of Catholic wealth. Given the endemic poverty of
many Catholic communities, especially in the north and west of the country,
large areas remained unsatisfactorily served by the Church. Such areas remained bastions of folk religion, right into the nineteenth century and beyond
in some cases. 10 A persistent shortage of priests also militated against an ideal
Christaller style lattice of parishes." Obviously conditions varied regionally,
with huge sprawling parishes in the poorer areas and a tighter, more cohesive
network in areas of Catholic wealth. 12 This cohesive network was especially
well developed in the South I.einster/East Munster area, based on the wealth
of the towns (where trade and commerce remained strongly in Catholic
hands) and a prosperous commercialised Catholic farming group. Despite the
patchy, porous nature of the eighteenth century network the Tridentine ideal
remained strong, and as conditions ameliorated, the administrators moved
rapidly to plug the gaps. Large parishes were split into more manageable
units, more priests were recruited, and a wave of chapel-building began to service out-of-the-way communities. 13 The creation of new parish structures
thus went hand-in-hand with the building of new large chapels to replace the
rudimentary 'penal' chapels of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The
arrival of the 'big chapel' signalled the transition from both the old folk
Catholicism to the new Tridentine form and from the traditional to the
modern world.
If we look more carefully at this network of parishes and chapels, certain
conclusions emerge. 1 '' Firstly, it was radically new. This was in keeping with
the ruthlessly modernising thrust of the Catholic Church in Ireland at this
time, which shed the traditional culture in which it had been embedded in
less auspicious times in favour of new moulds which can only be called
bourgeois. 1S It showed little sentiment and little sense of its distinguished
ancestry in creating a rigidly utilitarian network. These parishes were designed to cater for the needs of the new Ireland. They took careful account of the
redistribution of population in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries;
they maximised their accessibility by being strung along new lines of road;
they accommodated new village and town structures of alien origin. The
modal shape of these parishes was roughly circular, its size normally dictated
by a radius of five miles (easy walking distance) from the chapel. In the vicinity of towns, this size was reduced and in upland areas parishes sprawled over
much larger areas. If this was the case, a second chapel was sometimes built
later, to service the more disadvantaged parishioners. This new parish system
had been evolving in a flexible fashion throughout the eighteenth century,
with changes often being made by the bishop on the death of a parish priest.
With the rapid rise in population in the period from c. 1770 to 1830, this
parochial network underwent massive transformation. After the Famine,
when the tide of population receded, there was, ifanything, an over-supply of
priests and chapels, and the system rapidly congealed. Since 1850, only
cosmetic adjustments have been made to it, with the exception of the larger
urban areas. The effectiveness of these new units was enhanced because they
so closely mirrored the structure of the society which they served. Many of
them encompassed traditional neighbourhood interaction networks. Thus, for
example, marriage fields in the pre-Famine period liaise verv closelv with the
PARISH, CHAPEL AND VILLAGE
5
parish framework. 16 So the Catholic parish was not just an arbitrarily imposed administrative entity: it was at least partially an organic, autonomous unit,
growing out of local circumstances and responsive to local needs. It is significant that in spoken Irish 'pobal' (community) is the word for parish and that
the chapel is called 'teach an phobail' (the community's house). 17 Catholic
parishes very occasionally retain old pays names reflecting their homage to
traditional ways. Examples are Cooley (Louth), Gweedore (Donegal), Iveleary
(Cork), F.rrigal Truagh (Monaghan) and Suttons parish (Wexford). It would
therefore be an overstatement to suggest that all Catholic parishes developed
totally independent of the older network. The ghosts of the medieval system
still hovered around some of them, especially in the dioceses of Killaloe,
Clonfert and Raphoe. Close examination of the individual Catholic parish
will often reveal that it is an amalgam of several medieval parishes.
A parish without a chapel is a mere vacuum, so it is now imperative that we
look at the heart and hub of the Irish Catholic church — the chapel. Initially it
is again necessary to note that only a tiny minority of the old holy sites were
reoccupied by the Catholic chapels. 18 The exceptions were in remote areas
like the Caha and Beara peninsulas, or in pockets of the country like East
Limerick where immigration was virtually non-existent. Occasionally too,
where a Catholic landlord survived, or where only nominal conformity to the
established religion had taken place, the Catholic chapel is on the old site, as
in parts of Clare and Galway. These were exceptional circumstances and the
Catholic chapel is overwhelmingly located on a virgin site. Such new chapels
were located almost invariably at crossroads or bridging points indicating the
care taken to maximise their accessibility. Jolted free of locational constraints
by the accidents of history, many of these chapels migrated to new lines of
road and new focal points. Their exact site was normally determined by the
presence (or absence) of an accommodating landlord.
In Co. Wexford, for example, it is noteworthy that the liberal landlords of
Forth and Bargv gave central locations to the chapels. 19 T h u s the chapels of
Tomhaggard, Tagoat, Churchtown, Lady's Island and Mayglass are all
located on the old holy sites. Liberal landlords like the Harveys of Bargy
Castle (Tomhaggard Chapel), the Colcloughs of Duffry Hall (Kiltealy
Chapel) and the Grogans of Johnstown Castle (Piercestown and Murntown
chapels), allowed chapels to be sited very close to their demesnes. Prominent
Catholic landowners also sheltered and indeed built Catholic chapels. In
Wexford, these were the Esmondes of Ballynestragh (Kilanerin) the Talbots
of Talbot Hall (Galbally) the Hays of Ballinkeele (Ballymurn) the Browns of
Mulrankin (Mulrankin) the Devereuxs of Carrigmannon (Glynn) and the
Mastersons of Monaseed (Monaseed). Lower down the social scale, wealthy
Catholic farmers (often with trading links) could also foster a Catholic chapel.
Such were the Sweetmans and Rossiters of Newbawn (Newbawn Chapel) the
Downcs of Adamstown (Adamstown Chapel) and the Fitzhenrys of
Gobbinstown (Poulpeasty Chapel). In the nineteenth century, prosperous
merchant families also were the progenitors of chapels; in Wexford they were
represented by the Pierces at Barntown, the Powers at Oylegate, and the
Breens at Castlebridge. The earliest and in some respects, strongest Catholic
communities emerged where such fostering families existed.
Where the landlord was hostile, the chapel was consigned to the outer
fringes of the estate, or to very marginal back street locations in the town.
6
WHEI.AN
Thus where a landlord had little sympathy with Catholicism, parish development was retarded, with the chapel being prohibited in the early eighteenth
century and forced to locate later in remote corners. In north Wexford and
Wicklow, where the gentry had adopted a hard-line position with respect to
Catholicism, such processes could be seen at work on the estates of the Rams
of Gorey, the Donovans of Ballymore, the Downshires of Blessington and the
Fitzwilliams of Shillelagh. This feature was developed to its most virulent expression in Ulster, where religious animosity ran deepest.
In such cases, the outcast Church often gravitated to the fair green or commonage site, physically as well as symbolically having only squatters rights.
The location on the commonage may be seen at Ardfinnan (Tipperary),
Curraheen (Kerry) and Kecraunmore (Galway). Fairgreen locations seem to
have been especially favoured west of the Shannon. Examples from Clare are
Mullagh, Feakle and Kilclaran; from Galway, Cappataggle, Knockadrum and
Portumna. Other locational factors have to be analysed also. Later chapels
were often built on the intersections of larger parishes, where a border community remained badly served. Ardattin Chapel (Carlow) is located on the
borders of Tullow, Clonegal and Ballon parishes. 20 Bigwood (Kilkenny) is on
the borders of Glenmore, Mullinavat, Slieverue and Kilmacow parishes,
while Mullinaharrigle is on the Glenmore-Tullogher boundary. 21 Occasionally, an improving landlord would build a chapel in his village as part of a
development programme. De Vere Hunt planned and financed the chapel at
New Birmingham as part of his proposed new town. 22 Lord Palmerston built
the chapel at Cliffony (Sligo) for similar reasons. 23 Socially minded landlords
also built chapels — Lord Stewart de Dccies built one al Toor (Co. Waterford) 'for the accommodation of his mountain tenantry'. 2 '' More exotic sponsors were the Arigna Mining Company (Arigna Chapel, Co. Leitrim) and the
Board of Works at Cockhill and Culdaff (Donegal).
It is possible to define various stages in the history of modern chapel
building in Ireland. It begins with an open-air phase, which has come down to
us in folk belief as the 'mass rock in the glen' days. Contrary to popular
beliefs, this episode was brief and spatially restricted. By 1731 the country,
with the exception of large swathes of Ulster and specific pockets elsewhere,
was already provided with rudimentary chapels or mass houses." These
isolated pockets were confined to areas with hardline landlords (e.g. around
Dundrum and Templemore in Tipperary), and in areas of extreme poverty
(e.g. the Ballingeary area of west Cork). In some of these areas, the open air
mass survived well into the nineteenth century. In 1837, there is evidence of
this tradition in the Glens of Antrim, in mid-Tyrone and south Derry, in
Achill, in Connemara, in west Clare and in the Rosses and Gwecdorc. 26
These were the lagging areas of Irish Catholicism whose archaic character
shows up on a whole series of criteria. 27
Following the mass rock phase is the mass house or penal chapel phase. The
mass house was a small, mud-walled, thatched, clay-floored building, absolutely devoid of internal decoration. Its utter simplicity represents the curtailment imposed by poverty on the Catholic Church throughout much of the
eighteenth century. An excellent example which was utilised until 1812 is
still preserved at Tomhaggard, (Wexford). However, increasingly in the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, these penal chapels were replaced
by the first modern chapels, which have been called 'the barn chapels'. 28
7
PARISH, CHAPEL AND VILLAGE
Although still largely built by local craftsmen in the vernacular tradition
without formal architectural direction, they were of much greater size and
pretensions. They were large, slated, stone or rubble built, had flagged or
tiled floors; normally they had a gallery or galleries to cater for increased
numbers; they were undecorated in the interior, and without pews. They
evolved from the barn plan, through L-shaped varieties to the most common
cruciform plan. Simple in plan, sturdy in execution, sparing in decoration
(with the exception of the altar area), these big chapels symbolised in their
simplicity the pragmatism and poverty out of which they grew. They contrast
markedly with their counterparts in Germany and Spain, whose rich decoration speaks to a radically different Catholic tradition. Despite the welter of
post-Vatican II rebuilding, some good early examples of these vernacular
chapels survive, for example, Lagg (1784) and Massmount (Donegal),
Myshall (c.1776; Carlow), Grange (1762; Louth), Kildoagh (1796; Cavan)
and Cratloe (c. 1781; Clare). A more sophisticated urban version may be seen
at St Patrick's Chapel (1764) in Waterford city, one of the major innovation
centres in eighteenth century Catholicism. Remarkably little regional variation emerged within this architecture, possibly because this rebuilding phase
was compressed into such a narrow time span. However, it is possible to identify a distinctive west Ulster type of chapel, whose logos is the placing of the
altar on the long rather than the short axis of the chapel. 29 Rosslea
(Fermanagh), F.glish (Tyrone) and Castledawson (Derry) are examples.
As one would expect, these modern chapels were built soonest in the south
and east. This is confirmed if the dates of building of the first modern chapels
arc grouped by diocese, region and decade (Fig. I).-10 T h e chapel building
WAIERFORO AND
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Figure 1. Decade of construction of first modern chapel in selected areas.
8
WHELAN
boom was most pronounced in the 1800-1840 period, peaking in the 1820s.
However, the wave had started in the 1760s in Waterford City, had reached
most of the larger towns in the south-east by 1800, and was virtually complete
in the south-east by 1840. Ossory seems to have led the way, with the bulk of
its chapel building completed by 1810. Cullen has commented on the fact
that Co. Kilkenny had the most stable and monolithic of all Catholic communities in the period 1600-1900. 3I However, even in these rich dioceses,
remote and poorer areas had to wait until the post-Famine period for their
first modern chapel. A pronounced contrast emerges when one compares the
three south-eastern dioceses with the north-west Ulster area. Here the chapel
building boom was much later, with a peak in the 1840-50 period, and with a
substantial amount of it in the post-Famine period. Preliminary research
would indicate that this north-west Ulster pattern is also true of Connaught,
west Munster and the rest of Ulster. The East Munster/South I.einster zone
of early building also stretches loopwise via Dublin into the Louth/Meath
area. In between these two zones is an intermediate or hybrid zone, falling
temporally as well as spatially between these two patterns. 32 By the second
half of the nineteenth century, increased wealth and sophistication, and a
desire to copy continental influences, led to many of these chapels being
replaced by more complex formally-designed chapels, replete with decoration, especially in the towns. Many of these were in the neo-Gothic or
Hiberno-Romanesque styles and their imitative qualities compare unfavourably with the self-reliance of the big chapel. Most of the modern
Catholic cathedrals fall into this category, for example, St Eunan's (Letterkenny), St MacCartan's (Monaghan) and St Patrick's (Armagh).
It is appropriate now to offer an example of these phases as they developed
in a specific area — Riverchapel in north Wexford. In the seventeenth century, the area had no chapel or resident priest and was dependent on the intermittent activities of itinerant Jesuits from Dublin for spiritual solace. 33 Between 1703 and 1745, a thatched and mud-walled chapel 23 m long by 6 m
wide was built on the banks of the Ounavarra River in Tomsilla townland, on
the fringe of the Stopford estate, in an isolated area, accessible only by stepping stones. From this circumstance, it was called River Chapel. In 1745, permission was given to site the chapel in a more prominent position and it was
rebuilt beside the sea on the roadside at Ballintray townland. It still retained
its old name of Riverchapel, and this was also applied to the little village huddled around it. 34 When sectarian tensions convulsed this area in 1798, this
chapel was burned by the local yeomen. 35 It was replaced by St Mary's
Chapel, built on the same site, in the period between 1802 and 1805. This
was a small, cruciform, stone built, slated building, with mullioned windows.
With the growth of the adjacent Courtown Harbour, this chapel was found to
be too small in size and was superceded in 1882 by the 'Star of the Sea'
Chapel, built in Victorian Gothic style and designed by the foremost church
architect of that time, J.J. McCarthy. 3 6
However significant these chapels are in themselves, they are even more interesting as nuclei around which small villages crystallised, a type of village
hitherto little noted in the geographical literature, and to which it is proposed
to give the name chapel-village. 37 In this scenario, the chapel acts as a leading
element generating an attendant suite of features, and shepherding around it
schools, public-houses and forges. In this respect, the power of the priest was
PARISH, CHAPEL AND VILLAGE
9
pivotal. He was the centre of gravity in the parish, a man who led his community and gave it force and cohesion. 38 As a literate man, he was frequently
the broker or hinge between the community and the outside world, especially
the outside world represented by central government functions. Increasingly
in the nineteenth century the tentacles of the British Empire were stretching
deep into the remote corners of the Irish countryside, bearing with them
schools, barracks, dispensaries, post offices, and all the other paraphernalia of
the incipient welfare state. 39 The priest frequently channelled or controlled
these services. For example, the national school system was theoretically nondenominational in character, but was manipulated to the extent that by 1870
over seventy per cent of national schools were under direct clerical control. 40
Almost invariably Catholic chapels had a national school located beside them;
not infrequently, indeed, the school was initially held in the actual chapel. 41
State sponsored denominational school systems were the exception in the
Europe of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and this alliance of chapel
and school acted as a powerful axis of community interaction, a focus of a web
of movements which brought people together frequently and consistently,
thus acting as a powerful dynamic of village development. As a result of a
change in ecclesiastical law, after 1850 each priest had to provide himself with
a parochial house; again, these were located as close as possible to the
chapel. 4i As these initial elements coalesced into an incipient village, state
sponsored institutions took advantage of the centralising role of the Catholic
chapel by locating there also. Thus the activities of central state, channelled
by the priests and attracted to the chapel, gave a vital impetus to these initial
village nuclei.
Once these initial elements had adhered, there was good reason for commercial establishments to follow. A forge, taking advantage of a guaranteed flow
of people on a regular basis was an ubiquitous feature of these villages. So was
that uniquely Irish feature — the public-house/grocery shop — an ingenious
solution to the problems of low threshold populations. It was often the family
from these establishments who dominated the economic life of these small
villages — the gombeenman of Irish tradition. 43 As time went by other
facilities and functions also gravitated to this point of integration. In the
dairying areas, the co-operative creamery added a dynamic element at the turn
of the twentieth century. Efforts were also made to provide rudimentary
recreational facilities; like the public-house/grocery shop, the handball alley is
a distinctively Irish architectural feature, and it too became a component of
village life in the second half of the nineteenth century. In the mid 1930s, the
Catholic church moved to regularise crossroad and house dances by providing
a safe alternative in the parish hall. 44 The location of these 'ballrooms of
romance' was typically beside the chapel and school, on church-owned land,
under the watchful eye of the parish priest. 45 As well as dancing, drama and
concerts, these halls were also used as a meeting place for parochially based
organisations.
As the nineteenth century progressed and increasingly in the first half of the
twentieth century, these chapel-villages and the communities which nurtured
them were strengthened by the use of the parish as an organisational base by
political, cultural and social organisations. 46 Again, the role of the priest as
community spokesman and organiser was critical. The first occasion when a
nationwide campaign was orchestrated around the priest/chapel nexus was the
10
WHELAN
Catholic Emancipation campaign of the 1820s. Similarly, in the 1830s, the
Tithe Campaign used the parish as the organisational base, the priest as
linkman with the national campaign, and the chapel as the meeting place. 47
This strategy, though slightly modified as the priests tried to disentangle
themselves from overt politics, was also adopted during the Repeal Movement and the Land League agitation. In this way the parish, the priest and the
chapel came into increasingly secular use throughout the nineteenth century.
When cultural organisations like the Gaelic Athletic Association (G.A.A.) and
the Gaelic League were established, it is not surprising to find that they too
relied on this parish consciousness, so much so that the G.A.A. eventually
formulated a 'one parish-one team' rule. In the twentieth century, clerical
support was strong for such organisations as the Pioneer Total Abstinence
Association, Macra na Feirme and Muintir na Tire; they were again organised on a parochial basis, and contributed handsomely to the vitality and stability of the parish and the parish centre.
The strength of the parish and the chapel-village, then, derived from its
adaptation to the rhythms and practicalities of day-to-day life in rural communities. It was at this humble level in the settlement hierarchy that the bulk
of the population received central place services on a regular basis for the first
time. The chapel-village also prospered on the strength of the Catholic
Church in the emotional realm. For the parish was not just a functional entity
— it was a symbolic force of some depth and power. For many people, it was
the ultimate world, in that they never spent a night outside its confines. The
great rites of passage — birth, marriage, death — had intimate links with the
chapel, and the Catholic Church shepherded one's life from the cradle to the
grave, sanctifying it, endorsing it, stamping it with meaning and significance,
imposing order and pattern on it. Territorialitv is a deep rooted feature of
Irish life and the parish simultaneously drew on and strengthened this force. 48
Allegiance to the parish and the parish chapel was an enduring bond which
integrated communities. So the parish represented not just a functional community, but a community of the mind; not just an utilitarian territorial entity,
but an emotional empire of the heart. Parish boundaries heightened community consciousness, by demarcating one community from the next. The
obligation of Sunday mass attendance made the chapel itselfa weekly magnet,
imposing unity by gathering the whole community under one roof in common worship, in the most intimate of face-to-face communities. Here, at
mass, people interacted strongly, news was disseminated, neighbours met,
and the whole parish paused to take stock of itself. In this sense, the mass performed independent central place functions on an intermittent basis.
Having examined the processes and contexts which dictated the growth of
the chapel-village in a general way, it is now appropriate to illustrate these
with reference to a more detailed example — that of Rathnure (Co. Wexford).
The village of Rathnure, perched high on the Blackstairs Mountains, is of
very recent origin. Until 1853 the Rathnure area had formed part of the
sprawling Catholic parish of Killegney. 49 In that year, the parish was split
into two separate portions, with the new parish of Cloughbawn serving the
lowland area around Clonroche, while Rathnure served the upland area west
of this. A new stretch of road had been built in the 1830s to by-pass a narrow
and difficult part of the old Newtownbarry (Bunclody)-New Ross road. 50 The
old stretch via Monamolin and Templeludigan was then abandoned in favour
PARISH, CHAPEL AND VILLAGE
11
of the easier route lower down. The parish chapel of Rathnure, built in 1859,
was located for reasons of accessibility on the 'new-line' at a crossroads site,
replacing the tiny chapel-of-ease which had stood virtually on the same site.
The site was donated by a local publican called Hand, who had already
established a public-house/grocery shop here. The chapel was also on the edge
of the most important Catholic farm in the area, that of the Forrestals. The
chapel, and subsequently the parish took its name from the townland in
which it was located, as was frequently the case. The active parish priest,
Revd Myles Doran, added new facilities to the chapel site. First he built a
priest's house alongside the chapel. Then, in 1867, he was instrumental in
getting the national school for boys shifted from Ballybaun townland (two
miles distant) to the chapel yard. In 1882, a girls' national school was built
alongside it. A second public house, Brennans, soon followed. In the 1860s,
the Hand family sold out to the Conran famly whose descendants still run the
most important business in the village. Rathnure continued to grow, aided by
the fact thai it stood almost exactly astride the traditional divide between the
hinterlands of New Ross and F.nniscorthy. It stood also on the interface between the small mountain farms of the Blackstairs, and the large lowland
farms of the Boro Valley and the Castleboro estate below it. 51 By 1933, it consisted of a chapel, national schools, priests' house, a public-house/grocery, a
forge, a shoemaker's shop, a village hall, a creamery and a string of labourers'
cottages. Growing in strength the parish also established itself as an important
social unit, reflected most intensely in the almost fanatical support for its fine
hurling team. A G.A.A. pitch, a recreational complex, a garage and county
council housing schemes are the most recent additions to the village. In this
way, a whole new village has grown up.
Associated with its rise has been the decay of two neighbouring villages,
Templeludigan and Killann. Templeludigan had been the most important
chapel-village in the area in the first half of the nineteenth century. However,
once the main road was diverted away from it, it shrank, and today it has a
forlorn appearance when compared with its more vigorous neighbour. The
more ancient centre of Killann, the medieval parish centre, has also fallen on
lean times. The impedimenta of antique piety still ciuster around it — St
Ann's holy well, an old graveyard and a Protestant church built on the site of
the medieval church. This Protestant church served the needs of the sizeable
colony of Protestant farmers who had been established in its vicinity by two
local landlords — the Richards of Monksgrange and the Blackers of Woodbrook. The village also had a Protestant national school and a publichouse/grocery (originally Kellys, the homestead of John Kelly, the 1798
leader and now in the possession of the Rackard family). On the first edition
O.S. six-inch map, Killann, reflecting the vitality of the colony and the support of two active landlords, still far outstrips Rathnure, which is not even
named on the map at this stage. However, the demise of landlordism, the
retrenchment of the Protestant colony and the sheer dynamism of Rathnure
arrested Killann's growth. Symbolically, the dialectic of Rathnure and
Killann is also a dialectic of Catholic and Protestant, new and old, hill and
plain — and portrays in vivid landscape testimony the polarities which emerged with such force in this area in the 1798 and 1922 periods. 52
These chapel-villages did not develop uniformly in either time or space.
Temporally, they developed more quickly in the south and east than in the
12
WHEI.AN
north and west. The activities of a powerful parish priest could often weld one
into being in a short period — analagous perhaps to the effect of a determined
landlord. The building of the first modern chapel was the most crucial stage
in their development, providing the initial anchor and magnet. The nucleus
of church and school was often in place in the pre-Famine period, and the
chapel-village continued to grow throughout the second half of the nineteenth
century, reaching its zenith in the early twentieth century before the bicycle
and car breached the ramparts of small scale territoriality. Morphologically,
the chapel village often follows crossroads interstices, developing compactly
on a dual axis around the central crossing. Moyne (Longford) is a classic example. The villages show no elements of formal planning, and their most
common shape is a lazy straggle along the road, as at Clogh (Kilkenny) and
Glenamaddy (Galway). They are haphazard accretions of a piecemeal nature,
evolving organically and episodically, rather than being the carefully
chaperoned products of meticulous planning. They have none of the symmetry, formality and uniform design standards which lend such elegance to
the estate village. It is the chapel itself which provides whatever cohesion
these humble village plans have.
Examples of the chapel-village are numerous. T o date, it has been possible
to tentatively identify over four hundred examples, using evidence from
sources like the various editions of the O.S. six-inch maps, trade and Catholic
directories, diocesan and local histories, fieldwork and a host of miscellaneous
sources. 53 Some typical examples are Knockbridge (Louth), Glenmore
(Kilkenny), Cullyhanna (Armagh), Knocknagoshel (Kerry), Cullen (Cork),
Clonea'Power' (Waterford), Camross (I.aois), Ballyhahill (Limerick) and
Kilreekil (Galway). These villages however, cannot be taken in isolation; one
must examine them in context to understand them properly. Looking at their
distribution on the micro-scale) one notices that the chapel-village is often
found in a dialectical relationship with the old parish centre. Citing examples
from Co. Wexford, there is Rathnure and Killann, Ballindaggan and
Templeshanbo, Ballygarrett and Donaghmore, Marshalstown and Monart,
Bree and Clonmore, Boolevogue and Kilcormick. Other classic examples of
this syndrome are Mullagh and Kilmurry (Clare), Clonea and Mothel (Waterford), Ballyduff and Ratoo (Kerry) Glynn and St Mullins (Carlow) and Windgap and Killamery (Kilkenny). The diffusion of energy which this
schizophrenia entailed militated against the development of a strong village
life in Ireland in the period under review. A similar polarity exists between
the chapel-village and the estate village. From Co. Wicklow one can cite
Valleymount and Blessington, Curtlestown and Fnniskerry, Knockananna
and Kiltegan and Tomacork and Carnew. Other good examples are
Knockavilla and Dundrum (Tipperary), Caltra and Castleblayney (Galway),
Kilsaran and Castlebellingham (Louth), Newtown and Kilmacthomas
(Waterford) and Kilmyshall and Newtownbarry (Wexford). The spirit of exclusivity and introspection which these spatial disjunctions portray is as good
an index as any to the depth of the cultural cleavage which underpinned colonial Ireland.
It is also possible to find chapel-villages which are linked closely to the
evolution of turnpike roads and which may owe their origins as much to the
road as to the chapel. Examples are Mooncoin, Slieverue and Paulstown
(Kilkenny), Rathgormack (Waterford) and Ashbourne (Meath). A handful of
PARISH, CHAPEL AND VILLAGE
13
these villages are also to be found occupying old holy sites; they include
Croagh (Limerick), Two-mile-Borris (Tipperary), Killeshin (Laois),
Clongeen and Adamstown (Wexford) and Killinaboy (Clare).
On the macro-scale, a preliminary investigation would suggest that marked
regional differences exist. Given the fact that these villages are of such late
origin, and that they were offering only the most basic of central place services, it is not surprising to find that the chapel-village is in general an infill
item. A significant proportion are therefore found in remote, late settled
areas. In west Limerick alone, there is Carrigkerry, Tournafulla, Clooncagh,
Feohanagh, Monagay, Templeglantine and Mountcollins. In north
Tipperary there is Upperchurch, Kilcommon, Rearcross, Holly ford and
Annacarty. Other striking examples are Partry (Mayo), Tooraneena (Waterford), Skeaghvastccn (Kilkenny) and Freemount (Cork). Turning to look at
the density of their distribution, some obvious patterns emerge. 54 T h e chapel
village is poorly developed, if at all, in the north of the country, with the exception of the south Armagh and Sperrins area. The poor, late and sprawling
parishes of the West were also inimical to their development. They would
also appear to be thin on the ground in areas of old and complex settlement,
like the Pale and the mid-Munster river corridors. However, the chapelvillage is quite common in the drumlin belt, especially in Monaghan, Cavan
and Leitrim. As a settlement infill item of a very humble nature, it fitted easily to the requirements of" cohesive small-scale farming areas and was able to
breach, if in very modest fashion, the drumlin belt's historic resistance to
nucleation. Aughnasheelin (Leitrim), Three-mile-Bridge (Monaghan) and
Crosserlough (Cavan) are examples. The densest development of all is to be
found in the zone which I have previously identified as the heartland and
powerhouse of modern Irish Catholicism — stretching from Wexford,
through Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Tipperary, north and east Cork into
Limerick and north Kerry. This was the area where strong farming and merchant families emerged in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, who were
more outward-looking, had a strong capacity for innovation and leadership,
and who gave money, clergy and full commitment to the Catholic Church. 5 5
These families included the Rices of Westcourt and the Butlers of Ballyraggett (Kilkenny), the Sweetmans of Newbawn (Wexford), the Wyses,
Barrens, and Aylwards of Waterford City, the Nagles of Ballygriffin (Cork)
and the Mathews of Thomastown (Tipperary). These were the backbone and
very essence of the Tridentine Catholic Church in Ireland, and it was in this
heartland that the chapel-village struck its deepest roots.
The analysis in this paper has focused on one aspect of the geography of
modern Catholicism in Ireland. However, a host of other significant and
potentially very rewarding themes remain bereft of geographical treatment.
At a time when research on Irish Catholicism is moving away from a narrowly
doctrinal or historical focus towards a much more wide-ranging concern for
its cultural, political, economic and social impact, it is to be hoped that
geographers will contribute their insights to the growing debate. 56
1-1
WHELAN
N O T E S A N D REFERENCES
1
J.il. Andrews, ' T h e geographical study of the Irish past', Paper presented to the Conference
of Irish Geographers, 1977.
2
I'.J. Corish, The Catholic community in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Dublin. 1981.
3
K. Thomas, Religion and the decline o) magic. London, 1971. Sec also S.J. Connolly. Priest
and people in pre-faminc Ireland. Dublin, 1981.
4
L . M . Cullen, The emergence oj modern Ireland 1600-1900. London, 1981. See also J. Lee, The
modernisation of Irish society 1848-1900. Dublin. 1973.
5
K. Whelan, A geography of society and culture in Ireland since 1800. unpublished Ph.D. thesis,
N i l . . 1981. Section I, part A.
6
T . Jones Hughes, ' T h e large farm in nineteenth century Ireland', in A. Gailcy and D O
hOgain (eds.), Gold under the furze: studies in folk tradition. Dublin. 1982.
7
T . Jones Hughes, 'Village and town in mid nineteenth century Ireland'. Ir. Clcogr.. 14. 1981,
99-106.
8
Corish, op. cit.. C h . 2.
' Corish, op. tit., 16.
10
D.W. Miller, 'Irish Catholicism and the great famine'. Jtil Soc. Hist 9, 1975, 8I-9S.
" E. Larkin, ' T h e devotional revolution in Ireland 1850-75', Am. Hist. Rev.. 77, 1972,
625-652.
12
An analysis of the distribution of Catholic wealth is feasible using as surrogate evidence the
income of each parish in 1800. available for almosi the entire country and printed in Memoirs
and correspondence of Viscount Castlereagh. Vol. 4, London.1849.
1
' Whelan, op. at., section 1, part F.
14
Chapels can be located using the Ecclesiastical Map of Ireland (1859), available in the
N.L.I. With reference to the boundaries and layout of Catholic parishes, the most accurate is the
Atlas of the diocese of Cash,-/ and limly. Thurles 1970. Parish maps of varying quality and utility
are avaialblc also in some of the diocesan histories cited below. The E.S.B. collection of one-inch
to one-mile parish maps, deposited in Maynooth College Library, has yet to receive detailed examination.
15
Whelan. op. cit.; Connolly, op. cit.; Larkin, op. at.
16
This comment is based on the evidence of a preliminary analysis of parish registers of the
pre-l-'amine period for a number of dioceses available in the N.L.I, on microfilm.
17
D. 6 Laoghaire. 'Traditional Irish spirituality", in M. Mahcr, (cd.). Irish spirituality.
Dublin, 1981. Sec also his I'aidrcacha na nDaoinc. Dublin, 1975.
18
These comments are derived from an analysis of the first and subsequent editions of the sixinch to one-mile O.S. maps for the whole country.
19
Cullen, op. cit.. Ch. 10.
20
D. Comerford. Collections relating to the dioceses of Kildarc and l.cighlin. 3 vols., Dublin.
1883-5.
21
W. Carrigan. The history and antiquities oj the diocese of Ossory, 4 vols., Dublin, 1905.
22
Dc Vcre Hunt, Diary 1815-18. Copy in the possession of Dr W. Nolan, Carysfort College.
23
S. Lewis, Topographical dictionary of Ireland, 2 vols., London. 1837.
24
P. Power, Parochial history of Waterford and I.ismore. Waterford, 1912.
25
T h e 1731 data are available for virtually the whole countrv in Archiv. Ilib.. vol. I to vol. 4,
1912-1915.
26
Lewis, op. cit.
27
M. Craig, The architecture of Ireland from the earliest limes to 1880. Dublin, 1982, 211-231.
28
Whelan, op. cit.
2
* A. Rowan, North West Ulster, Harmondsworth. 1979.
30
T h e data for Ossory are derived from Carrigan, op. cit.: for Kildare and l.cighlin, from
Comerford, op. cit.; for Waterford, from Power, op. cil.: for north-west Ulster, from Rowan, op.
cit. However, these sources have been supplemented and amended where possible from other
materials.
31
L. M. Cullen, ' T h e social and economic evolution of south Kilkenny in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries', Dates, 13, 1980, 28-51.
32
It is hoped eventually to plot the dates of building for ihc first modem chapels for all the
countrv.
33
Rep. Nov., vol. 3, 1961-62, 176-177.
34
A. Kinsella. The Windswept shore: a history of the Courtown area. Dublin, 1982.
35
W.H. Grattan Flood. History of the diocese of Ferns, Waterford. 1916.
PARISH, CHAPF.I. A N D VILLAGE
15
36
Whclan, op. cil., Section I, pan E. See also J. Sheehv, J.J. McCarthy and the Gothic Revival
in Ireland, Belfast, 1977.
37
Definitional problems present acute difficulties here. Sec P. Flatrcs, 'Hamlet and village' in
R.H. Buchanan, E. Jones and D. McCourt (eds.), Man and his habitat: essays presented to Hmyr
Estyn Evans, London, 1971, 167-172.
3
" P. Kavanagh, Tarry I-'lynn, London, 1948.
39
F.S.L. Lyons, Ireland since the famine, London, 1972.
40
D. Akcnson, The Irish education experiment: the national system of education in the nineteenth
century, London, 1970.
41
Lewis, op. cit.
42
P.J. Corish (ed.), A history of Irish Catholicism, vol. 5. Dublin, 1970.
43
H. Brady, Inishkil/ane: change and decline in the West of Ireland, Harmondsworth, 1973.
44
J. Whytc, Church and stale in modern Ireland 1923-70, Dublin, 1971.
45
Kavanagh, op. cit.
46
S. Clark, Social origins of the Irish Land War, Princeton, 1979.
47
J. O'Donoghuc, 'Causes of opposition to tithe 1830-38', Stud. Mb., no. 5, 1965, 7-28.
48
W.J, Smyth, 'Continuity and change in the territorial organisation of Irish rural communities', Maynooth Review, 111), 1975, 51-78.
49
Grattan Hood, op. cil.
50
T h e following analysis is based primarily on an account in the schools manuscripts, vol.
900, (Rathnure, Co. Wexford), Department of Irish Folklore, University College, Dublin.
51
P. Kennedy, The Banks of the Boro, London and Dublin, 1867.
52
For the 1798 period in ihis area, see J.B. Cordon, History of the rebellion in Ireland in the
year 1798; T . Cloncy, A personal narrative of those transactions in the County of Wexford, in which
the author teas engaged during the atvful period of 1798, Dublin, 1832. For the 1922 period, I am
dependent on the vibrant oral tradition of the area.
53
A checklist of these villages is available in Whelan 1981, Appendix 111.
54
Whelan, op. cit.. Section I part F.
55
Whclan. op. cit.. Section I pan F
s
* For contributions to this debate, sec the following: E. Larkin, The historical dimensions of
Irish Catholicism, New York, 1976; E. Larkin, The making of the Roman Catholic Church in
Ireland 1850-60, New York, 1980; Clark, op. cit.; Corish, op. cit.; Connolly, op. ci'r.jD.A. Kerr,
Peel, priests and politics: Sir Robert Reel's administration and the Roman Catholic Church in Ire/and
1841-1846. Oxford, 1982; M. Beanies, Peasants and power - the Whiteboy movements and their
control in pre-famine Ireland, Brighton, 1983.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My best thanks to T . Jones Hughes. Willie Nolan. Willie Smyth, John Mannion and Jack
Burtchaell for help with this paper. Thanks also to Eilis O'Brien, Margaret Bell and John Coll.