Mogeely Parish and Church in Kinnatalloon
Niall C.E.J. O’Brien
The
medieval parish of Mogeely is located on the south bank of the River Bride
between the settlements of Tallow, Co. Waterford, and Conna, Co. Cork. The
parish, which lies within County Cork, was and is part of the diocese of
Cloyne.
Mogeely parish
It
is not known when Mogeely parish was formed or if it had a pre-existence before
the church reformations of the twelfth century under which the medieval parish
structure was formed. The absence of a holy well in the parish would suggest
that the parish didn’t have a recognised existence in the Early Christian
period (400-1200AD).[1] It
could be that the folk memory has forgotten about any holy well in the parish.
But as many of the surrounding medieval parishes do have holy wells, including
Templevalley parish, the weight of evidence would suggest that Mogeely didn’t
have a holy well.
Sometime
between 1591 and 1615 Mogeely parish was joined with Templevalley parish and
thus it is difficult to establish where the boundary was between the two
parishes. In the papal taxation of circa 1302-6 Mogeely was worth 26s 8d while
Templevalley was 20s. As Templevalley is a mainly upland parish with large
areas of uncultivated ground, even in the 1840s, it would seem that the two
parishes were about half of the large united parish. In terms of modern
townlands we possibly could include Mogeely (Lower & Upper), Shanakill
(Lower and Upper), Lisnabrin (the four parts of along with Frankfort, Vinepark,
Blackpool and Poundfield), Curraglass (East & West), Kilmacow,
Limekilnclose, Rosybower, Glasshouse, and Mount Prospect in the medieval
Mogeely parish. In seventeenth century property deeds Glengoura was usually
included with Curraglass and so it was possibly part of the medieval parish of
Mogeely. Yet if so then Glengoura Lower was in Mogeely and Glengoura Upper was
in Templevalley. It is unclear if Lackbrack and Lackenbehy were part of Mogeely
parish or Templevalley parish.
There
is a possibility that Mogeely parish was established before the Norman
invasion. The manor of Mogeely castle included land north and south of the
River Bride but Mogeely parish is only situated on the south side of the river.
The land on the north bank of the river is part of the large medieval parish of
Knockmourne. The land here that is part of Mogeely manor extends north from the
River Bride to the watershed ridge on the north. On the north side of this
ridge is the manor and medieval parish of Mocollop which was part of the
medieval County Waterford. Between the river and the ridge and all the land in
the five parishes of Mogeely, Templevalley, Ballynoe, Knockmourne and Aghern
was part of the medieval County of Cork otherwise known as the Kingdom/County
of Desmond.
For
the last few centuries the five parishes form their own barony called
Kinnatalloon. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the five parishes were
part of the larger cantred of Olethan with no mention of a separate
cantred/barony of Kinnatalloon until the late medieval/early modern period (16th
and 17th century). Yet the name Kinnatalloon is an old name from
pre-Viking times. Kinnatalloon in Irish is Coill na Talún which means wood of
Tolamhnach. A person called Tolanhnach was a chieftain of the Uí Liatháin
kingdom and they were lords of the area before the Normans and gave their name
to that of Olethan. In 645 Tolanhnach was killed in battle at Caen Conaill near
Gort in present County Galway. It is possible that Kinnatalloon does not
translate as the wood of Tolamhnach but as Cineal Tolanhnach, the people of
Tolanhnach. In other words, the family and descendants of Tolamhnach settled in
Kinnatalloon as their home place with other families living in other parts of
Uí Liatháin (Olethan).[2]
It
is possible that Kinnatalloon was recognised as a separate district by the
Irish in the pre-Norman period but lost its separate identity in the Norman
system of local government. The Barry family were the Norman overlords of
Olethan in medieval times (in modern times known as the barony of Barrymore).
But, at various stages, in the 14th to 16th the Barry
family sold the land within the five parishes to the Fitzgerald, Earls of
Desmond. This suggests that at an estate management level that the five
parishes were regarded as a separate district from Olethan. The Barry family
only started to move into Olethan in the early 1180s and it is not clear if
they acquired control over all of Olethan, including Kinnatalloon, at that time
or if it was a gradual process.
In
theory a medieval manor is supposed to have the same territorial boundaries as
the medieval parish in which it is situated. As Mogeely manor has land on both
sides of the River Bride but not all in one parish, it would appear that the
parish boundaries were established before the Normans arrived in the area thus
suggesting that Mogeely parish was formed in the 1170s or early 1180s. Nearly
every parish has a patron saint such as St. Catherine for Ballynoe and St.
Columba for Aghern but the patron of Mogeely, Templevalley and Knockmourne is
unknown.[3]
Mogeely church
The
medieval church stands in the centre of a graveyard measuring circa 70m
East-West and circa 35m North-South on the east side of the public road leading
north to Mogeely castle. The graveyard is enclosed by a stone faced earthen
bank. At some time in the 18th century, or before then, the
graveyard did not extend westward to bound the public road as it does today.
The graveyard contains headstones dating from 1768 but with a plaque dated 1700
in an annex of the outside north side of the church.[4] It
is also difficult to know if the church site at Mogeely, near to Mogeely
castle, was the original parish church as the western townland of the parish is
called Shanakill or old church. As the formation of the parish structure
happened at about the same time of the Norman invasion it often happens that
the medieval parish church is located near an early medieval castle. The lord
of the manor often didn’t like to walk too far to go to church. It is possible
that the Mogeely parish church was moved from Shanakill to a site near Mogeely
castle in the early thirteenth century just as in 1778 the medieval church at Mogeely
was abandoned for a new church at the eastern end of Curraglass village. Of
course there is also the possibly that Shanakill does not translate as old
church but was a miss translation of Shanacoill or old wood as the two words,
kill (church) and coil (wood) had very similar sounding to the ears of the
English cartographers in the 1830s when compiling the first Ordnance Survey
maps. The opinion of this author is that Mogeely parish church was located its
present location and that the castle was built, at a later time, beside the
church and thus symbolise the new power in the area.
The
present medieval church at Mogeely does not, on the face of it, look very
medieval. The west doorway and the large southern windows were possibly
inserted in the seventeenth century. The medieval church would have had a north
and south doorway towards the west end of the church. The outline of the
blocked up south doorway can still be seen towards the western end of the south
wall. The eastern widow of the medieval church possibly changed in style as
fashions changed in the medieval period but rebuilding work in the seventeenth
century makes it difficult to know what kind of east window Mogeely had before
then. The present ruin measures internally 16meters East-West and 5.9meters
North-South. The present north wall is not keyed into the two gable ends and
traces of foundation walls for both gables suggest that the medieval church was
wider than the present ruins.[5]
The size of a medieval parish church is generally accepted to reflect the size
of the parish population when the church was constructed.[6]
The medieval church was bigger than the present standing remains but it is
difficult to tell if the medieval church was built in one phrase, or enlarged
in the later medieval period, because of the rebuilding done in the seventeenth
century.
Mogeely medieval tithe income
There
is no record of who held the impropriation of Mogeely church in medieval times
or to whom was the parish dedicated.[7]
Bishop MacKenna, writing in 1783, also didn’t know who the patron saint of
Mogeely was.[8]
In the papal taxation of circa 1302 Mogeely parish, called Moyl, was valued at
two marks (26s 8d) on which it paid tax of 2s 8d. Templevalley parish, then
called Balach, was valued at 20s and paid 2s as the tax rate was ten per cent.
In contrast Aghern was worth 30s, Knockmourne parish 100s and Newtown
(Ballynoe) was 12 marks (£8).[9] A
few years later (circa 1306) Mogeely was worth 3 marks (40s), Templevalley 30s,
Aghern 3 marks, Knockmourne 7½ marks (93s 4d), and Newtown 10 marks (£6 13s 4d).[10]
These
changes in value would suggest that the land along the River Bride in
Kinnatalloon had improved in those few years. The tithe value in Rathcormac and
Castlelyons parishes had remained the same. Clonmult parish also saw an
improvement (Garryduff townland in Clonmult was part of Mogeely manor). Could
at Aghern and Mogeely, with its associated parishes of Templevalley and
Clonmult, during these years suggest the building or improvement of the two
castles at Aghern and Mogeely?
In
both 1302 and 1306 the churches at Mogeely and Templevalley are referred to as
chapels while the surrounding parishes of Aghern, Knockmourne and Newtown the
entry is for the church of these places. This would seem to suggest that the
rectory of Mogeely and Templevalley were held as a prebendary by may be a canon
in Cloyne cathedral the value of which was possibly included with the communia of the whole church of Cloyne.[11]
Medieval rectors of Mogeely
No
named or unnamed rectors of Mogeely exist until 1492. In 1492 Donnchadh
O’Murphy was rector of Mogeely.[12] Prior
to 1492 Donnchadh O’Murphy was made a canon in Cloyne cathedral and had converted
the rectory of Mogeely into a prebendary. The earliest record of Donnchadh
O’Murphy as a canon in Cloyne was May 1481 but he could have been there some
time before that.[13] From
about 1477 to 1492 Donnchadh O’Murphy was rector of Templevalley but his
position that was unsecure as he failed to obtain priestly orders. In 1492
Donnchadh wanted to join Templevalley rectory (worth 1½ marks) with canonry and
prebendary of Mogeely (worth 4 marks). The Pope allowed the union and
rehabilitated Donnchadh for not obtaining priestly orders.[14] In
February 1475 a clerk of the diocese of Cloyne called Donnchadh O’Murphy held
the rectory of Mallow since about 1468 without having ordained to priestly
orders and in February 1475 he successfully secured the position of treasurer
of Cork.[15]
It is not clear if this was the same Donnchadh as at Mogeely and Templevalley. The
names of Mogeely rectors before and after 1492 do not appear to have survived. In
1588 Daniel Sullivan was the vicar of Mogeely for some time and he said that
the rectory was void for many years before then.[16]
Mogeely rectors 1591 to 1713
When
the new Protestant Church of Ireland became the state church in the mid
sixteenth century all the parish church property held by the medieval Church
was transferred to the new church. Communication between Dublin and the
furthest parts of Ireland took about a week in the sixteenth century but
implementation of the new ownership policy possibly took longer to affect in
some areas. It is unknown when Mogeely church became the local Protestant
church. In 1586 secular ownership of the parish passed from the Fitzgerald,
Earl of Desmond, family to Sir Walter Raleigh, a Protestant Englishman. The
parish church could have passed to the effective ownership of the Church of Ireland
at this time as Protestant clergy are recorded for the parish after this date.
Yet the changed could have occurred before 1586 and is not recorded because the
documents have not survived.
By
1586 the medieval parish of Mogeely had given way to the civil parish the
bounds of which were used by the government to organise local administration
and form the basis of surveys. The civil parish also served the local
Protestant population that came to live in the area after 1586 under the
plantation of Sir Walter Raleigh and after 1602 under the ownership of Sir
Richard Boyle after he purchased Raleigh 42,000 acre estate. The majority Roman
Catholic population were without a recognised place of worship until about the
1760s when according to the Scale map of 1774 a T-shaped chapel existed at
Mogeely Upper. This building burnt down in 1800 and was not replaced until
about 1836 when a church was built at Glengoura which is still used for
Catholic worship.[17]
In
1591 Alexander Stint was rector of Mogeely and Daniel Sullivan was the vicar
while Alexander Gough was rector of Bealagh (Templevalley). In 1597 a person
called Alexander Sturt was vicar of Knockmourne and Aghern. He may have been
the same Alexander Stint of Mogeely as another source says that in 1597 Alexander
Stint was vicar of Aghern.[18]
In
1614 Robert Potter preached at Mogeely church on one Sabbath in every month and
two Sabbaths a month in Tallow.[19] In
1615 Peter Carie was rector/vicar of Mogeely and Templevalley.[20]
The diocesan visitation of 1615 said that Mogeely church and chancel were in
repair.[21] Mogeely
parish was valued at £8 while Templevalley parish was worth £4 where the church
and chancel were in ruins.[22] No
visible chancel arch survives in Mogeely church but the division between the
nave and the chancel could have being by way of a timber arch or a change in
the flooring. At other medieval churches the chancel area was removed as part
of seventeenth century reconstructions, such as at Rathcooney near Cork City.
It is therefore possible that the present church ruins represent the nave of
the medieval church and the chancel extended east of the present east gable
wall.
In
February 1616 Scipio Stukely was vicar of Mogeely. He also held the parishes of
Castlecore, Ballyspillane and Inchinabacky. In 1618 he became vicar of
Carrigtohill.[23]
It is said that John Gore was appointed rector/vicar of Mogeely until his death
in 1661.[24]
Other sources say that John Gore was rector/vicar of Mogeely from 1165 to 1616.
John Gore, A.B., was made deacon on 2nd September 1611 by John,
Bishop of Bristol and was made a priest on 22nd December 1611 by
William, Bishop of Oxford. In 1616 John Gore was made archdeacon of Lismore
(until 1638). In 1637 he was made prebendary of Corbally in Waterford diocese
and prebendary of Clashmore from 1639 to 1660 in Lismore diocese. He was also
prebendary of Modeligo, in Lismore diocese, from 1633.[25]
In
1623 Francis Felixkick was vicar or curate at Mogeely.[26]
On 23rd October 1623 he signed a marriage bond at Cork as cleric of
Mogeely.[27]
In 1629 John Coop was vicar at Mogeely and rector/vicar at Templevalley. On the
death of John Coop, James Tredennicke was appointed on 9th November
1629 vicar of Mogeely and rector/vicar of Templevalley.[28]
James Tredennicke was also rector/vicar of Shandon in Cork city.[29]
On
10th June 1632 David Thomas, A.M. was appointed rector of Mogeely
and curate of Templevalley.[30] On
15th January 1626 David Thomas was made a deacon and priest by
Lancelot, Archbishop of Dublin.[31] On
23rd May 1634 David Thomas was made vicar of Tallow and Lisronagh in
Lismore diocese and held these parishes with Mogeely/Templevalley. The two
parishes of Mogeely and Templevalley were valued in 1634 at £16 for the rector
and £16 for the vicar. The Earl of Cork was the patron while James Tredennick
was still the vicar.[32] On
27th October 1637 Thomas Ledsham was made vicar of Mogeely while
also made vicar of Castlecore.[33]
By
1654 the civil authorities had recognised the union of the two parishes of
Mogeely and Templevalley and classified the whole area under the name of
Mogeely.[34]
The Church of Ireland continued to recognise a separate rectory of Templevalley
until after 1721 although usually one man held both rectories at the same time.[35] In
1661 Lancelot Smith was made rector/vicar of Mogeely and rector of Templevalley
on the death of John Gore. Smith was also prebendary of Coole. In the 1660s
Mogeely church had a seventeenth century chalice and an oval shape font that
was possibly there from medieval times.[36]
In
1670 Francis Beecher was rector of Mogeely and vicar of Knockmourne.[37] Francis
Beecher was also prebendary of Coole and vicar of Carrigdownane.[38] In
1681 a new church bell was made for Mogeely church. After 1776 the church bell was
removed to the new Curraglass church.[39] The
diocesan visitation of 1694 said that Mogeely church was in repair. This was in
contrast to Knockmourne church which was destroyed in the late war, i.e., the
war of 1689-91 between King James and King William.[40] In
1694 Mogeely parish was worth £25 and the Bishop of Cloyne had become the
patron.[41]
Mogeely rectors 1713 to 1805
In
August 1713 Francis Gore was made vicar of Mogeely.[42]
Francis Gore, A.M., also held the prebendary of Killeenemer and in 1717 became
prebendary of Kilmaclenine.[43] In
1714 Robert Carleton was rector of Mogeely and Templevalley on the resignation
of Francis Gore.[44]
On 21st March 1721 Robert Carleton, A.M., was appointed dean of
Cork.[45] In
1721 Thomas Squire was rector/vicar of Mogeely and Templevalley on the
resignation of Carleton.[46]
Thomas Squire was also precentor of Cloyne.[47]
During his time in Mogeely Thomas Squire became the first resident of
Springdale house at Kilmacow which was built between 1745 and 1749.[48]
In
August 1759 Charles Percival was made rector of Mogeely on the death of Thomas
Squire.[49] In
1760 a new church paten was presented to Mogeely church and afterwards removed
to the new Curraglass church.[50] In
1766 Rev. Charles Percival returned 32 Protestant families in Mogeely parish
and 190 Catholic families but he didn’t provide the names of each householder.
Rev. Percival said there was no Catholic priest or friar resident in the
parish.[51] In
1764 Fr. William Lonergan was appointed Catholic curate-in-charge of the four
parishes of Mogeely, Ballynoe, Knockmourne and Aghern. In 1766 he was assisted
by another Catholic curate, Fr. William Murphy.[52]
These priests appear to have lived in the Knockmourne/Ballynoe area as Rev.
Stephen Rolleston of Knockmourne/Ballynoe recorded the two priests as living in
his area. Also living in the Knockmourne/Ballynoe area was a third priest,
Simon Quinn.[53]
This latter man was recognised as parish priest of Ballynoe in later church
literature and died in 1773 aged 77 years. His nephew, also called Simon Quinn,
was parish priest of Castlelyons from 1769 and in 1779 was made coadjutor of
Cloyne Diocese to Bishop Mathew MacKenna.[54]
In
1768 Mogeely church was in repair and Charles Percival lived at Curraglass. At
the other parish he held, Kilmacdonogh, the church was in ruins.[55]
In 1774 Mogeely parish was worth £250 in tithe income and the church was in
repair with the Bishop of Cloyne as the patron.[56]
The glebe amounted to 5 acres 3 roots and 36 perches. The parish was taxed at
£2 on the rector and £2 on the vicar with the proxies worth 4s.[57]
On
23rd May 1775 Nicholas Lysaght gave a plot of land in Curraglass to
George Bowles and Edward Croker, both of Curraglass and churchwardens of
Mogeely. The plot was for constructing a church and adjoining burial ground for
Mogeely parish and was given in the care of these churchwardens and subsequent
wardens. Rev. Stephen Baldwin of Cork City and William Tennant of Curraglass
acted as witnesses with Boles Reeves as registrar.[58]
It is not clear why the parishioners decided to move the church to a new
location a mile to the east. To be near the centre of the local Protestant
population could be one suggestion. A number of Protestant families lived north
of the River Bride in Knockmourne parish; yet opposite the old Mogeely church.
In 1814 the parishioners moved their place of worship from the medieval
Knockmourne church, north of the river, to a new church at Curraheen, south of
the river and near the western boundary of Mogeely parish. The Gumbleton family
of Castleview, north of the river and opposite old Mogeely church, were
substantial benefactors of the new Curraheen church.[59]
It is likely that the move from Mogeely to Curraglass for the parish church had
more to do with Nicholas Lysaght getting the credit for the change than for any
other reason.
In
1778 Rev. Charles Percival built a new church at the east end of Curraglass
village on the ground given by Nicholas Lysaght. The church could seat 200
people and was paid for by private subscription.[60] The
old church at Mogeely was for many years afterwards left a roofless ruin with
walls to full height. Sometime afterwards the Croker family of Lisnabrin house converted
the old vestry attached to the north side of Mogeely church into a family
vault.[61]
The new church at Curraglass, which after 1840 was included in the new townland
of Rosybower, was demolished in the 1950s. But in 1846 the Valuation Office
surveyors took measurements of the building. The main body of the church was
53.6feet long by 29feet wide and 15feet in height. The attached vestry was
13.6feet by 12feet wide by 9feet in height. The belfry, which presumingly stood
at the entrance gable measured 14feet by 12 feet by 40feet in height.[62]
The surrounding churchyard, which was also used as a graveyard, was 3 roots and
8 perches in area.[63]
In
October 1785 Beather King was rector of Mogeely and prebendary of Kilmacdonogh.
In 1875 there were 28 Protestant families in Mogeely parish.[64] In
1783 Bishop Mathew MacKenna, Catholic Bishop of Cloyne, visited Curraglass
where he conducted a visitation of Rev. William Lonergan, curate-in-charge of
the four parishes of Mogeely, Ballynoe, Knockmourne and Aghern. Bishop Mathew
said there were 20 Protestant families in the area.[65]
It is not clear if he was just referring to Mogeely parish or to the combined
four parishes.
Mogeely rectors 1805 to 1900
In
1805 the Honourable Thomas St. Lawrence was rector of Mogeely. In that year there
were 29 Protestant families in Mogeely parish.[66]
Thomas St. Lawrence was also prebendary of Kilmacdomoy and lived in Cork city.[67]
He later became dean of Cork and subsequently Bishop of Cork and Ross.
In
November 1807 John French became rector of Mogeely and Curraglass. He was a
brother of the first Lord de Freyne.[68] In
1812 Henry Fitzgerald became rector of Mogeely on the resignation of John
French.[69]
In 1813 Henry Fitzgerald was made vicar of Delvin and in 1820 rector of
Clonarney in Meath Diocese.[70] In
December 1813 John French returned as rector of Mogeely.[71] John
French was also rector of Grange Silva in Leighlin Diocese from 1820 to 1858
and lived part of the year in Mogeely and the other half in Leighlin.[72]
In
1826 the tithe applotment for Mogeely/Templevalley parish amount to £82 3s 8½d
but none of this amount was collected. The 1827 tithe applotment was £62 12s.
The reduction was possibly by way of encouraging people to pay the tithe tax
which was resisted by many Roman Catholic people across Ireland at that time
who felt aggrieved at paying a tax to support the Protestant Church of Ireland.
In 1830 the tithe applotment was £725 according to a new survey.[73]
The large increase was possibly due to the old valuation being done many
decades previously and the land use of the parish had expanded and improved
over the intervening years. Henry Gumbleton and Spotswood Bowles were the two
parish clerks who conducted the 1830 valuation and the finished survey was
approved by William Kirby, Justice of the Peace, as a true document.
In
1826 the church expense at Curraglass amounted to £89 8d Irish currency which
was £82 3s 8½d in British money. After the Act of Union in 1801 to form the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the latter country still used its
own currency for nearly three decades. The individual church expenses, in Irish
money, were clerk’s salary £10, to the clerk for writing the vestries £3, the
sexton’s salary £6, washing the linen 12s, bread and wine £2, a brush and
handle 2s 6d, two rubbers 1s 8d, one napkin 3s, and one plate for communion
service 1s 6d. On the building fabric £1 was spent on repairing the churchyard
wall while £66 was spent repairing the church steeple.[74]
In
1827 the church expenses amounted to £26 12s Irish money of which the clerk got
£10, writing the vestries £3, sexton’s salary £6, washing linen 12s, bread and
wine £2, a new parchment registry book £2 and £3 for repairing the roof of the
church and the attached vestry. The church vestry also spent money on other
parochial works but these amounts were not recorded.[75] In
1827 Rev. Pierce William Drew was curate of Mogeely and William Long was the
churchwarden.[76]
In 1832 there was no charge upon the parish as the church sacraments were
administrated twelve times in that year.[77]
In
1834 the Protestant population of Mogeely was 138 people.[78]
In 1837 Mogeely parish was described as a rectory and vicarage with cure
measuring 7½ miles long by 2¼ miles wide. The area of the parish, which covered
the area of the two former parishes of Mogeely and Templevalley, was measured
at 9,369 acres 1 root and 16 perches for the payment of tithes. The total area
of the parish including roads and other areas excluded from tithe was
9,482acres 2 roots and 21 perches of statute measure. The gross population of
the parish was 3,095 people. In 1837 one curate was employed at an annual
stipend of £75 with an allowance of £13 16s 11d for a house. There was no glebe
house and 5 acres of glebe land divided into two plots, one at Templevalley and
the other beside the medieval church at Mogeely. The diocesan schoolmaster
received 18s 8d from the parish to educate the children.[79]
In 1835 Rev. French held a Sunday school teaching scripture and catechism. In
the winter months 16 boys and 17 girls attended the school while in the summer
months 25 children were in attendance.[80]
During the week the Protestant children of the parish attended a school in
Curraglass funded by the Kildare Place Society since at least 1820 where Roman
Catholic children also attended.[81]
In
1839 somebody presented Curraglass church with a new silver paten on foot.[82]
At that time divine service was performed in Curraglass church twice on Sunday
in the summer months and once every Sunday in winter and principal festivals
with the sacraments given twelve times a year or once per month.[83]
In about 1850 Timothy Cashman rented the glebe field at Mogeely Lower from the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Elsewhere Timothy Cashman rented a house and
garden from Mrs. Marian Peard in Blackpool townland.[84]
In
1856 John French became Lord Baron de Freyne and in 1858 resigned his church
duties.[85] In
1858 Richard Longfield became rector/vicar of Mogeely and Templevalley. Richard
Longfield improved the service to his congregation by providing divine service
twice on each Sunday of the year. The sacraments were served once a month with
11 communicants on average and 30 at Christmas. Eighteen children from the
parish attended a Church Education School out of a Protestant population of 79
people. In 1860 the two plots of glebe land were returned as four acres at
Templevalley, let to tenants, and one acre at Mogeely which was used by the
rector, all valued at £5.[86] In
1878 Rev. Richard Longfield purchased the glebe field from the Duke of
Devonshire by way of the Land Commission for £25 but the final conveyance
documents were not signed at the time of his death. In May 1900 the Duke paid
£8 to buy the glebe field (2roots & 6perches) by Mogeely church from the
representatives of Rev. Richard Longfield.[87]
For
the first few years at Mogeely, Rev. Richard Longfield lived in Tallow as the
parish had no glebe house. In 1866 a new glebe house was built at Curraglass at
a cost of £2,000.[88] In
1864 Rev. Richard Longfield had acquired 7½ acres from Michael Cunningham who
in turn held 17½ acres from George Bowles. It was on this land, known as
Patrick’s Field, that the glebe house was built to a design by Mr. Jacob of
Cork.[89]
Richard
Longfield was the son of Rev. Mountiford Longfield, Vicar of Desertserges in
Cork Diocese. He entered Trinity College Dublin in 1834 at 17 years and in 1839
made his graduation. In 1842 Richard Longfield was ordained and in 1848 held
the curacy of Murtagh in Cork Diocese. In 1857 he became prebendary of Killanully.
Rev. Richard Longfield married Wilhelmina Rebecca, daughter of Rev. James
Collock, Vicar of Desertserges.[90] In
August 1892 Rev. Richard Longfield resigned the rectory and he died aged 81
years on 8th April 1898.[91] Rev.
Longfield left an estate valued at over £3,600 upon which his widow paid nearly
£700 in estate duty.[92]
In
1892 Samuel Hobart Dorman was made rector of Mogeely. He had in 1891 being made
curate-in-charge of Knockmourne and Ballynoe after the then curate-in-charge,
Rev. William Perrot was made rector of Doneraile. The three parishes of
Mogeely, Knockmourne and Ballynoe were made into a Union, called the
Knockmourne Union with a combined Protestant population in 1902 of 112 people.[93] In
the 1911 census the old Mogeely/Templevalley parish had 34 members of the
Church of Ireland divide equally between male and females.[94]
In 1902 there were three glebe houses in the Union; at Knockmourne (1827),
Ballynoe (1858), and Curraglass (1866). The Union had 8 acres of Glebe land in
the former Mogeely parish which was let rent free, 20 acres in Knockmourne, let
at a rent of £23 6s 11d, and 3 acres in Ballynoe which was let for 3s 6d per
year.[95]
Mogeely rectors after 1900
After
1902 Mogeely ceased as an independent parish. The glebe house at Curraglass was
sold in 1900 and changed hands many times over the years. In 1951 the renowned
tenor, Frank Ryan, purchased the house and it remains with his family.[96] Rev.
Dorman continued as rector of the Knockmourne Union until at least 1945 and
afterwards, possibly until his death.[97]
He was precentor of Cloyne cathedral from 1936 and archdeacon of Cloyne from
1936 to 1951. In April 1893 Rev. Dorman married Jane Hewson, daughter of Robert
Hewson. They had a son in 1907 called Edward Hewson Dorman. In September 1945
Rev. Dorman married Charlotte Bond, daughter of Major-General Henry Bond. On 19th
March 1951 Rev. Samuel Dorman died. Richard Hobart Dorman, the architect, was
an elder brother of Rev. Dorman.
In
1951 Rev. Abraham Hobson was appointed rector of the Union. He was the last
resident rector when he died on 21st January 1963.[98] During
the 1950s Curraglass church was closed with Charles Willis as the last sextant.[99]
The church communion rails and communion table were removed to Curraheen church
(built in 1815 to replace the medieval Knockmourne church). At first the
Curraglass church bible was removed to Aghern church but later transferred to
the Cotton library in Lismore cathedral.[100]
The church building was demolished to its foundations and the stone was used to
straighten the public road in front of the long removed Curraglass house.
In
1963 Canon Charles Foster became rector of the Union and lived at Tallow
rectory where he was also the rector. In 1972 Canon Gordon Charles Pamment
became rector of the Union and lived at Glenville rectory. He administered the
former independent parishes of Aghern, Rathcormac, Watergrasshill and Glenville
along with the Knockmourne Union. From 1980 to 1990 he was also in charge of
Fermoy, Mitchelstown and Ballyhooly.[101]
In 1990 Rev. John Haworth, living in Fermoy rectory, became rector from
Mitchelstown to Glenville and Ballyhooley to Knockmourne. He was succeeded in
1997 by Rev. Alan Marley.[102]
Conclusion
Today
in 2024 little physical remains record the nearly one thousand years of
Christian worship in the area of Mogeely medieval parish and later civil
parish. the medieval church at Mogeely was so reconstructed in the seventeenth
century as to remove nearly all traces of the medieval church. This seventeenth
century church was replaced in the 1770s by a new church beside Curraglass
village. This church was demolished to its foundations in the 1950s as the
Protestant population of the parish had declined too far to continue to
maintain the building. Today the Protestant inhabitants of the parish attend
service at Curraheen church in what was the neighbouring parish of Knockmourne.
The absence of documents made it difficult to gauge the level of involvement by
the community in the medieval church at Mogeely. The absence of a list of
churchwardens and other administration information for the later Protestant
churches at Mogeely and Curraglass also leaves gaps in our understanding of the
Christian community. That Protestants and Catholic graves lie in the graveyards
at Mogeely and Curraglass suggest that there are no barriers in death between
the two communities even if manmade barriers existed in life. This then is a
brief history of the medieval and civil parish of Mogeely and a starting
position for further research.
===========
End
of post
===========
[1] Anon, St. Catherine’s Parish:
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[2] O
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33, p. 36
[3] Anon, St. Catherine’s Parish:
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[4] Power, Denis & others, Archaeological
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[5] Power, Archaeological
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[6] O’Keeffe, Tadhg, Medieval
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[7] MacCotter, Paul, A history of
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[8] Anon, Ballynoe Cemetery: a
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[9] Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar
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Liechtenstein, 1974 ), vol. 5 (1302-1307), p. 276
[10] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of
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[11] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of
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[12] MacCotter, A history of the
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[13] Twemlow,
J.A. (ed.), Calendar of entries in the
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[14] Haren,
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[15] Twemlow
(ed.), Calendar of Papal Registers
relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XIII, 1471-1484, pp. 127, 393, 404
[16] MacCotter, A history of the
medieval diocese of Cloyne, pp. 197, 207
[17] Anon, St. Catherine’s Parish:
Conna, Ballynoe, Glengoura; A Christian Heritage, pp. 9, 10
[18] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition (Conna,
1998), pp. 194, 196, 197
[19] Grosart, Rev. Alexander (ed.), The
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[20] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 197
[21] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 201
[22] Brady, W.
Maziere, Clerical and Parochial records
of Cork, Cloyne and Ross (3 vols. London, 1864), vol. II, p. 349
[23] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
Cloyne and Ross, vol. II, p. 349
[24] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 197
[25] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
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[26] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 197
[27] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
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[28] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 197
[29] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
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[30] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 198
[31] Casey, Albert Eugene & Thomas O’Dowling (eds.), OKief, Coshe Many, Slieve Loughter and Upper
Blackwater (15 vols. Wisconsin, 1964), vol. 6, p. 867
[32] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
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[33] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
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[34] Pender, Séamus (ed.), A
census of Ireland circa 1659 with essential materials from the Poll Money
Ordnances 1660-1661 (Dublin, 2002), p. 234
[35] MacCotter, A history of the
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[36] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
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[37] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 198
[38] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
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[39] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 202
[40] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 201
[41] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
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[42] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 198
[43] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
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[44] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 198
[45] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
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[46] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 198
[47] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
Cloyne and Ross, vol. II, p. 350
[48] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, pp. 23,
309
[49] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 198
[50] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 201
[51] Gurrin, Brian, Kerby A. Miller & Liam Kennedy (eds.), The Irish Religious Censuses of the 1760s:
Catholic and Protestants in Eighteenth-Century Ireland (Dublin, 2022), p. 272
[52] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 188
[53] Gurrin, Miller & Kennedy (eds.), The Irish Religious Censuses of the 1760s, p. 268
[54] Anon, Ballynoe Cemetery: a
Guide and Brief History of the Area, p. 5
[55] Gurrin, Miller & Kennedy (eds.), The Irish Religious Censuses of the 1760s, p. 434
[56] Casey & O’Dowling (eds.), OKief,
Coshe Many, Slieve Loughter and Upper Blackwater, vol. 6, p. 867
[57] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
Cloyne and Ross, vol. II, p. 350
[58] Registry of
Deeds, Ireland, Vol. 307, Page 368, Memorial 204574, dated 23rd May
1775
[59] Anon, St. Catherine’s Parish:
Conna, Ballynoe, Glengoura; A Christian Heritage, p. 108
[60] Casey & O’Dowling (eds.), OKief,
Coshe Many, Slieve Loughter and Upper Blackwater, vol. 6, p. 867
[61] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 201
[62] National
Archives of Ireland, Genealogy website, Valuation Office, Rosybower,
IRE_CENSUS_1821_51_07246807_00607 pdf
[63] Griffith’s
Valuation, Rosybower, Mogeely parish, Kinnatalloon barony, Co. Cork
[64] Casey & O’Dowling (eds.), OKief,
Coshe Many, Slieve Loughter and Upper Blackwater, vol. 6, p. 867
[65] Anon, Ballynoe Cemetery: a
Guide and Brief History of the Area, p. 9
[66] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 198
[67] Casey & O’Dowling (eds.), OKief,
Coshe Many, Slieve Loughter and Upper Blackwater, vol. 6, p. 867
[68] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 198
[69] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 198
[70] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
Cloyne and Ross, vol. II, p. 351
[71] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 198
[72] Casey & O’Dowling (eds.), OKief,
Coshe Many, Slieve Loughter and Upper Blackwater, vol. 6, p. 867
[73] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 58
[74] British Parliamentary Papers, Account
of Sums applotted by Vestries in Ireland under Parochial Rates, 1827, p. 134
[75] British Parliamentary Papers, Account
of Vestries in Ireland under Parochial Rates, 1827, p. 134
[76] British Parliamentary Papers, Account
of Vestries in Ireland under Parochial Rates, 1827, p. 134
[77] Casey & O’Dowling (eds.), OKief,
Coshe Many, Slieve Loughter and Upper Blackwater, vol. 6, p. 867
[78] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 198
[79] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 198
[80] British Parliamentary Papers, Second
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[81] British Parliamentary Papers, Ireland, Accounts and Papers relative to Schools and Education in Ireland,
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29; British Parliamentary Papers, Appendix
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[82] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 202
[83] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
Cloyne and Ross, vol. II, p. 351
[84] Griffiths
Valuation, Mogeely parish, Kinnatalloon barony
[85] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 198
[86] Brady, Clerical and Parochial records of Cork,
Cloyne and Ross, vol. II, p. 351
[87] Waterford
City and County Archive, Lismore Papers, IE/WCA/PP/LISM/135
[88] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, pp. 198,
199
[89] Anon, St. Catherine’s Parish:
Conna, Ballynoe, Glengoura; A Christian Heritage, p. 113
[90] Casey & O’Dowling (eds.), OKief,
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[91] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 199
[92] Waterford
City and County Archive, Lismore Papers, IE/WCA/PP/LISM/135
[93] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 199
[94] British Parliamentary Papers, 1911 census, Munster, p. 439
[95] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 199
[96] Anon, St. Catherine’s Parish:
Conna, Ballynoe, Glengoura; A Christian Heritage, p. 113
[97] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 393
[98] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 199
[99] Anon, St. Catherine’s Parish:
Conna, Ballynoe, Glengoura; A Christian Heritage, p. 108
[100] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 202
[101] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 199
[102] Anon, Conna in History and Tradition, p. 199
