Category Archives: Tipperary

Dungar, Roscrea Graveyard Photographs, Co. Tipperary: R-W Surnames

Gravestone photographs Dungar Public Cemetery 

Photographs of stones which begin with R-W surnames

Roscrea,
Tipperary


Photographs of Dungar gravestones which begin with the A-K surnames
Photographs of Dungar gravestones which begin with L-Q surnames & Memorial Plaque
Photographs of Dungar gravestones which begin with R-W surnames

The surnames which are on the gravestones in Dungar are given as the names of the gravestones. Each stone will have a number on it indicating the number of times that the first surname has been found on any gravestone in this cemetery, e.g. if a stone had the surname Lyons as the first surname on the stone then the stone becomes Lyons 1.  If another stone with the surname Lyons on it is found in a different plot then this becomes Lyons 2.  If there are other surnames on the stone then these surnames come after the number.
The letters a, b or others after a number indicate that there were a number of gravestones on one plot and these all belong together

These photographs of Dungar gravestones were taken between November 2006 and June 2007

We are giving you close up images of the gravestones  in some instances.  All gravestone photographs are reduced in size in order to allow us have copies of all photographs on this site.  We have a full photograph of each stone as well as the close ups.  From-Ireland.net charge 3 Euro to email you a copy of a photograph or set of photographs.

Contact From-Ireland.net to purchase a High Quality JPG of any gravestone for €3.00.

Contact From-Ireland.net to purchase a High Quality JPG of any gravestone for €3.00.

Contact From-Ireland.net to purchase a High Quality JPG of any gravestone for €3.00.

Contact From-Ireland.net to purchase a High Quality JPG of any gravestone for €3.00.

Clonmore Village Photographs, Co. Tipperary

Same as with everywhere else, I got to Clonmore with my camera.  I really went here to see if there was a graveyard associated with the church (there wasn’t).  Then I photographed the church and this little village. It has a National School, a playground, a Roman Catholic Church, a community hall and there is at least one pub which has a restaurant and to which I was brought for lunch one day.  I’m told it is really good food.  Unfortunately I was going out to dinner that evening and so all I had to eat was a salad.  The meal my friend had did look delicious I have to say that.


Clonakenny Photographs, Co. Tipperary

Whenever I go anywhere my camera is with me and I’m always photographing everything, sometimes I end up with only 1-2 photos, sometimes I look at the photos and think to myself, who on earth wants to see this place, there’s nothing here worth talking about.


The thing is though, there’s always someone who wants to see some little bit of some place, someone whose family came from that place and who will never be able to get to see it for themselves by going there.  My one to a few photographs will always be worth something to someone.

Clonakenny is very small, I came across it one day when I was off over in Tipperary looking for Couraguneen church (and that was a church remnant which stood out!).  I was looking for Couraguneen because one day I was talking about where I had taken my dogs for a walk over near the railway close to Templemore I think it was and Ed said to me “That’s so close to where my family is from” AND that made me go hunting for Couraguneen.

Anyway I missed Couraguneen when I got there, ended up in Bourney and Clonakenny before I eventually got to Couraguneen.  Here are the few photos I took of Clonakenny

Photographs of Tipperary Donkeys

A few donkeys that’s all.


There I was in Tipperary one day on my way from one graveyard to the next when I drove past a wee field and in it were a few donkeys.  I don’t know what it is about donkeys we all stop to gaze at them.  Two things I remember about a donkey we once owned called Neddy believe it or not was that his hooves had to be pared regularly or else they would have grown long and curled up and that would have been very painful for him.

Also, we had a trap and my sisters used to harness Neddy up so that he could take them our the road for a walk.   The only thing though is that it’s very hard to be boss of a donkey and when he decides to go on strike then that’s that he’s on strike.  This meant that when Neddy decided that he was not going to drag that trap any more, he’d stop on the side of the road and the girls would just have to sit there for as long as it took till he decided he would move again!

From Workhouse to Modern Hospital, Co. Tipperary

The story of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Clonmel and its progression from workhouse to modern hospital, through 150 years of the history of South Tipperary, is told by Eamonn Lonergan in his recent book – St. Joseph’s Hospital, Clonmel: An Historical and Social Portrait.


This book is the third in a trilogy on the history of institutions in South Tipperary. In 1985, Eamonn Lonergan published St. Luke’s Hospital, Clonmel, 1834-1984. This was followed in 1992 by A Workhouse Story: A History of St. Patrick’s Hospital, Cashel, 1842-1992, and his last study, on St. Joseph’s Hospital, was recently published.

Together, and separately, these books constitute an invaluable study on the social history of South Tipperary, and especially on the establishment of the institutions.

The 19th century saw the acceptance by the State, albeit within well-defined boundaries, of its social obligations towards its citizens. That acceptance did not come a moment too soon. The Industral Revolution, the consequent rapid increase in populations and urbanisation, together with crop failures and economic policies, contributed to many problems in society: homelessness, hunger and extreme poverty. Nowhere was this more evident than in Ireland.

It was in this climate that St. Joseph’s Hospital in Clonmel had its origins, in the House of Industry in Irishtown, first established in 1811 by the Religious Society of Friends (The Quakers). They had long become convinced that they had a duty towards the alleviation of social problems, which involved the principle of the re-distribution of their wealth. There was nothing wrong in the making of money, they believed, but it should then be shared. (Modern capitalists, please note!).

This House of Industry was taken over by the Government in 1841 as Clonmel’s first Workhouse. The original description of the House’s function is quoted by Eamonn Lonergan: “A common receptacle for all descriptions of malfortunes, serving at the same time as a place of confinement for vagrants and lunatics as well as an asylum for the poor and helpless.” The modern mind boggles.

The necessity for setting up workhouses in Ireland had been under investigation since the enactment of the Poor Law Act of 1838. As Eamonn Lonergan states, the criteria for the establishment of such institutions was that the relief given in them “should in all respects be worse than that available on the outside.” The study on Ireland states that “the standard of the Irish mode of living is so low that the establishment of one lower is difficult.”

However, as the Great Famine sent out its initial warnings in the partial failure of the potato crop in the early 1840s, the luxury for debate and commissions had receded. The matter was urgent. The history of St. Joseph’s tells us about those early years in Clonmel’s workhouse, in which in 1842 there were 506 inmates, classified as “paupers,” whose diet consisted of oatmeal, skimmed milk and potatoes. As the Famine loomed and potatoes became scarce, breat was sutstituted, and later Indian Meal (Maize) was added to the diet.

By February 1847, 1,365 men, women and children were in the Clonmel Workhouse, where overcrowding had become such that Auxiliary Workhouses had to be established, one on the Quay and another in the Northgate Brewery. This latter building was demolished just a few years ago in the re-development of Morton Street, and little now remains of the original building in Irishtown except, it seems to me, the boundary walls.

Eamon Lonergan looks at the operation and management of Clonmel’s Workhouse, with its policy of segregation, and where families were parted. This parting would seem to be the single most awful prospect faced by people who finally sought refuge in the Workhouse. Hunger and homelessness, and even disease, were as naught in comparison to separation from children.

Overall management and policy was in the hands of the Board of Guardians. Since these institutions had to be supported from local revenue (the rates), these Guardians were appointed from amongst the county’s largest ratepayers, the property and landowners.

The Workhouse Master and Matron took charge of the day-to-day management, and Eamonn Lonergan tells us about many of these people, some decent and kind, others “disreputable and incompetent.” The rules were strict and infringements punished. In 1847 “Biddy O’Meara was caught climbing the wall and ordered to be confined for twenty-four hours and have her hair cut;” “five boys who refused to work on the farm were given twelve lashes each.”

By November 1849, with increasing and indeed intolerable pressures on the institution and its inmates, consideration was given to the construction of a new Workhouse. Following studies by sub-committees and inspection of prospective sites, “five fields contiguous to each other adjoining the Model School,” were purchased.

This land was servicd by the newly-constructed Western Road, then known as Jones’s Road, after the engineer who designed it. By 10th October 1853, the first inmates were admitted to his new building, a building which was ultimately to become St. Joseph’s Hospital. It was then, and continues to be so today, the one building which in size and bulk dominates the skyline of the town, as viewed from the hills.

Eamonn Lonergan outlines the financing of the building, the issuing of bonds, the appointment of contractors: William Doolin of Dublin. There was, amongst older Clonmel citizens, the story that the said William Doolin became the Workhouse’s first inmate because he lost so much money on the job. This was not so, but the Board of Guardians’ dispute with him, which ultimately ended up in the courts, makes fascinating reading.

As indeed does much of the minutiae of this book: the fate of the foundlings consigned to the Workhouse, for instance. These abandoned babies were usually given the name of the person who found them, except one infant who was discovered in Heywood Road, and who forever bore the name John Heywood. Then there was the emigration from the Workhouse, where young girls, some aged only fifteen or sixteen, were shipped to Quebec and later to Australia. Malcolmsons in Portlaw took some girls to work in the cotton mills, where they were given clean and well-ventilated accommodation and “good bedding.” Some did well and prospered; two ran away and one died.

In 1883 the Sisters of Mercy started to work in the Infirmary attached to the Workhouse, and approval was given for the training of probationer nurses there in 1897. This was the next phase in the evolution of Clonmel Workhouse into what was eventually to become St. Joseph’s Hospital.

As the political climate changed in 1920, there was a riot at a meeting of the Board of Guardians when it was decided that British ex-servicemen, in need of medical attention, would not be admitted to the Infirmary. The decision was reversed, but on reading through the period, the problems of parity of esteem with which Northern Ireland is now challenged becomes very apparent.

In 1924, the new Irish Government decided to end the old Workhouse system, which had left such a legacy of fear and desperation on the Irish psyche. The “official’journey from Workhouse to hospital was now complete. Clonmel was designated as the site for the new County Hospital, but between that decision and its ultimate achievement, there lay a vista of bitter wrangling between the towns of Clonmel and Cashel, lasting nearly eighty years. The current work on the extension of St. Joseph’s, incorporating yet another wing of the old Workshouse, is the final fulfilment of that decision taken in 1924.

It seems to me, however, that the old Workshouse ethos did not so much go out with a bang as with a lingering whimper. I remember as a child in the mid-1930s accompanying my mother on a visit to a young girl from our street who was dying in what Clonmel then called “the Consumptive Ward.” She lay pale and emaciated with huge blue eyes and a mop of auburn hair in a bed in a dark, dimly-lit, very large ward. I remember a tall woman (or so she seemed to me at the time) dressed all in white, and to whom my mother was obviously deferential – and this surprised me. She was Sister Magdalen, the Matron, from the old Infirmary regime.

Even before we were allowed to enter the hospital grounds, my mother had to explain to Mr Moore, the gatekeeper and old Workhouse retainer, the name of the person whom we were visiting, and our relationship with that person. “A neighbour and friend,” my mother meekly said. The balance between the status of the institution and the rights of the institutionalised was still tentative.

But the gates were removed when the hospital was renovated and extended in the 1950s, and when St. Joseph’s was designated as County Medical and Maternity Hospital and Dr. Tom Prendiville took up duty as county physician. The modern era had begun.

Eamonn Lonergan’s book will be studied by people with an interest in local history. It will be recommended reading for students of social change, and for anybody who still has any illusion about “the good old times,” it should be compulsory reading.

St. Joseph’s Hospital, Clonmel – An Historical and Social Portrait, by Eamonn Lonergan, is available at Easons and other local bookshops in Clonmel, or direct from Eamonn Lonergan, 4 Shamrock Hill, Clonmel.

Written by Margaret Rossiter.

Roscrea Photographs, Co. Tipperary

We tend to take all these places that we have gone to all our lives for granted.  I never really gave Roscrea much thought until I headed off over there to work on the gravestones in the Church of Ireland a year or two ago.  I have photographed parts of the town before but now, this particular time I realised I had never looked through the gates of the castle!  So, I took a wee walk around the town with my camera.


I’m not going to put all the photos up right now, there will be another batch.  Sometimes I look and wonder will I put up photographs of places because we have Google showing us places now but then I think, yep, but Google doesn’t think like I do :)

Registration Districts, Co. Tipperary

Co Tipperary Districts are as follows:
Borrisokane*,
Callan***
Carrick-on-Suir**
Cashel*
Clogheen*
Clonmel**
Nenagh*
Parsonstown***
Roscrea**
Thurles*
Tipperary**
Urlingford***


* registrations are for townlands only located in Co. Tipperary
** Centre or head office for district is located in Co. Tipperary but district itself takes in part of another county
*** Centre or head office for a district is located in another county but the district takes in townlands in Co. Tipperary.

Before the Race

BEFORE THE RACE
ROWED NEAR MARLFIELD, 1862


On the eighth day of July,
Three boats their speed will try
At Marlfield; ’tis nigh,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

The Rover and Clonmel,
The Colleen Bawn as well;
Who’s best, time will tell,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

But the Rover ought to win,
If the crew are worth a pin;
‘Tis on them I’ll stake the tin,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

What kind are the crew?
Oh, they will stand true blue,
As Irishmen should do,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

Meagher is stroke oar;
He led the van before,
And says he’ll win once more,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

Mullin will be there,
O’Connor Dan pulls fair,
And O’Donnell’s strength is rare,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

What have they to fear,
If the course be but kept clear,
For Savage is to steer,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

But if they be left out,
There can be no doubt
But we’ll see a fighting bout,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

The Clonmel crew are proud,
Their talk is rather loud,
But perhaps they may be cowed,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

The Colleen’s hopes are high,
To strive they are not shy,
For the oars they well can ply,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

Let each have but fair play,
And two to one, I say,
The Rover gains the day,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

Right well may they brag,
On their tongue he put no gag,
If they proudly wear the flag,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

When the prize is won,
And fireworks are begun,
Then we’ll see some fun,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

Then Roman candles bright,
We’ll hail with great delight
The heroes of the fight,
Says the Shan van Vaeth.

ANON.
Given by R. S. PELLISIER.

Taken from
My Clonmel Scrapbook.
County Tipperary.
Famous Trials,
Romances,
Sketches, Stories,
Ballads, &c.
Compiled & Edited by James White
Second 1000 ; Published E. Downey & Co., Waterford ; 1907 ; No. ISBN

St. Patrick in South Tipperary

In Archbishop Healy’s fascinating Life of St. Patrick, recently published by Sealy, Bryers, & Walker of Dublin, some very interesting particulars are given of the great Saint’s journeys through Tipperary County. From Callan he passed by Mullinahone and Fethard to Cashel, then the second royal court of importance, and received King Aengus and his family into the Christian faith, and obtained full authority to preach the Gospel in Munster. The reason St. Patrick did not found a church on the rock or create a Bishop of Cashel was probably due to the fact that St. Ailbe had set up his see at Emly close by, and St. Patrick was loath to erect a new jurisdiction in his territory. Cashel remained a royal residence down to 1101, when it was handed over by the king, Murtagh O’Brien, to the senior Bishop of Munster, and it thenceforward became the seat of the Archbishops of Munster “St. Patrick’s Stone,” surmounted by an ancient cross, is still on the rock. It stood there ages before St. Patrick, and was, without doubt, the stone on which the ancient kings of Cashel were consecrated. From Cashel, St. Patrick journeyed into Muskerry, or Clanwilliam, and established many churches and monasteries during his visits to Golden, Kilfeacle, Tipperary, Callan, Oola, and Kilteely. Passing round through County Limerick to Fermoy, he entered the Northern Deisi through Mitchelstown and Clogheen, and towards’the Suir at Ardfinnan.


“Somewhere there Patrick was kept awaiting the king of the country, named Fergair, son of Ross. On his arrival the Saint said to him – “Thou hast come slowly.” “The country was very stiff,” said the king; sure enough it was a stiff country between the Knockmealdowns and the Galtees, and so Patrick said, but he did not believe the excuse to be genuine, for he added “A king shall never come from thee. What delayed you to-day?” “Rain delayed us,” said the king. “Your tribal gatherings shall be showery,” said Patrick.
“Patrick’s Well is in that place, and there is the church of MacClarid, one of Patrick’s household. Moreover, the Deisi held their gatherings at night, for Patrick left that word upon them, since it was at night they came to him.” In this way, doubtless, they hoped to escape the penalties threatened by Patrick.

There is a Patrick’s Well in the parish of Inislounaght, near Clonmel, which is probably the place here referred to. If so, it is likely that Patrick crossed the river Tar at Clogheen, and the Suir at Ardfinnan, and so came to Patrick’s Well. This view.is confirmed by the narrative – a Patrick cursed the streams of that place, because his books had been drowned in them – thrown, perhaps, into the river at the ford – and the fishermen had refused to give him fish. And although they were fruitful heretofore, he said that there would be no mills on these streams, but ‘the mills of the foreigners would be nigh to them’ -perhaps at Clonmel or Waterford. The ‘foreigners’ were, doubtless, the Danes. But he blessed the Suir and its banks, and that river is fruitful except where the other streams enter it. These streams must be either the river Tar or Nar, or both, for they enter the Suir from different directions quite close to each other. If Patrick went from Ardfinnan to Clonmel he would pass by the parish of Tubbrid, famous for all time as the birthplace and parish of Geoffrey Keating, the greatest of our Irish historians.

In the Life of St. Declan it is said that having himself yielded due submission to Patrick at Cashel, at his return he besought the chieftain of the Deisi, who dwelt at a place called Hynneon, to go with his followers and meet the Apostle, to receive baptism at his hands, and gain the blessing for himself and his tribesmen. But the stubborn chieftain refused, and Declan found it necessary to choose another leader named Fearghal, who duly submitted to Patrick, and gave him large grants of land not far from the Suir, perhaps at Donoughmore, where the name implies that Patrick founded a church. The name of this unbelieving chieftain is called Lebanny, and he is, perhaps, the same who came late to visit Patrick, and may, perhaps, have refused to receive baptism for himself and his people at his hands. The place where he dwelt is called Hynneon, which, according to Hennessy, is identical with Mulloghnoney, about two miles north-west of Clonmel. Perhaps Rathronan in that neighbourhood contains the same name. Knockgraffon, still further north, was certainly a royal palace at the time, and this chieftain of the Deisi may have dwelt there. From Clonmel of the Deisi, Patrick journeyed north, likely to Cashel, and then on to the Ormond country.”

The Patrick’s Well above referred to is situate in one of the prettiest glens in all Tipperary. During the centuries that have elapsed since our National Apostle rested there, it has been a spot sacred in the sight of the people, and it will ever remain so. Even down to our own times it has been a favourite resort, especially on St. Patrick’s day, and many remember the proocession of thousands of citizens, who followed the famous Clonmel brass band on the annual 17th of March pilgrimages to the historic well. The spring rises at the foot of an ancient tree, in the centre of the glen, and on the wooded hill close by are to be seen the ruins of an old chapel. Within late years the place had become rather neglected, and visitors found some difficulty in reaching the well.

It was also discovered that parties were taking away pieces of the old monumental stones in the little chapel. A few prominent citizens interested themselves in the matter, and with the prompt and generous help of the present owner of the land, Mr. P. Condon, had some much-needed improvements carried out. When commenting on this good work at the time, we expressed the hope that it would be continued until a complete finish was put on it. We are pleased to see that the ivy on the mined church is neatly trimmed, the bed of the stream is cleaned down to the old cross, the pathway is continued from the well to the church. One can now walk from the road on a substantial crossing (with a hand-rail) which runs down to the first tree inside the stile. This rather steep part is perfectly safe, and the passage to the well is easy and clean. As the tree over the well was decaying, portion of it was cut away; ivy is planted at the base, and we trust it will be protected by visitors. When the old well was being cleared out some portions of the stones which formed the altar in the church were discovered at the bottom. The gentlemen who had these works done deserve every thanks for their kindness in improving this historic and favourite spot, and rendering it more easy of access to the large numbers desirous of visiting it.

written by B. J. LONG.

published in the “Nationalist.”

Taken from
“My Clonmel Scrapbook.
County Tipperary.
Famous Trials,
Romances,
Sketches, Stories,
Ballads, &c.”
Compiled && Edited by James White
Second 1000 ; Published E. Downey & Co., Waterford ; 1907 ; No. ISBN

The Pike Roman Catholic Church Photographs, Co. Tipperary

This is really a very simple post, it’s just the photograph of the church at the Pike, Co. Tipperary.


Three photos actually, the Pike Church (it’s on a cross-roads), a cross on a hill in the distance and a signpost telling you how far away Ballingarry, Roscrea and Birr are.  The Pike is actually on the road the R489 and I was on my way to Ballingarry because I had been to the other Ballingarry in Tipperary and I wanted to see if there was a graveyard in this one.  There was and I did get some photographs but it was late in the day so I have to go back again.

For the moment.  Here are the three photographs – also, there are graves behind this church and yes, I did photograph them too.  We will get to them as soon as I have them indexed.