AGHADOE THROUGH THE AGES

In the Barony of Magunihy and in the townland of Nunstown lie the ruined church and churchyard of Aghadoe. Pictures.

Aghadoe is pronounced A-had-oe by the local populace. Aghadoe translates as “the field of two yews” (Achadh Da Eo). Yew trees are often found growing in churchyards and cemeteries. The first yew to be planted in a churchyard was usually planted close to the path leading to the entrance of the church. In the shade of this yew tree, the priest and his clerks would receive persons bringing a body for burial. Yews are toxic to man and animals. The Latin name for the yew is taxus. An extract of the Pacific yew, Taxol, is used in chemotherapy to kill cancer cells. The yew tree can live for thousands of years. It sends down branches, which on touching the ground, turn into roots. It is thus forever renewing itself. It is thus possible that the two yews mentioned in the place-name are still growing in the churchyard. The yew tree was sacred to the druids.

The druids tended to have their places of worship in stone circles in sacred groves on tops of prominent hills. Later Christian churches were often built on the druidical sites. It is thus possible and even probable that the Aghadoe church was built on an ancient druidical site.

There are many examples of the Celtic Cross in the cemetery. The Celtic Cross is believed to be a combination of the druidical symbol, the circle and the Christian symbol, the cross.

The church building measures 80 feet from gable to gable and twenty feet in breadth. The western part of the church is the oldest. It was finished in 1158 by Auliff Mor na Cuimsionach, a member of the O’Donoghue family, who was buried here in 1166. This church replaced an earlier stone church.

At this time the O’ Donoghues were newly arrived in this part of Kerry. They had been driven out of West Cork and they subsequently wrested control of the lands around Lock Lein from the Moriartys. They acknowledged McCarthy More , the chieftain of the McCarthies, as overlord and paid tribute to him. McCarthy More had his palace at Pallas until 1519. Under the Brehon system, the chieftain was all-powerful within the clan lands. There was no private ownership of land. Land was allocated to clan members by the chieftain for lifetime. At the death of the occupier, the land reverted to the clan. The only exception to this system was Church lands. Church lands were held in perpetuity by the Church. McCarthy More would have had little influence in the day-to-day running of the O'Donoghue clan. The O'Donoghues held their Loch Lein lands against allcomers for the next four hundred years until the late 16th century.

The newly finished church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity and St. Mary. It has a Hiberno-Romanesque west doorway with a three-order arch (i.e. three semi-circular sets of inlaid stones), the innermost order plain and the two outer ones bearing Romanesque decoration. The arch is an 11th century Irish version of the Roman arch. The Roman arch was semi-circular in shape. The Goths later introduced the Gothic arch to Europe. The Gothic arch is pointed and was an improvement on the Roman arch.

The eastern part of the Aghadoe church was added in the 13th century. It includes an east window which has a head and a flower at the intersection. The church is now divided into two separate compartments or churches by a dividing wall. To date, there has been no satisfactory explanation for this. The dividing wall could have arisen in two different ways. It may be that when the eastern part was added, the outer wall of the previous church was not demolished but left in place. Alternatively, the dividing wall may have been added at some date after the extension had been built. It is also conjectured that the eastern compartment may have served as living quarters at some stage.

In medieval times, there were no seats in churches. The congregation stood or kneeled during the service. Bearing this in mind, it is doubtful if there would have been standing room for more than 50 worshippers in each section of the Aghadoe church.

On top of the south wall of the church is an Ogham stone bearing the inscription BRRUANANN. Ogham writing was in use from the 3^rd to the 6^th century when it was superseded by the Roman alphabet. Also secured to the wall is a sculpture of the crucifixion. Outside the doorway of the church stands a large bullaun stone (bowl-stone) with a single centrally-placed hollow. A bullaun is a large flat stone with a central hollow. It is not certain what they were used for but the most probable explanation is that they were used for holding holy water.

Christian churches were initially set up in the 5^th century in Ireland at the time of St. Patrick’s apostolate. Possibly the Aghadoe church may date from this period. Church buildings until quite late were usually constructed from wood or aggregate in Ireland. Stone churches were the exception. The Aghadoe church was closely linked to a monastery in Inisfallen Island founded by St Finian the leper in the 7th century. Leper colonies were often established on islands. According to the Annals of Inisfallen, the monks in Inisfallen eventually adopted the rules of the Society of St. Augustine.

Aghadoe is presumed to have been the seat of an ancient bishopric although records are scant. A near townland is called Faranaspig, “the bishop’s plot”. The churchyard is within the townland of Nunstown. In the medieval Irish Church, the bishop was in practice, thought not in theory, subordinate to the abbot of the local monastery. In effect, he was a functionary attached to the local monastery. By the year 1110, Aghadoe had become united with the bishopric of Ardfert. From then onwards, the bishop of the Kerry region was known as the Bishop of Ardfert and Aghadoe and resided at Ardfert. The title of the Catholic bishop was officially changed to Bishop of Kerry (from Bishop of Kerry and Aghadoe) in 1952. The Church of Ireland bishop still retains the title of Bishop of Ardfert and Aghadoe but the see has been united with that of Limerick since 1660. Apparently both Churches still appoint a cleric to the office of Archdeacon of Aghadoe.

The civil parish of Aghadoe was in use for local government purposes until the beginning of the twentieth century. It comprised some 17,000 acres and extended southwards almost to the foot of the mountains and eastwards to Headford, beyond the present Killarney town. It probably represented the area ministered to by the Aghadoe church in the eleventh century.

It is probable that the church building was in use until sometime after the Reformation. The church was in ruins in 1622 and had probably been in ruins for some 50 years prior. The Diocesan Returns for the Anglican Church for 1622 gives us the following: ‘There is one prebend (Ed. Note: source of tithe) left of the ruined church of Aghadoe…” From the Reformation to 1870, Aghadoe churchyard was under the ownership and control of the Established Church but nevertheless it continued to be used by the Catholic community as a burial ground. It then passed under the control of the local government authority.

Until 1838, tithes were paid (usually in kind, when paid at all) to the nominal Archdeacon of Aghadoe by the land-leasing inhabitants of the surrounding countryside.

In the 19th century, the landlord in the Aghadoe area and beyond was Lord Headley. He resided at Aghadoe House which is now the An Oige youth hostel He let his estate to tenants for an annual rent of £2 to £2.50 per acre. At this time, the wages of an agricultural labourer was 8 pence per day or £24 per year, if fully employed. The last Lord Headley to live in Aghadoe converted to Islam in 1913. Samuel Lewis’s “Topography of Ireland” published in 1837 has this to say “On the expiration of the lease of this manor, held under its proprietor, Lord Headley, in 1826, his lordship took the estate under his own management; the farms, previously consisting of small portions of land held under middlemen by cottier tenants, were surveyed and improved upon, an arrangement adapted to the mutual benefit of landlord and tenant, and let on leases of 21 years in portions varying from 100 to 200 acres, with stipulated allowances for building comfortable farm-houses, making fences and drains, and drawing the requisite quantities of lime for the improvement of the soil. Several miles of new road have been constructed, and extensive plantations made solely at his lordship's expense. The hovels formerly occupied by the cottier tenants have been superseded by good farm-houses built of stone and roofed with slate; attached to each are orchards and gardens, and the whole face of the district presents an appearance of improvement.” He became notorious in later years for his policy of evicting smalholders in the interest of creating larger land-holdings. See below for the different types of landholding in 1824 and 1853.

The Annals of Inisfallen contain references to Aghadoe church and churchyard, the first for the year 939 A.D. and the last for 1450 A.D.. The following are the references in the Annals of Inisfallen.

939

Repose of Aed, son of Mael Pátraic, abbot of Achad Deó

1010

Mael Suthain Ua Cerbaill {of Eóganacht}, eminent sage of Ireland, rested in Christ in Achad Deó.

1044

Repose of Maenach Muccruma in Achad Deó.

1061

Ua Cathail, royal heir of Eógan acht Locha Léin, was taken out of the stone church of Achad Deó and afterwards slain. (Ed. Note: his right or claim to sanctuary in the church was denied to him).

1177

Corcach was invaded by the grandson of Domnall Ua Carthaig and by grey foreigners (i.e. Normans), and was besieged by Miles de Cogan and by FitzStephen. One of their companies made an expedition to Achad Deó, spent two days and two nights in it, and from there proceeded again to Corcach. After that they went to attack Port Láirge, but the Gaedil assembled against them to the east of Les Mór, and they were almost all slain.

1282

Great frost in the above year, followed by snow, so that not a single day's ploughing or harrowing was done [...] from Christmas until a week before the Feast of Brigit [February 1].. And there was also very bad weather generally from that on, which prevented any useful work being done to [...] In the same year there was many a violent windstorm, and ricks and many houses were damaged; also the great church of Achad Deó (which had been standing undamaged for six score and four years) (i.e. since 1158), its holy cross, too, being broken—which I much deplore.

1308

Feidlimid, son of Donnchad Mac Carthaig, was (mortally) wounded by his own spear in the Glas Lathaige north of Achad Deó as he was gaffing a trout he had seen in the ford.

1450

In this same year died(?) Fíngen Ó Súilliubáin, erenagh of Achad Dá Eó”. (Ed. Note: the erenagh was the manager of Church revenue and property. The office was often hereditary)

1581

The Annals of the Four Masters give this description of an engagement in 1581 during the Earl of Desmond’s rebellion. “The Earl of Desmond was encamped at Achadh-da-eo; and at that time an English captain, namely, Captain Siuitse, was appointed by the Queen and the Lord Justice to preside over Desmond and Kerry. This captain marched day and night with a party of cavalry to make an attack on the camp of the Earl of Desmond; and it was on a Sunday morning that he arrived at the camp. The Earl and all those who were with him were at this time buried in deep sleep, and profound slumber, for they had remained vigilant and on the watch all the night, and until that time. The captain immediately and alertly attacked all those whom he found standing in the streets, and slew them without mercy; nor did he wait for battle or engagement, but proceeded directly till he reached Castlemain. The following were amongst the freeborn persons slain by the captain at Achadh-da-eo on that day, i.e. Thomas Oge, the only son of Thomas; the son of Maurice Duv, son of the Earl; Mulmurry, the son of Donough Bacagh, son of Mulmurry, son of Donough Mac Sweeny; and Teige, the son of Dermot, son of Cormac of Magh-Laithimh.”

The lands of the O’ Donghues were confiscated following the Earl of Desmond’s rebellion.

The earliest headstones in the churchyard date only from the late eighteenth century. There are no headstones or markers over a large part of the older section of the cemetery. The main reason for this is that no headstones were erected over persons interred in the paupers’ section of the cemetery.

Close to Aghadoe church is the lower portion of a round tower. It is referred to locally as the “the bishop’s chair”. The tower is the remnant of of a bell tower and dates from 1026. Could it also have been the somewhat cramped residence of the Bishops of Aghadoe in the 11th century?

A short distance south east from the church is an obelisk monument to a much-loved Killarney doctor, Myles O’ Mahony. The inscription on the monument states that the monument was erected “by the gentry and peasantry” of the Killarney area in appreciation of his services to the victims of the Famine in the 1840’s.

Further down the hill from the church lie the ruins of a round castle surrounded by a moat. It contains an inner spiral staircase and the remains of a fireplace on the first floor. In 1215 Norman invaders erected a wooden structure on this site as they moved across Kerry. The present stone castle replaced the wooden structure at the end of the 13th century. However, Norman influence in this part of Ireland waned after the Battle of Callan at Kilgarvan in 1261 when Norman attempts at expansion were halted. For some time, the ridge at Aghadoe represented the dividing line between the Norman (and descendants)-controlled north and the Gael-controlled south.

The road adjoining the cemetery on the west side is known as Boreen-na-Marbh, “the road of the dead”. It was in use to bring bodies for burial to the churchyard. A common mode of transporting the dead in medieval Ireland was a dray drawn by two bullocks. The dray would have been followed by “keening “ women. The road was also probably the communicating road between the abbey at Inisfallen and the church at Aghadoe for possibly 1000 years.

The field to the south of the cemetery is known locally as the “The Glebe”. This name can be traced to the early 19th century when the land was set aside on which to build a protestant rectory (which never eventuated) and create an adjoining glebe. “A glebe of 10 3/4 acres, …belong also to the archdeacon. There is at present neither church nor glebe-house: the ancient and much used burial-ground adjoining the ruins of the cathedral of Aghadoe has been enlarged by the addition of a slip of ground given by Lord Headley”. (Lewis, 1837). Soon afterwards, in 1838, a new church, together with adjoining rectory for the Archdeacon, was built a mile to the west. This church is now in disuse and the rectory is an hotel.

The following persons are the recorded owners, leaseholders and residents of the Nunstown townland from 1824 to 1926.

TITHES OCTOBER 1824

Occupiers’ Names	Total Acres

Dan MCarthy	8.50
Patrick Geran	12.75
Denis McCarthy	4.25
Darby McCarthy	15.00
James Murphy	30.00
Daniel Moriarty	19.00

GRIFITH’S PRIMARY VALUATION OF TENEMENTS 1853

OCCUPIER	LESSOR	ACREAGE

Michael Barrett	Robert Marshall Leeson	148.86
Archdeacon Forster	In fee (i.e. freehold)	17.07
Jeremiah Coffey	Archdeacon Foster House
John Falvey and M L O’ Sullivan	Thos. Finn	.70
Robert Marshall Leeson	In fee (i.e. freehold)	4.075

TOTAL ACREAGE		170.705

From the above, it appears that the Archdeacon owned the churchyard, adjoining house and glebe in freehold. (21.85 acres). The remaining 148.86 acres in Nunstown appeared to have been actually occupied and farmed by Michael Barrett. He in turn rented the property from Robert Leeson. Robert Leeson probably rented it from the head landowner, probably Lord Headley. The measurements are probably in Irish (plantation) acres and not in statute acres.

1901 CENSUS

Nunstown, Aghadoe Parish

(For all persons listed below, birthplace is County Kerry)

SURNAME	FIRST NAME	RELATION	EDUC.	AGE	SEX	OCCUPATION	MARITAL

Cronin	Dennis	Head	R & W	39	M	Farmer	Married
	Ellie	Wife	R & W	36	F	Farmer’s wife	Married
	Mary	Daughter	R & W	9	F	Scholar	Single
	Sissy	Daughter	R & w	8	F	Scholar	Single
	John	Son	R & W	7	M	Scholar	Single
	Martin	Son	R & W	5	M	Scholar	Single
	Margaret	Daughter	R & W	5	F	Scholar	Single
	Mary	Daughter	Cannot R or W	2	F	Scholar	Single
Nagle	Jack	Servant	R & W	46	M	Farm servant	Single
Leary	Thade	Son	R & W	56	M	Farm servant	Single

Cronin	Eugene	Head	R & W	43	M	Farmer	Married
	Mary	Wife	R & W	32	F	Farmer’s wife	Married
	Dennis	Son	R & W	13	M	Scholar	Single
	Mary	Daughter	R & W	12.6	F	Scholar	Single
	Ellie	Daughter	R & W	11	F	Scholar	Single
	Eugene	Son	R & W	9.5	M	Scholar	Single
	Julia	Daughter	Cannot R or W	6	F	Scholar	Single
	Catherine	Daughter	Cannot R or W	4	F		Single
	Matt	Son	Cannot R or W	2.6	M		Single
	Hannah	Daughter	R & W	6 days	F		Single
	Mary	Mom	Cannot R or W	80	F		Widow
Kissane	Mary	Servant	R & W	21	F	Domestic	Single
Kellhier	Timothy	Servant	R & W	25	M	General servant	Single
Cronin	Michael	Servant	R & W	18	M	General servant	Single

Leahy	Richard	Head	Cannot R or W	70	M	Farm labourer	Married
	Margaret	Wife	Cannot R or W	70	F	Farmer’s wife	Married

Sullivan	John	Head	Cannot R or W	70	M	Agric. Labourer	Married
	Margaret	Wife	Cannot R or W	50	F		Married
	Bridget	Boarder	R & W	10	F	Scholar	Single

CENSUS OF IRELAND 1901--NUNSTOWN

HEAD OF FAMILY	LEASEHOLDER

Denis Cronin	Denis Cronin
Eugene Cronin	Eugene Cronin
Richard Leahy	John Leahy
Jeremiah Coffey	Same
John Sullivan	Same

CENSUS OF IRELAND 1911--NUNSTOWN

SURNAME	FORENAME	AGE	SEX

Coffey	Jeremiah	65	M
Coffey	Margaret	55	F
Coffey	Ellie	30	F
Coffey	Jeremiah	21	M
Coffey	Edward	16	M
Coffey	Michael	12	M
Coffey	John	33	M
Coffey	Margaret	36	F
Coffey	James	12	M
Coffey	Michael	10	M
Coffey	Patrick	9	M
Coffey	Mary	8	F
Coffey	Hannah	6	F
Coffey	Kitty	4	F
Coffey	Christina	1	F

Cronin	Denis	60	M
Cronin	Ellen	48	F
Cronin	Mary	21	F
Cronin	Ellen	19	F
Cronin	John	17	M
Cronin	Mathew	15	M
Cronin	Margaret	13	F
Cronin	Kate	9	F
Cronin	Michael	5	M

Cronin	Eugene	65	M
Cronin	Mary	49	F
Cronin	Denis	24	M
Cronin	Mary	22	F
Cronin	Eugene	20	M
Cronin	Magan	18	F
Cronin	Julia	16	F
Cronin	Mathew	12	M
Cronin	Hanna	10	F
Cronin	James	5	M

Leahy	John	50	M
Leahy	Ellen	40	F

O’ Connor	Lizzie	9	F
Toley	William	27	M

1926 REGISTER OF ELECTORS

Ellen Coffey	Batt Coffey	Matt Cronin
Mary Cronin	Matt Cronin	Margaret Cronin
Julian Cronin	Eugene Cronin	Ellen Leahy
Margaret Kenny	Michael Kenny	Jeremiah Kenny

(Revision 08/10/09)

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