CALLAN,
an incorporated market. and post-town, and a parish (formerly a parliamentary
borough), partly in the barony of SHILLELOGHER, but chiefly in
that of KELLS, county of KILKENNY, and province of LEINSTER,
8 miles (S. by W.) from. Kilkenny city,
and 65½ (S. W. by S.) from Dublin; containing 6112 inhabitants.
This is
a place of considerable Antiquity, and was the territory or ancient
inheritance of O’Gloherny’s and the O'Coillys
or O’Callans : the Fforstalls or Forestalls, Butlers,
and Comerfords had fortified castles here, the raids of some
of which yet exist. It was a walled town, as appears from divers grants
of mirage to the local authorities. In the year 1261; the native sept
of McCarty took up arms and here, attacked by surprise John
Fitzgerald, whom they slew, together with his son Maurice
and several knights and other gentleman of that family : but from the
dissensions which subsequently arose among the Irish themselves, the
Fitzgeralds recovered their power and possessions here. The Earl
of Desmond, in 1345, summoned a parliament to meet at this place,
in opposition to that convened by the English deputy ; but the vigorous
measures enforced by the latter prevented its assembling.
In 1405
a battle was fought near the town between James, Earl of Ormonde,
Lord-deputy, and the Irish under O'Carroll. aided by the
sept of the Burkeens, of the county of Tipperary, in which
O'Carroll was slain.
James,
Earl of Ormonde, founded here an Augustinian friary, the origin
of which has by some writers been attributed to Hugh De Hamilton,
Bishop of Ossory, about the year 1256 : the founder died in 1487,
and was interred in it; and at the dissolution it was granted, with
its possessions, to Thomas, Earl of Ormonde. In the reign of
Elizabeth. the celebrated James Fitz-Maurice of Desmond took
this town; and in 1650 it fell into the hands of Cromwell, who,
aided by Ireton, besieged it for a few days with great loss of
life to the inhabitants.
The town
is situated on the King’s river, and on the mail coach raod
from Dublin by way of Clonmel to Cork ; it is chiefly
the property of Viscount Clifden,. and consists of four streets
meeting in the centre and in point of size ranks the second in the county,
but is very indifferently built ; the thoroughfares were formerly very
bad, but have been improved in the town, though the roads in the vicinity
are still much in need of repair Many years ago, the late Lord Callan
introduced some weavers from Carrick-on-Suir, but the project
of establishing the manufacture was abandoned. There are a large flour
mill and two grist mills, but the want of employment for the extensive
population is very great. The market is held in a small market house
on Tuesday and Saturday; and a large market for pigs is held every Monday
from January to May, attended by buyers from Waterford, Kilkenny,
Clonmel and Carrick on Suir, and the sales are very extensive.
Fairs for sale of live-stock, wool and, in autumn, considerable quantities
of poultry are held on May 4th, June 13th, July 10th, Aug 21st, Oct
10th, Nov 4th, and Dec 14th ; the May, June, July and October fairs
are the principal. Here is a chief station of the constabulary police.
This appears
to be a corporation by prescription; and it is recorded that Wm.
Mareschal or Marshall granted a charter to it in 1217. A
writ of the 4th of Rich II (1830) recites that the towns of Callan
and Kilkenny were part of the lordship of the Earl of Gloucester,
and that all merchants and others within that lordship ought to be free
of customs and murage, which immunities the sovereigns and commonalties
had enjoyed since the foundation of those towns; and commands that they
should not be molested against the tenour of such liberties. Other grants
were made in the 19th of Rich. II., 4th of Hen. IV., 11th of Eliz.,
7th of Chas.I., and 30th of Geo. III. The corporation is styled “the
Sovereign, Burgesses and Freemen of Callan,” and consists of a
sovereign and an undefined number of burgesses and freemen, with two
bailiffs and a town clerk. The sovereign is elected annually by the
burgesses and freemen: the latter are about 20 in number, and are admitted
for life by the corporation at large. The borough sent representatives
to the Irish parliament of the 27th of Elizabeth, and thenceforth without
remission until the Union, when it was disfranchised, and the £15,000
awarded in compensation for the abolition of its electoral rights was
paid to George, Lord Callan.
The town
court is held before the sovereign or his deputy general every Monday,
but sometimes on other days, for the recovery of debts not exceeding
40s. late currency. The limits of the borough include the entire town
and a considerable space around it, but extend unequally in different
directions, from half a mile to nearly two miles. The corporation has
a small property in lands and houses, let for about £15 per annum,
but derives its principal revenue from the customs, which on an average
yield about £50 per annum.
The parish
comprises 4700 statute acres, as applotted under the tithes act, and
valued at £5798 per annum; about 600 acres were enclosed under
an act in 1831. The whole is capable of tillage, and, with very trifling
exceptions, is in cultivation; vast quantities of limestone are procured
and burnt for manure.
West
Court, situated in a very neat demesne and surrounded by trees of
very stately growth, is the residence of the Rev. Butler Stephenson,
the rector; it formerly belonged to Lord Callan, and prior to
that was the property of the Earl of Desart.
The living
is a rectory and vicarage in the diocese
of Ossory, united by act of council in 1763 to the rectories
and vicarages of Tullaroan, Tullamain, Coolaghmore,
Killaloe, and Ballycallan,
together forming the union of Callan, in the alternate patronage
of the Crown and the Marquess of Ormonde. The tithes amount to £550,
and of the entire benefice to £2338 19s. 10d. There are two churches
in the union, one at Callan, and the other at Ballycallan.
The parish church, which was very extensive, was formerly occupied by
Canons Regular of the order of St. Augustine, under an abbot ;the ante-chapel
is in ruins, but displays two windows of beautiful design and in good
preservation and there are several tombstones of considerable antiquity,
quite, some of which are elaborately carved, with a handsome monument
to the Comerfords, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners carve recently granted
£393 for the repairs of this church. The church at Ballycallan,
distant about four miles, is a small edifice, built about 6 years since
at the request of several of the inhabitants. There is glebe house :
the glebe lands of the union are in divers places, and comprise 32 acres.
In the ante-chapel at Callan was a shrine under tile invocation of the
Holy Trinity and St, Catherine, for the purpose of saying mass for the
repose of the noble family of Desart : this foundation still exists
as a chaplaincy, in the gift of the Earl of Desart ; it has no cure
of souls, but the chaplain is required to attend visitations.
In the
Roman Catholic divisions this parish is partly in the union
or district of Ballycallan ; and the
remainder forms the head of a union, comprising also the parishes
of Coolaghmore, Tullamain, Earlstown
and part of that of Kells, called Mallardstown.
The latter union or district contains three parochial chapels, situated
respectively at Callan, Newtown, and Coologh. The chapel
at Callan is a spacious edifice, not quite finished, in the southern
part of the town ; the interior is very neat, and the ceiling is chastely
and handsomely carved. The chapel or (as it is called) church of the
Augustinian friary was erected through the exertions of the very Rev
John Rice, at an expense of £4000 : the building, which was
commenced in 1810 and completed in a few years, is of hewn stone, in
the ancient English style of architecture, and has a beautifully groaned
ceiling : the altar-piece is the copy of a design by Dominichini, by
an Italian artist; and on each side of the altar is a niche, in which
it is intended to place two marble statues, now in progress of execution
at Rome by Mr. Hogan. The chapel is situated on the declivity
of a hill ; and in the basement story are apartments for the clergymen,
harmonising with the general design of the building, and fronting a
small lawn environed by gravel walks enclosed between fences of beech
trees, and bounded by the King’s river, which is crossed
by a neat wooden bridge leading into the abbey field, in which are situated
the venerable ruins of the ancient friary, consisting principally of
a tower 90 feet high. The friary is occupied by three Augustinian friars
of a different order from the Canons Regular previously noticed.
The Protestant
parochial school, in which are about 20 boys and so girls; is aided
by donations from Lord Clifden and the incumbent, who also contribute
to the support of a sewing school. A national school, to which on an
average 212 boys daily attend, is endowed with 25 acres, parcel of the
late commons, by the act of 1831 ; and another has been lately opened
for girls, of whom 167. daily attend on an average. There are also several
private schools in the parish. A dispensary is maintained in the customary
manner; and a loan fund has been lately established. Callan gives the
title of Viscount in the peerage of Ireland etc the family of Feilding,
Earls of Denbigh in right of their superior title of Earl of
Desmond.
