The History of Religious & Cultural Integration in Drogheda

The History of Religious & Cultural Integration in Drogheda The History of Religious and Cultural Integration in Drogheda The History of Religions in Drogheda and their Institutions - an introduction to organised religion and institutions in Drogheda from medieval times to the present. HORCID - History of Religious and Cultural Integration in Drogheda. A PEACE III Programme 2007-2013, supported by the Small Grants Fund for Co. Louth. Foreword he Drogheda Civic Trust was established in 2010 with the aim of celebrating the heritage and culture of the town of Drogheda. Among the projects recently undertaken by the Civic Trust are the production of a calendar to mark to 600th anniversary of Drogheda and the renovation of the Cord Cemetery. This publication on the history of religious The project was made possible by the fund- and cultural integration in Drogheda is ing provided by EU PEACE III programme a significant contribution to the under- 2007-2013 supported by the Small Grants standing of the diversity of the people of Fund for County Louth. Drogheda and the practices of faith in the town. The publication is in two parts: the I would like to gratefully acknowledge this history of religion in Drogheda from the funding. I would also like to acknowledge 12th century to the present time and a con- Sean Collins for his work on the history of temporary description of the diverse range religions in Drogheda and An Lú Cuimhní of religion and faiths and congregations for their work on recording the contempo- that currently exist in Drogheda. rary religious congregations in Drogheda. The importance of the practice of religion Denis Cummins in Drogheda is evident from the abundance Chairman, Drogheda Civic Trust of churches with church spires dominating the skyline of the town. The history of the religious denominations of the town from the 12th century to the current day are told here. However, what is of enormous inter- est is the diversity of religions and congregations that currently exist in Drogheda. Largely resulting from the inward migration of people over the past decade we now have a diversity of people that never before existed in Drogheda and when they came to Drogheda they also brought with them a diversity of faith. History of Religious & Cultural Integration in Drogheda Drogheda pictured from Millmount Introduction. he first section of this study provides an historic overview of religious denominations in Drogheda over the T eight centuries of the town’s development. All denominations on record in Drogheda are included here. It is not intended to be a definitive history, but an attempt to give a broad picture of how the citizens of Drogheda with their varied beliefs and practices have lived side by side and developed as communities over eight hundred years. The town of Drogheda is a busy modern town with the cusp of many of the major events of Irish history. a varied and long history set astride the River Boyne. The Great O’Neill signed the Treaty of Mellifont at the Drogheda traditionally provided port access for trade nearby house of the O’Moores, the Earls of to Britain and the continent, and an opening westward Drogheda. During the Confederate Rebellion the town into the rich fertile lands of Co.Meath. It provides was besieged in 1642, and again in 1649 by Oliver access on the Dublin to Belfast corridor across the River Cromwell. The Battle of The Boyne in 1690, was Boyne. Drogheda, when first established, had developed fought four miles west of the town. This Battle forever as two towns, one on either side of the River Boyne. At changed the political face of Ireland. In the 18th and the request of the townspeople, in 1412 by Royal Char- 19th centuries the town developed industrially and this ter the two towns were amalgamated into one. paved the way for the fine modern town that exists here today. Following the unification of Drogheda, the town became even more important in the affairs of medieval While rich in history and modern developments in Ireland. Parliaments were held here on a number of industry, retail and commerce, Drogheda also has a occasions in the 1400s. It was at one such parliament plenitude of churches and religious institutions. The that “Poynings Law” was passed in 1492, and was not purpose of this study is to look at how various religions repealed until 1782. have developed in Drogheda down through the centuries, and to give a historical background to the Throughout the seventeenth century Drogheda was on development of the various houses of worship. History of Religious & Cultural Integration in Drogheda Early Settlement he town of Drogheda was first established by the Anglo- Normans in the late 12th century. [Bradley 1978] T The Norman Conquest of Ireland from 1170 onwards was characterised by the development of towns all along the east coast of Ireland. This area of development came to be identified as the Pale, and Drogheda was part of this development. The town of Drogheda which has a rich and varied history, was established in the even more Mellifont Abbey, Monasterboice. ancient and historic Boyne Valley, which is the home of some of the earliest identified settlers in Ireland. The great funerary monuments of Dowth, Knowth and Newgrange remain as physical evidence of their existence in the Irish landscape since 4,000 B.C. [Herity and Eogan 1977] St.Patrick is said to have arrived in Ireland on his crusade to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity in 432 A.D. He heralded a golden era of Christianity and learning, which saw the establishment of the first Christian communities or early monasteries on the Irish landscape. The locally born St. Buite or Boice established a monastery about four miles north of the site of the town of Drogheda in the late 6th Century. This monastery stayed in place until the arrival of the Cistercian Order at Mellifont in 1140. The Monastery established by Boice, or Monasterboice as it had been named, ceased to function as a monastery and the re- maining monks moved to Mellifont to follow the Cistercian rule. [King 1994] History of Religious & Cultural Integration in Drogheda Religious Structure n 1152 a synod of the leading churchmen of Ireland was convened at Kells in Co.Meath. However, as most of I the business of the synod was carried out at Mellifont, it came to be known as the Kells / Mellifont Synod. This Synod decreed that henceforth Ireland would be divided into thirty-six sees or diocese, with four metropolitan sees at Armagh, Cashel, Tuam and Dublin. The primacy of the metropolitan sees was granted to Armagh. The River Boyne was identified as the natural border between the diocese of Armagh and Meath. St Peter’s Catholic Church. The Anglo-Normans when building Drogheda on the banks of the Boyne had established a town which would come to be in both the dioceses of Armagh and Meath. St Peter’s Parish on the north side of Drogheda was established in the Diocese of Armagh, and St Mary’s Parish on the south side of the town was established in the diocese of Meath. Hence Drogheda began to develop as two towns with two parishes and two dioceses. St. Peter’s Catholic Church across the garden of the Presentation Convent. History of Religious & Cultural Integration in Drogheda Religious Development in Medieval Drogheda rom the late 12th Century onwards the development of Drogheda by the Normans included the building of F monasteries. The mendicant orders of friars, such as the Dominicans, Franciscans and Augustinians, were sustained by the support of generous benefactors, which included royalty, nobility and the wealthy. Their arrival in Drogheda would have a long lasting impact on Drogheda town and its religious structures. Religious establishments that were in is referred to in a deed of 1302 on methods and are credited with in- existence prior to the arrival of the the site of the Scotch Hall develop- troducing systematic agriculture and mendicant orders are identified by ment in Drogheda. There are some estate management to the region. Gwynn and Hancock. From their suggestions that the Benedictines also These developments continued up research we know that from 1188, had a presence in the area prior to until the suppression of the mon- Christian Clergy served regular canons 1171. [Gwynn and Hadcock 1970] asteries under Henry VIII in 1535. in the churches established in both the [Duffner 1979] parishes of St.Peter’s and St.Mary’s. It was during the 13th century that Also, the current site of St.Peter’s the mendicant orders were to bring Church of Ireland on Peter St. a new structure to the religious world Drogheda is most likely the earliest of Ireland. The mendicants were site of Christian worship in the town. established in Drogheda from the [Bradley 1997] It was later used as following dates; the pro-cathedral of the dioceses of Armagh, where Bishops were Dominicans 1224 consecrated and the ecclesiastical Franciscans 1240 courts were held. Carmelites 1272 Augustinians 1295 In the early 13th century the Fratres Cruciferi, a military order of Hospi- The mendicant orders made a tallers were noted in St. Mary Durso largely positive impact on the 1206, located at what is now known development of the medieval town as The Old Abbey in Drogheda. of Drogheda. Their friaries, while They also established the friary of St. addressing the religious needs of Laurence 1202-03 in the grounds of Drogheda townspeople also provided the Cord Cemetery, and a hospital schools where music, art, and general of St.

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