Bishop Corbet.The Fairies' Farewell
- Lament, lament, old abbies
The fairies lost command!
They did but change priests babies,
But some have chang'd your land:
And all your children stol'n from thence
Are now growne Puritanes,
Who live as changelings ever since,
For love of your domains.
Youghall, twenty-four miles east of Cork, is situated at the mouth of the River Blackwater, near a fine open beach of smooth sand, but its harbour has the disadvantage of a bar, which renders the entrance often dangerous, and sometimes impossible.
The town consists of one long street, with smaller streets leading off on each side, and is a fashionable place of resort for sea bathing.
The Inn (or hotel as it is called) was dirty, and ill provided for the reception of travellers; but as there was much to be seen in the place, and we had some letters of introduction, its accommodations were of little comparative consequence to us.
The remains of ancient buildings in Youghall are sufficiently numerous and conspicuous to demand notice, even from the casual visitor; and the result of an inquiry into their history will not prove uninteresting.
The house of the ill fated Sir Walter Raleigh, who was mayor of the town in 1588, is still to be seen nearly in the same state as when inhabited by him; and many objects are pointed out, to which the charm of traditional anecdote is attached.
The town walls, with their towers, continue in some places their original height, although in a very ruinous condition; and now terminate the gardens of a few good houses, that are elevated above the main street, by the natural rise of the ground, and command a charming view, over the town, of the river and harbour. In these gardens the myrtle flourishes with surprizing luxuriance, having, in many instances, attained the growth of twenty feet.
On digging close to the town walls about five or six years ago, four curious pieces of stamped pewter were turned up, which appear to have been used as coins, or promissory counters, but are without any inscription or mark that might determine their history and use. Two of these pieces were of a triangular, and two of a circular shape, the largest of the latter about the size of an old half-crown, the other
Many monkish remains have been occasionally found at Youghall. I remember seeing amongst others a hollow bronze cross, about seven inches in length, which opened, and was divided into several compartments, or chambers, for the deposition of relics.
The town of Youghall is indebted to the Earls of Desmond for its former distinction, the chief buildings having been erected by them. In 1579 it was besieged by the famous rebel earl, who, without excepting the religious foundations, gave up the place to unrestrained pillage, a sacrilegious proceeding, that, according to Irish historians, drew down on him the signal vengeance of Heaven. Some Spanish soldiers, who were associated with Desmond's followers in this exploit, strongly reprobated these excesses, and one of the foreigners is said to have so deeply commiserated the sufferers in this scene of wanton havoc, that he divided his cloak amongst five children, who had been stripped of their clothes, and left naked by some of the Irish kearns.
On the news of the capture of Youghall by the rebel party, Lord Ormond sent a small troop from Waterford, under the command of Captain White, to recover it; but, though an entrance was effected at the Water Gate, they were repulsed with the loss of their leader and
Three years afterwards (1582) the Seneschal of Imokilly endeavoured to regain Youghall, but was defeated with the loss of fifty of his followers. In 1645, Lord Cork maintained the town for nearly ten weeks, against a large body of the Irish forces under Lord Castlehaven, and compelled him to raise the siege.
As a matter of course Youghall submitted to Cromwell, who embarked here for England, after his almost incredible progress through Ireland, that, like a resistless torrent, overwhelmed every attempt at opposition.
Two religious houses were built here by the Geraldines about the middle of the thirteenth century, one on the north, the other on the south side of the town, and although only a small fragment of the former now exists, romantic associations are attached to the memory of both. The foundation of the south abbey, according to Sir James Ware, the first Franciscan friary in Ireland, originated in the following circumstance: Maurice Fitzgerald, being about to raise a castle, was requested by the artificers engaged in marking out the site on the eve of some festival, to bestow a piece of money on them and their fellow labourers for the prosperity of the undertaking, which he directed his son to do, but who, instead of obeying the command of his parent, violently abused the workmen. His conduct so much affected the father that he changed his intention, and assuming the
The college of Youghall, now the property of the Duke of Devonshire, is a tolerably perfect remain, and one that merits attention, were it merely from its history, which gives us a striking picture of the times. It was founded in 1464, by Thomas Earl of Desmond, for a warden, eight fellows, and as many choristers, endowed with several livings, and a landed estate of 600l. per annum. It continued to increase in revenue and patronage, and had the good fortune to escape the general plunder at the reformation; — Dr. Witherhead, who held the wardenship in commendam with his bishopric of Waterford, preserved it for some years; but the next warden, Nathaniel Baxter, was served with an order from Queen Elizabeth to resign, within forty days, to Thomas Southwell, Esq. of Norfolk, and Mr. Fitz Harris of Ballycremane, who had obtained a grant of it from her, for the purpose of passing away the lands to themselves and their friends, as had been the case with so many other ecclesiastical foundations. Dr. Baxter, seeing the object of this order, which they took little pains to conceal, and supposing it lawful to cheat a robber of his prey, took advantage of the forty days, summoned his fellows, and passing a long lease of the whole college estate to Sir Thomas Norris, Lord President of Munster, obeyed strictly the letter of the royal order, and resigned his wardenship without its revenues to Fitz Harris and Southwell. In a rage, they
Sir Richard Boyle, afterwards Earl of Cork, one of the most sagacious men of his day, lived all this time quietly at Youghall, no inattentive observer of the scene passing before him, and when the claimants on all these different and discordant grounds began to be tired of their disputes and unable to settle them, he stepped calmly in and bought up all their titles for a trifle; then getting Hanmer to resign the wardenship in favour of his relative Dr. Richard Boyle, Bishop of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross, obtained a grant in fee-farm for ever of all the property temporal and spiritual, to himself and his heirs, including the warden's house and garden, and the site of the college itself.
The Earl did not enjoy this property without a struggle with Lord Stratford's attorney-general, Sir William Ryves, who obliged him to give up the living and three hundred acres of land; but he eventually succeeded (in 1640) in obtaining a fresh patent from the crown, for full possession of the college and all its revenues.
The tithes of Youghall parish, which amount at present to 500l., and three hundred acres of land, much underlet (fine included) at 75l. per annum, are still in possession of the warden. The college and warden's house, both large and handsome buildings, have been
The noble Gothic window in the ruinous gable end of the present parish church, that stands close to the college, invites examination, and is pointed out as the richest and most perfect specimen of the kind in Ireland. Although the effect of its original graceful proportions is destroyed by the lower part being built up some feet, it is certainly a fine piece of workmanship, and is formed by a double Gothic window, each consisting of two slight munnions surmounted by open circular tracery, and terminating in a trefoil ornament. These windows become one by the outside line of their arches uniting in a common point over the double massive munnion, which is thus the centre, and this diamond shaped space is occupied by a Catherine wheel.
There are some monuments in the interior of the church deserving notice. The south transept was purchased in 1606, by Lord Cork, from the corporation of Youghall, and contains the monument of that
Leland
- For as the tombe, is built in sumptuous guise,
So to the same, a closet fayre is wrought,
Where lords may sit in stately solemne wise,
As though it were a fine device of thought,
To beautifie both tombe and every part
Of that fayre worke, that there is made by arte.
In the same chapel there is an epitaph on Sir Richard Villers, Lord President of Munster, who died in l626, which bears a strong resemblance in style to those written by Ben Jonson.
- Munster may curse the time that Villers came
To make us worse, by leaving such a name
Of noble parts, as none can imitate,
But those whose hearts are married to the state;
But, if they press to rival him in fame,
Munster may bless the time that Villers came!
In the north transept, part of which I think forms the vestry room, are some curious old monuments — I remarked two recumbent effigies lying on the ground, that were once apparently placed on tombs; the feet of each rested on a lion or some animal, and one, in the robes of an ecclesiastic, held a bird in his hand; at the edge of the other stone was an inscription in Gothic letters, which might be read without difficulty. Near these figures, and forming part of the pavement, is one of
In the nave, half concealed by one of the pews, there is another of these crosses, with a head sculptured in bold relief, and without any inscription, which I sketched as affording an uncommon difference. Tradition names it as the tomb of Roynane, who was Mayor of Youghall in the early part of Elizabeth's reign.
There is much more to detain a monumental antiquary in this church than I have the means of enumerating, as the difficulty of getting at some tombs and the injured state of others precluded the thoughts of an effort at a complete investigation, without considerably more leisure and facilities than I could command.
The church has side aisles formed by a row of Gothic arches, supported on heavy square columns; and at the east end, close to the transepts, a wall is built across the former chancel. The space between the present interior and the ancient splendid window is used as a burial-place, and filled with rubbish and broken grave-stones, amid which the rank nettle shoots up, and the briar, in entangling embrace, flings its long arms around fallen architectural decorations. Here too are some costly monuments, particularly a sepulchral niche
It would be unpardonable to omit noticing the house of Sir Walter Raleigh adjoining the churchyard, and at present the residence of Sir Christopher Musgrave. It is long and low, the exterior plain and heavy, resembling the common English manor-house of his time. In the interior, those rooms which we saw were completely lined with small oaken pannels, and had large wooden chimney pieces, embellished with very beautiful carved work; nor should it be forgotten that potatoes were first introduced into Ireland by Raleigh, who, it is reported, brought them from Virginia, and planted them in his own garden at Youghall. However his military exploits deserve execration in the history of Ireland, the benefit conferred on the country by the introduction of this nutritive and prolific root, which at present constitutes almost the entire food of its peasantry, ought to redeem his memory and consecrate his name. A wellknown and not improbable anecdote is related respecting the person to whom the care of the first crop was entrusted: supposing that the apples, as they are called, which grow on the stalks, were the part to be used, he tasted them, but finding the flavour insipid and rather nauseous, threw them away; nor was it until he dug the ground to root out this apparently worthless plant that its value was discovered.
Amongst the distinguished names connected with the history of Youghall, the most eminent is that of Richard Boyle, or, as he is commonly styled, the great Earl of Cork, who landed in Ireland a needy and speculative adventurer, and in a short time acquired honours, titles, and wealth; by what means, affords a fair subject for inquiry,
Richard Boyle had been brought up to the law; but perceiving ‘that his employment would not raise a fortune,’ he set out for Ireland as the scene of revolutionary confusion, and landed at Dublin the 23d of June, 1583, all his wealth then being ‘27l. 3s. in money, and two tokens which his mother had given him, viz. a diamond ring and a bracelet of gold, worth about 101.; a taffety doublet cut with and upon taffety; a pair of black velvet breeches laced; a new Milan fustian suit laced and cut upon taffety; two cloaks and competent linen, and necessaries, with his rapier and dagger.’
If the 500l. a year, obtained by marriage, be excepted, how Lord Cork acquired in a few years estates sufficient to awaken the attention of the principal officers of the Irish government, does not appear; but a representation of the number of castles and abbeys of which he had possessed himself with such limited means, was made to Queen Elizabeth, by Sir Henry Wallop, treasurer at war; Sir Robert Gardiner, chief justice of the King's Bench; Sir Robert Dillon, chief justice of the Common Pleas; and Sir Richard Bingham, chief commissioner of Connaught. Nor is it likely that these men would unite to ruin an industrious individual without sufficient cause; and it does not seem improbable that Mr. Boyle was secretly supplied with money from Spain, and employed as an agent by that government, about this time meditating the invasion of the country, to secure the principal places of strength in the south of Ireland. Be the matter as it may, Mr. Boyle immediately fled into England, where he was arrested, and confined for a short time a close prisoner; but having rendered some services to the Earl of Essex, then Lord Lieutenant of
As clerk of the council he accompanied the Lord President of Munster in his various efforts to reduce the province to submission, and was sent over to London by the Lord Deputy Mountjoy, who assisted the President at the siege of Kinsale, with the news of the victory obtained at that place over the Irish, under the Earl of Tyrone, and the invading Spaniards, on the 24th December, 1601, ‘in which employment,’ says Lord Cork, ‘I made a speedy expedition to the court, for I left my lord president at Shandon Castle near Cork on Monday morning, about two of the clock, and the next day, being Tuesday, I delivered my pacquet, and supped with Sir Robert Cecil, being then principal secretary, at his house in the Strand, who after supper held me in discourse, till two of the clock in the morning, and by seven that morning, called upon me to attend him to the court, when he presented me to her Majesty in her bed-chamber,’ &c. This very passage, in Lord Cork's account of his fortunes, is sufficient to throw a doubt upon the other statements made by him, as the performance of a journey from Cork to London, in the space of time mentioned (thirty-four hours), must then have been a matter of impossibility, since it is now barely practicable, under the most favourable combination of circumstances; yet so miraculous a journey is dwelt upon by most of his biographers with unhesitating admiration. Mr. Budgell, in his Lives of the Boyles, adds, indeed, as a comment on this extraordinary piece of travelling, that he ‘should have made some difficulty of believing the fact, if he had not seen it in his (Lord Cork's) own memoirs, which are evidently wrote without the least affectation, and with a great regard to truth.’
Having kissed the Queen's hand, Mr. Boyle returned to Ireland,
These estates, which Lord Cork lost no time in getting confirmed to him by the crown, included the manors of Ballynatra, Strancallie, Lysfinneen, Mogeyley, Sheane, Lismore; the new college of the Virgin Mary at Youghall, the Commendatorship of Lismore, the Abbey of Molana, and the town of Tallow, containing above 12,000 acres, in the counties of Cork and Waterford. Such indeed appears to have been the general fear of Lord Cork's grasping abilities, that a by-law was actually made by the corporation of Cork, forbidding any transaction with him in the disposal or exchange of lands, fearing that he should outwit them in the dealing.
An extract from the letter of a contemporary, Sir Christopher Wandesford, lord chief justice of Ireland, addressed to the Earl of Cumberland on the subject of his daughter the Lady Elizabeth Clifford's marriage with Lord Dungarvon, afterwards Lord Burlington, and eldest son of Lord Cork, supports the opinion I am inclined from various evidences to entertain of ‘the great earl.’
‘I pass by the remoteness of the place, cutting off a great part of that comfort indulgent parents promise to themselves, by frequent enjoying and visiting their children and grandchildren. But that a branch sprung from honorable and famous ancestors should be
Lord Cork naturally dreaded the investigation of titles to the Church lands by Lord Strafford, and we find him the avowed enemy of that unfortunate nobleman, many of whose actions seem to have arisen purely from motives of justice. Lord Cork in his own writing says, that he was prejudiced no less than 40,000l. in his personal estates, and in his inheritance 2000 marks yearly, by the arbitrary proceedings of Lord Strafford, on whose execution we find the following note in one of his diaries.
‘This day the Earl of Strafford was beheaded; no man died more universally hated, or less lamented by the people.’ The bitter uncharitableness of this comment on the death of a fallen enemy may perhaps be excused, had not the writer, after Strafford's attainder, meanly endeavoured to become reconciled to that minister, ‘fearing the king would still have protected him from the resentment of the commons.’
The exertions of Lord Cork in raising and equipping men at his own expense, during the turbulent period of 1641, for which so much praise has been lavished upon his zeal and loyalty, can be regarded as nothing more than an act of self-defence, and the mere protection of his private property; for it must be remembered every individual at that time was of necessity obliged to appear in arms; and as the possessor of an extensive district, it was impossible to avoid heading his own clan, or body of tenantry, if he wished to retain his estates or influence.
This is placing Lord Cork's zeal and loyalty in the most favourable point of view; for the eagerness with which he impeached as rebels the Lords Roche, Montgarret, Skerrin, Muskery, Dunboyne, Castleconnell,
Sir Richard Cox (in the preface to his second volume of the History of Ireland) bestows a long panegyric upon ‘the noble Earl of Cork,’ whom he describes as one of the most extraordinary persons either that or any other age has produced, with respect to the great and just acquisitions of estate that he made, and the public works he began and finished for the advancement of the English interest and the Protestant religion in Ireland, as churches, alms-houses, free-schools, bridges, castles and towns; viz. Lismore, Tallow, Cloghnakilty, Iniskeen, Castletown and Bandon, which last place cost him 14,000l. insomuch that when Cromwell saw these prodigious improvements, which he little expected to find in Ireland, he declared that if there had been an Earl Cork in every province, it would have been impossible for the Irish to have raised a rebellion.
But it is evident, from what has been said, that the justice with which Lord Cork obtained his vast estates has not been questioned without reason; and it will be seen that these prodigious improvements were the only means by which it was possible for him to render his newly acquired property productive, or give a value to tracts of country literally depopulated, by the desolating measures used for the suppression of Desmond's rebellion.
Proof may be required of the vaunting tone in which Lord Cork
‘And whereas your Lordship writes at the latter end of your letters that you bestow a great part of your estates and time in charitable works, I am heartily glad to hear it; but, withal, your Lordship will, I hope, give me leave to deal freely with you; and then I must tell your Lordship, if you have done as you write, you have suffered strangely, for many years together, by the tongues of men, who have often and constantly affirmed that you have not been a very good friend to the church in the point of her maintenance. I hope these reports are not true; but if they be, I cannot call your works charitable, having no better foundation than the livelihood of the church taken away to do them.’
I stand too far removed from the times of Lord Cork to be suspected of any indirect motive in representing his character in an unfavourable light, nor is it now a matter of much importance; but so many points may be adduced to establish a contrary estimation to that we should naturally form of ‘the illustrious earl’ from the statements of his biographers, that it would not be impartial to omit them in glancing at his history; and many reflections of a more severe nature, couched in opprobrious terms, may be produced, which are omitted, as possibly originating in the jealousy often excited by posterity.
Lord Cork is said to have powerfully advanced the English interest in Ireland, and it must be granted, if the severest intolerance has been beneficial to the cause of Union: the bigotry of the Protestants against their Roman Catholic brethren in those towns under his influence reached a degree of marked violence unknown in any other part of the kingdom, and which feeling is not entirely eradicated at the present hour; I need only instance the town of
At Youghall it was forbidden, in 1678, and remains on record, that a Papist should buy or barter any thing in the public market; and the manuscript annals of the town, from which I have been favoured with extracts, afford evidence of the illiberality of its corporation towards those of the Catholic persuasion; nor is it without regret that I add the enactments quoted were made during the mayoralties of ancestors of my own.
In 1696, it was ordered that any person but a Protestant freeman, presuming to go to the mayor's feast, should pay five shillings, or be set in the stocks.
1702. Several Papists, who had been admitted freemen, were disfranched, and it was ordered that no Papist should be made free again.
1744. Gregory Grimes, victualler, was disfranched, for having a Popish wife.
I am tempted to notice, as curiosities, two other enactments of the same body. In the years 1680 and 1700, a cook and a barber were made freemen, on condition that they should severally dress the mayor's feasts, and shave the corporation, gratis.
During our stay at Youghall, Miss Nicholson accompanied me in a morning excursion to Ardmore, celebrated for its round tower. We crossed the river Blackwater, here dividing the counties of Cork
The walk to Ardmore was about four English miles, over a rough and hilly road. Its round tower, the chief object of our visit, stands in a little churchyard, on a rocky eminence, near a sandy cove or bay, and rises gigantically above smaller buildings — these are, the church, and dormitory, or shrine, of St. Declan, which I examined, and sketched a ground-plan, explanatory of their relative situations, whilst Miss Nicholson made the annexed drawing.19 The church is evidently very ancient, from the massive irregularity of its architecture,
On the exterior of the wall at the west end are twelve figures in bas-relief, I presume intended for the twelve Apostles, much decomposed by age and the weather, each under a small Saxon arch; beneath these are two semi-circular projections, within which various bas-reliefs appear, executed without much attention to regularity. I have copied the entire effect, and three of the most perfect of these sculptures on a larger scale; the subjects appear to be, the Baptism, a Sacrifice, and the Judgment of Solomon.
Rude figures of Adam and Eve, with the Tree of Knowledge between them, are also to be distinctly seen.
The dormitory or shrine is a mere stone hut, lighted by one small square window. In a corner of the gloomy interior are the remains of a tomb, over which, on a stone cross, is placed the decayed capital of a pillar; but enthusiasm and superstition have converted it into a head of St. Declan. Many virtues are attributed to the earth taken out of this tomb, supposed to contain the ashes of that saint, which is made up in packets and sold to those who have faith in charms, as a preventive against various diseases.
A painting of our Saviour, the unskilful production of some village artist, hung against the wall, and near it was a wooden cross; both, I presume, viewed with strong feelings of veneration; but there is always considerable reserve in the communication of any particulars respecting relics or similar objects.
The Tower is constructed, with particular care, of hewn stone, and has four projecting belts round it, a circumstance of rather uncommon occurrence, as if to mark the stories, each of which gradually diminishes in circumference. The conical cap is considerably shaken, but still remains entire; and Smith, whose History of Waterford appeared in 1746, mentions ‘a kind of cross like a crutch’ on the top, that is not now to be seen. In a tract lately published, on the Irish Pillar Tower, by Colonel de Montmorency Morres, it is said to have been brought down by repeated discharges of musket-balls, and the writer adds, he was informed on the spot, by persons who saw it, that this curious fragment resembled a shoe or monk's sandal. The height of Ardmore Tower is stated by Smith to be one hundred feet; but Dr. Dartnell, of Youghall, informed me he found it on measurement only ninety-one. The entrance, as nearly as I could judge, is between twelve and thirteen feet from the ground, and the circumference of the base about fortyfive feet. In the upper story are four opposite windows, considerably larger than any other apertures in the building except the entrance.
At present I will leave the theories of antiquarian speculators on the Irish Round Tower, for ‘legendary lore’ as probable and more amusing than many opinions gravely advanced on the subject. These edifices are universally regarded by the peasantry as the produce of supernatural agency. ‘As auld as the hills, your honour, and troth an' they say it was all built in a night,’ is the general reply to any question about them; a saint or a devil, a fairy or a giant, are alternately the constructors, and the period of the
Many Irish manuscripts mention St. Declan; and extracts from a manuscript life were published by Archbishop Usher, in which the good saint is stated to have converted several of the Irish to Christianity some years before the arrival of St. Patrick. On the 24th of July (called St. Declan's Day), vast numbers of the country people flock to Ardmore for the purposes of penance and prayer; and I was informed that a skull, encased with silver, is then exhibited as the genuine cranium of that saint.