Niall C.E.J. O’Brien
Rathcooney
parish lies in the North Liberties of Cork city in County Cork. The parish is
4,982 statute acres in area. It is bounded on the east by the River Glanmire
and on the south by the River Lee. The parish is bounded on the west by the
Ballyhooly New Road and on the north by the Glashaboy River. The medieval
parish church of Rathcooney is situated in the townland of Rathcooney and gives
its name to the parish. The parish contains eighteen townlands (Arderrow,
Ballincrokig, Ballincrossig, Ballyharoon, Ballynoe, Ballyphilip, Banduff, Coole
East, Coole West, Garranboy, Knocknahorgan, Lahardane, Lisnahorna, Lota Beg,
Lota More, Poulacurry North, Poulacurry South and Rathcooney).
People
have lived in the Rathcooney area since the Bronze Age (standing stones and
fulachta fiadh) and possibly long before then. The parish of Rathcooney has
many standing stones (Ballinvriskig, Garranboy (4), Knocknahorgan, and
Lahardane), and fulachta fiadhs (Ballynoe and Rathcooney). People lived there
also in the Early Christian period (400-800AD) with ringforts in various
townlands (Ballynoe, Banduff, Coole East (6), Cahergal, Knocknahorgan, Lotamore
and Rathcooney).
Rathcooney in Ocurblethan
The
medieval parish of Rathcooney was situated in the deanery of Ocurblethan (now
known as Castlelyon). The Irish name for Ocurblethan was Uí Cuirb Liatháin and
it appears to have been part of the kingdom of Uí Liatháin (Olethan – later the
barony of Barrymore) to the east. Ocurblethan possibly became part of Uí
Liatháin in the mid-eight century when its ruling family disappears from the
records.[1] In
1111 the synod of Ráith Breasail divided the country into dioceses. The
district of Ocurblethan was separated from Uí Liatháin and became part of the
new diocese of Cork while Uí Liatháin became part of the diocese of Lismore.
Between 1123 and 1138 the diocese of Cloyne was established taking parts of the
dioceses of Cork, Emly and Lismore to form the new diocese.[2] Uí
Liatháin became part of the diocese of Cloyne while Ocurblethan remained part
of the diocese of Cork.
In
the secular world Ocurblethan was still regarded as part of Uí Liatháin. In
1207 King John granted Uí Liatháin, including Ocurblethan, to William fitz
Philip de Barry along with other lands in north Cork. Sometime afterwards de
Barry granted Ocurblethan to Philip de Prendergast along with lands around
Ballyhea and Charleville in north Cork.[3] The
manor of Shandon became the chief manor of Ocurblethan.[4] De
Prendergast held land not just in Cork but also in County Wexford.[5] In
1251 Gerald fitz Philip de Prendergast died and part of Ocurblethan passed
through his daughter by her husband John de Cogan to their son.[6] The
Cogan family held many estates in their own right between the Limerick border
and Cork Harbour including their most extensive territory of Muscrymittine (now
the baronies of Muskerry East and West).[7]
The other part of Ocurblethan passed to Gerald’s daughter by his second wife,
who was a daughter of Richard de Burgo.[8]
The Rocheford family inherited this part through Gerald’s daughter. In the
1290s John de Cogan and Maurice de Rocheford were lords of Ocurblethan with
Shandun as the chief manor.[9] In
1381 Gerald de Rocheford quitclaimed his estates in Counties Limerick, Wexford
and Cork to Gerald son of Maurice Fitzgerald which included the Ocurblethan
lands.[10] The
Cogan inheritance was the senior heirs to Gerald de Prendergast and so they
held the serjeanty of Ocurblethan.[11]
In
the thirteenth century Ocurblethan became a cantred, a division of a county in
the Anglo-Norman method of local government organisation. Yet still Ocurblethan
was sometimes united with Olethan for administration purposes such as in 1301
when the justices in eyre held court over both cantreds.[12]
The many Cogan heirs who succeeded as minors after 1251 possibly made this
administration union into a practical arrangement.[13]
In 1439 the Cogan family granted Shandon manor and much of Ocurblethan to the
Earls of Desmond while the Earls of Kildare held the remainder of Ocurblethan
as heirs of the Rocheford family. Shortly after most of Ocurblethan came under
effective control, and de facto ownership, of the Barry family of Barrymore,
old Uí Liatháin.[14]
The exception was Carrignavar which was acquired by the Roche family through
marriage with the Cogan family. In 1589 Cormac MacCarthy of Muskerry succeeded
in acquiring Carrignavar after many years and it was held by MacCarthy
descendents to modern times.[15]
Below the great landlords the land of Ocurblethan was held by middle landlords
who appear to be in later times merchants in nearby Cork city who decided to
invest their earnings in landed property. In the 1640s Thomas Gould, an
alderman and merchant of Cork, held the half ploughland of Ballymacphilip in
Rathcooney parish. This land was further leased by Nicholas Peirsy from Thomas
Gould with other tenants under Nicholas Peirsy.[16] Other
landowners in Rathcooney parish in the 1640s included George Gould
(Ballyvristig), Katherine Creagh (Ballincrokig), William Creagh (Banduff and
Ballyhearon), George Meagh (Rathcooney), and William Creagh at Latchardane with
the Church holding 7 acres of glebe land.[17]
Rathcooney parish
In
about 1302 Rathcooney was valued at £4 according to the papal taxation of that
time. Of the sixteen churches and parishes in the deanery, Rathcooney was joint
second with the parish of Shandon (today famous for its Shandon bells church)
after the church of the Holy Trinity which was worth 7½ marks (£5). Caherlag
was 3 marks 10s (£2 10s) and Little Island was 20s (£1).[18]
In any situation where taxation is mentioned one has to ask how truthful the
clerics of 1302 were in their tax returns. If one compares the 1302 taxation to
the tithe valuations of 1837 the three parishes are in near enough in the same
proportion suggesting that the 1302 taxation values are about right. This
taxation was raised to fund a crusade but was later granted by the Pope to the
king of England as the papacy had difficulty collecting the tax.
The medieval Rathcooney church
The
medieval church of Rathcooney is situated on the north side of a T-junction in
the townland of Rathcooney. An ancient graveyard surrounds the church which
graveyard has been extended westwards since the 1840s. In the mid-twentieth
century a new graveyard was laid out on the south side of the road. Among the
people buried in the old graveyard was the Fenian Brian Dillon after who
Dillon’s Cross in Cork city is named and the north Cork city GAA club called
Brian Dillons. The church measures 12.7m East-West and 6.7m North-South. The
church has a doorway near the centre of the south wall. The present north wall
has been rebuilt, possibly in late 17th century, and evidence for
any north doorway has disappeared. In 1676 the church was described as ‘out of
repair’ and a budget of £36 was allocated to restore the church. It was said
that Templeusque parish (Upper Glanmire) should contribute to the restoration
as it was said to be anciently joined to Rathcooney. But Templeusque parish
belonged to the Sarsfield family of Sarsfield Court whereas Rathcooney belonged
to the de Cogan family and their heirs.[19] The
two parishes were never held jointly by any Church of Ireland cleric although
in about 1700 parishioners from Templeusque attended Rathcooney church as their
own church was in ruins.[20]
In the Roman Catholic Church both parishes were joined under Rev. Cornelius
Curtin from at least 1692 onwards.[21]
Rathcooney
church was repaired in about 1680 by the St. Leger family of nearby Ballyharoon
house (17th century two storey- house in ruins). As part of those
repairs a round-headed doorway was opened in the centre of the west gable. The
large round-headed window in the east gable possibly dates from this time.[22]
During
the 1689-91 war between King James and King William Rathcooney church was
attacked by unknown troops. These troops removed the church seats for fire wood
or to make new military requirements. After the war new seats were purchased
for the church.[23]
In 1700 the church was described as being in good repair with seats and a
pulpit, a communion table and plastered walls.[24]
The church was abandoned before 1837 with parishioners going to the new church
in Glanmire village.
In
medieval times Rathcooney parish was the second wealthiest in the deanery
Ocurblethan but the parish church appears to have been a single room structure
with the nave and chancel area in one space. Many medieval churches had a
separation between the nave and chancel by way of a chancel arch. The large
east window at Rathcooney may have been originally intended to be a chancel
archway into a chancel that apparently was never built. At Carrigtohill church
there was a nave and chancel separated by a chancel arch. Sometime before 1694
the chancel was let fall into ruins while the parishioners maintained the nave
as a church until 1905 when a new church was built nearby. The old chancel arch
at Carrigtohill was transformed before 1694 into an east window for the nave.[25] The
mystery chancel is solved by a report in 1615 which says that the chancel was in
ruins.[26]
The present east gable at Rathcooney is therefore the former chancel arch and
the original east gable was further to the east.
Rectors and vicars of Rathcooney
The
usual source of information of medieval church history, the Calendar of Papal Registers, has very
few references to Rathcooney parish which was then known as Rachona or Raona.
The parish had a rector, assisted by a vicar if absent, and may have had a
curate from time to time. Unlike a good number of other medieval parishes, the
Rathcooney rectory was not granted to any monastery in return for perpetual
prayers for the donor. We don’t know the names of any medieval rectors or
vicars of Rathcooney until the 1480s. Sometime before 2nd January
1482 Odo Ocolen (O’Cullen), a priest of the diocese of Cloyne, was granted a
perpetual benefice in the parish church of St. Mary of Rathcooney, worth 16
marks and of lay patronage. In January 1482 Odo O’Cullen petitioned Rome for a
canonry in Cork cathedral and the prebend of Dunboylg (Dunbulloge) in the
diocese of Cork which was of lay patronage. The canonry and prebend were
together worth 10 marks. But Eugenius Odally, priest, held the prebend for the
past two to three years without proper title. The abbots of Gill Abbey and
Tracton Abbey along with the official of Cork were to judge the case. The pope
wished to grant Odo O’Cullen the canonry and prebend and to hold along with
Rathcooney for life.[27]
Another
letter of 15th December 1481 said that Odo O’Cullen was granted the
perpetual benefice in Rathcooney, which benefice was also the rectory, along
with the vicarage of Dunboylg. Both rectory and vicarage were of lay patronage.
The bishop of Cork agreed to the presentation and granted a union of the
rectory and vicarage to Odo O’Cullen. Later after his petition to Rome, Odo
O’Cullen was granted a canonry in Cork cathedral and the prebend of Dunboylg.
The bishop of Cork agreed that Odo O’Cullen could hold the union along with the
canonry and prebend. Subsequently Odo O’Cullen was presented to the vicarage of
St. Lafanus in the parish church of Nysimeneyl (Nohaval) in the diocese of Cork
and of lay patronage. Odo O’Cullen held St. Lafanus for a month without getting
papal dispensation. This broke canon law and the union of Rathcooney rectory
and Dunboylg vicarage was thus dissolved by obtaining St. Lafanus. Odo O’Cullen
then petitioned Rome for forgiveness and restoration of his benefices. Rome
granted his request but he had first to resign Rathcooney and seek the lay
patron’s permission for reinstatement. After this was done, Odo O’Cullen could
hold St. Lafanus along with the restored union of Rathcooney and Dunboylg as
well as retaining the canonry and prebend.[28]
After
the Reformation of the sixteenth century the Protestant Church of Ireland
became the state church and acquired all the landed and building property of
the medieval Catholic Church. Many Irish parishes had no Protestant residents
and the old medieval parish church was fall into ruins. Rathcooney was near
Cork city and the port of Cork thus making it the residence of a number of
Protestant families that maintained the nave as a functioning church and had a
rector to say the services. In 1591 Hugh Langley was the Protestant rector with
Maurice McDermot as curate. In 1615 John Gould was rector and he was followed as
rector in 1618 by George Stukely, 1628 Joseph Fowles, 1637 George Kelly (admin
and from 1639 joint admin with William Gilsland, the curate), 1650s Hezechinh
Holland, 1661 Thomas Goodman, 1681 Walter Neale, June 1686 Richard Mallery,
December 1686 Dominic Meade, 1692 Valentine French, 1697 Cornelius Higneit, and
in 1727 Thomas White became rector on the death of Higneit.[29]
Union of Rathcooney, Cahirlag and Little Island
In
1742 Rev. John Burgh was appointed rector of Rathcooney. In 1745 Rathcooney
rectory and vicarage was united with the prebendary of Cahirlag under Rev.
Burgh.[30] In
1749 Rev. William Jackson was prebend of Cahirlag, rector of Little Island and
rector of Rathcooney. Since before 1700, the protestant residents of Cahirlag
attended church at Little Island as their own parish church was in ruins.[31] In
1766 there were 16 Protestant households in Rathcooney parish containing 81
people. The Roman Catholic population of the parish was 1,016 people.[32] In
1767 Rev. Chambre Corker held the three parishes of Cahirlag, Little Island and
Rathcooney.[33]
In March 1785 the prebend of Cahirlag was permanently united with the rectory
and vicarage of Rathcooney along with the rectory and vicarage of Little Island
with Rev. John Chetwood as the incumbent. In 1807 a curate was employed for £75
per year. In 1807 the chief church of the union was in good repair as it was
the new church in Glanmire. There was no glebe house. In 1807 there was 7 acres
3 roots 3 perches of glebe land in Cahirlag parish and 14 acres 2 rots 13
perches in Rathcooney.[34] In
1820 Rev. Beaufort was trying to exchange the various glebe lands for a unified
property to build a glebe house but without success and the glebe acreages
stayed the same.[35]
In
1837 the rectory and vicarage of Rathcooney formed a union and corps for the
prebend of Rathcooney in the cathedral church of St. Finbarr in Cork city in
the diocese of Cork. The other parts of the union were the rectory and vicarages
of Little Island and Caherlag. The union was formed in 1785.[36]
It was initially called the union of Caherlag but was later called the union of
Rathcooney.[37]
In the 1830s the prebend union was known at the same time by the name of
Caherlag and Rathcooney with Rev. William Louis Beaufort as the prebendary.[38]
Rev. Beaufort was made prebend in July 1814.[39]
The tithes of Rathcooney were £500 with 19½ acres of glebe land.[40] In
1837 the glebe land was let for £18 per year.[41] In
1700 the glebe lands of Rathcooney amounted to 7 English acres and were
situated west of the church.[42]
The tithes of Caherlag amounted to £300 and contained 7ac 3r 3p of glebe land.[43]
The tithes of Little Island amount to £180 with no glebe land.[44]
The total value of the union was £1,078.[45]
Yet the incumbent in the 1820s and 1830s desired extra income and thus Rev.
Beaufort also held Brinny and Knockavilly.[46]
He also lived in Brinny and employed as resident curate at Rathcooney.[47] In
the 1830s the protestant population of the three parishes was Rathcooney 174,
Cahirlag 217 and Little Island 44 people.[48] All
three parishes contained ruins of medieval churches which were replaced in 1784
by a new Protestant church in the village of Glanmire in Rathcooney parish.[49]
Robert Rogers of Lota gave the half acre site in Glanmire and the new church
was consecrated in October 1786. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland had granted
permission in 1784 to change the parish church of Rathcooney from the medieval
church in Rathcooney townland to the new church in Glanmire.[50]
In the 1850s divine service was held twice on Sunday in Glanmire church. About
66 people attended the sacraments while 114 attended at Christmas and Easter.[51]
In
2022 Rathcooney medieval church was under repair by Cork County Council and
Cork City Corporation. The Protestant residents of the area still attend
services in Glanmire church.
=================
End
of post
================
[1] MacCotter, Paul, Medieval
Ireland: Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions (Dublin, 2008), p. 159
[2] MacCotter, Paul, A history of
the medieval diocese of Cloyne (Dublin, 2013), p. 42
[3] MacCotter, Paul, ‘The sub-infeudation and descent of the
Carew/Fitzstephen moiety of Desmond’, in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, Vol. 101
(1996), pp. 64-80, at
p. 76
[4] MacCotter, Medieval Ireland:
Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions, p. 159
[5] Sharp, J.E.E.S. (ed.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Vol. 1, Henry III (London, 1904, reprint
Liechtenstein, 1973), no. 862
[6] Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar
of Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 1, 1171-1251 (London, 1875, reprint
Liechtenstein, 1974), no. 3203
[7] Nicholls, Kenneth, ‘The development of lordship in County Cork,
1300-1600’, in Patrick O’Flanagan & Cornelius Buttimer (eds.), Cork History and Society: Interdisciplinary
Essays on the History of an Irish County (Dublin, 1993), pp. 157-211, at p.
166
[8] Sharp (ed.), Calendar of
Inquisitions Post Mortem, Vol. 1, Henry III, no. 254
[9] Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar
of Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 3, 1285-1292 (London, 1879, reprint
Liechtenstein, 1974), no. 622, p. 307
[10] Mac Niocaill, G. (ed.), The
Red Book of the Earls of Kildare (Dublin, 1964), no. 149
[11] The Thirty-Sixth report of
the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1904), p. 62
[12] MacCotter, Medieval Ireland:
Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions, p. 159
[13] Nicholls, ‘The development of lordship in County Cork, 1300-1600’,
pp. 157-211, at pp. 167,
168
[14] Nicholls, ‘The development of lordship in County Cork, 1300-1600’,
pp. 157-211, at p. 177
[15] Nicholls, ‘The development of lordship in County Cork, 1300-1600’,
pp. 157-211, at pp. 171, 174
[16] Tallon, Geraldine (ed.), Court
of Claims: Submissions and Evidence, 1663 (Dublin, 2006), no. 702
[17] Waters, Anne, ‘A Distribution of Forfeited Land in the County of
Cork, Returned by the Downe Survey’, in the Journal
of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, Vol. XL, No. 151 (1935),
pp. 43-48, at p. 45
[18] Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar
of Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 5, 1302-1307 (London, 1886, reprint
Liechtenstein, 1974), p. 308
[19] Brady, W. Maziere, Clerical
& Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross (3 vols. London, 1864),
vol. 1, pp. 230, 353
[20] Brady, Clerical &
Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, vol. 1, p. 353
[21] Brady, Clerical &
Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, vol. 1, pp. 230, 353
[22] Power, Denis (ed.), Archaeological
Inventory of County Cork, Volume 2: East and South Cork (Dublin, 1994), no.
5651
[23] Brady, Clerical &
Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, vol. 1, p. 230
[24] Power (ed.), Archaeological
Inventory of County Cork, Volume 2: East and South Cork, no. 5651
[25] Power (ed.), Archaeological
Inventory of County Cork, Volume 2: East and South Cork, nos. 5616, 5651
[26] Brady, Clerical &
Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, vol. 1, p. 230
[27] Twemlow,
J.A. (ed.), Calendar of Papal Registers
relating to Great Britain and Ireland, volume 13, 1471-1484 (London, 1955),
p. 740
[28] Twemlow
(ed.), Calendar of Papal Registers Great
Britain and Ireland, volume 13, 1471-1484, p. 766
[29] Brady, Clerical &
Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, vol. 1, pp. 230, 231
[30] Brady, Clerical &
Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, vol. 1, p. 231
[31] Brady, Clerical &
Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, vol. 1, pp. 50, 51
[32] Gurrin, Brian, Kerby A. Miller & Liam Kennedy (eds.), The Irish Religious Censuses of the 1760s:
Catholics and Protestants in Eighteenth-Century Ireland (Dublin, 2022), p. 273
[33] Brady, Clerical &
Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, vol. 1, p. 51
[34] British Parliamentary Papers, Papers
relating to the Established Church in Ireland (London, 1807), pp. 280, 281
[35] British Parliamentary Papers, Miscellaneous
Papers, Ireland: Established Church, Linen, Grain trade, Pensions, Revenue, and
Still fines (London, 1820), p. 183
[36] Cadogan, Tim (ed.), Lewis’
Cork: A topographical dictionary of the parishes, towns and villages of Cork
City and County (Cork, 1998), p. 73
[37] Cadogan (ed.), Lewis’ Cork,
p. 336
[38] British Parliamentary Papers, Report
of the Commissioners into Benefices, Ireland, Ecclesiastical Revenue Inquiry,
England & Ecclesiastical Revenue, Ireland (Vol. 23, 1834), pp. 96, 98
[39] British Parliamentary Papers, Report
of the Commissioners into Benefices, Ireland (Vol. 23, 1834), p. 260
[40] Cadogan (ed.), Lewis’ Cork,
p. 387
[41] Brady, Clerical &
Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, vol. 1, p. 53
[42] Brady, Clerical &
Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, vol. 1, p. 230
[43] Cadogan (ed.), Lewis’ Cork,
p. 73
[44] Cadogan (ed.), Lewis’ Cork,
p. 336
[45] British Parliamentary Papers, Report
of the Commissioners into Benefices, Ireland (Vol. 23, 1834), p. 98
[46] British Parliamentary Papers, Report
of the Commissioners into Benefices, Ireland (Vol. 23, 1834), p. 99
[47] British Parliamentary Papers, Miscellaneous
Papers, Ireland: Established Church (London, 1820), p. 182
[48] Brady, Clerical &
Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, vol. 1, p. 53
[49] Cadogan (ed.), Lewis’ Cork,
p. 387
[50] Brady, Clerical &
Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, vol. 1, p. 51
[51] Brady, Clerical &
Parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, vol. 1, p. 54
