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County Tipperary, Ireland
CIVIL PARISHES
Holycross
description from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837
Note: Roman Catholic parish records for those parishes that belong to the Diocese of Cashel and Emly are not available to the public
HOLYCROSS,
a parish, partly in the barony of ELIOGARTY. and partly in that of
MIDDLETHIRD, county of TIPPERARY,
and province of Munster, 2½ miles (S.W.) from Thurles,
on the road to Cashel; containing 2935 inhabitants.
This
place was distinguished as the site of a Cistertian monastery in honour of
the Holy Cross, of which a portion is said to have been preserved here by
Donough Carbragh O'Brien, King of Limerick, who, in 1182, endowed
it with lands constituting an earldom, and conferring the title of Earls of
Holy Cross upon its abbots, who were barons of parliament, and usually vicars-general
of the Cistertian order in Ireland. The grant was confirmed by John, Earl
of Morton, in 1186; by Henry III in 1233; and by Richard II in 1395: and the
monastery, which was originally subordinate to the abbey of Nenay,
or Maig, in the county of Limerick, and in 1249 was subjected
by a general chapter to that of Furness, in the county of Lancaster, continued
to flourish until the dissolution, and was granted by Queen Elizabeth to Gerald,
Earl of Ormond, in capite, at an annual rent of £15 10s. 4d. The
parish is situated on the river Suir, which is crossed by a bridge
at the village, and is partly bounded by the river Carhane, which separates
it from the parish of Ballycahill; it comprises 4080 acres, two-thirds
of which are under tillage, and the remainder, with the exception of some
exhausted bog, in pasture.
The
principal seats are Graignoe Park, that of C. Clarke, Esq.,
who has recently erected a spacious and elegant mansion on his estate; Bresfort,
of ??? Wilson, Esq.; and Beakstown, of Major Ledwell.
At Beakstown is a water-mill for grinding corn; and in the village and extensive
distillery is now being erected by Mr. Power, of Cashel.
Fairs
are held on May 11th and Sept. 23rd for cattle; and there is a patent for
manorial and baronial courts, but none are held.
The
living is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese
of Cashel, united to that of Rathkenan, and in the patronage
of the Archbishop; the rectory is impropriate in C. Clarke, Esq.; the
tithes amount to £242 12s. 5d. The stipend of the curate is £100,
of which £18 is paid by the impropriator, and the remainder from Primate
Boulter's augmentation fund. The glebe-house was erected by aid of a gift
of £450 and a loan of £50 from the late Board of First Fruits
in 1812; the glebe comprises 20 acres, subject to an annual rent. The church,
a handsome modern edifice with a tower, was built by a loan of £600,
in 1821, from the late Board.
In
the Roman Catholic divisions the parish is the head of a union or district,
comprising also the parish of Ballycahill,
in each of which is a chapel; the chapel of Holycross is a handsome
edifice faced with hewn stone.
About
60 children are taught in the parochial school, which is aided by the incumbent;
and there are three private school, in which are about 230 children.
The
extensive and picturesque ruins of the abbey of Holycross contain many
interesting details; they consist of the remains of the nave, choir, and transepts
of the church, with a lofty square tower supported on four gracefully pointed
arches opening into the choir and transcepts; there are also several chapels,
which with the tower are of marble and limestone and of much more elegant
design and richer embellishment than the other parts of the structure, and
the roofs are delicately groined; the nave is separated from the aisles by
a series of four arches, and has a west window of large dimensions, and between
it and the choir the space under the tower is beautifully groined. Among the
tombs is one with a sculptured cross, but without inscription, ascribed by
O'Halloran to the founder, and by local tradition to the "good
woman" who brought the portion of the true cross to this place; and between
two chapels on the south side of the choir is a double range of pointed arches
and twisted columns, where the ceremony of "waking" the monks used
to be performed. There are also remains of the cloisters, chapter-house, and
conventual buildings, which being mantled with ivy and on the margin of the
Suir, have a very romantic appearance.
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