Parish of Camross

Source: Carrigan "The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory" Vol. 2 (1905)

In 1839, the ancient parish of Offerlane, or Upperwoods, was broken up into two new parishes, one to be known as the parish of Castletown, the other as the parish of Camross. In 1855 Camross was itself dismembered, the townlands of Clononeen, Gortavoatha, Kyleogue (South), Springhill, and portions of Caher (Retrenched), Caher (Custodia) and Mundrehid-in all about 1472 statute acres, having been then annexed to Borris-in-Ossory; and Derryarrow and almost all Kildreenagh to Castletown. The present area of the parish is about 30,327 statute acres.

ANCIENT STONE-ROOFED BUILDING IN ANATRIM CHURCHYARD

ANATRIM

Anatrim (Eanach Truim, Marsh of the Elder-tree), on the northern slope of a green hill at the junction of the rivers Tonet and Delower, and close to the spot where their united waters commingle with the Nore, was the site of an ancient monastery. Being on the left or north bank of the Nore, which, till about the 10th century, formed, at this point, the boundary between Leix and Ossory, it is always referred to, by early writers, as in the former territory. St. Mochaemhog (Latine, Pulcherius), abbot and patron of Leamakevoge, now Leigh, in the parish of Two Mile-Borris, Co. Tipperary, laid the first foundations of a religious establishment at Anatrim, during the second half of the 6th century. We read in his Life:

"St. Pulcherius, with his monks, came to a place by name Enachtruim, which is in the Slieve Bloom, in the territory of the Leixians, and began to build a church there. But a certain wordly-given man came to him saying: 'Do not labour here in vain, because this place will not be yours.' St. Pulcherius answered him saying: 'Now I will remain here till some one taking hold of my hand shall seize me and expel me by force.' Then the other took hold of the holy man's hand with the intention of forcing him away. As he did so, St. Pulcherius said to him: 'By what name are you called, O man?" He answered: 'My name is Bronach' (which, in Latin. is equivalent to tristis). The holy man replied: 'You have an appropriate name, for you shall be sad here and hereafter. Now you and your generation, by the will of God, will be expelled hence by the chief of this district, but I shall be in this place until a man of God, by name Coemhan, will come to me; to him I will leave this place, he shall be surnamed from it, and here shall be his resurrection.' The man hearing this prophecy, and conscious of his guiltiness towards his chief, withdrew in anger, and without contrition for the insult he had offered [the saint], and forthwith everything fell out with him as the holy man had predicted. And when St. Coemhan came thither to St. Pulcherius, the latter left the place to him, and he remained here in great sanctity till his death: but St. Pulcherius proceeded to the district of Munster."¹

AA. SS. Hib. p. 586, March 13.

St. Coemhan or "Kavan," to whom Anatrim was thus committed, was probably a native of the County Wicklow, and was certainly a member of what may, with reason, be called a family of Saints. He was brother or step-brother of (1) the great St. Caoimhghin or Kevin of Glendalough, who died in 618, aged, it is said, 120 years; (2) St. Nathchoemhi or Mo-Chuemhin, Abbot of Terryglass, in Lower Ormond; (3) St. Coemola or Melda, mother of St. Abban the younger, which latter was born about 520; and of (4) St. Coeltighearna, mother of (a) St. Dagan of Ennereilly, Co. Wicklow; (b) St. Molibba, Abbot and Bishop of Glendalough; (c) St. Menocus or Enanus of Glenealy, Co. Wicklow, and (d) St. Mobhai. In early life, St. Coemhan, with his brother, St. Nathchoemhi, and St. Fintan of Clonenagh, received his religious training in St. Columba's Monastery of Terryglass. The date of his death must be somewhere about the year 6oo. The Martyrology of Donegal thus commemorates him on his feast day, Nov. 3rd:

"Caemhan of Eanach-truim, in Laoighis, in the west of Leinster. He was of the race of Labhraidh Lorc, monarch of Erin, and brother of Caoimhghin of Gleann-da-locha.

The Calendar of Aengus, on the same day, has:

"The day of Coemhan of Eanach."

On which passage the scholiast of Aengus comments

"That is, Coemhan of Eanach truim in Laighis in Leinster, the brother of Coemgin of Glendalough Coemlog was their father's name and Coemgel their mother's, and Natcaim of Tir-da-glass [was] their brother as is aforesaid."

The annals of Anatrim monastery, from the time of St. Coemhan, are a perfect blank. The monks probably held on here till the 12th century, when they either became extinct or were set aside, and their chapel was handed over to the secular clergy.

William Fitz John, Bishop of Ossory, appropriated the parish of Offerlane to the Abbey of Duiske, in the beginning of the 13th century, and from that time to 1540 the monks of the said abbey held possession of Anatrim.
The church of Anatrim, in ruins since about 1832, dates only from about the year 1700, and is, therefore, a purely Protestant foundation. Within it is a mural tablet to a family of the Delanys of Ballyfin, who became Protestant in the Penal times. On the upper part of the slab is a shield with the Delany coat of arms, viz., two lions supporting a mullet between their foremost paws ; crest, a dexter hand grasping a sword. The inscription is:

"Underneath this Lieth the body of Martin Delany, late of Bailyfin, who departed this life the 22nd of October, 1731, aged 59 years. Here also lieth a grandson of his, Martin Delany who dyed ye 1st of Febry. 1743 in ye 5th year of his age. Barbara Delany alias Aulben, wife of Martin Delany dyed ye 26th of July 1738 aged 50 years. Here lieth the body of Martin Delany, Esq., who departed this life August ye 7th 1770 aged 62 years; also his wife Anndoraty (sic) Delany who departed this life Feby. ye 15th 1779 aged 58 years."

The pre-Reformation Catholic chapel, entered in the Red Book of Ossory, in a list of Ossory churches of about the year 1510, as "Ecclesia de Enahtrum," or parish church of Enahtrum, stood on the site now occupied by the ruined Protestant church. It has been all destroyed. A stone-roofed chamber which adjoined it on the north side still remains. This ancient chamber stands north and south, at right angles to the chapel, in such a position that the east walls of both buildings musl have been nearly in a line with each other. Its internal length is 20 ft., width 14 ft 2 in., and height to the apex of the semi-circular arch 9ft. The side walls, which support the stone roof are, at least, 3 ft. thick, the north gable, in which a door was constructed in the 18th century, is 5 ft. thick. There was a window or loop in the middle of the east side-wall, but it has been built up on the outside. A door, now closed up, in the south gable, led into the chapel; it is rudely built, has a flat stone lintel at top, is but 30 in. wide, and at present--owing to the surrounding surface having become more elevated than in former times-only 3ft. high.
This building, except where patched here and there with modern masonry, is very ancient. It was converted into a mortuary chapel, in the 18th century,by the Sharpes of Round-wood and the Floods of Middlemount. Over a doorway broken out in the north gable in modern times, there is a slab with a coat of arms and the inscription:

"Anthony Sharpe, Esq., A.D. 1776."

A chamber exactly similar to this in design and situation is found attached to the north side-wall of the Hiberno-Romanesque church of the famous Holy island of Monahincha. It served there undoubtedly as a sacristy. A stone stairway led from it to a second storey overhead, probably the Abbot's room. That the chamber at Anatrim originally served, in like manner, as a sacristy, there can be no question. If, as is most probable it, too, had a second storey, all trace of such and of the stairway leading thereto, was obliterated by the Sharpes and Floods when they set about "converting" the building to their own uses, more than a century ago.
In the adjoining graveyard, the old clans of Slieve Bloom, -the O'Delanys McCostigins and McKeenins, sleep out their long night. The following inscriptions
-e pluribus-occur on the monuments:

"Here lyeth the Body of the Revd. William Delany who depd. this life the 13th day of Febry in the year of our Lord 771 aged 73 years. Requiescat in pace."

"Here Lieth the Body of the Revd. Mr. Edmd. Fitzpatrick, Parish Priest of Upperwoods, who departed this life the 1st of Fehry 1776 in the 48th year of his age. May he rest in peace Amen."

"St. Kavan's Well," at which a pattern was held on the 3rd of November down to 1830 or so, is in the hollow about 20 perches north of the churchyard. It is partially covered over by a very large rock known as "St. Kavan's Stone." This rock is rough and uneven except on the upper surface, which has an incised circle, 39 in. in diameter, in the centre, with two artificial rectangular cavities below, and the same number of circular cavities above it. It is said that there were two other holy wells, bearing St. Kavan's name, in Whitefields and Derrynaseeragh, but that both are now closed up.

SHRAHANE

There were here a church, graveyard and monastery, at the very foot of Ard-Eireann, the Height of Ireland. The church has disappeared altogether, being probably constructed of wood. The graveyard which surrounded it, is still used for the interment of unbaptized children. The last adult buried here was a young girl named Mary Carroll, who died about 1760. There are some headstones, but all rough and uninscribed. A large, lone sceach, which they call the "Burying Bush," grows within the precincts of the ancient cemetery. Hard by, under the foot of another large sceach, lies the holy water stone, a rough limestone block with round artificial basin 1ft. wide at top and 7in. deep.

The "Monastery of Shrahane" stood 100yds. North of the graveyard, on a gravelly ridge 120yds long and 35yds wide, and rising abruptly to a height of about 60ft. The top of the ridge consists of a boat-shaped depression, about 100yds long, 30yds wide and 8ft. deep, and remarkable for the richness and sweetness of its grass. The monastery was situated within this depression, towards the end facing north, and cannot have been much later, as to date of erection, than St. Patrick's time. Its ruined walls were removed some centuries ago, it is said, to build Shrahane castle. Be that as it may, however, no trace of the walls remained in 1850, when the monastery site was uprooted and the entire depression tilled.

Shrahane Castle stands in ruins, a half a mile south-east of the churdhyard. It was 12yds. long and 7yds wide, the walls being 4ft. thick; it was rudely built. In 1641 it was occupied by Patrick Connor, an "Irish Papist," whose estate consisted of Shrahanboy, Lackytarsney, Cappa and Calmure, Fowrane, Shraduffe, Killenbogg, and Coolnure, all in the parish of Upperwoods. Bryan Connor, his son and heir, was slain in the ranks of the Irish army before Borris-in-Ossory, in 1642. Shrahane castle was occupied by a family named Calcutt in 1775, but very soon after this date it ceased to be inhabited and became a ruin.

Shrahane "Moat," a couple of fields west of the churchyard, consists of a large circular rampart of earth, enclosing a small dun or citadel. There is another moat, not far from this, called the "Moat of Moonanelly." Moonanelly signifies the Bog of the Aileach, i.e., of the stone fort. The famous stone fortress of the Northern Hy-Niall Kings, four miles north-west of Derry city, was also called Aileach (pronounced Ellach).

MOUNTHALL

The churchyard of Mounthall, on the bounds of Cappanarra and Moonanelly is very circumscribed, being no more than 15 yds. square. There are no remains of the ancient church, which was probably a wooden structure. There are a few small, rude headstones; but no interment has taken place here in living memory. A few yards away there is a rough pillar-stone standing upright in the ground, to a height of 3 ft. over the surface. This graveyard is known as the "Burying Bush" from a sceach that grows on the site; the field containing the graveyard is called the "Burying Meadow."

In 1653 Patrick Kyneene, Irish Papist, forfeited Cappanarra, Cloninlurkan, Killaterry and Lackeymore. His estate embraced all the land from Cappanarra across to Lackamore, including the townland modernly designated Mounthall. The old name of Mounthall is forgotten, but there can be no doubt that it was Killaterry, and that this represents the original name of Mounthall churchyard. The road to the church in ancient times, crossed, by a ford, from Ballina (locally Baylana), up to the "Burying Bush." From this circumstance Ballina derives its name, Beul-an-atha, i.e., the Ford, or, as it was formerly called, Bealanakil (Beulatha-na-Cille), i.e., the Church-Ford.

KILLEEN

The old church in the townland of Killeen has disappeared as completely as those of Shrahane and Mounthall, being probably also, like them, built of wood. Its site is still pointed out on a small, low ridge, in the " Burying Meadow." In the graveyard there are many small, rude head-stones, marking the graves of unbaptized children, who alone have been buried here in the memory of the oldest residents. Killeen "Mass Pit" is one field north of the graveyard. Beside the pit lies the holy water font of the old church, a piece of rough freestone with a round artificial hollow 9in wide and 3in deep. Killeen townland being somewhat wet and spongy was formerly called Killeenbogg (Cillín Bog) or Killeen the soft. Patrick Connor forfeited the townland in 1653.

KILLANURE

This name, in Irish, is Ci1l an iubhair, that is, the Church of the yew tree. It is very strange that the site of this church, which, like several other churches in Upperwoods, was probably of wood, cannot be pointed out; especially as the holy water font that once belonged to it is still to be seen at " Burke's Cross," a little beyond Killanure chapel, in the direction of Mountrath. This font is of freestone, and like those of Shrahane and Killeen is rough and unhewn, with a large basin 14 in. in diameter and 9 in. deep. During the Penal times, Mass used to be said in the open air, a few perches from Burke's Cross, and the font was brought there from Killanure churchyard, wherever that was, to be used by the people for its original purpose.

There was formerly a castle or important building on the rising ground of Killanure, to the left of the road to Roundwood. It stood within an area of half an Irish acre, enclosed by a strong, thick wall, about 10ft. high, and defended on, at least, one corner, by a flanking turret pierced for musketry. It belonged to a family of the Fitzpatricks, according to tradition, and that this tradition is quite accurate is proved from the Down Survey Books, in which John Fitzpatrick, Irish Papist, is entered as owner in fee of the townland of "Keylanure" in the parish of Upperwoods, in 1641. About i8oo the old residence was taken down to the ground and a new one, now occupied by a person named Abbot, built on its site. At present the only remains of antiquity around the place are a turret, part of the enclosing wall, and a pavement of large, rough stones.

MASS-STATIONS AND CHAPELS

CAMROSS -In the Penal times Mass was offered up, in the open air, in the "Mass-Pit" in Annagh, now Mount Salem, to the rere of Mr. Roe's farmyard. It was also offered up in the "Mass-Pit" of Killeen, already mentioned. At what precise date those stations were in use is unknown.

The first chapel built in the parish, since the Reformation, stood in the townland of Camross, in the field under the present parish chapel. It was a small thatched edifice, and was certainly in use in 1737, having been built in that year or, at most, a very few years earlier. This continued to be the parish chapel of Upperwoods till the early part of the 19th century. It was replaced by the present parish chapel of Camross, built in 1811, during the incumbency of Father Rickard Burke, P.P, by the contributions of all the Catholics and, with but two exceptions, of all the Protestants of the district. The chapel gate, set up two years after the building of the chapel, bears the inscription: -

"R. Rickard Burke, 1813." The bell-tower was erected by Father Staunton, P.P., about 1860.

KILLANURE -There was an open-air Mass-station here in John Delany's land, within a few perches of " Burke's Cross." Early in the 19th century, Mass used to be celebrated every Sunday, in Tim Burke's house at the same Cross. About 1810 a miserable, mud-wall, thatched chapel was built in Inchaniska; and this continued in use till it was replaced by the present Killinure chapel, which was erected in the townland of Mountain Farm, a couple of hundred yards to the south of its predecessor, in the year 1842.

PARISH PRIESTS

REV. MICHAEL KAVANAGH became first P.P. of the newly-formed parish of Camross, on the 19th June, 1839. He was son of Edmund Kavanagh and Catherine Moore, and was born in Ballinalacken, Ballyragget, about 1790. He learned classics first in Attanagh, at a Latin school kept by a man named English, and afterwards in the Castlemarket Academy. He began Philosophy in the Maudlin Street College in 1811, and Theology in 1812, and finished his ecclesiastical course in Birchfield in 18I5 or 1816, when he was ordained a priest. His curacies were Johnstown, Upperwoods and Callan, till June 19th, 1839, when he became P.P. Camross. He lived in Crannagh Cottage but, some years before his death, being entirely incapacitated for duty, through mental illness, he removed to Mr. Vester Phelan's house, in Crannagh, and there he died, Aug. 9th, 1855, in his 65th year. He rests in Camross Chapel.

REV. JAMES STAUNTON was born in Coole, Ballyragget, on Christmas day, 1804. He studied Classics in Burrell's Hall (1823-28), and Philosophy and Theology in the Irish College, Paris, and was ordained in Lent, 1833. He was C.C. Lisdowney, Clough, Aghaboe, Ballycallan and Lisdowney. He became Adm. of Camross in 1853, and P.P. of same after Father Kavanagh's death. He died in Crannagh Cottage, Dec. 26th, 1862, having just completed his 58th year. He is buried in Camross chapel.

VERY REV. THOMAS O'SHEA was born in Cappahayden, Kilmanagh, on Good Friday, 1813. His father, Thomas Shea, belonged to Little River, Callan, but removed to Cappahayden in 1790, and two years later married a Miss Townsend. The issue of the marriage was fourteen children, among them the Venerable Archdeacon O'Shea, P.P. Ballyhale; the P.P of Camross; Richard, a Christian Brother; John of Cappahayden, &c. Having studied Classics in Burrell's Hall, Father O'Shea commenced Logic in Birchfield in Sept., 1833. On the 27th Aug., 1834, lie passed on to Maynooth, for Physics, and, after a distinguished course, was promoted to the Dunboyne. He was ordained in 1840; after which he was C.C. St. John's (1840-43); Tullaroan (1843-44); Slieverue (1844-48); Callan (1848-55) and Cullahill, from 1855 to January 1863, when he was appointed P.P. Camross. In 1873 he became Canon Theologian of the Diocese. He died of bronchitis, after a brief illness, at Crannagh Cottage, March 30th, 1887, and is interred in Camross chapel.

Among the clergy of Ossory, ever faithful to religion and country, none hold a more honoured place than the priest whose career we have thus briefly outlined. Zealously devoted to the duties of his sacred office, a man of powerful intellect, large frame and big, tender heart, he was, everywhere he went, the idol of the people. Always in fullest sympathy with the legimitate aspirations of his countrymen, he could not help being profoundly stirred by the calamities by which they were overwhelmed during the terrible Visitation of " Dark '47; and he resolved to do one man's work in ameliorating their condition. In 1848 he was sent on the mission to Callan, where he was fortunate in finding as his fellow C.C. the Rev. Mat O'Keeffe, a priest, like himself, of ardent patriotism, profound ability and great eloquence.

"His predecessor there had died of the famine fever caught at the bedside of the dying, and the previous year another priest had similarly fallen a victim to the same dreadful pestilence. Father O'Keeffe was nominally the other Curate, but was in reality discharging the duty of administering the affairs of the parish. It was a time of terrible crisis. The people were dying by hundreds of famine and fever, and unhappy wretches upon whom Death had set his mark were being dragged every day from their bare hovels to perish on the roadside. One of the principal landlords of the district was a gentleman notorious for his bigoted hostility to the Catholic religion, and for the inhuman cruelty with which he had prosecuted the work of exterminating his Catholic tenantry. He swept whole townlands bare, and to crown the outrages which he inflicted upon the people, the vacant holdings consolidated into one huge farm, were handed over to a family of whom it was written at the time that 'their perverted religion and depraved morality make them a pestilence in the neighbourhood.' The fences along the roads and through the fields of his estate consisted of fragments of broken bedsteads and other furniture, once the property of the hapless tenantry. In Callan 2,000 persons were starving slowly to death. In the rude hospital sheds outside the town four hundred others were at one time dying of the speedier and more merciful fever. It was under such circumstances that Fathers O'Keeffe and O'Shea, under whose eyes these horrors were occurring, founded 'The Callan Tenant Protection Society.' The object of the new association was to check by public exposure the fearful tyranny that was being perpetrated in the neighbourhood of Callan, and to obtain for the tenants whatever little protection the law allowed them.
"The state of Callan was the state of the country; the same atrocities were taking place elsewhere; the necessity for protecting the wretched tenants was universal. From Callan the idea which the two Curates had put in practice spread to neighbouring parishes, then to neighbouring counties, and finally in the year 1850, a society embracing all Ireland was established as 'The Irish Tenant League'
-' The League of North and South, of which the history has been so graphically and fully told by Sir Charles Gavan Dully. For four years Father O'Shea laboured indefatigably in the service of the poor. He was the pioneer of the land movement, and he was one of the first to feel the consequences of departing from recognised rules of political thought. He worked with marvellous self-sacrifice, taking no vacations from his parochial duties in order to find time to devote to the interests of the League, whilst conscientiously fulfilling his duties as a priest. When not fighting the evicting landlords he was defeating the proselytisers whom the local bigots had sent among his flock. Contemporary writings leave it on record that ' Father O'Shea's catechetical instructions were so interesting, that people came from ten miles round to hear him.' During those years Father O'Shea was the bosom friend of the intrepid champion of Catholic rights. Frederick Lucas. From his death-bed Lucas wrote to his "Dear Father Tom"-" Do not be downcast or disheartened. As sure as God is in Heaven, your cause is the cause of truth and honour, and when your last hour comes you will feel what a consolation it gives a man never to have flinched in the worst of times-as I may say of you-or given way in the public service to selfish, personal considerations." And what Lucas wrote of Father O'Shea then could be written of him to the end. He never flinched a hair's-breadth; he never gave way to thoughts of self. He lived to see the work he initiated carried far, and in the struggles of the Land League his words were as resolute and his courage as high, as when 40 years before he assailed the fabric of landlordism, buttressed, as it then was, on all sides, and seemingly unshakeable. By his death, one of the men who contributed much to the making of New Ireland has passed away, and in the day of Ireland's prosperity his memory will be fresh in the love of Irishmen." ¹

VERY REV. WALTER KEOGHAN became P.P. April 30th, 1887, and was translated to Conahy, April 11th, 1901.
REV. JOHN CARROLL was next appointed P.P., July 12th, 1901.

1. Obituary Notice, Freeman's Journal, the 31st March, 1887.

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