The Burren and Beyond

Rise Art, Rise! – 1847

Posted on January 16, 2015 by The Burren and Beyond

Anti-slavery bugle, 25th June, 1847 p4
We find the following poem in a late Irish paper.

I’m loth to wake ye, Art, my dear
But the steps of a stranger are drawing near
Up the rickety stair they come,
Making, I think, for our wretched room;
Rise, Art, rise! the last shilling’s spent
Art, it’s the sheriff – the rent – the rent!

See, daylight has lit on the window-sill
Art! is it you to be slumbering still?
Ye know that at last we must quit or pay,
Though ye didn’t expect the distress today!
Rise, Art, rise! the last shilling’s spent
Art, it’s the sheriff – the rent – the rent!

At the door! Oh a month to make up what’s due!
The landlord, he knows, Art, your word is true;
If he saw how we strive, he’d put off the sale;
’Twas the will of God that the trade should fail!
Rise, Art, rise! the last shilling’s spent
Art, it’s the sheriff – the rent – the rent!

In days gone by it was Ireland’s pride
To be decked in the web that our looms supplied:
Those were the times, Art, ye took me home,
And told me that love would make business come.
Rise, Art, rise! the last shilling’s spent
Art, it’s the sheriff – the rent – the rent!

It’s hunger, Art, that has made ye weak
What can I think of, your fast to break?
Here, Art, here is my wedding ring,
The lodgers will lend on the blessed thing!
Rise, Art, rise! the last shilling’s spent
Art, it’s the sheriff – the rent – the rent!

God forgive me! my heart is torn
To drag ye from bed this bitter morn;
The bed that they’re coming to seize and sell
Where I’ve nursed and prayed by ye, sick and well!
Rise, Art, rise! the last shilling’s spent
Art, it’s the sheriff – the rent – the rent!

How silent he sleeps! not a stir, or breath!
Poor famishing husband, you’re work’d to death!
At the shuttle before and after the sun
And a morsel of meal when the day is done!
Rise, Art, rise! the last shilling’s spent
Art, it’s the sheriff – the rent – the rent!

Dead! Oh, my God! it is over at last
The wearisome struggle is past – is past!
The heavens be praised! ‘tisn’t you need fear,
’Tis your widow that’s desolate, husband dear!
Rise, Art, rise, to the happy skies,
Where the tear is wiped from the poor man’s eyes!

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Knockmoy Abbey – 1823

Posted on January 15, 2015January 15, 2015 by The Burren and Beyond

Connaught Journal Galway

Knockmoy Abbey Photo: Liam Murphy. Wikimedia Commons — Knockmoy Abbey
Photo: Liam Murphy.
Wikimedia Commons

15th May 1823
(abridged)
We give insertion to the annexed at the request of a Subscriber:-

The ancient Abbey of this name, so justly celebrated in Irish history, six miles from Tuam, the right to which had been the subject of much contention in the House of Lords recently, was founded by Cathal O’Connor, called
Crobhderg, or Red-handed,in 1189. Among the survivors of the bloody house of Roderick, the most conspicuous for his piety, and romantic courage, and above all, for his unconquerable dislike of the English, stood this illustrious Prince. He formed an extensive alliance with the Munster Chiefs, for the purpose of repelling the invaders. The Lords of Thomond and Desmond, burying their dissentions in the common good, united their forces behind him.

Decourcy, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, dreading that the gathering storm would burst on his head, recalled a strong detachment of his army under Armorie of St. Laurence. Decourcy, in the mean time, having been removed from the Government of Ireland, by the appointment of Hugh de Lacy, whose conduct seemed to be both haughty and insolent, felt the deepest resentment. Cathal took advantage of this division, and the consequent weakness of the English interest. He instantly determined on attacking the invaders.

A furious and sanguinary battle ensued, on the hill of Knockmoy, in which the whole almost of Armorie’s army, after committing dreadful slaughter on the Irish, perished on the field of battle. During the contest, while the issue seemed yet balanced in the scale, Cathal, influenced by that religious feeling, promised to build an Abbey on the field of battle, if he should be the conqueror. Cathal, shortly after, erected Knockmoy, in Irish, Cnoc na mBuaidh mugha, the hill of slaughter; and to Monkish writers, Monasterium de Colle Victoriae.

The founder gave the Abbey to Cistercian Monks, the habit of which Order he afterwards assumed. He died in 1224, and was buried in his own Abbey.

The most curious remains, after decay of so many ages, at Knockmoy are Fresco paintings, which adorn the founder’s beautiful mausoleum. One compartment exhibits Christ on the Cross; another exhibits six Kings – three dead and three living. Of the latter, in the middle is Roderic O’Connor, Monarch of all Ireland. He holds in his hand the seam air, or shamrock, a plant in great estimation. From a legendary tradition it goes that by this three-leaved grass, St. Patrick set forth the mystery of the Trinity.

The Princes on each side are his vassals. He, with the hawk on his arm, is the grand falconer, and the other with the sword, his Marshal; these hold their lands by Grand Sergeantry. Below them, sits a Brehon, with his Roll of Laws having pronounced sentence of death on Mac Murrough’s Son, for the crime of the father’s having joined the English.

Geraldus Cambrensis gives a beautiful account of this cruel sentence. The boy is tied to a tree – his body being transfixed with arrows – a useful hint to those who, abetting the cause of oppression and usurpation, trample under foot the sacred ties of kindred and of country. These are the principal remains of this celebrated Abbey. It is true, that the Abbey has fallen into much decay within these twenty years; and much may yet be preserved which will afford the antiquarian ample scope for inquiry and delight.

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Kinvara – January 2015

Posted on January 14, 2015 by The Burren and Beyond

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The City of the Tribes – Medieval Galway

Posted on January 13, 2015 by The Burren and Beyond

New Zealand Tablet, Vol XXIX Issue 38, 19^th September, 1901 p3 (abridged)

Walled city of Galway, 1651. Wikimedia Commons — Walled city of Galway, 1651.
Wikimedia Commons

Among the publications devoted to the history of families and places in Ireland there are few can compare with the Journal of the Cork Archaeological Society, which is a mine of information regarding medieval Ireland. Among the many interesting articles in the last number is one dealing with town life in Ireland during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeeth centuries. The article which is the result of considerable research among State papers and other sources of information, contains many curious items of information regarding the government of the town, the ruling families, local taxes, and the arbitrary grades into which society was divided. The writer, Professor Butler says ‘The mention of mounted men or knights among the population of New Ross brings us to one of the most curious features of municipal life in Ireland— the growth of a city aristocracy, who, while still remaining merchants, were counted as of noble blood, having a right to a coat of armor, then the distinctive mark of a gentleman and marrying on equal terms with the neighboring country gentlemen.

The Irish merchant families who emigrated to France and Spain during the penal days were able to prove to the satisfaction of the governments of these countries that they ranked as noble in their own land. Accordingly in their new homes they were granted all the rights enjoyed by the native nobles— most valuable rights these were too— which in Spain at all events were not, as a rule, enjoyed by the mercantile class.

We find if we look up the list of mayors and sheriffs of Irish towns that at first, these posts were held in turn by a wide circle of families. As time goes on, however, the circle grows smaller and the same names occur again and again, until finally the whole direction of city affairs falls into the hands of a small group of city nobles as we may call them.

THE CITY OF THE TRIBES.

The most famous group of these burgher oligarchs were the ‘tribes’ of Galway, the 14 families named in the couplet—

Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, Dean, D’Arcy, Lynch, Joyce, Kirwan, Martin, Morris, Skerrett, Ffon’t, Ffrench

who for 260 years so monopolised the government of the city that in that time only two outsiders appear in the list of mayors. These 14 families, as well some lesser ones, attained great wealth by their trade with Spain. Galway is still full of their houses, built square, round a courtyard in Spanish fashion and of solid stone or native marble.

It is to the Cromwellians that the name tribes is due. They found the city families so clannish, that they gave them this nickname, afterwards adopted as a title of honor by the families themselves.

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Mr D. Sheehy M.P. – 1889

Posted on January 12, 2015 by The Burren and Beyond

Marlborough Express vol XXV, Issue 29, 4th February 1889 p2

Across the Bay theburrenandbeyond — Across the Bay
theburrenandbeyond

Mr D Sheehy M.P for Galway South, who was sentenced to six months imprisonment for inciting persons to refuse to pay their rent, and who appealed against the sentence, has had an additional four months added to his term.

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The Pension – 1909

Posted on January 11, 2015 by The Burren and Beyond

New Zealand Tablet, 25th November, 1909 p1867

Old Age Pension Book Wikimedia Commons — Old Age Pension Book
Wikimedia Commons

At a meeting of the Gort sub-Pension Committee, Right Rev Monsignor Fahey V.G. presiding, there were 37 cases of pensioners submitted to the meeting by the local Excise for the purpose of having their pensions cancelled. Neither the Excise Officer nor his representative attended to offer any explanation or answer any questions. The meeting was therefore adjourned and several resolutions were adopted, amongst them being the following;

In the cases before us today we are asked by our local representative of Excise to cancel 37 claims, only because the ages of the claimants do not appear in the census of ’41. Even in England it has been held that the census of ’41 cannot be received as the sole standard of a claimant’s age. We strongly urge that it is a far less just standard in Ireland, and were it accepted as the sole standard of age in Ireland it would exclude over 50% of claimants fully entitled to pension by reason of age.
To set aside all collateral evidence would be to frustrate the avowed object of the Act, and rob the poor in the interests of the Treasury. As a committee we are determined to lend neither sanction nor support to this obvious departure from the spirit and purpose of the law. We protest against it as a cruel injustice to our poor and should our priest be unavailing we shall further mark our strong disapproval by at once tendering our resignation as a committee.

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The Burren and Beyond – 2015

Posted on January 10, 2015 by The Burren and Beyond

The Burren, and beyond. EO'D — The Burren, and beyond.
EO’D

Grey and bleak, by shore and creek, the rugged rocks abound,
But sweet and green the grass between, as grows on Irish ground

(excerpt from Galway Bay by Francis A. Fahy, (1854 – 1935) poet and songwriter born in Kinvara, Co. Galway )

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Government Expenses – 1909

Posted on January 9, 2015 by The Burren and Beyond

New Zealand Tablet 25th November 1909 p1 867

Says a writer in the Irish Weekly of October 2;
If the British Treasury is willing to devote only £1,470,000 to Irish Education, as against an Imperial contribution of £1,941,000 to the native developed Scottish system, the precious institution at Whitehall is delightfully generous to this country in other respects.

It maintains at our expense over 100,000 officials who absorb more than £3,000,000 every year in pay, pensions and gratuities. Nearly half the whole cost of Irish Government and administration goes directly into the pockets of the 100,000 odd officials – mostly useless and too often actively mischievous as agents of misgovernment, mismanagement and wrong.

The whole civil government of Scotland was only £5,500,000 per annum a few years ago. In Ireland, with a smaller population the bill was well over £7,500,000. The RIC in Ireland cost three times more than the Scottish Police Force. The Irish Judiciary cost nearly £250,000 more than their ermined brethren in Scotland. So we have in the first place a foreign educational system starved in Ireland; The Scotch fashioned their own system and it is splendidly endowed.

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Food and fuel – 1925

Posted on January 8, 2015 by The Burren and Beyond

The Brisbane Courier

30th January, 1925

The Dublin correspondent of the ‘Daily Chronicle” states that reports fiom Donegal, Kerry, Galway, and Connemara disclose that thousands are suffering distress owing to a food and fuel famine due to torrential rain and floods during recent months. The conditions are likened to the potato famines in 1847 and 1879.

Several deaths have occurred, and outbreaks of fever are reported from more than one district. The potato crops have failed. The fact that the lrish have found little employment in England and Scotland during the last harvest adds to the distress. A relief fund has been opened, and the local Government is distributing coal and food. The Free State Government has allocated £250,000 for relief works.

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Modern improvements – 1823

Posted on January 7, 2015 by The Burren and Beyond

Connaught Journal, Galway

St. Nicholas' Church Galway Wikimedia Commons — St. Nicholas’ Church
Galway
Wikimedia Commons

5th June, 1823

MODERN IMPROVEMENTS (abridged)
It has been thought expedient to place upon the levey book a good round sum
for the erection of two Galleries in the Church of St. Nicholas. One Gallery
is finished, at least the heavy work has been gone through, and has cost the
inhabitants of this miserable place some – (we do not know how many)
hundreds. The other Gallery will, we hear, be as expensive, if not more so-
and will be erected in the identical spot in which the former Gallery stood,
which was taken down a few years back.

Thus it was with us in Galway. We have, as the proverb says, “a time to gather and a time to scatter- a time to build up and a time to pull down.” If a Gallery was considered at all necessary in this beautiful building why was the old one taken down?

It certainly was not removed through any apprehension of its falling, for the
work and materials were found to be excellent; no – this was not the reason
of its disappearing. The Parish saw, that instead of its being at all
useful or necessary, it was calculated for very bad purposes, being nothing
less than a perfect nuisance, and a lurking place for abomination of every
description – a mere profanation of the House of God. In this assertion we
are borne out by every person with whom we have communicated; and, while all
see that it is an unnecessary expence to the Parish, none have had the
firmness to come forward and oppose the impost. Our astonishment at this is
very great; but we must confess that it is wonderfully increased at hearing
that it is intended to remove, or take down, the handsomest ornament in the
Church, for the purpose of making way for this Gallery.

We here allude to Lynch’s Altar. The new Gallery cannot be built so as to avoid disturbing this venerable remnant of antiquity, as the old one was, but Lynchs’ Altar – the finest specimen of mechanism in the entire building. Lynch’s Altar, which has stood the test of so many centuries, and even commanded the protection of a Gothic infuriated Soldiery in the general destruction of Church property and ornaments, must be now set aside, removed or taken down- and by whom? By men who ought to be enlightened – who pretend to taste and judgment, but who do not seem possessed of any strong claims on either. The large tomb will be (we hear) also removed. We shall merely ask – will the
descendants of the LYNCH family suffer this to pass without an observation?

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It is to the Cromwellians that the name tribes is due. They found the city families so clannish, that they gave them this nickname, afterwards adopted as a title of honor by the families themselves.

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