Parish of Aghaboe

It comprises the civil parishes of Bordwell and Kylermough, in their entirety; the townlands of Middlemount and Coolacurragh, in the parish of Coolkerry; all of the civil parish of Aghaboe lying in the Barony of Clarmallagh; and the parish of Kyledellig, except about 100 acres. Previous to 1855, it included, moreover, the portion of the civil parish of Aghaboe situated in the Barony of Clandonnagh, which with the 100 acres above of Kyledellig, became in that year the new parish of Borris-in-Qssory. The present area of the parish is 19,610 stat, acres.

AGHABOE (From Ledwich's Antiquities, 1804)

ST. CANICE

St. Canice or Kenny, founder of the Abbey, and patron of the parish, of Aghaboe, was born in the year 515 or 516, in Glengiven, in the region of Cianachta, in the present County of Londonderry. He was descended from the CorcoDalann or Ui Dalainn, a tribe whose ancestor, Dalann, is traced back to Fergus (King of Ulster a little before the Christian era), son of Ross, son of Rudhraighe. The Corco-Dalann were of little consequence, and their exact location is unknown, except that they dwelt in an island called in the Saint's Life "Insula Nuligi," and which is usually identified with Inis-Doimhle or Inis-Uladh, now the Little Island, in the Suir, south-east of Waterford. Lughadh Leithdhearg, our Saint's father, was a distinguished bard, and from the wandering disposition of men of his class, it is not difficult to conceive how he left the home of his youth, in the sunny south, and settled down in the far north, under the favour and protection of the chief of Cianachta. He was there chosen tutor or foster-father of his chieftain's son, Geal Breagach (Latine Albus Mendax), who afterwards succeeded to the headship of his tribe. The mother of the Saint was Maul or Mella. She attained an eminent degree of sanctity, and the church of Thompleamoul, otherwise Capella Sanctae Maulae seu Mellae," beside Kilkenny city, was dedicated to God under her invocation.

In early life, St. Canice was employed, in his native place, as a shepherd in charge, probably, of his chieftain's cattle (" in illo autem loco sanctus puer Kannechus pecora pascebat"); but, being a youth destined by God to promote the glory of His name, he soon abandoned that peaceful calling and placed himself under instruction in some of the schools with which the country then abounded. A curious mistake in reference to his early education, needs to be noticed here. Most, if not all, of his biographers state that at a very early age, when only about fourteen years old, he was sent to Britain to be educated, and that he remained there till after his ordination, on attaining his thirtieth year. Such a statement seems, at first sight, improbable, and, on examination, will be found inadmissible. For St. Canice and St. Columbkille were pupils together, at Clonard, under St. Finnian, in 543, when St. Canice was only twenty-seven or twenty-eight years of age; and again, in the early part of 544, the same two saints, together with St. Kieran of Clonmacnoise and St. Comgall of Bangor, were students in the School of Glasnevin under St. Mobhi.' Hence, there can be no doubt that the Saint's education was received in Ireland, and that it was only when St. Mobhi's School had to be disbanded, owing to the breaking out of a pestilence, of which St. Mobhi himself died, Oct. 12th, 544,2 that St. Canice, then twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, left his native land and sought the friendly shores of Britain to perfect himself in sacred knowledge and prepare himself for his ordination to the priesthood.

"Proceeding to the monastery of Llancarvan, situated in Glamorganshire, on the banks of the Severn, he placed himself under the care of its holy Abbot, St. Cadoc, surnamed the Wise, who at this time enjoyed a wide-spread fame for sanctity and miracles Among the exercises to which Canice applied himself, under the guidance of this holy Abbot, we find specially mentioned the transcribing of the sacred Scriptures; and it is also commemorated that, though he was remarkable for the practice of all virtues, yet he was particularly endeared to the venerable Cadoc for the promptness of his obedience. One day, we are told, whilst engaged in copying, the monastery bell summoned him to another task. The obedient Canice left half-finished the letter o at which he was engaged, in order to hasten at once to the duties to which obedience called him. 'Thence-forward,' adds the biographer, 'the abbot loved Canice exceedingly.'

Having received the holy order of priesthood, on the completion of his thirtieth year, in 545 or 546, he set out for Rome to pay homage to the reigning Pontiff and secure his blessing at the outset of his missionary career.
On his return, probably about 550, St. Canice went to his native place where he denounced the superstitions, and exposed the delusions, of the druids, who still lingered in secluded parts of Ireland. The reputation acquired by his first work was increased by subsequent visits to his home during his long life; for he often passed there in his frequent voyages to Britain, especially to his friend, S. Columbkille. In the house of his sister, Columba, at Airte, near the coast beyond Glengiven, he cured St. Berchan, who afterwards founded the church of Clonsast, in the King's County. He also converted his foster-brother, Geal Breagach, the chief of Dungiven, who at first ridiculed his admonitions, but, terrified by an extraordinary illness, at length repented, and assisted in founding at Dromachose, in Londonderry, a church, where, for more than a thousand years his spiritual benefactor, St. Canice, was honoured as patron.

Animated with that wonderful missionary spirit, which characterized so many of his countrymen, the saint is next met with, in 565 in Scotland, whither he had gone to aid St. Columbkille in the conversion of that nation. With St. Comgall he accompanied St. Columbkille, in that year, on the memorable occasion of his first visit to Brude, the pagan King of the Picts.

During his sojourn in Scotland, St. Canice "erected an oratory on Tiree Island, and the ruins of an ancient church, still called-Kil-Chainnich, probably mark its site. He also erected cells in the Islands of Ibdon and Eninis (i.e., Island of Birds), and his memory was cherished there in after times. He was honoured even in Iona, where a burial ground still retains the name Kill-Chainnech. On the mainland he built for himself a rude hermitage, at the foot of a mountain, in the Drumalban or Grampian range, and we meet at the present day, fully corresponding to this description, towards the east end of Loch Laggan, the remains of an ancient church called Laggan-Kenney, i.e., St. Kenny's Church at Laggan He founded also a monastery, in the east end of the province of Fife, not far from where the river Eden pours its waters into the German Ocean. This place was then called Rig-monadh or the Royal Mound; and when in after times the noble Cathedral of St. Andrew's was erected on the site thus hallowed by the Irish saint, we find that it continued for centuries to retain its Celtic name of Kilrimount, by which it is designated in the early charters. In many other places St. Canice seems to have erected cells or oratories. Of Maiden Castle in Fife, Boece writes that in his time the remains of the great enclosed monastery, in which the religious brethren of St. Canice had lived for centuries, could easily be traced. Indeed, so many places retain his name and cherish his memory that Scottish writers have not hesitated to pronounce him, after St. Brigid and St. Columbkille " the favourite Irish Saint in Scotland."

His first Irish foundation was in all likelihood, that of Dromachose, otherwise Termonkenny, in his native Cianachta, the abbots of which are referred to as the Coarbs or "successors of Cainneach in Cianachta." His next foundation appears to have been at the place, called after him, Kilkenny West, in the County Westmeath. A turbulent King of Meath, Colman Beg MacDiarmaid, slain in the year 571, carried off by violence a' nun, sister of St. Hugh MacBric, Bishop of Killair. "The Bishop, according to the custom of those times, took up his position near the lake in which his sister was held prisoner on an island, and there fasted against the King, demanding redress of the grievous wrong that had been done her. St. Canice came to his assistance, but the King, hearing of his approach, ordered the boats to be drawn up and all avenues to his castle to be closed. St. Canice coming down in the night passed over the lake and entered the castle. The King struck with terror at a chariot of fire which he saw moving towards the island, confessed his crime, delivered up the nun to her brother, and made a grant of that island and castle to St. Canice, who dwelt there and established a church. The lake (called Stagnum Rossum in the Latin Life of our Saint), if not that now called Makeegan, is probably one of those in Lough Ree, or the arm of the Shannon to this day included in the parish of Kilkenny West. Some years later, in winter, S. Canice, travelling in Breffny, rested at a cross in Ballaghanea, parish of Lurgan, Cavan, before which he performed the devotion of None. Inquiring whose cross this was, he was informed that it was here Colman Beg Mac Diarmaid had fallen in battle. ' I remember,' said St. Canice, 'that I promised him a prayer after his death,' and turning his face to the cross he prayed with tears, until the snow and the ice melted around him, and he delivered from torments the soul of Colman Beg."

The precise date of his great establishment at Aghaboe cannot be determined, but Dr. Lanigan shows that it cannot have beçn later than 577.2 According to an Irish Life of St. Finbarr, of Cork, published, with English translation, in the Cork Archceol Journal of April, 1893, Aghaboe was first selected, as a religious site, by that Saint, but he afterwards surrendered it to St. Canice, whom also he assisted in founding the original church and enclosing the graveyard there.

Although reference has been already made to a notable service rendered by our saint to his friend, Colman, King of Ossory.3 a more extended notice of the same may be given here. Colman came to the throne of Ossory in 582, in succession to his father, Fearadhach. He was one of the Corca-Laighdhe or Munster Kings, who long held usurped sway in Ossory, and his reign was disturbed by violent opposition, on the part of the old natives of the territory. On one occasion he was closely besieged in his fortress, probably at Kells, Co. Kilkenny, by the disaffected Ossorians, under the command of two of their chiefs, Maelgarbh and Maelodhar. St. Canice, in his church at Achadhbo, being made aware of his friend's plight, set out on foot (nec currum nec equurn habens), southwards, to his relief.
"A certain woman living in Acuthuch Mebri, beholding Canice weary on his journey, was anxious to assist him with her chariot and horses. This, however, the devil did not want, and he brought on a great darkness which hid the horses and chariot from view. Whereupon Canice raised his hand, and by the light which it gave forth, all the plain was illuminated, and the charioteer found the horses. At the same time the Lord wrought another wonderful miracle, for Canice, being small of stature, and in consequence, unable to mount the chariot, the Lord caused the earth to rise under his feet, and the little mound thus raised by the Lord under the Saint's feet remains to this very day, in that place, in testimony of the truth [of the miracle.]

"As Canice proceeds in the chariot through Magh Roighne (per campum regni), he is met by the portly Abbot of Domhnach-mor, in [Magh] Roighne (pinguis princeps Domnich Moir Roigni), a bitter enemy of the King. Addressing the saint, with an air of assumption, he said: 'I know that you are hastening to liberate your friend, Colman, but it is to no purpose, for you will find him already slain. and his body consumed by fire.' 'The Son of the Virgin knows,' replied Canice, 'that what you imagine is not true, and before you yourself return to your cell (cellam) you shall die.' And it happened accordingly ; for as that portly personage, while seated in his chariot, was passing through the innermost gate of his monastery (suae civitati), the portcullis (valva quae dicitur Dornlech) fell down on his head and killed him on the spot. St. Canice, hastening on in his chariot, with all possible speed arrived at King Colman's castle, which was surrounded by a great multitude [of enemies], and was already given to the flames. Then Canice entered the castle, through the flames, and, by the power of the Lord, unseen and unknown by all, brought forth the king from his perilous position, through the crowds [of enemies] and their spears. Having led him a long distance from the castle, the saint said to him: 'Stay here, and, although you are alone to-day, you shall not be so to-morrow; for three men will come to you the first day, three hundred the second, and on the third day you will be again King of all Ossory.' And it happened accordingly."

King Colman was not ungrateful to his benefactor, and, hence, as the Saint's Life attests, in return for his good offices, bestowed upon him one of his principal residences or duns, (magnum de casteilis pro pter celum Kannecho dedit.)

St. Canice exerted himself strenuously in withdrawing his countrymen from the barbarous customs handed down by their forefathers. On one occasion, whilst travelling through West Leinster, he found the people assembled, with their King, Cormac Mac Diarmaid, to enjoy the gruesome spectacle of a little boy, named Dolne, being subjected to the torture called Gialcherd. The Gialcherd consisted in casting young children high up in the air and receiving them in their fall on the points of lances held upright. On the Saint's arrival at the place of meeting, the spears were already fixed upright in the ground in preparation for the ghastly exhibition. He earnestly remonstrated with the King, and besought him to spare the little boy, but in vain; and savage custom would have had another victim had not Almighty God, at the prayer of the Saint, miraculously saved the child who, when flung on the spears, was neither killed nor injured. However, the terror of the horrible death from which he had been thus preserved, had the effect of distorting his eyes, so that he was called thenceforward Dome Lebdearc, i.e. Dolne of the crooked eyes. In after life he became famed for his sanctity, and founded a church, (round which grew up a town), called from him Kill-Dome.

Desiring to be alone with God as far as possible, St. Canice frequently retired from the society of men, and even from the companionship of his own brethren, and betook himself to some remote solitude for prayer and meditation. One of his retreats, in a wood "with the angels," was known only to a little boy who used to recite the Psalms with him; but the monks watching this companion going out at night, were guided by a brilliant light which they saw preceding him, and shining with additional lustre over the spot where the saint was concealed.
His favourite retreat was the Insula Stagni Cree, Hibernice Inis Locha Cre, now called Monahincha, or the Holy Island, a mile or two beyond the bounds of Ossory, and about the same distance from Roscrea. Here he fasted forty days together ; here he transcribed the Gospels, and wrote a Commentary thereon, which was preserved for centuries and was known as the Glas Chainnigh, i.e., the Catena or Commentary of St. Canice ; and here, too, he acquired the remarkable eloquence that once elicited the warmest commendations of St. Columbkille, in Iona: "Who, O Canice," said Columbkille, after hearing one of the Saint's sermons, "gave you this wonderful knowledge of the Scriptures ? " "The Son of the Holy Virgin himself," said Canice, "Who, when I was in Inis Locha Cre. near Sliabh Sinoir " [now Slieve Bloom] "in Ireland came to me, and with Him I read the Gospel, and He Himself taught me its meaning." It was owing to his eloquence that he was likened, by the old hagiographers, to St. Philip, who was traditionally honoured in the early church as the most eloquent of the Apostles. He was small of stature, as already remarked, and very bald; and hence, those who opposed themselves to his zeal, but whom his great charity afterwards gained over to God's service, used to call him, in derision, "baculatus modicus "and "calvus baculatus," i.e., the little man, and bald-headed man, of the [pastoral] staff.

His early biographers make no mention of the Saint's connection, while living, with any religious establishment on the site now occupied by the Round Tower and Cathedral of St. Canice's, in Kilkenny city; yet the constant tradition of Upper Ossory leaves little room for doubt that he founded and presided over a monastery there. Aghaboe was, however, his greatest foundation, and here his closing years were mostly spent. Here he could enjoy the society of St. Fintan of Clonenagh, who lived but a few miles away, and of St. Brendan of Birr and St. Mochaemhog or Pulcherius of Liath, three of the most distinguished ornaments of the monastic institute in Ireland, with all of whom he lived in the closest bonds of religious intimacy, and to whom he frequently paid visits, as their Lives attest. With such friends he had, in all the afflictions of life, a foretaste of those heavenly joys to which in the fulness of days he was at length summoned.

In the year 599 or 600, he breathed his last in his Abbey at Aghaboe. "As the day of his departure drew nigh," writes his biographer, "his whole body became infirm. He would not, however, receive the last rites from any of the monks of his own monastery (familia), saying that God would send another to administer to him the Body of Christ. Then St. Fintan [surnamed Maeldubh, of Clonenagh,] came to him by God's appointment, and receiving the Holy Eucharist at his hands, he departed to the Lord."
The following notice of his death appears in the Annals of Tighearnach:

A.D., 600. "Quies Caindech, Achaigh-Bo-Cainig, qui LXXXIIII etatis suae an. quievit."

SUCCESSORS OF ST. CANICE AT AGHABOE

A.D., 618. "Liber, abbot of Achadh-bo-Cainnigh, died."
He is commemorated in the Martyrology of Donegal, on March 8, thus: -
"Liber, abbot of Achadh-bo-Cainnigh." The Vita S. Kannechi, chap. XVIII., gives the following particulars regarding him:

"One day a woman came with her son to Canice, saying: 'O holy man of God what am I to do? Behold this my son is wicked and disobedient.' Then Canice rebuked the youth and exhorted him to show due respect to his mother, but to no purpose, for he was proud and wayward and, instead of hearkening to the words of the man of God, mounted his horse and rode away. He had not gone far, however, when he fell from his horse and was killed. His mother, then, with deepest sorrow besought the saint to restore her son. At Canice's prayer, the youth came to life again, and, with deep contrition, bent the knee to the saint, and leaving his mother, followed him. Canice brought him with him to Britain, and, that he might not wander away from him, bound his feet with a chain, casting at the same time, the key that unlocked it into the sea. After he had passed seven years in Britain, Canice said to him 'Go again to Ireland, and in whatever place you shall find the key of your chain, remain there? The youth accordingly came to Ireland. Arriving on the banks of the Liffey he was presented by some fishermen with a fish, which he opened in the city called Letube-Kainnich, and finding inside it the key, he remained there. Now this is Liber, the son of Arad, a man venerable in heaven and on earth."

On the 5th Sept., the Martyrologies of Tallaght, Donegal, and Aengus, commemorate St. Eolang of Achaidh-bo, of the race of Conaire, monarch of Erin. In the Book of Leinster and the Lebar Brecc, this saint is mentioned as of Athbibolg, now the church of Aghabulloge, in the Diocese of Cloyne. Probably Achaidh-bo of the Martyrologies, is here a mistake for Athbi-bolg. It is certain, at least, that the church of Aghabulloge belonged to St. Eolang, and that his remains rest there. His monument may still be seen in Aghabulloge graveyard. It is an ogham-inscribed pillar-stone, 8 ft. high, and held in great veneration by the people, who call it in Irish Ulaidh Eolaing, and in English "Olan's stone." Perhaps the saint was connected with Aghaboe as well. He flourished apparently in the early part of the seventh century.

693. "Meann Boirne, abbot of Achadh-bo, died."

784 [recte, 789]. "Ferghil, i.e., the Geometer, abbot of Achadh-bo, died in Germany in the thirtieth year of his episcopate. (Ferghil, i. an geometer, abb. Achaidh bo, decc san nGearmainne san 30 bliadhain dia eapscopoid.)
This famous saint and scholar, better known as St. Virgilius, the Latinized form of his name, resigned the Abbacy of Aghaboe, about 739, and withdrew with a few companions, to France, to preach the Gospel and to perfect himself there in sacred and profane knowledge. Having spent two or three years in the court of Pep in, father of the renowned Charlemagne, he removed to the court of Ottilo, Duke of Bavaria, about A.D. 743 At this time Bavaria had been partially converted to the faith by the labours of St. Boniface, afterwards Archbishop of Mentz and Legate of the Apostolic See. Much, however, remained to be done, and Duke Ottilo gladly availed himself of the services of St. Virgilius in the conversion of his half Christian subjects. The narrative of the saint's life is thus continued in Father M. J. Brenan's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland. Vol. I., pp. 181-4: -

Here the learning and unceasing labours of Virgilius rendered his name celebrated, and the assistance afforded by the Duke gave additional effect to the success of his mission. St. Boniface, Archbishop of Mentz, was contemporary with virgilius and enjoyed at the time jurisdiction over Bavaria as well as over many other parts of Germany. During the incumbency of Boniface a circumstance occurred, which might have proved troublesome to virgilius, had not his superior knowledge both of Theology and of Philosophy enabled him to justify the opinions which he held, and the practice which he recommended. It happened that some priest in Virgilius's district, not having been well versed in Latin, had administered the Sacrament of Baptism with this form Baptizo te in nomine Patria, et Filia, et Spiritua Sancta. Boniface maintained that such Baptisms were invalid, and ordered virgilius to rebaptize these persons. virgilius on the other hand, justly defended the validity of the Baptisms, and, refusing to comply with the orders of Buniface, was at length obliged to address a letter to Pope Zachary. This correspondence terminated in an admonitory epistle from the Pope to Boniface, in which he tells him that his orders had been indiscreet, and that although the Latin used by the priest had not been correct, yet it did not by any means invalidate the Sacrament, and that consequently the persons should not be re-baptized.

While virgilius had been completing his education in Ireland, he is said to have paid particular attention to the study of astronomy. His superior scientific knowledge often inclined him to descant on the prevailing astronomical doctrines of the day with great freedom and candour, and especially on that relative to the antipodes. Espousing the system which he had been taught in his own country, Virgilius defended the sphericity of the earth, and from thence deduced corollaries and scholiums which proved by no means agreeable to the taste or opinion of those who still adhered to the once admired, but now exploded, hypothesis of the old school. Among those who considered the theory of Virgilius as false and worse than eccentric was the good Boniface. Nor is the epithet when coupled with the name of Boniface misapplied; that Prelate was a good and a great man, but, following the astronomical elements of the age in which he lived, he felt sincerely convinced that Virgilius was wrong, and that his principles and his antipodes should be denounced as extravagant and mischievous. Accordingly Boniface sent a communication to Rome, and among other things accused Virgilius with having maintained that there were other men living under the earth and inhabiting a world altogether distinct from this. It is not surprising that Zachary should consider this doctrine both novel and dangerous, and hence in his reply he is made to say that 'in case it be proved that virgilius had held the doctrine of there being another world, and other men under the earth, a synod should be convened and he should be expelled the church.' (Usher's Sylloge, N. 17). Virgilius, however, having submitted a correct explanation of his opinion to Zachary, was pronounced orthodox, and a perfect reconciliation was thus happily effected.

About the year 748 Virgilius was appointed Abbot of the Monastery of St. Peter at Salzburg and in 756 he was appointed Bishop of that city by Pope Stephen II, Pepin having been at the time King of France. Virgilius considered himself unworthy to be raised to this exalted dignity, and continued for two years in his refusal, until at length, being prevailed upon by the Bishops of the province and by the clergy and people, he submitted to the appointment. The accounts which German writers give us of the zeal and Iabours of Virgilius after his consecration bespeak the vigilance of the prelate and the sanctity of the saint. He consecrated a Basilica in Salzburg in honour of St. Stephen, besides the celebrated abbey of Ottinga, which he founded. Virgilius also repaired the monastery in which he had been abbot, and enlarged the abbey of St. Maximilian and other establishments. His great and chief work was the Basilica, which he founded and dedicated in the name of St. Rupert, and after having translated there the remains of the saint, he constituted it the cathedral. Karastus, the Sclavonian Duke of Carinthia, and Chetimar, his cousin, were both converted and baptized by Virgilius and from the interest which the Saint took in the welfare of the Carinthian church, and the number of missionaries with which he had supplied it, he was always considered and is justly styled its Apostle. After a most useful and holy life, Virgilius died at Salzburg on the 27th of November, A.D., 785. A discourse on the Antipodes, and several other tracts are attributed to him, and he is to this day held in the highest veneration as Patron of Salzburg and Apostle of Carinthia."

The saint is universally admitted to have died on the 27th Nov., and on this day his feast is celebrated, in Ireland, as a double, with proper Lessons for the Second Nocturn of his Office. The year of his death is uncertain, but it lies between 781 and 789. In the Four Masters his death is entered as above in 784 (recte, 789).

He was buried in the Monastery of St. Peter, at Salzburg, where his tomb, after lying hidden for centuries, was discovered in 1171. The tomb is said to have borne an inscription to the effect that Virgilius built the church in which he rested, and that he died "v. Kal. Dec. [i.e. Nov. 27th], 781."

777 [recte, 782]. "Scannal Ua Taidhg, Abbot of Achadh-bo, died, after having been forty three
years in the Abbacy. He died on the festival of St. Comhgall [ie., May the Ioth].
The F. M. have an earlier entry of Scannal's death, thus:

775 "Scannal, Abbot, successor of Cainneach, died."
The Annals of Clonmacnoise, in recording his death, call him Abbot of Kilkenny, thus:

773 " Scannall, Abbot of Kilkenny, died."

808 [recte, 813]. "Fearadhach, son of Scannal, scribe and abbot of Achadhbo, died."
He was probably the writer of the original Life of St. Canice, of which three copies, differing but slightly, are extant.

820. "Forbhasach, Abbot of Achadh-bo Cainnigh, died."

835. "Robhartach, son of Maeluidhir, Abbot of Achadh-bo-Cainnigh, died."

843. "Robhartach, son of Breasal, Abbot of Achadh-bo-Cainnigh, died."

850 "Forbhasach, son of Maeluidhir, Abbot of Cill-mor-Cinnech, died."
Whether this entry refers to Aghaboe or not, is, at least, doubtful. At this period Aghaboe was certainly St. Canice's Cill-mor, or great [i.e., principal] church; and Cinnech may be but another form of Cainnigh, the genitive case of Cainneach, Canice. However, some are inclined to identify Cill-mor-Cinnech with the church of Kinneigh, in the Diocese of Cork.

853. "Ailill, Abbot of Achadh-bo, died."

857. "Suairleach, Abbot of Achad-bo-Cainnigh, died. Of him was said:
'Great grief is Cinaedh, the revered chieftain, son of Cosgrach of beaming countenance,
'The gifted torch, enraptured bard, the exalted Abbot of Achadhbo.'

885. "Maelmartin, Abbot of Achadh-bo-Cainnigh, died."

901. "Celi, son of Urthuili, prior of Achadh-bo-Cainnigh, died."

914. "Maenach, son of Dailgein, Abbot of Achadh-bo-Cainnigh, died."

926. "Ciaran, abbot of Achadh-bo-Cainnigh" [died].

This obit is entered thus in the Annals of Ulster: -

927 [recte, 928]. "Ciaran, coarb [i.e., successor] of Cainnech, quievit."

933. "Cormac, son of Maenach, abbot of Achadh-bo, was slain."
His death is entered thus in the Annals of Clonmacnoise

930 [recte, 935]. "Cormac mac Mooney, abbot of Achiebo, [and] Maccleanna, abbot of Imleagh-
Iver and Leighmore, were slain by those of Eoghanachta."

966. "Muireadhacb, the foster-son (dalta) of Maenach, successor ( comharba) of Cainneach, died."

969. " Maelsamhna, successor of Cainneach died "

1003. "Aengus, son of Breasal, successor of Cainneach, died on his pilgrimage to Ard-Macha."

1007. "Maelmaire Ua Gearagain, successor of Cainneach, died."

1008. "Cathal, son of Carlus, successor of Cainneach, died."

1012. "Cian Ua Geargain, successor of Cainneach, died."

1038. "Cairbre Ua Coimhghillain, successor of Cainneach, died at Rome."

1050. "Dubhthach, son of Milidh, successor of Cainneach, died."

1066. "Coemhoran, successor of Cainneach," [died].

1095. "Eochaidh Ua Coisi, Vice-abbot (secnab) of Achadh-bo [died.]"

1108. "Celech Ua Coemhorain, successor of Cainneach, died."

1154. "Cian Ua Gerachain, successor of Cainneach, died."
Probably the old Irish order of monks held on at Aghaboe till the Norman Invasion, about which time they must have disappeared off the scene. After along interval of about two centuries, they were succeeded here by the Dominican Friars, in the year 1382.

ANNALS OF AGHABOE

A.D., 913. "The plundering of Corcach, Lis-mor and Achadh-bo, by strangers.

1045. "Cana, noble priest of Achadh-bo, died."

1052. "The church of Achad-bo was built in this year, and the shrine of St. Canice was placed in
it. (Templum Achad-bo constructum est hoc Ao., et scrin. Canic do fagvail and).

1066. "Fogartach, noble priest of Achadh-bo, died at a good old age."

1069. "Faelan, i.e., the Blind O'Mordha, died at Achadh-bo. Gillamaire, son of Dubh, chief of
Crimhthannan, was slain by Macraith Ua Mordha, in the doorway of the oratory of Teach-Mochua, they having previously mutually sworn upon the Caimmin which was in the possession of the son of Dubh, [so] that the blood of the son of Dubh is now and ever will remain upon the Caimmin. Macraith Ua Mordha was afterwards killed at Muilleann-na-crossan, in the vicinity of Achadhbo, having the Caimmin with him, in revenge of Fintan, Moehua, and Colman."

1100. "Macraith Ua Flaithen, successor of Ciaran and Cronan of Tuaim Greine, died on his pilgrimage at Achadh-bo; he was of the tribe of Ui-Fiachrach Fella" [in Co. Roscommon].

1103. Fionn O'Kealy was chief of Magh Lacha and Ui-Foircheallain. His successor, Murchadh O'Kealy, was succeeded by Diarmaid O'Kealy.

1105. "Aedh Ua Ruadhain and Aililla Ua Spealain, priests of Achadh-bo, died."

1106. [recte, 1107]. "The family of Kilkenny gave an overthrow to the family of Leighlyn."
By the "family" here, Irish scholars understand the inmates of a monastery. This entry clearly refers to the "family" of Achadh-bo monastery, or of a monastery that formerly stood on the site of St. Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny.

1116. "Corcach-mor-Mumhan . . . Achadh-bo-Chainnigh . . and a great portion of Lis-mor-Mochuda were burned in the beginning of the Lent of this year."

1118. From the Synod of Rath-Breasail, held this year, the See of Ossory most probably dates its translation from Saighir to Aghaboe.3

1172. About this year Earl Strongbow granted to Adam de Hereford the feudal tenancy of half the viii of Aghaboe and the entire half of the cantred of land in which it was situated, parcel of the possessions of Dermod Q'Kealy. The Earl's charter, the original of which is at Kilkenny Castle, runs as follows: -

"Comes Ricardus, filius Comitis Ricardi Gisleberti, omnibus amicis suis et hominibus Francis Anglicis, Walensibus, Hibernjensibus tarn presentibus quam futuris, saiutem. Sciatis me dedisse et concessisse Ado de Hereford dimidiam uillam de Achebo et totum dimidium cantredum terre in quo uilla sedet, corn totis pertinentiis suis, sicut Ochelli, Deremod, scilicet, illam melius tenuit in Usseria, per liberum seruicium quinque militum, sibi et heredibus suis, de me et heredibus meis, libere et quiete et honorifice, in terra, in aqua, in bosco, in plano, in monasteriis, in molendinis, in piscaturis, in stagnis, in viuariis, in foro, in domibus et castellis firmandis, in uiis, in semitis et in omnibus libertatibus absque omnibus malis consuetudinibus tenendum et habendum in feodo et et hereditate per liberum seruicium prenominatum, scilicet, quinque militum. Quare volo et firmiter precipio quatenus predictus Adam et heredes sui totum tenumentum suum de me et heredibus meis qui melius et liberius tenumentum suum de me et heredibus meis tenuerit in Hibernia uel tenere debuerit de tanto feodo. His testibus: Ramondo Constabulario, Griffino fratre suo, Roberto de Sancto Michaele, Ricardo de Hereford, Johanne de Herford, Hugone de Gurnai, Waltero de Ridell, Johanne de Clohalle, Rogero de Sanford, Willelmo Bret, Waltero filio Pagani, Hugone de Leia, Hugone de Luieuilla."

1190 (circa). Bishop Felix O'Dulany transferred his residence and the Diocesan Cathedral from Aghaboe to Kilkenny.

1202-18. Bishop Hugh de Rous exchanged with William, Earl Marshall, the See lands of Aghâboe for the lands of Ballysiy (Ballinaslee), Growin (Grevine), and Insnack (Innisnag); and also the advowson of the church "of St. Canice in the VIII of Aghaboe and of all other churches of the same place, for the advowson of the churches of the Blessed Mary of Kilkenny and of St. Patrick of Donaghmore."

1234. The great church of Cill Cainnigh, i.e., Atha-bo, was built by the successor (coarb) of Ciaran of Saighir."
This is a literal translation of an entry in a modern compilation of Irish Annals, made at Paris, by John Conry, for Most Rev. Dr. John O'Brien, Bishop of Cloyne. The entry is evidently corrupted, and it is impossible to say whether it has reference to the Cathedral church of St. Canice at Kilkenny, or to the old church of Aghaboe taken down in 1818.

1278. A suit at law was entered in the Court of Common Pleas, Dublin, by Eudo la Zouche and Milisent, his wife, against Geoffry St. Leger, Bishop of Ossory, for the advowson of the church of Aghaboe. In the record of their plaint, Eudo and Milisent allege "that the church belongs to them at present, because King Henry, the King's father, presented the last incumbent, namely Gilbert de Paunton, deceased, who was admitted and instituted because George de Cantilupe, brother of Milisent and whose heir she is, was under age and in custody of the King. The Bishop disturbs their presentation and they claim damages of £1,000. The Bishop answers that the church is not vacant, but full, namely, by the presentation of William of Athy. Eudo and Milisent say that if the church is full it is so by the injury of the Bishop, because they had presented John de Kirkeby thereto within the term limited, namely, 4 months. The Bishop says that they made no presentation to him within the time limited, but that that time having elapsed he had conferred the church on William by authority of the Council of Lateran, and of this he puts himself on the country. Eudo and Milisent say that their presentation was within the time limited, and likewise put themselves on the country.
"Eudo and Milisent assign as error in the plaint that in England it was an established custom that Bishops cannot confer benefices by authority of the Council of Lateran, except after a lapse of not less than six months, and Ireland ought to be governed by the laws and customs prevailing in England. The judges of the Court of Common Pleas, Dublin, decided that an inquisition should be taken whether the Bishop conferred the church after a lapse of four months or not.
"Afterwards the Bishop grants that he will avoid (deincumbrare) the church, and admit on the presentation of Eudo and Milisent ; and for this they remit their damages."'

1325. "About the feast of St. Thomas, the Apostle [Dec. 21st], Bren O'Bren, aided by the English of Ely, took a great prey in Ossory, on the borders of the Slieve Bloom, and in Athbo (Aghahoe) and Admacart (Aghamacart) ; and slew the loyal English while defending their goods."

1346. The town and church of Aghaboe, together with the shrine containing the bones and relics of St. Canice, were burned by Dermot MacGillapatrick.

1359. The Castle of Aghaboe was taken from the English about this year by the MacGillapatricks.

1382. In this year the Abbey of Aghaboe, of which but the ruined church remains, was founded for Dominicans by the Lord of Ossory, Florence, i.e., Finghin, MacGillapatrick. Its first prior was John O'Foelan, evidently an Ossorian ; his successors for the next four centuries will he given later on.

1400. To about this date must be assigned "Phelan's Chapel," which is attached to the Abbey church, on the south side.

1481 (March 11). By Papal Brief, John de Machostigain, clerk of Ossory, was appointed to the Rectory, Church and Parish of St. Canice of Achabo, and to the parish of St. " Furlinus " (recte, Fuilinus) Borduyl (Bordwell), in Ossory. From Borduyl, 12 marks income ; from Achabo, 30 marks.

1525 (May 5). Donald Ibaydlayn (O'Phelan). clerk, of Ossory Diocese, bound himself to the Camera Apostolica for the annats of Delye (Kyledelhig), Rilleirvnuyd (Kylermugh), and the vicariate of Achabo, parochial churches; also for the annats of the Priorship of the Monastery of St. Tyernach of Achamerart (Aghamacart),- which are all now vacant, and whose fruits, taken together, are worth £40 sterling. A provision to same is ordered to be made out to the said Donald.

1540. Suppression of the Abbey of Aghaboe.

1542. (May 4). "The King (Henty VIII.) presents Donald O'Fellan (O'Phelan) clerk, to the rectory or prebend of De]ge (Kyledellig), and the rectory and vicarage of Killardwmyd (Kylermugh), Aghbo and Aghmcard, in the Diocese of Ossory, he having first surrendered the provisional Bulls of Clement, Bishop of Rome [1523-34], whereby he unlawfully obtained the said rectories."
Four days later a Crown pardon was granted to the same " Donald O'Felan, clerk, in the Diocese of Ossory."

1546. (Nov. 2). The King presents Donough M'Gynd, clerk, to the rectory of St. Canice of Agheboo, Diocese of Ossory, vacant because Donald M'Costygyn, the incumbent, is of the Irish nation.

1586. A Crown lease was made to Daniel Kelly, soldier, of "the site of the house of friars of Athbowe in Osserye, in the country of M'Gilpatricke, and cottages and lands in Athbowe."

1601 (Ap. 10). By royal patent of this date, Florence, Lord Baron of Upper Ossory, was granted, inter alia, "the site, circuit, &c., of the late house of Friars of Athboue, otherwise Aghavo [at the rent of £3 10s. 2d.], and the advowson of the rectory and vicarage of St. Kenni of Aghavo, otherwise Aghvo, to hold for ever in fee farm." This grant was confirmed by letters patent of the 9th of James I. (1611), which state, but quite incorrectly, that the rectory and vicarage formed parcel of the dissolved Priory of Inistioge.

Priors of the Dominican Abbey of Aghaboe, from its foundation, in 1382, to the year 1786

(From Archdall's Monasticon Hibernicum).

To these may be added the Rev. Patrick Dulehanty. Prior in 1663, and the Rev. James Phelan, Prior in 1693 In 1756 and 1761, the Rev. James Williams was Prior. In his Hib. Dom., Dr. Burke writes :-" In the year 1756, only one [Dominican] cultivated the Lord's vineyard in the district of this convent [i.e., of Aghaboe], viz., the Rev. Fr. Br. James Williams, O.P., Prior, who was transfihiated to this from the Convent of Borrishoole. He was then in the 69th year of his age, and 40th of his religious profession, and an excellent missionary." Father Patrick Keely, born in 1735, professed in 1752, was Prior of Aghaboe, as appears from Archdall's list, in 1786 ; but it seems likely his appointment was purely titular, and that he never resided in the district. He is the last Prior of whom there is any record.

ANTIQUITIES AT AGHABOE

THE ABBEY CHURCH.-It was coeval with the Abbey that formerly adjoined it, on the north side, both having been founded by Finghin Mac Gillapatrick, in 1382, for Friars of the Dominican Order. Internally it is 100 ft. long and 25 ft. wide, and has no division into nave and chancel. The south side-wall and west gable-the former 20 ft. high, the latter 33 ft.-are fairly well preserved ; the top of the east gable is broken away down to the apex of the window arch ; the north side-wall is razed to the ground. The east window, still perfect, is divided below by two slender mullions, and is traceried above in the flamboyant style; it is contained within a gothic arch, externally, 5 ft. 8 in. wide, and 9 ft. high, with a hood-moulding overhead.

In the south side-wall, beside the altar, is a well preserved ogee-headed niche of cut-stone. It is 40 in. high, 22 in. wide, and 23 in. deep, and is divided horizontally, in the middle, by a thin flag, into two compartments, the upper one of which served as a credence, the lower as a sacrarium. Over this niche are three windows, to give light to the altar; they are but a few yards asunder, and their framework is destroyed both within and without. Ledwich's engraving of the ruins, as they appeared some time before 1796, shows two of these windows to have been each divided by a single mullion, arid to have been traced at top ; the third must have been of similar pattern ; but the framework and tracery of all three have been torn down.

The entrance door, in the west gable, was of cut stone, and ornamented at the top, but is now ruinous; it was 47 in. wide and probably 7 or 8 ft. high. Over it is a tracery window, of which only the cut-stone frame is left.
THE CLOISTER adjoined the church on the north side of the latter. It was 60 ft. square. Around it were the monastic buildings, all of which have been razed to the ground.

PHELAN'S CHAPEL is built up against the south side wall of the Abbey church, with which it communicates by two gothic arches resting on a solid pier of masonry. Its length from north to south is 35 ft., its width 24 ft. The windows, which were of same style as those of the church it adjoins, are all broken. There are two niches, each divided horizontally, to form a credence and sacrarium; there is also a tall niche for a statue. This chapel is apparently of the same date as the Abbey Church, or at most twenty or thirty years later. It may have derived its name from John O'Foelan, the first Dominican Prior ; or from one of the O'Phelans of Magh Lacha, whose forefathers were the ancient chiefs of this district. There is one very modern tomb in Phelan's Chapel ; there is none at all in or around the Abbey church.

THE ANCIENT PARISH CHURCH AND BELFRY.-The ancient parish church stood about 50 yards to the east of the Abbey church, It was built in the early English style (as may be gathered from the engraving of the ruins at Aghaboe, and, therefore, dated from between 1189 and 1272. It originally consisted of a nave and chancel; but even before Ledwich's time, the former had been pulled down, and the chancel alone had to serve, in later times the uses of a Protestant church. The following is Ledwich's description of the church as it stood in his day:

"It has always been understood, that the present parish church of Aghaboe was the chancel of the Cathedral [recte, of the old parish church]. There are some reasons to induce this belief, for there is no west window; but a gothic [chancel] arch of red grit, now filled up with masonry, clearly marks a chancel or some such division of the church. The foundations of walls point out a continuance of the church to the west. The belfry, a small hexagonal building, is without the church, and on a line with the chancel. It is closed with a circular cap of masonry. The bell is placed distinct from it; the top of the belfry is not as high as the church. When you enter the church, a few paces to the south is seen a door, imitating a transept. It is of stone, the arches concentric, and beautifully enriched with carving and foliage. The church is about forty feet long and lighted by three windows, two to the south and one to the east, the latter divided by stone mullions and branched out into trefoils. The northern [southern?] wall is adorned with niches, canopies, and concentric mouldings [evidently a sedilia] and has a curious confession-box in the thickness of the walls, not far from the altar."

This church was taken down in 1818, and the present Protestant church built on its foundations. The old hexagonal belfry of the early part of the 13th century stands at the north-west angle of the present church. It is small and narrow and about 45 ft. high. There is a small gothic door, framed with gritstone, in the south side, at the ground ; it has overhead a hood moulding, ending at one side in a grotesque human head, and broken at the other. The belfry has, besides, three very narrow loops, and in the west wall, above, a trefoil-headed window with heavy moulding. Since Ledwieh wrote (1796), the belfry has been repaired, about 11 ft. of masonry having been added at the top.

The ancient BAPTISMAL FONT lies in the centre of a green plot before the church door; it is octagonal, and of cut stone, but is devoid of ornament ; it is slightly fractured at the rim ; its internal diameter at top is 22 in., at the bottom 14½ in; the depth is 8 in.
The oldest monument by many years, is a horizontal slab lying at the east end of the church and inscribed:

"Hic iuxta requiescit Dorothea Hedges. uxor Roberti Hedges, de Burras armigr. quae postquam (ad an. aetatis 35). pietate. beneficentia, coenis, et inocua iucunditate omnibus charam, charam Deo praebuisset, ab hac vita ad meliorem cornigravit 18 die Novembris Ano. Dom., 1675."

None of the other inscriptions are old or interesting.

AGHABOE MOAT, about 150 yards north of the Abbey church, is about 20 ft. high, and is surrounded by a very wide fosse ; it is 30 yards in diameter at the top, where there are remains of a very thick enclosing wall or coshel of stone and mortar. For the last twenty years the centre of the upper surface of the moat has been gradually sinking, till the depression is now 4 or 5 ft. deep. This is locally attributed to the collapse of an arched chamber believed, and clearly with good reason, to be within the dun. All around the moat are many traces of old roads and foundations.

The TOWN OF AGHABOE, is said, at one time to have numbered 1300 houses, lay around the Abbey, to the west and south, but principally to the west, in the Pigeon Park of Currawn, where extensive foundations still remain beneath the surface. The Pigeon Park is the richest of the excellent grazing land for which Aghaboe is famous, and from which it derived its name Achadh-bho, i.e., the Field of the Cow. The name, it may be remarked, is latinized "Campulus bovis" by St. Adamnan,' and "Ager bourn" by the author of Life of a St. Canice (quoted by Ussher, Primordia, p. 597). Its Irish pronunciation, in Co. Kilkenny, is Ockaz'o.

TRADITIONAL MEMORIALS OF ST. CANICE AT AGHABOE

KENNY'S WELL-In his Statistical Account of Aghaboe, published in 1796, Ledwich writes :-" I have constantly seen, while resident in Aghaboe, pedlars lay down their packs, and with others come to St. Canice's well, which was in my Orchard, and there perform their devotions. Others retreated about a quarter of a mile distant, to St. Canice's bush, for the same religious purpose. Formerly a Roman Catholic clergyman attended in Aghaboe, and celebrated Mass and St. Canice's office ; but this custom has ceased for some years." (pp. 83-4). This well was about 200 yards south-west of the Abbey church, in the Pigeon Park, a little to the rere of Bolger's house. Something more than a century ago, when the wall of Ledwich's orchard was removed, the well was left unprotected, and became a watering place for cattle. It was soon trampled into a marshy pool, with the result that it lost its old name of Kenny's Well, and received the designation of "Kenny's Pond." About 1820 a drain was run from the Pond, into the stream passing by the adjacent school-house, and the hollow being then filled up, every trace of Kenny's holy well was obliterated.
KENNY'S BUSH was in the "Cross field," a quarter of a mile south of the abbey. It rotted away a few years ago, and only the decayed stump remains. Down to about 1800, the public road from Aghaboe to Ballacolla and Durrow, came out by Mrs. Dunne's hall-door, and thence by Kenny's bush, Springfield, Farreneglish, Ballygihen, &c.

THE CROSS, or KENNY'S CROSS, in the townland of Cross, is one of the most remarkable objects in the vicinity of Aghaboe. It consists of two straight depressions or shallow trenches, in the level surface of the green " Cross-field," each 30 ft long, 20 in. wide and 2 in. deep, and crossing the other at right angles in the centre, their extremities duly facing the four cardinal points. The depressions forming the Cross are coated over with a crop of short, close grass, and cannot be easily distinguished from the rest of the rich, grassy field in which they are found. The appearance of this Cross is thus accounted for by tradition.

When St. Kenny died at Aghaboe, the Kilkenny men came in force, as he was being waked in the monastery church, and bore his remains away, for interment in their own chief town. The men of Aghboe, on learning what they had done, assembled and pursued them with all haste, and overtook them where the old road to Kilkenny passed by "Kenny's bush." The'Kilkenny men refusing to surrender the precious treasure they were bearing, and being challenged to battle, in consequence, by their pursuers, laid down the coffin, and prepared themselves for the conflict. Both sides drew up in battle order, a short distance from the coffin; but scarcely had hostilities commenced when in their midst appeared two coffins, both exactly alike, and exactly similar to that for which they were fighting, and which, at the same time, was no longer to be seen in the spot where it had been laid down only a few moments before. Recognising in this wonderful manifestation the intervention of the Saint on behalf of peace and charity, the combatants at once desisted from their unseemly struggle, and agreed among themselves that each side should be allowed to bear away a coffin in peace. Thus one interment took place at Aghaboe and another in Kilkenny town ; and thus it has come to pass that ever since no one can tell in which of the two places St. Kenny lies. The Aghaboe people, however, believe that the saintly body was really in the coffin taken away by the Kilkenny men, because from that time out the town of Aghaboe declined, while Kilkenny, blessed by the possession of the Patron's remains, grew in importance. The spot on which the two coffins appeared has been ever since marked by the Cross described above, which, imprinted in a miraculous manner, has never been, and it is believed, never can be, obliterated.

Upon the reliability of this tradition, either in whole or in part, it is now impossible to pronounce. It would appear to be sufficiently certain that a portion of the Saint's remains was kept enshrined at Aghaboe till 1346. On the other hand it is quite certain that the Cross of the tradition has held its place at Aghaboe as long as any one can remember, and that even as far back as 1653, at the time of the Down Survey, it gave the name of Cross to the townland in which its outlines may still be traced.

ANCIENT CHURCH OF MONAHINCHA, VIEW OF INTERIOR (From Ledwich's Antiquities, 1804)

AGHABOE AND MONAHINCHA.-As stated already' St. Canice's favourite retreat was the little island of Monahincha, otherwise Insula Stagni Cre, called by Gira]dus Cambrensis "Insula Viventium" or Island of the Living. Between the inmates of the monastery established here during the Saint's closing years or soon after his death, and the community of Aghaboe, the closest friendship was long kept up. Tradition avers that both religious bodies belonged to the same Irish order of monks, and that, in fact, one of the Houses was but a branch or daughter of the other.

Now the origin of the religious establishment at Monahincha has been passed over in silence by our ancient hagiographers, and is looked upon, at the present day, as involved in impenetrable darkness. Canon O'Hanlon, no doubt, is of opinion that its founder was St. Cronan of Roscrea; but his views are not in agreement with what we read in St. Cronan's own Lives. Thus the Bollandist Life of the saint has "Prope Stagnum Cre cellam aedificavit; " and in another life, as quoted by Ussher, we find "Cellam itaque Prope Stagnum Cree (in quo est insula modica, in qua est monasterium monachorum semper religiosissimum) aedificavit; quae Cella Sean-ross nominatur." Here the cell or church founded by St. Cronan is described as near Stagnum Cre, but such a church could not possibly be identified with a church or monastery on the island of Monahincha, which was not only near, but was even in the very centre of the great Stagnum Cre. Moreover, the author of the life quoted by Ussher, takes good care to distinguish between the church of Sean-ross (clearly the old name of Roscrea), near the Stagnum or Lake, and the monastery of most holy men on the island in the Stagnum itself.

In the absence of any authentic record dealing with the origin of Monahincha monastery, the tradition which connects this house so intimately with Aghaboe becomes of considerable importance ; and though it does not state which of the two monasteries was the mater and which the filia, it can scarcely be doubted that Aghaboe was the older foundation, and was therefore the mother-house, seeing that, in his life, St. Canice is always represented as retiring to Monahinch in order to be entirely removed from the society of men. Should the colonization of Monahincha have been effected from Aghaboe, it must have dated from the last years of St. Canice's life, or from the time of his immediate successors in the Abbacy.

ANCIENT ROADWAY.-The monasteries of Aghaboe and Monahincha were connected by an ancient road, which ran from the latter, through Moon-Aela. (now called the bog of Allen), to Kilmartin; and thence, under the church of Skirke. through Clonagudden; thence, between the townlands of Munnia and Barnasallagh, where part of it may still be seen; thence by Britthawce well, in Ballybrophy; and thence through Doon, Moonfad, Grange, Lismore and Machaire na Sceach (now Bushfield), to Aghaboe. A grey horse, called the "gearrawn bawn," used to carry letters from one monastery to the other, day after day, without any guide, along this road, till it happened at last that he was robbed of the mail bag, and he was sent on the journey no more. His place was then taken by a monk, who performed his task with all diligence for a considerable time. One day, however, when passing through Machaire na Sceach, he sat down on the road-side to rest himself, and soon fell fast asleep. When he awoke he found that a thief had been on the scene and carried away his satchel of letters; and, being greatly incensed over the outrage, he left his malediction on the townland in which it had happened. Machaire na Sceach has ever since suffered from the curse, and mácaire na sceac gainraith (i.e., unlucky Machaire), is a saying handed down from remote times to the present day.

THE MACCASHINS

Among the old tribes of Upper Ossory the MacCashins or Cassius, (in Irish mac Caisin, pronounced (Acosheen), held no unimportant place. They were evidently a family of hereditary physicians like the O'Lees, O'Cassidys, &c. They get frequent mention in records of the 16th and 17th centuries. Pardons were granted, in 1566, to. Morogh M'Cassyn of Crovan (now Cruell), gentleman, John M'Cassyn of Delge (now Kyledellig), surgeon, and Owen m'Owne M'Casshien, of Grage, Co. Kilkenny, surgeon; in 1585, to Thomas boy M'Cashin and Iian Cashine, surgeons, in the Queen's Co.; in 1586, to Donogh oge M'Donogh Caech [M'Cashin], surgeon, and Morough M'Cassin, of Aghavoe, freeholder; and, in 1602, to Myeagh M'Cassen, Georchyn (Surgeon), of Elunvuryn (Clonburren), and Gillpatrick M'Shane M'Cassen, Georchyn, of Ballybrowgh (Ballybrophy).

Morgan Cashin, gent, was slain in the Irish ranks, at Borris-in-Ossory, in 1642. He was the principal man of his name, and, at the time of his death was found to have been possessed of Coolkerry, in the parish of Coolkerry; Kilbreedybeg, Kilbreedymore and Skanaghan (now Sceach na gceann), Coolfin, the moiety of Bordwell, and Glanreagh and Carrigeen, in the parish of Bordwell; Caran (or Currawn), Caroreagh, Croftis, Heyghy and Gurtnaskryny, Ballygaudenbeg, Coolbally, and the moiety of Laigaragh (or Lara) and Banoge, in the parish of Aghaboe; and, (jointly with Brian M'William Fitzpatrick), of Rathdowney, in the parish of the same name. As an Irish Papist, slain in rebellion, Morgan Cashin was declared by the Cromwellians to have forfeited all his estate.
Conly Cashin of Kilcoke, Doctor, was appointed executor by the will of his cousin, James Rothe, of Durrow, Oct. 20th, 1656. He is probably identical with Conly Cashin, M.D., a native of Upper Ossory, who was practising in Dublin in 1667, in which year he published a Latin tract entitled "Willisius male vindicatus ; sive Medicus Oxoniensis mendacitatis et inscitiae detectus." Miles Cassin, chirurgeon, is mentioned as living in 1730.
In 1704, three members of the family helped to keep the Faith alive in Ossory, viz.; Fathers Denis, P.P., Rathdowney; John, P.P., Attanagh; and John, P.P., Upperwoods and Aghaboe. In i8o6 died another Father John Cassin, P.P. of Callan and great-grand-uncle of the Rev. William Cassin now Adm. St. Mary's, Kilkenny.

GORTNACLEA

The castle of Gortnaclea stands on the brow of a slope, over the Gully river, which here separates Qssory from Leix. It consisted originally of a massive keep 31 ft. square externally, with a projecting eastern wing, now destroyed, in which were situated the entrance door and the spiral stairway. The keep is still fairly perfect. Its side-walls are 9 ft. thick from top to bottom, the end walls, 8 ft. thick. By an unusual arrangement, the great stone arch supports the top or fifth storey. The earliest mentioned occupant of this Castle is "Donyl Fitzpatrick of Gorteneclohe, gentleman," who received a pardon, June 30th, 1566.' He was brother of Florence, Lord Baron of Upper Ossory, and father of Uny ny Donell M'Gilpatrick of Gortneclehe and Katherine nyne Donell M'Gilpatrick of the same place, who received pardons Aug. 4th, 1601. Daniel Fitzpatrick, probably his grandson, was seised of the castle and land of Gortneclea (of which Farrenkenny is parcel), and of the towns and lands of Gortnecroe, Camclone, Kilbrekan and Cowell; and, being so seised, died Jany. 26th, 1632, leaving Bryan his son and heir, then 21 years of age and unmarried.

The most striking event in the history of Gortnaclea castle is the imprisonment there of Thomas, the Black Earl of Ormond. Taken prisoner on Corrandhu, over Ballyragget, April 10th, 1600, by Owny O'More, the Earl was carried oft into Leix; but as there was no castle of sufficient strength in O'More's Country to serve as a prison for so important a captive, he was, after a day or two, conveyed to Gortnaclea, the castle of Fitzpatrick, Owny's confederate. Here he was kept a close prisoner for about three weeks, during which the famous Jesuit, Father James Archer, remained constantly with him, sparing no pains to induce him to return to the Faith of his fathers, and to join the great League formed by Hugh O'Neill for the freedom of his native land. At the end of April or beginning of May, Owny, fearing a rescue, thought it safer to remove his prisoner from Gortnaclea to the woods and fastnesses of Leix. He had him conveyed, subsequently, to O'Dempsy's castle of Ballybrittas, where he was kept in durance till the 12th of June, when the terms of his enlargement were agreed on.

In Mahony's translation of Keating's History of Ireland, Gortnaclea appears under the Irish form gort na clethi. As Irish speakers call it Gortnacleh, its meaning is evidently the field of the wattle or stake. Locally it is understood to signify the field of the stakes; and from this arises the popular, though erroneous, belief that Gortnaclea is the scene of that memorable exhibition of Dalcassian bravery, when the wounded heroes of Clontarf had themselves bound to stakes, that they might be able to engage in conflict with the traitorous Ossorians, then bent on obstructing their homeward march.

But Gortnaclea has no real claim to be considered the historic Field of Stakes. In the War of the Gael and Gaill, the author of which was a contemporary of Brian Boru, and was probably an eye-witness of the battle of Clontarf, and accompanied the Dalcassians on their return thence, it is expressly stated that the episode of the stakes occurred at Ath-I, now Athy, on the Barrow. Magh Chloinne Cheal laigh, or the Territory of the O'Kellys, in which the same ancient authority states that the men of Ossory and Leix had encamped, in order to intercept the Dalcassians, lay west of the River Barrow, in the Queen's Co. According to an old Map of Leix, made in Queen Mary's reign, Farren O'Kelly, or O'Kelly's Country, also called Magh-Druchtain, was then limited to the two civil parishes of Timogue and Tullomoy, in the Barony of Ballyadams; but at the time of the English Invasion, and for centuries before it, it included also the district of GalIen, which comprised the civil parish of Dysart Gallen and probably also that of Timahoe.' From this it will be seen that the ancient Magh Chloinne Cheallaigh lay along the road from Athy to Castlecomer, the road in all likelihood traversed by the returning Dalcassians. From Castlecomer their march would continue by Dysart and Lisnafunshin, through Jenkinstown Demesne, over the Nore by a ford a little to the north of Three Castles Bridge, thence to Freshford, and thence over Grane Hill into Munster.

It has been sometimes stated that John Keegan, the poet, was born in Gortnaclea; but such is not the fact. This gifted child of song belonged to Leix and not to Ossory, having first seen the light in Killeany, about 40 perches north of Gortnaclea bridge, on the road to Kilbricken.

FARREN-EGLISH

Fearan Eglais, i.e., Land of the Church, or Church Land, was, as the name implies, glebe land, having been formerly parcel of the temporalities of the Rectory of Aghaboe. Previous to the Reformation there was a church here which must have served as a chapel-of-ease to Aghaboe parish church. It was a large, roomy church, too, being more than 48 ft. long. The north-side wall and west gable yet remain to about half their original height; the other walls are gone. In the north wall, 7 feet from the west gable, is a narrow ioop of chiselled stone, chamfered, such as is found in other ancient churches to give light to a gallery stairs. East of this is a cut-stone gothic door, 5 ft. high and only 23½ in. wide. About 1845, the graveyard attached to the church was uprooted and the clay put out for top-dressing. As in all such cases, ill-luck attended the perpetrator of this sacrilegious outrage on the homes of the dead. About ioo yards south of the church ruins, is a hillock called the Rath; the surface is rough and uneven, and there is neither rampart nor fosse.

Ledwich states that there was a Nunnery at Farren, and that from the colour of the habits worn by the inmates, it-or rather the church attached to it-was named Teampull na gCailleach dubh, or the Church of the Black Nuns.' This Nunnery probably ceased to exist about the time of the Norman Conquest. It is said an underground passage connects Farren Church and the Abbey of Aghaboe, but as both are an Irish mile and a half apart, the statement cannot be taken seriously. About a quarter of a mile west of Farren is a holy well called "Kenny's Well."

BALLYGIHEN

In Irish this name is written Baile-Ui-Gaeithin, and is pronounced by Irish speakers (as nearly as I can represent it), Bolleegúheen. It signifies the Town of O'Gihin or O'Gahan. The castle of Ballygihen is a very curious old building. It is 45 ft. long externally, and only 12 ft. wide internally, with a projection at the north-east corner, rectangular below and rounded above. The east side-wall is 30 ft. high; the south wall is entirely destroyed some fragments of the other walls remain. The walls were all from 3½ to 4 ft. thick, but, to strengthen the west side-wall, another wall of the same thickness was built up against it all along on the outside. The courtyard wall is still in fair preservation; it is 12 ft. high all round and was, together with the castle, surrounded by a deep fosse.
Ballygihen was settled on his illegitimate son, John Fitzpatrick, by Brian, Lord of Upper Ossory. On the 30th June, 1566, the said "John Fitzpatrik of Ballygeyhin, gentleman," received a "pardon." He had three sons: (1) John fitz John, of Ballygihen. pardoned Nov. 18th, 1602; (2) Dermot mac Shawn, who actively supported the Northern Earls, O'Neill and O'Donnell, in their struggle against the Crown, and burned down the castle of Bahlygihen, about the year 1600, that it might not be converted into a garrison by the English; and (3) Teige mac Shawn, who had a lawsuit with his uncle, Florence, Lord of Upper Ossory, about the title of Ballygihen. Under the Cromwellian regime in 1653, John Fitzpatrick, Irish Papist, probably a son of one of the three brothers, forfeited the townlands of Ballygehyn, Crouell, Garranvooly, Cloquilmore, Cloquilbeg, Culfin, Balligenan, Fiarafin and Knockanvane.

DAIRY HILL

The church of Dairy Hill has entirely disappeared. It belonged to the earliest times. The people of the locality have some idea of its great antiquity, and hence there is a saying amongst them that "the church of Dairy Hill and the church of Kilmuifoile are the first churches named in Rome" [i.e., when the Pope reads out, as he is popularly supposed to do, one day in every year, a list of the churches of the world, arranged in order according to the dates of their respective foundations]. The churchyard of Dairy Hill is about an Irish acre in area, and is enclosed by a great earthen fence. It is now all overgrown with bushes. There are very many head-stones, but none of them inscribed. The graveyard was last used for the interment of an adult about 1820; it is now only used as a burial place for unbaptized children.

The field at the north side of the churchyard has no appearance of having been ever the site of a rath, and yet it is called " Rathmoore " or the great Rath. This must have been the original name of the churchyard itself, enclosed as it is by a great oval rampart of earth. Similarly there is a " Rath field," but no trace of a rath, to the south of the churchyard.

At present the churchyard is commonly called " the Kyle," i.e., the Church it is also called "Kyle-Crutth" and " Kyle-na-crutthia" apparently from the gentle ridge (cruit) on which it is situated. There is no holy well, nor tradition of the patron saint.

The Irish of Dairy Hill is 'Doire a' Chrocain, that is, the Derry, or Oak Grove, of the Crocan (recte Cnocan) or Hill. Hence the townland should have been called not Dairy Hill, but Derrv Hill.

KILMULFOILE

The graveyard of Kilmulfoile is a half a mile, or less, from that of Dairy Hill. The church that stood here was of the earliest ages. The site is an oval enclosure, running east and west, on the length, and divided in the centre, from north to south, by an earthen fence. The eastern half of the enclosure is called "the Rath"; the western half contains the churchyard and site of the church. No interment has taken place here since about 1835. There are several rude head-stones, but none inscribed.
The traditional name of this churchyard is Kyle-Foal, an easy corruption of Kyle-Ilfoal, which accurately represents the original name, that is, Cill Mhaóilphoil the church of St. Maolphoil.

BALLYGOODEN

This was another of the original churches of the district. It is less than a mile from the sites of the two churches last described, and is situated in the townland of Cuffesboro', to the right as one goes from the Four Roads to dough. Portions of its walls were standing till 1865, when they were thrown down. Only the foundations are now traceable; they show it to have been 50 ft. in length from east to west, eNternally, and 30 ft. in width. The last interment took place here about 1825. Thirty or forty years before that date the graveyard was a favourite place of burial. At present there is no trace of graves or monuments, and nothing to distinguish this ancient city of the dead from the surrounding land but a few mounds covered with greenest verdure. Ledwich writes that there was a community of men here, dependent on the monastery of Aghaboe. The local tradition of an underground passage connecting both places seems to confirm his statement. About 200 yards west of the churchyard, in Mr. Bolger's land in Ballygooden (the oo is pronounced long), is a holy well called " the Bishop's Well," said to have been blessed by a Bishop in long past times.

In 1653 Morgan Cashin and Thomas Hovenden forfeited, respectively, Ballygaudenbeg and Ballygaudenmore. The former townland is now Ballygooden; the latter is Cuffesboro', which is so named from its Cromwellian grantee, Captain Joseph Cuff e. Cuffesboro' Ho. was built, it is said, in 1750. The Cuffesboro' estate, including Cuffesboro', Gortnagruaig, Ballycuddihy and Gortnaclea, was purchased and presented, as a national gift, to Henry Grattan, in recognition of his services to his country; it now belongs to his representative, Lady Grattan Bellew.

BORDWELL

This name, commonly pronounced Boardle, appears in old records as Bordgal, Bordgwyl, Borduyl, Bordwell, &c. Its Irish form is Bordgal or Bordgail. St. Aengus, the Ceile De, invokes, in his Litany, the Seven Bishops of Bordgail:
"Sect n-epscoip Borddgaile, hos omnes invoco, &c" In the first years of the, 13th century, Thomas de Hereford, the lay patron, granted the church and parish of Bordegal or Bordgal, to the Canons Regular of St. Augustine of the Order of St. Victor, St. Thomas's Abbey, Dublin.' Not very long afterwards the church seems to have reverted to the secular clergy. On the 28th Dec. 1345, the Irish of Slieve Bloom burned Bordgwyl, and slew Robert le Gros and others of the English. By Papal Brief of March 15th, 1481, John de Machostigain, clerk, was appointed to the rectory, church, and parish of St. Canice of Achabo, and to that of St. Furlinus of Borduyl in Ossory.

The patron saint of Bordwell is "S. Felicianus, seu Filianus, according to Bishop Phelan's List; " S. Finlicanus," according to Dr. Burke; " St. Faoillen," according to Dr. Moran' and "S. Furlinus," (which is an error of the scribe for S. Fuilinus), according to the Roman document just quoted. The Irish form of the name is apparently Fuillen, and not, as Dr. Moran writes it, Faoillen; which latter is a woman's name. Saints of the name of Fuillen are commemorated in the Martyrology of Donegal, on the 12th Jan., 24th April, and 23rd July; but none of them can be connected with Bordwell, whose patron's feast falls on Jan. 2nd.

The ruined parish church of Bordwell consisted of nave and chancel. The former, still a considerable ruin, is internally 52 ft. 9 in. long, and 22½ ft. wide, the side walls being 9ft. high and 2 ft. io in. thick. It was built of very large stones, so that the masonry may be said to be almost cyclopean in character. Opposite each other, towards the west ends of the two side-walls, are two round-headed doors arched with small, rough stones. In the same walls, near the chancel, are two small windows much injured. The chancel arch is fallen. There can be little doubt that the nave, at least, belongs to pre-Norman times. The chancel was not bonded with the nave, and would, therefore, seem to be a later erection. Only a few fragments of it remain. It was 21 ft. long and 15 ft. wide its east gable ended at each side in a projecting pier or buttress.

In the graveyard are many monuments to the Delanys, Keys, Duigins, Fitzpatricks, &c., but none of them of earlier date than the middle of the 18th century. Here rest, with their friends, Father Maurice Delany and his nephew, Father Patrick Delany, whose monuments, two altar tombs, stand side by side. The inscription on Father Patrick Delany's tomb is -

"Here lies the body of the Rev. Patrick Delany, Vicar-General of the Diocese of Ossory, and thirteen years Parish Priest of the united parishes of Aughavoe, Boardill & Kilermough. He departed this life on the 30th December, 1806, in the 50th year of his age. Deo satis, suis non satis vixit. May the Lord have mercy on his soul. Amen."

KILBREEDY

St. Bridget's church of Kilbreedy (Cill Bhrighde) stood in the part of the townland of Kilbreedy, formerly called Kilbreedymore, and was the "Kill-Brigdcmajor, in regione Mag-Lacha," mentioned by Colgan. It was a rectangle, 22 ft. long, externally, and 22 ft. wide. The walls are now all broken, being in no part higher than 5 or 6 ft. The east gable was fully 44 in. thick, the side walls were 39 in. There is a small square aperture in the east gable, at the Epistle side, which served as a credence. The entrance door was in the middle of the south wall, but the casing stones are all removed except one, which is cut and chamfered. The adjoining graveyard is now rarely used for Catholic interments; Protestant interments, too, are almost discontinued.

About 50 yards north of the church, beside the public road, there stood till 1893, the foundations of an ancient building, 12 ft. square, which the people used to call " the Belfry." St. Bridget's holy well, now " the Castle Well," is southwest of the church, nearly opposite the door of Kilbreedy castle. Patterns were held at the well till a century ago, and pilgrimages till much later. In summer time it generally runs dry, owing to some act of desecration; in winter it is a powerful spring.

KILBREEDY CASTLE stands about 250 yards south-west of the church. It bears a striking resemblance to Grennan castle, near Thomastown. Except that it has lost the uppermost storey, it is in fair preservation. It is 56 ft. long externally, and 341½ ft. wide, and at present 35 ft. high. Within is a great barrel arch of stone, 22 ft. high at the apex, and extending the whole length of the building. One of the side-walls supporting this arch is 7 ft. thick, the other 8½ ft. The south end wall, containing the broken door-way, is more than 9 ft. thick. The main stairway, in the thickness of the south walls, leads from the entrance door to the upper part of the edifice. Two other stairways from the ground floor lead to long passages in the other walls, whence access is also had to the upper storeys. None of the stairs are spiral. Over the stone arch the walls narrow to 3½ ft. On the whole this is a curious castle, and is probably of earlier date than the castles usually met with. In 1657 it is described in the Down Survey Books as being " in some repaire."

The founders and proprietors of Kilbreedv castle were, according to tradition, the O'Phelans, whose tribe held sway over Magh Lacha for centuries previous to the Norman Invasion. This tradition receives confirmation from the State Papers, Donyll roo O'Phelan of Kilbride (Kilbreedy) horseman (i.e., gentleman, or son of a gentleman), received a "pardon," with many others of the gentry of Upper Ossory, June 30th, 1566; Dermod O'Phelan of Kilbride, husbandman, had a pardon Aug. 14th, 1586; and William roe O'Phelan of Kilbride, on the ioth June, 1591.
But the castle and townland had entirely passed from the O'Phelan family before the middle of the 17th century. At the time of the Cromwellian forfeitures in 1653, Morgan Cashin, Irish Papist, was found to have been seized of the following lands in the parish of Bordwell:

Kilbreedybeg 12Q ac. (of which there are 25 ac. unprofitable).
Kilbreedvmore & Skanaghan, 157 ac.
Kilbreedybeg is the southern division of Kilbreedy; Kilbreedymore comprises all the rest of the townland, with the castle and church, except a very small portion at the extreme north, called Sceach na g-Ceann (Skanagan above), that is the Bush of the Heads.

THE MOAT OF MIDDLEMOUNT

The public road from Coolkerry to Bordwell church divides the townland of Middlemount into two unequal parts; that to the right, which is the larger, was formerly, and is still, known as Ballvvoghleen (O'Bachlin's Town), the other to the left, was called Laragh (Irish sound Lorra). In the latter is the Moat of Middlemount, properly the "Moat of Laragh," a truncated cone i6 yards in diameter at the top, 25 to 30 ft. high, and seated on an elevated ridge; around the base are traces of a fosse and rampart, while the ridge to the west is intersected by several artificial trenches. It may have been an ancient fortress or it may have been a sepulchral tumulus of pagan times. The purpose for which it was raised cannot be gathered from the name of the townland, for Laragh hiberrnce laithreach, signifies nothing more than the site or ruins of a building. As the Irish word Lar means the middle, it is easy to understand how Laragh or Laithreach, which has quite a different meaning, should in this instance have come to assume the entirely unauthorized form, Middlemount.

At the north side of the Moat, about 20 yards from its base, is a plot, a quarter of an acre in extent, called " the Friar's garden; " its fences are still well marked. In the small space between it and the Moat, are some slight traces of a house, evidently the residence of the friar from whom the garden is named. The Rev. Denis Creary, of Laragh, P.P., Aghaboe, made his will in 1701 and died the same year. The friar who succeeded him in Laragh, and gave name to the garden is not remembered; possibly he was the Rev. Darby Creary, the third last Prior of Aghaboe, who appears to have died before 1756.

COOLACURRAGH

In this townland, between the "rabbit-burrow" and the Erkina river, and a few perches only from the latter, there was a holy well, now closed up, called Tubberkierawn, or St. Kieran's well. An old man, born in 1766, remembered to have frequently seen people praying around it in his early days. Part of Coolacurragh is called Farren-Kyran, or St. Kieran's Land, in the Down Survey Books, but the name is now forgotten most probably it was the land surrounding the holy well. St. Kieran's connection with Coolacurragh is easily accounted for, as the townland is part of the parish of Coolkerry, of which he is patron.

KYLENASEER

The name signifies the Church of the Masons or Carpenters. The church, which served for a detached portion of the old parish of Aghaboe, stood in the "Churchyard field" of Kylenaseer, to the left of the road from Carrick Rock to Carrick Mill. No trace whatever of it now remains, but the site is marked by a small untilled plot, underneath an aged ash, in the centre of the field. Its present name is Kylebeg, or the little church. No interments have taken place here time out of mind.

About the middle of the second field south of Kylebeg and joining Carrick Mill, there was an ancient Nunnery now completely obliterated. The name of the field is Crithacorra (the croft or field, of the pillar stone). A dozen perches or so east of the site of the Nunnery, in the same field stood the Nunnery grange or farm-house pavements beneath the surlace still mark the spot; it is known as the Orchard."

A well-known sub-division of Kylenaseer is Boston, also, in former times called ClonkeenaghaWnbeg, to distinguish it from another Clonkeenaghawn on the opposite bank of the Erkina, known as Clonkeenaghawnmore and now included in Oldglass. Boston is a very ancient Irish topographical term, and gives name to another townland in the parish of Castletown, another in Camross, to a fourth near the borders of Ossory, in the parish of Abbeyleix, and to a fifth close to Kilbrickefl Station; also to Bostian Well, beside Gowran chapel. It probably has some connection with the Irish Baisdeadh, which means Baptism. In the Boston of which there is question here, there is a small hill, a quarter of an acre in area, and covered with greenest grass, rising up in the centre of the bog at Old-glass bridge; it is called Cruckawnan-yOOZk, or Hill of the Yew-tree. On it is an ancient burial ground, but 'the enclosing fence, if such it ever had, as well as the church, has left not the slightest trace behind.

Another sub-division of Kylenaseer, whe e it adjoins Cannonswood and Gurteen, bears the curious name of Hag Bog (Mom na caillighe).

The main highway from the western side of Upper Ossory to Kmlkenny in ancient times, came east from the Levally road, near Rathdowney; forded the Erkina under Coolkerry church; ran thence through Coolkerry; forded the Erkina again under Erkindale Ho.; continued thence through the rath field of Knockfinn; around Carrick Rock; by Kylebeg church; the Nunnery of Kylenaseer; through the centre of Hag Bog; by Gurteen Schoolhouse; by Kyleogue churchyard; thence, fording the Gowl, by Newtown Nunnery; Cahir Hill in Newtown; and thence, by Gragavoice, to Aharney church, Lisdowney, Freshford, &c.

GRANTSTOWN

Grantstown castle, one of the few round castles in our Diocese, is in good preservation, though roofless for a considerable time. It is 19 ft. in diameter, at the base on the inside, the wall being fully 11 ft. thick all round. There are five storeys, viz., three under, and two over, the stone arch. Each storey communicates with the beautiful spiral stairway by a cut-stone door, in some instances round-headed, in others gothic. In the first storey directly opposite the entrance door, there is an aperture of cut-stone, shaped like a Latin cross, through and through the wall. A cross exactly similar, and occupying the same position, may be also seen in Ballogh castle, near Errill. Fire-places and chimney-flues form part of the original work in the four upper stories; there is no fire-place in the first storey.
This castle belonged to the Lords of Upper Ossory till sometime between 1621 and 1653, in which latter year Gilbert Rawson, Protestant, is entered in the Book of Survey and Distributions, as owner in fee of "Grantstowne with ye members, 961 ac.; the moiety of Bordwell, 27 ac.; Court, 313 ac.; and Curraghuenane, 202 ac.," all in the parish of Bordwell. On the 30th Oct., 1691. Edmond Morris of Grantstown, slain at Aughrim on the side of King James, was attainted; and on the 12th Oct., 1696, his estate, comprising Grantstown and several other townlands in Upper Ossory, was granted by William of Orange to the brothers Richard and Edward Fitzpatrick.

Grantstown House was occupied by the Vicars family, till about the close of the 18th century.

OLD GLASS

Oldglass House, now Granston Manor, was built by the Drought family more than a century ago. The Droughts were succeeded there by the Whites, from whom the place passed by purchase to the late Richard Fitzpatrick, Esq. Mr. Fitzpatrick, dying without issue, bequeathed Oldglass to his brother, the late Lord Castletown, who then made it his family mansion.

In the townland of Oldglass, immediately to the north of Granston Manor, is a 12 acre field called Ballina-ghowl, where considerable quantities of human remains have been turned up, especially between two large bushes near the old public road. This was the battle-ground of the Oulthachs, or Ulstermen, and the O'Phelans, in 1156 or 1157.

KYLEDELLIG

It is certain, from the way this word is invariably pronounced by the Queen's County people, that it signifies not the church, but the Wood, of the Thorn Trees, and that its Irish form is Coill Dealg. In some 13th and 14th century entries in the Red Book of Ossory, the parish of Kyledellig is mentioned as the "Rectoria de Delgy" On the 2nd April, 1491, Thady O'Brien, priest of Ossory, was, by Papal Brief, appointed Rector of Rararayn (that is, Rasaran or Rathsaran,) and Vicar of the parish and church of Delge, both parishes being in Ossory Diocese. Donald O'Phelan was appointed to this parish in 1525.

According to Bishop Phelan's List, the patron saint of Kyledellig is St. Ernan or Senan, Abbot, whose feast day is Jan. 1st. On this day the Martyrology of Donegal commemorates St. Ernan, thus: "Ernan, son of Eoghan, son of Felim i.e., son of the brother of Colum Cille; he is of the Cinel-Conaill," The saint was Abbot of Druim-Tomma, now Drumhome, in the Barony of Tirhugh, Co. Donegal.

The parish church of Kyledellig was very small, being only 36 ft. long. In 1862 portions of the east gable and south side-wall were thrown down and the materials used in the erection of the graveyard wall. At present the foundations of the church alone may be said to remain, and even these are covered over by fallen masonry and rank weeds. In the graveyard there are but two inscribed head-stones, neither of which is more than a century old. About 120 yards north-east of the church is a large green " Moat," circular in shape, flat at top and 9 or 10 ft. high.
In Lisryan, a sub-division of south Kyledellig, containing 6o acres, there is a round Lis or fort. Another sub-division of the same townland, containing but 12 acres, is called Duhyneill, i.e., Duthaith Ui Neill, or O'Neill's Land. A third sub-division, containing 40 acres, and lying between Lisryan and Duhyneill, is called Kildrummady, or the Church of the Long Ridge; no tradition of the church has, however, been handed down.

KYLERMUGH

This name is generally pronounced Kyle-er-muh (accent on last syllable); but its true Irish sound, still heard among the old people, is Ky1e-ghar-amuh (accent also on last syllable). In ancient documents the name is usually written " Kildermoy," which at first sight might be assumed to signify the Church of Darmhagh, i.e., of the Oak Plain. On examination, however, this assumption will be found to be quite baseless. Durrow is the anglicised form of Darmhagh, so that the "Church of Durrow" and the "Church of Darmhagh" mean the very same thing. Now the Irish of "Church of Durrow," as heard from Irish speakers, is Kyle-ghroo. If, therefore, Kylermugh meant the church of Darmhagh, or of the Oak-Plain, its Irish sound should be Kyle-ghroo and not as it really is, Kyle-gharamuh.

The correct Irish form of the name is Cill-dar-Amuigh, or church of the outer oaks. Kiltimagh, a parish in the Diocese of Achonry, is, in Irish, Coillte amach i.e., the woods out, or the outer woods; and the people say these woods were so called because they formed the outer extremity of an ancient forest. Similarly the outer oaks from which Kylermough is derived, formed the outer fringe of the ancient oak wood of Coolderry, a large townland but three or four perches north of the ruins of Kylermough church.

A Mr. T. O'Connor, of the Ordnance Survey, who visited the church in Nov., 1838, writes that the local Irish pronunciation of its patron's feast was then so indistinct that he was unable to give it an authoritative rendering, but that it sounded like La 'il Muirtin, Muiltin, Muitin, or Muibhin. He happened not to hit upon the correct form, which is, La 'ii Muicin or St. Muiceen's day. St. Muicin's principal church was the prebendal church of Mayne, parish of Conahy. His feast day is March 4th, but another festival appears to have been held in his honour on the 9th Nov., on which day he was celebrated at Kylermugh. His name is Latinized Moginus and Mochinus.'
The parish church of Kylermugh was 53 feet long, externally, and 24 feet wide. The side-walls are gone almost entirely; the gables are 38 in. thick, and still remain, though somewhat broken. At the west end was a gallery to which access was had by a flight of stone steps built against the outward face of the south wall. The entrance door was in the same wall. The east gable window is damaged; it was 3 feet high, and cannot have been more than 6 inches wide. The church is very low, and is built of the roughest kind of stones. The graveyard is small and has no monuments of interest.

In 1392, Sir Hugh le Despencer transferred, inter multa alia, to the Earl Ormond, the "Manor of Kildermoy; " which shows he then had, or claimed to have, some title to this part of Upper Ossory. At the time of the Cromwellian forfeitures the Fitzpatricks were proprietors of the whole parish of Kylermugh.

EGLISH-NICHOLE

In Tintore, parish of Kylermugli, there was an ancient church. It is now called Eglish, but it was formerly known as Eglish-Nichole, i.e., Ecclesia Sancti Nicholai or Church of St. Nicholas. It was, several centuries ago, a parish church, and its parish is mentioned as "Rectoria de Templenicholl," in a Taxation of the Diocese made in 1537.' In the Vetus Ordo Visitationis Episcopalis in Dioec. Oss. it is mentioned as the "Capellania S. Nicholai in Rectoria de Kildermoy," which shows it had, in the course of time, lost its parochial status and become a dependent of the Church of Kylermugh.

Of the church or chapel only the foundations now appear. They show it to have been about 48 feet long. Tradition affirms that a very ancient monastery stood here, and that many of the monks suffered death at the hands of some ruthless invaders (probably the Danes). All around the church are traces of foundations, &c., covering three-quarters of an Irish acre. The graveyard has been unused for so very long a period that no graves or grave-stones are now visible. At a distance of 100 yards west of the church-site is a very fine rath called Eglish Rath.

KYLETILLOGE

There was a churchyard here in Mr. Fred Prior's " House Meadow." It occupied the highest point of the field. There was an interment here, accompanied by a large funeral, about 130 or 150 years ago. Soon after that the graveyard was completely destroyed, and not a trace of it is now apparent. The Irish form of Kyletilloge is very probably Cill t-Sillóg that is the Church of St. Sillan or Silloge.

TINTORE

Tintore, in Irish, Tigh an Tochair, signifies the House of the Togher or Causeway. The castle of Tintore is in part unroofed, and in part modernized and incorporated with Tintore Ho. It does not appear to be very old, as the walls are thin, and the windows in the second storey are almost as wide as those of the present day. There was no stone arch. One of the narrow cut-stone loops of the under storey is still preserved. Within the castle lies a large fragment of a cut-stone, chambered slab, formerly part of a chimney-piece or of a lintel over a door; on it is inscribed, in relief, the date " 14 May, 1635." This must be the date of some improvements in the castle, and not the date of the castle itself, as the " Castrum de Tentowre is mentioned, as already existing, in 1621.'

The castle belonged to a branch of the Fitzpatrick family. On the 30th June, 1566, Donyll, M'Sheare, i.e., M'Geoffry [Fitzpatrick], of Tantowre, gent, was pardoned, and Fynine M'Donell of Tenture, horseman (apparently his son), was also pardoned, June 10th, 1601. By Inquisition of Sept. 24th, 1631, Geoffry Fitzpatrick of Tentore was found to have been seised, in fee, of the towns and lands of Tentore, Eglish, Nicholl [recte, Eglish-Nicholl], Rynaghmore and Sham. garry, containing four messuages, 323 acres arable and pasture and 6o acres of wood; of the town and lands of Carrickillneseere and Knockfane [Knockfinn], Ternple-killneseere, Clonekenaghanbegge and Gortnestange, which are all parcel of Carrickillneseere, and contain 4 messuages, 1 water-mill, 330 acres of arable and pasture land, and 178 acres of wood and moor; of Ballyvonine, 1 messuage and 75 acres of arable and pasture land, and 16 acres of bog and moor; and of a parcel of land containing 12 acres of wood and moor, parcel of Clonekenaghanbegge, lying between Clonekenaghane and Gurtin. The said Geoffry died 20th Oct., 1630. Daniel Fitzpatrick is his son and heir, and was then 26 years old and married. Ellen, late wife of Fineen Fitzpatrick, father of the said Geoffry, and Margaret, wife of the said Geoffry, have their dowries from and out of the said premises. All the premises are held of the King in free and common soccage and for a yearly rent.

Geoffry Fitzpatrick above, is buried in Aghamacart. By his first wife, Mauve, daughter of John Cashin, of Corran [or Currawn], he had:

Daniel, his heir, born in 1604; married, before Oct., 1630, Margaret, daughter of John Fitzpatrick, of Grantstown; had the slab in Tintore castle inscribed in 1635; and, as an Irish Papist, forfeited all his lands under Cromwell, in 1653.
Teige, who married Ellen, daughter of John Fitzpatrick of Ballacolla
Edmund.
John.
Margaret, who married Brian Fitzpatrick of Ballacolla
Mauve, who married Daniel Dullany of Crainnagh, in Upperwoods

The Fitzpatricks of Coolcashin now probably represent this family.

BALLACOLLA

In Irish it is called Bolliacholla, i.e., baile a' Chalaidh the townland of the callow. This word callow is in common use in the Queen's Co. to designate the long, coarse sedgy grass thrown up, during the summer, by land covered over with water all the winter. Callow was abundant in the west part of Ballacolla in the memory of old people lately passed away. Dr. Joyce's explanation of Ballacolla, viz., town of a man named Colla, is incorrect. According to the Down Survey Map there was a ruined castle in " Ballicalo" in the middle of the 17th century. Its site is still pointed out in the "Old Gardens," close to the cross-roads of Tintore. Part of the townland is called Lughabarra, from a remarkable hollow basin, 5 acres in extent, filled up with water in winter, but perfectly dry in summer. There was a " Mass-Pit" here in the Penal times and part of the altar, built of loose stones, is still shown, in the breast of the fence separating Lughabarra from Tintore.

MASS-STATIONS OF THE PENAL DAYS

1. DAIRY HILL -An ancient road formerly led from the church of Farren Eglish, through Cruell, by Mr. John Carroll's house in Dairy Hill, and thence to Dairy Hill church. Part of it, still preserved, near Mr. Carroll's, is called the Closh, and here was a "Mass-Pit" of former times.
2. CRUELL -Close to the same old road there was a much frequented "Mass-Pit" in Cruell, in a low-lying field, or glen, at the base of Cruell hill.
3. BALLYGIHEN -There was here another "Mass-Pit," long in use, a couple of fields north of Mr. Pierson's house.
4. LUGHABARRA -(See above.)
5. BORDWELL -Mass used to be said here in James Palmer's "Rath-field," three fields west of the old church of Bordwell.
6. RAHANDRIC -In Rahandric quarry, to the rere of the C.C.'s house, many Masses were also celebrated.
7. TINNARAGH -The Mass-Station ot Tinnaragh (Tigh na Ratha, i.e. House, or Church of the Rath), was a rath a quarter of a mile from Aghaboe parish church to the right of the road from Foxrock to Boherard. Connected with it is the following tradition, widely known throughout the Parish. A priest, named Father Phelan, after celebrating Mass one Sunday in the Rath, ventured to remain behind, after the congregation had departed, to make a short thanksgiving. His prayers over, he emerged from the rath, in the direction of the adjacent road, but scarcely had he done so when he found himself face to face with a band of priest-hunters, who had been sent upon his track. As might be expected, they showed him no mercy. Ere he could turn and fly, the ruffians had emptied their guns in his body, and he fell, riddled with bullets. An aged whitethorn called by some "the Monument," by others "the Priest's bush," marks the spot, about midway between the rath and the road, empurpled by the martyred soggarth's blood. The date of his murder lies somewhere between 1660 and 1700. A man named Delany of Tinnaragh, born in 1756, told his niece, Mrs. Bolger, who still lives in Boherard, that he had often heard a centenarian named Mrs. Fitzpatrick of Court say, that when a child, she was present, with her grandmother, at Father Phelan's Mass in the Rath of Tinnaragh.

CHAPELS SINCE THE REFORMATION

CLOUGH -Dr. Edward Tennison, Protestant Bishop of Ossory, has the foliowing note in his Register of the year 1731, in reference to the parish of Aghaboe:
"In this parish is a very large Mass house, said to be as long as the parish church, which parish church is longer than most parish churches in the Diocese." This must have been the first chapel of Clough. Its successor, the late parish chapel of Clough, was built by Father Maurice Delany, P.P., about 1770. It may be remarked that this latter chapel, which probably occupies the site of that of 1731 has been always known locally as "the chapel of Clough," or rather Clugh, because it is built on the townland of Cluchathunna, i.e., Cloch a' t-Sionaigh, or the Fox's Rock, now entered on the Ordnance Map as Chapel Hill. Within the chapel are monuments inscribed to the memory of Fathers Bergin, Kavanagh, Heany and Dowling, Parish Priests of Aghaboe.

Inside the mortuary chapel, erected, in connection with this chapet, oy the late Lord Castletown, is a splendid altar-tomb, under which rest the remains of his only brother, Richard Wilson Fitzpatrick, Esq.; it is ornamented with shields bearing the family coat of arms; on the covering table is a floriated cross; around the sides may be read the following inscription:

"Pray for the soul of Richard Wilson Fitzpatrick, Esqre. of Grantstown Manor, Queen's County, late of the Grenadier Guards, Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for that County, who died on the XXIInd day of Novr., MDCCCL., aged XXXIX years. He was the only brother of the Rt. Honble. John Wilson Fitzpatrick, one of her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland and Member of Parliament br Queen's County.
"Credo quod Redemptor meus vivit et in novissimo die de terra surrecturus sum et rursum, circumdabor pelle mea et in came me videbo Deum Salvatorem meum."

The present parish church of Aghaboe or Clough, one of the most beautiful churches in Ossory, is the great work of the early years of Father Matt Keeffe's pastoral charge. On its foundation stone, laid July 17th, 1871, is the following inscription in raised gothic letters:

"Hujus ecclesiae sub invocatione S. Canici lapidem angularem posuit Matth. Keeffe, Agaboen. Parochus, die XVII. Julii AD MDCCCLXXI, Plo Ix. Pont. Max. feliciter regnante; Edv. Walsh Epo. Ossoriensi."

When, after great labour and expense, the church was built and roofed in, one of the side-walls gave way, bringing down the whole edifice with it in its fall. Notwithstanding this calamity, which might have paralyzed the energies of one less brave, the lion-hearted pastor again set about the work of re-erection, and in a short time the parish church of St. Canice of Aghaboe became an accomplished fact. It was solemnly dedicated by the Most Dr. Moran, Lord Bishop of Ossory, on Sunday the 4th Nov., 1877.
The high altar of the church, erected by the parishioners to the memory of the founder, has the inscription in raised I ombardic letters

"Pray for the soul of the Very Rev. Matt. Canon Keeffe, D.D., P,P., Aghaboe, who died Nov. 29th, 1887."

A marble side-altar, erected also by the parishioners, in memory of Father Cosgrave, a former curate, is inscribed

"Pray for the soul of the Rev. J. Cosgrave, C.C., who died 26th Feb., 1888."

The other side-altar, of carved oak, belonged to Mr. Richard Fitzpatrick, after whose death it was presented to the church by his brother, the late Lord Castletown.
The stained-glass window over the high altar has the inscription

"This window is the gift of Mrs. James Phelan, San Francisco. Mr. Phelan was born in this parish. The window was erected A.D. 1875."

Another stained glass window has:

"This window is the gift of William Delany of Minnesota, late of Boherard, 1895."

BALLACOLLA -The chapel of Ballacolla was built by Father Kavanagh P.P., in 1822, previous to which date the people of this district heard Mass at Clough. The lease of the plot of land, on which the chapel stands, is dated March, 1822.

PARISH PRIEST