Carrickedmond and Abbeyshrule Parish in the Penal Times.
1691 - 1760.
The Ireland of the late 17th and early 18th century was a very different country in
comparison to life to-day. After nearly a
century of wars,plagues and famines the population , by best estimates totalled one to one
and a third of a million. It was
against this background that the draconian measures known as the Penal Laws were put on
the statute books in 1695 - by a
Protestant Ascendancy Parliament sitting in Dublin - just five years after The Boyne.
These indefensible measures were
unique in that they were directed against the vast majority of the population -
being Catholic. It should be stated, also ,that they
were applied against non-conformists such as Presbyterians,Baptists etc. A number of the
latter lived within the boundaries of
Carrickedmond Parish.
These Decrees were aimed at (a) the clergy - described at the time as Popish Priests and
(b) an impoverished peasantry in
rural areas and an equally poor population living in towns and cities.
In the case of the latter these people were stripped of (1) the right to vote and hold any
office (11) the right to marry a
Protestant (111) to manage or hold their own schools or send their children abroad to be
educated. Additionally any child
converting to Protestantism automatically inherited the family property.
A complete suppression of “Popish Clergy” was effected. All bishops were
banished abroad. (Most were overseas, anyway,
having left after the Treaty of Limerick.) Religious needs of the vast majority were
served by remaining priests who were
required to register with the authorities. The regular clergy (monks, friars) also served
by moving furtively from place to
place. Mass was said often in the open and in the ruins of old abbeys and churches. This
was an ancient Irish Tradition .Mass
was also celebrated in secret in private houses. This practice was the forerunner of
latter day stations. The people tried to
support their church as best they could by donating what little they had at unmolested
gatherings such as funerals .This was
the origins of the practice of funeral offerings a custom surviving until recent times.
It is in this context that we examine the situation existing in Carrickedmond during this
grim time in our history. Nowhere is
the period more in evidence than in a small area of Abbeyshrule churchyard known as The
Bishop`s Plot. Here can be found
an inscribed gravestone to Fr.Richard Rhatigan who died 24th Oct.1686. Little is known of
this cleric except that he served
before the Battle of the Boyne and would have known the despair of Cromwellian times.
But it is in the inner precincts near the old Abbey Church that we find the last resting
place of a brave parish priest . He
experienced the very worst of the Penal Laws (during the reign of Queen Anne ). Here is
the grave of Fr.Lucius Ferrall. We
know that this cleric was born in the year 1649 and was ordained in 1677 by St.Oliver
Plunkett at Ardpatrick near Ardee in
Co.Louth. He was “obliged” to register at the General Quarter Sessions at
Longford on 16th July 1704 bringing with him two
sureties to be of good behaviour. (Cormac Evers of Carrickedmond and William Rhatigem of
Killieon (sic) ).His place of
residence was given as Killendocod (Killendowd) most likely operating a small habitation
probably serving as a mass house on
the very present day Carrickedmond Church site. Regrettably his date of death is not
quoted on his graveslab which lies
overgrown and forgotten against the south wall of the old monastery church. The
inscription has long worn away save for the
faint outline of a crucifix bearing the motif IHS. A “rubbing” taken in the last
century tells us that he came from
Bawn,Moydow and was Parish Priest of Abbeyshrule.
Appended to the registration document is a report of “the state of popery”
in County Longford in 1704. It complains that “ masses arebeing said in the fields
and that at Longford private masses are said every Sunday by itinerant friars who swarm
into the
county from Multyfarnham” The reference to “Masses being said in the fields
“ would point to the parish`s most celebrated
memorial “ Gleann na Altora” near Tachshinod. This secluded spot has survived in
the memory of generations of parishioners
as a safe haven where mass was celebrated on a buried rock during these dark days. It is
appropriate that the special
significance of the place was recently commemorated.
Mass would also have been said in the two ruined monasteries within the parish bounds
carrying on a tradition going back to
early Christian Times. Recent expert evidence points to Abbeyshrule being used as a mass
house in the seventeenth century.
Most likely a similar situation pertained in Abbeyderg. A folklorist from that area told
me some years ago of the existence of a
mass rock and penal cross there. I presume same to be correct but as I am not familiar
with that area of the parish perhaps
locals can illuminate this penal relic .
Carrickedmond is an amalgam of Tashinney,Teachshinod and Abbeyshrule. Tashinney in Penal
Times was really one huge
estate encompassing Tenelick. The Lord of the Manor was Judge George Gore,
Attorney-General for Ireland during the years
1716-19. It seems highly unlikely that the state ` s highest Law Officer would have
tolerated any banned Catholic worship on
his doorstep during these years. (however these three years saw a general relaxation of
enforcement of the Laws nationally.)
Teachshinod had the last of the O`Farrell clan structure surviving at Mornin. The Public
Archives in Dublin hold a mountain
of manuscript documentation covering this period mostly of a litigious nature telling a
story of family squabbles,debt and
bankruptcy.This old Catholic family tried to no avail to save their inheritance even
resorting to apostasy. Their demise saw the
emergence of the Jessop Dynasty.
Finally I return to Abbeyshrule Cemetery and the Bishop`s Plot. Herein lies the remains of
Dr.James Brady described as a
bishop of the penal times. Dr.Brady was a native of the parish, was educated in France at
the Sorbonne in Paris and appears
as “procureur” (prefect) of the Irish College in Paris in 1750. He was appointed
Bishop of Ardagh in 1758 and his obit lasted
until his death in 1788. He was succeeded as Diocesan Bishop by Dr.John Cruise who lived
until 1812 .He was interred in
the cemetery beside Dr.Brady. Also laid to rest within this small area were parish priests
of Carrickedmond during penal days
namely Fr.Killchrist.Fr,Dillon and Fr.Kearney.
The story of the Penal Laws is a long and complex one. No single article can aspire to
address the sufferings experienced by
the clergy and people during that dark period of our history. That Catholicism should have
survived through the hedge
school system, education of priests abroad etc. and still emerged much stronger at the end
of the eighteen century is a tribute
to the resilience of a suppressed populace. Perhaps the best tribute that can be paid to
our ancestral parishioners of the
period,both lay and clerical, is to better preserve monuments erected to their memory
lying neglected in our graveyards etc.
We owe them at least that much.
Cathal McGoey.
22/11/97.
(cathal @indigo.ie)
Sources.
The Popish Register published Dublin 1704. National Library of Ireland.
Journal of Assoc.of Preservation of Memorials to the Dead 1850.
Dean Monahan`s Records.
Ardagh & Clonmacnoise Journal 1937.
Dublin Historical Journal 1976.
Mornin Papers P.R.O. National Archives.
Dept.of Folklore U.C.D.
Irish College in Paris.Rev.L.Swords.