Waterford & South East of Irelafd

OF THE WATERFORD & SOUTH EAST OF IRELAFD ’ . ; PRESIDENT : MOST REVEREND R. A. SHEEHAN, D.D., P,R.s.A. VICE-PRESIDENTS : .HON. DUDLEY F. FORTESCUE, J.P., D.L., M.A. JOHN N. WHITE, J.P., M.R.I.A. R. J. USSHER, J.P. CQMMITTEE: . - DR. RINGROSE ATICINS, M. A. REV. W. B. O'DONNELL, ADM. DR. J. B. NORRIS CANE, C. PERCEVAL BOLTON, J.P. E. WALSHE KELLY.' MAJOR 0. WHEELER CUFF'E. Right Worshipful W. J. SMITH, J.P. HOM. SECRETARY : A. P, MORGAN, A.B., Osier Bank, Waterford. , aom TREASURER : T. H. BRETT, Munster and Leinster Bank, Waterford. RULES. I.-That the Society be called "THE WATERFORDAND SOUTH EAST OF IRELANDARCHIEOLWICAL SOCIETY." 2-That the purpose of the Society be the promotion of the study of matters having an antiquarian interest relating to Waterford and the South Eastern Counties. 3.-That Ladies shall be eligible for membership. 4.-That the Annual Subscription shall be Ten Shillings, payable on the first of January in each year, and that a payment-of shall constitute a Life Member. 5.-That the Society be managed by a President, four Vice-presidents, and one Vice-president from each County taking part in the proceedings of the Society, IIon. Secretary, Hon. Treasurer, and a Committee of nine Members, any three of whom shall form a quorum. 6.-That an Annual General Meeting, for the purpose of electing the Officers and Committee, shall be held before the end of February in each year, and that such election shall be by ballot. 7.-That at the Annual General Meeting in each year the Committee shall submit a brief report and statement of the Treasurer's Accounts. 8.-That a Journal be published containing accounts of the proceedings, and columns for local Notes and Queries. 9.-That all papers, &c., intended for publication in the Journal shall be subject to the approval of the Committee. 10.-That the date of .the Society's meetings, which may be convened for- the reading and discussion of papers and the exhibition of objects of antiquarian interest, shall be fixed by the Committee, due notice being given to each member. 11.-That all matters touching on existing religious and political differences shall be rigorously excl~~dedfrom the discussions at the meetings and from the columns of the Journal. 12.-That each Member shall be at liberty to introduce two visitors at the meetings of the Society. 13.-That the foregoing ~kescan be altered only at the Annual General Meeting, or at a Special General Meeting convened for that purpose. PROCEEDINGS. A very interesting lecture, under the auspices of the Society on '$ The Last Three Centuries of Gdic Literature," was delivered in the City Hall, on agrd October, by Dr. Douglas Hyde. A large and appreciative audience attended. On 17th December Dr. Ringrose Atkins, whose former lecture on " OId Waterford " was so successfuI, gave a lecture on the " Rude Stone Monuments of our Own and Other Lands," illlustrated by lime- light views of menhirs, cromlechs, monoliths, kc. The Society has decided to publish, in forthcoming numbers of the Journal, this valuable contribution to the literature of prehistoric remains. It is our melancholy duty to announce the death, since our last appearance, of two most valued members of our Society,- Mr VILLIERS-STUART,of Dromana, and Mr. W. A. SARGENT. We beg to express our sincerest sympathy in their bereavement with .the friends of both. -Mr. VILLIERS-STUART,who was a.dis- tinguished Egyptologist, was one of our vice-presidents, and as such he always manifested a warm interest in the work andprogress of our Society. Mr. SARGENT,as a member of the committee, rendered services that were neither few nor trifling. He was rarely absent from our council or other meetings, and on all. occasions he proved himself an active and helpful member. To Mr. SARGENT'Spen we owe the popular article on the, ~unici~al Records of Waterford, which has run through two,numbers of the JOURNAL. AS conductors of this periodical, we have much reason to remember Mr. SARGENT'Skindness, and to regret 'his loss. THE ANCIENT RUINED CHURCHES OF CO. WATERFORD. BY REV. P. POWER, F.R.S.A. __L BARONY OF UPPERTHIRD-CONTINUED. To prevent misconception, let the present instalment begin with a further disclaimer from the writer of any intention on his part to enter here into the history of the ecclesiastical remains described. Some materials, indeed, exist for a history of the Friary of Carrickbeg, the Abbey of Mothel, and the early religious foundation of St. Mairdoc, at Disert. These, or their substance, may be worked up into future and independent contributions. For the present however, especially in the case of the religious establishments just enumerated, the writer proposes confining himself to a description of the existing remains, introducing by the way as much of their story as will make t.he description in- t elligible. C~~~~c~~~~.---Carrickbeg,or Little Carrick, anciently called Car- rick-mac-Griffin, contains embodied in the present parish church interesting, and in some particulars, curious, remains of an important conventual church of the Friars Minors. The convent of Carrickbeg was founded in I 336 for Franciscans, by James, Earl of Ormonde, great grandson of Theobald Butler, to whom the lands of Carrick-mac-Griffin had been originally granted. James endowed the new foundation with ten acres of land, and, through the patron's generosity, assisted by charitable donations from other sources, the convent, cloisters, and conventual church were erected beside and overlooking the "gentle Suire." A range of high hills behind sheltered the spot from the west and south winds, but towards the north its situation was somewhat exposed, To preside over the new foundation at Carrick, John Clym the author of the Latin annals of Ireland that bear his name, was transferred from the convent of his order in Kilkenny. It is generally asserted that Clyn wrote his annals in the convent of Carrickbeg, and that he died there of the plague in 1349, but the accuracy: of both statements is open to some doubt. From the figure of the ruined structure, preserved in Smith and . herewith re-produced, we gather that while in many respects the old THE RUINEDFRIARY OF CARRICKBEG [As it appeared 150 years ago.] building followed the usual plan of Irish-Franciscan convents, in one important partlcular, to be noted hereafter, it was perhaps unique. An inscribed tablet over the main entrance. to the present church tells us that it was " Erected originally by James the First Earl of Ormonde, in the year 1336, and re-built by the Rev. James Wall, P.P., and the parishioners of Carrickbeg, in the year 1827." The chief portions of the ancient conventual church surviving are .the decorated doorway of the modern church, a good deal of the north side wall, including the curious hanging tower, of which more hereafter, and some of the east gable. Let us describe the doorway first :-it is, of course, Gothic in character, aofeet in height to the apex of the arch, and 14ft. 8in. wide. The pier to the left terminates in a capital composed of six human heads over another carved head, while the corresponding console on the right exhibits dog- tooth ornament over a floriated pattern. The arch itself, which is of red sandstone, looks like a restoration, while the piers from which it - springs have a fifteenth century look and are of sandstone too, but stone of a finer and whiter grain. Of the north side wall, 35 yards or thereabout in length, the greater portion belongs to the original building, dating back probably to the foundation in 1336. At right angles to this side wall and about midway along its line, apieceof ancient masonry, like the lower part of a flanking tower, stands out, 11 feet square, and rises to the level of the parapet. Within this tower-like structure a winding stairway leads to the roof of the church, whence access is gained by a low doorway to the hanging side tower already referred to. Underneath there appears to be a vault or subterranean chamber, exploration of which, without excavating, is at present impossible; probably this would be found to be the ordinary vaulted basement apartment of the tower. But the nlyst interesting relic of the monastic church surviving is, i beyond doubt, the curious little hanging tower now used as a belfry, rising like a very wide chimney, and springing from a single stone set high up in the ancient north wall just described. In the form of an inverted pyramid, with the single foundation stone as its apex, the supporting or lower portion of the tower rises to a level with the summit of the side wall, and thence, with the upturned base of the pyramid as its foundation, the slender square. tower rises to the height of 40 feet or more. Altogether the pigmy tower, with its outer surface of smooth white sandstone, constitutes a novel and bizarre architectural feature. There is no reason to doubt that the tower as it now stands is coeval with the original building, and it is curious to speculate that its time- worn stairway may have been trodden by the foot of old John Clyn himself in the flesh. Both Smyth and Ryland, who wrote before the erection of the present church on the site of its monastic predecessor, describe the latter as in ruins and containing within it many tombs of - interest. In the days of Father Wall there was evidently no such spirit abroad as to-day animates the Society for the Preservation of the Menlorials of the Dead.

Load more