January 1987 Decies
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DECIES.~ : XIX JANUARY 1987 DECIES Number XIX January 1982 Contents Editorial. Thc Civil Parish of Rathpatrick in the 19th Century Des Cowman Medieval Series VIII. An Account of the Manor of Old Ross September 1284 to September 1285 - Part 11: 'Pextual Appendix. Mary C. Lyona Oral History. Farmersf Organisation and Politics; Recollections of Michael Walsh. Emmct O1Connor Thc 1918 Congress of the Irish T.U.C. and Labour Party. Colm Power. Wills Rclat~~oOWwa_tcrfordd_I~~. Unpublished Jennings Abstracts: The "Watcrford Willsv Scrics - Indcx of Testators (1) A-K. Julian C. Walton. The Young Ireland Movcmcnt in Watcrford (11). Ceorgixa Flynn. Book Reviews and Noticcs of Publication. Noas of tEc SocicQy. Ncmbcrship of thc Old Watcrford Society. Old Vatcrford Socicty Prograrnmc. DECIES is published thrice yearly by thc Old Watcrford Socicty and is distributed frce to membcrs in January, May and September. (part I1 of "A 19th Century French Traveller's visit to Watcrford" by Dr. Holt will appear in DECIES XX, Nay 1982) COVER Messrs. T .Jr Norant S employees working on Waterford Corporation contract 1930. -3- EDITORIAL '!Middle - apcd,middle-clqss, md middle-browedt' is 9 description of the OWS thqt would riehtl:: incur disfnvour in our rmks. In recent yems the Society hqs shobrn consider~blcflexibility and cnp~cityfor innovntion. This much is reflected in the growth of membership,and the stc~dyim,x-ovemcnt in the conkent and format of Decies. Nevertheless, it is timely to remind ourselves thqt the OTdS hqs yet to nchieve the recognition it deserves from the people of Waterford. Continued ~dvmceis vitn1,and to this end three nspccts of the Society mi~htbe reviewed. Firstly, if the OWS is to h~ve? greqter socid imp2ct it is imperative th2t an intellecturl cchcsim be promoted within it. The Oh?S csn survive,but hmdly thrive,gs 9 psssive receptncle of historicnl opinion. As the gumdims of curiosity ?bout our p~st, its members not only hgve m impmtnnt role to plyy in the promotion of historical debrite rnd scholarship, but have 3 civic duty to dischsrge thit function. A collective effort in this regard c3n forge P. sharper nbr?ren?ss of the Society's own identity. This in turn shnuld encourapc a more ~gressivespirit, tr~nsformingm essentinwy st~ticrelntionship between individunls into o movement for history. An nssertive self - perception of this kind is 3 pi-e-conditicn of success in the field of public relnti~ns. The Society needs 3 stronger image. Secondly,our nctivities,lectures,outings,public~tions, must become the instruments of ndvqncemont. Decies hqs Q speciql pnrt to pl2y,both 2s me-ins of infusin;? fresh ideqs cnd appro?ches, nnd RS tq w3y of projecting our c~chetbeyond the membership. Accordingly,the journ.1 should offer a f~rumfor debxte on the ideq of loc3l history; 2nd not just its method,but zlso its philosophy md ?ims. A more appeqling form7t needs to be devised, one which cnn go sJme wny towwds ~ccornrnod~tingthe demands of a non-speciqlised re2dership , whilst mnintqinint; the ususl schol2rly stgnd9rds. This issue tnkes s modest step in thqt direction with the inclusim of the first ever orql history fe2ture in FI journ?l of this kind,nnd ?n essny in review th3t competently ventures into the reflm of qcqdemic criticism. Thirdly, if the Society's objectives are tc be reqlised, then wqys of exprcssing our concern must bs pursued snd determined. Former editors hcve very correctly highlighted issues which the 014s should t(7ke up 2s n mqtter of urgency; the preserv~tionof records and buildings of historicql interest, the collecting of 01-21 history,the provisim of ?n erchives centre, To effectively mticulnte our standpoint ~3n these nnd other questions the OWS wnrrnnts representntim 3n loc?l st~tut2ry~nd voluntary c~mmittees, Thnt in turn will depend not merely on members cornmittment, but 2130 on their .ibility to formul~te? cert~in ideq of bI~~terf,>r4!~,ZI viewpoint on the loc?lity,an? on the purpose of its most prestiqious historic21 society. Finally, bne me~isureof the Society's ndvnnce must be recorded; namely th~tthis editor cmld lo2k fcrward to Decies X1X with a minimum of anxiety. For this ple3sqnt experience thanks sre pvticulqrly due t3 Noel C:.ssi?y,Des Cowmm,~nd Thornqs Power,but no less ta zll those who have been involved in the production and distribution of this issus. EMMET 0' CONNOR. THE CNIL PARISH OF RATHPATRICK IN THE 19th CENI'URY.* l by Des Cowman. INTRODUCTION : The parish of Rathpatrick was once a very strategic location known simply as Cwnar (Comar Tri nUisce - hleeting of three rivers) and features in the Annals as the corner of Ossory and the edge of Mmster.1 When the Deisi had ' fled from Meath and were pursued southwards they wound up trapped here by the forces of the King of Ossory. He is said to have viewed their encampment and exclaimed, "There are a thousand houses and a thousand smoking fires", thus giving the area a new name Mile nDeatach (a thousand smokes) or Mileadach. Anyway, he attacked them, driving themwesz along the Suir until they found a crossing point into what is now Waterford. Meanwhile, St. Patrick also had arrived here, on his way to visit St. Kieran according to an unlikely 19th century tradition, and decided to build a church on top of a hill (Dnmdowney ?) but became discouraged with the area after a loc 1 woman had made him a stew in which the major ingredient was a yellow dog! However, it happened, the nanae Patrick remained and presumably the church which he is credited with acquired a rath, as was quite comn. The most likely site for this would have been on DnrmdaJney hill which was apparently orighlly known as Rathpatrick. Drumdowney would also have been seen as a site of strategic importance to the Noms and it is likely that they placed a motte or even a castle here dominating the two estuaries. While I've found no wumentary evidence for this, the most likely site is significantly known locally as "Castle John''. Both church and castle may well have been wiped out during the plagues and warfare of the 14th century leaving only tradition behind.5 In the case of the church this tradition may be enshrined in the name by which the area has been known since the early 15th century - Drum Domhnaigh, the hill of Sunday (worship). The late 15th and earlier 16th centuries were times of general reorgmisa- tion in Ireland, and it may have been then that the nuns of Kilculiheen decided to re-establish a church in Rathpatrick, though in a less conspicuous position. Certainly the nuns had a right to most of the tithes here? and from John 0' novan's inspection of the ruins here he assumes them to be post 14th century? The actual parish boundaries would have been based on the lands ruled from the destroyed castle. Most of Ossory and much else besides had, of course, been granted to the Butlers of Ormond. In 1431 they decided to re-establish their presence here by having erected three fortified houses, "stiff and staunch1', construction to be done by William and Shane 0'~rechane.~ The exact location of these is not given, but presumably these were tower houses typical of the period, one was at Ballinlaw, another at Gurteens and the third at a place variously spelled Colefeagh, Cowillfeagh, Cowillesfeagh or ~owlefe~.~This is seems was built near a well named after the Virgin - Tobar Muire. An oratory connected with the castle \as similarly named - Cill Muire. Gradually the castle and accompanying lands came to be called Cill Wire,which by the early 17th century was an accepted name for the town- land called Kilmqry.10 -b - . *The origin of this article was a talk by the author at ' Eigse Sliabhrue on the 6th November, 1981 where it was pointed out that this was not intended as a comprehensive history of the parish but a study based on a limited range of sources. It is not clex- to whom these three castles were granted in the 15th century bu? by"'the end of t@enext century Ballinlaw seems to have been in the hands of the Archdeacon family 3150 calledMcCody) while the other two were held by Fitzgeialdili about-whom-little appears to be known.12 Then:.by:the early 17th century a Richard Butler seems to have acquired Murtaghstown and Richard Strange held possession of ~rumdowne~~while his tenants disputed the ight of Fitzgerald of Gorteens to have amill-pond on their land. However, the castles themselves seem to have ,become irrelevancies asthey were not stsategi&lly .located and were vulnerable to 'artillery;'' It..,,. is possibIe t!.at7 b~5,1600they had ceased to be the chief residen@s. of : the,,~laghowne.rs. The ordinary people of ~ath~atrick:me.anwh<l'e: ' I lived 1.p' farrn clusters :" .. the names ox,which have survived - . ,.. Ballyvally, ,Ballyboy, Ballyone,'Ball~ntagart, Ballyandryne'(in, ., ~ilmu,rra~);'and Ballyvooly.' (in' Luf fany) .1% The social, focuS for , ,, ; the.year was, . the great fair of ~'ilmurray'he'ldfrom.2lst I. to 23rd .',:. , of May. 17. ' .. - These fairs continued into the 18th century and from 1744 it seem? that the area had become proSpcrous enough for four lots ofl8 three day fairs to'be held in March, July, September and December. By then, of course, a dramatic change of land ownership had taken place in the years following Cromwellfs visit. Fig. 2 shows landownershi; here as recorded hbout 1700 but it is clear that a whole series of sales and leasing arrangements took place over the next hundred,years so that by the early 19th century a most complex landholding pattern had emerged.