Newsletter No 10 Summer 2012

Eyre’s Church, Eyrecourt by Donal Burke

Events - Summer 2012 "The Irish American Link: People, Places, and Culture" Tiernascragh Heritage Project “The Irish American Link: People, Places, and Culture" confer- ‘Derrybrien to Tiernascragh’ Centenary Commemmo- ence will take place in the Ard Ri House Hotel, Tuam, Co. Gal- way, Ireland from the 12th to 16th July, 2012. ration - Hosted by the Old Tuam Society in partnership with Drew University (Madison, New Jersey, USA); Galway County Coun- Saturday 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 Commemora- Centre 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 at- man, 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 circu- to 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 Un- ions 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 de- velopment 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 residen- tial 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 Manage- ment, Poultry Management, General Housework, Domestic Economy, and Needlework. It had three principal objec- tives:- 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 ser- viceable 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 ap- proval. - 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, neat- ness, 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 Econ- omy, Needlework, Dairying, Laundry and General Housekeeping, as well as Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Geog- raphy.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. Dur- ing 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 1903/1904

Ballinasloe Catherine Donoghue Catherine Donoghue Kate Glynn Josephine Dunny Clifden ------Nora J. Lydon Galway Mary Lardner Mary Lardner Gort B. Jordan Margaret Geoghegan Delia Lydon Mountbellew Nora Burke Delia Burke Delia Madden Lucy Kelly L. B. Kenny Annie Delaney Kate Ruane Portumna B. O’Carroll Mary Kelly Agnes Keegan Mary Cunniffe M. Langtry Mary Kearns Ellie Mannion Maggie Grady Minnie McDonnell Nora McNamara Bridget Matthews Tuam Norah Cloonan Nora Burke Kate Cunniffe Nora Joyce Bridget Daly Tessie Mullarkey Nora Lyons Lizzie Nally Bridget Connolly Margaret McWalter Dunmore ------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.

Mercy Convent, National School and Technical School, Portumna., Co. Galway.

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 at- tempt 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 aristo- cratic 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 Balli- nasloe, 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 Dig- nan on their first meeting at Maynooth in 1924 by holding his hands aloft and jocosely stating “I surrender!” One won- ders, 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 Dig- nan`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 geo- graphical 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 Balli- nakill 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 com- plaints 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 per- fect 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 Arch- deacon 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 pa- triot 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 persis- tent 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 ab- sent 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 palpa- ble deference commensurate with the prevailing zeitgeist, there is no hint of tension or fear. On the contrary, the over- whelming 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 con- secutive 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 vestig- ial 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 Col- man 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.

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.

KILLORAN CHURCH IN THE PARISH OF MULLAGH AND KILLORAN WHICH WAS DEMOLISHED AND REBUILT IN 1953.

MONSIGNOR LOUIS PAGE HOISTED ATOP A CORBEL BY COLLEAGUES IN KILCONNELL ABBEY — 1942.

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 Cas- tles 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 peas- antry 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 architec- tural form”? When Lord Leonard Greys’ thirty eight day campaign of 1538 took him to Thomond and Clan- rickard’s country did he cross the Shannon at Banagher? What bridge was here when Patrick Sarsfield es- caped 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.