Medieval History Of Ballingary Church: (appreciation to Richard Clutterbuck)
Ballingarry church, or De Garda to give it its Latin name, was valued at 10 marks in 1302/07 in the ecclesiastical taxation (Sweetman, H. S. (ed) 1886 Calendar of Documents Relating to Ireland 1302-07. London, 285). In 1437 Ballingarry church was mentioned in a list of Procurations for the Diocese of Cashel and Emly when it was taxed for 24 shillings (Seymour, St. John D. 1908 A list of Procurations for the Diocese of the Cashel and Emly A. D. 1437, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 38, 328-333).
The perpetual vicar of Ballingarry, Dermit Oconayn, was the subject of a Papal Mandate in 1478 when he was accused of celebrating mass under sentence of excommunication as well as leaving his parishioners to die without confession or communion and allowing the roof and walls of his church to fall into ruins (Jwemlow, J . (ed) 1955 Calendar of Entries in the Papal Register Relating to Great Britain and Ireland 1471-1484 xiii. London, 606; Hennessy, M. 1985 Parochial organisation in Medieval Tipperary, in W. Nolan (ed) Tipperary: History and Society. Dublin, 60-70). By 1478 the Prior of St. Catherine the Virgin Waterford held the rectory of Ballingarry (Hennessey 1985, 69). When the Priory was dissolved in 1540-41 it possessed two thirds of the tithes worth £8 and one twelfth of the vicarage of Ballingarry and Famyn Wood (White, N. (ed) 1943 Extents of Irish Monastic Possessions 1540-41. London, 344). In 1607 Ballingarry vicarage was returned as void and destitute of incumbents (Russell, C. & Prendergast, J. (ed) 1874 Calendar of State Papers Ireland 1606-1608. London, 241) and in the 1615 Royal Visitation of Cashel and Emly, Ballingarry church and chancel appeared to be standing but there was no service and the vicarage was vacant (Murphy, M. A. 1912. Royal visitation of Cashel and Emly, Archivium Hibernicum I, 290 & 302). In 1640 Ballingarry had two acres of arable and pasture glebe land on the east side of the church worth £5 and fenced with a ditch (Simington, R. C. 1931 The Civil Survey AD 1654-56 Co. Tipperary Vol. II. Stationary Office: Dublin. 399)
Description:
There are no upstanding remains of the medieval Ballingarry church. A raised area in the grave yard may be the remains of a church ,however, it is impossible to date. A church depicted in the 25” O.S. map in the grave yard is probably an eighteenth or nineteenth century Protestant church which has subsequently been destroyed, its stones used to build the local co-op. The grave yard contains graves from the eighteenth century to the modern day. Ballingarry church appears to have been in a poor state in the late medieval period. The church is recorded as being in ruins in 1478. By the early seventeenth century Ballingarry church did not appear to have a resident priest though the church is recorded as upstanding.
Comment:
Ballingarry medieval church functioned as the parish church. The church appears to have been in ruins at the end of the fifteenth century but was reconstructed, possibly by the Fanning family who lived in the Ballingarry tower house nearby.
Ballingarry Parish, Convent and Parochial House.
The Presentation Convent residence, its lands, and the Parochial house are inextricably linked, dating back to 1820 when Fr.Edmond Prendergast was PP in Ballingarry. In order to understand the story of the Parocial House it has to be read with the bibliography of the Parish Priests of Ballingarry particularly the above named Fr. Prendergast, his successor Dr. Philip Fitzgerald 1852 - 69 and Canon James Cantwell 1885 - 1905, together with part of the Story of Ballingarry Parish.
Ballingarry Parish church built in 1828 and still serving the Catholic community
The Deanery of Ballingarry, consists of five parishes: Ballingarry; Drangan; Gortnahoe; Killenaule; Mullinahone. _ Ballingarry was the see of the Deanery of Slieveardagh until the 1950's. It is mentioned as such in the Papal Taxation or Peters Pence lists of the years 1294 and 1302. It is also mentioned in the Visitation List of Churches made by Archbishop Richard O'Hedian in 1437.
Centuries ago the Deanery embraced the following parishes: - Ballingarry, Derenaflan, Boulick, Killenaule, Lisnamrock, Ballinure, Graystown, Ballygraffney, Lickfin, Kilbrannel, Crohane, Fennor, Kilnerath, Daffyn, Moyrathin or Mellison. They number sixteen, but some of them may have been only half Parishes in districts provided with 'Chapels of ease'.
The oldest recorded Parish Church was about half a mile west of the present Village in the old graveyard, which was much larger than it is at present. This graveyard contains graves from the eighteenth century to the modern day. The Cashel to Kilkenny road (named in olden times as 'An Bothair Mór') was run through the Graveyard and the detached portion became the field opposite. There are no remains of this ancient Church of Ballingarry; a new Protestant Church replaced it in the 18th century.
(This latter Protestant Church has vanished too, the stones having been sold c. 1890 to Ballingarry Creamery).
The catholic people of the Parish built a new Church at ”Kilbaheen” situated 250 yards east of the present church in 1731 during the Pastorship of Archdeacon Laurence Lonergan, PP Ballingarry 1731-1756, on land reserved by Mr. Fanning when he sold his property to Mr. Jacob (Visitation Book, pp.133 - 4). This served as the Parish Church until 1798. It was during Canon Wrights pastorship (PP 1790 - 1804) that the first church was built on its present site in 1798. __
Edmond Prendergast was PP Ballingarry, 1820 - 52. When Dr. Laffan became Archbishop, he questioned Fr.Prendergast's appointment as PP, but Fr. Prendergast was able to produce a letter written to him by his predecessor Dr. Everard, in which he was described as PP Ballingarry. In 1826, however, he had to surrender the townlands of Upper Crohane and Lismolin to the projected new union of Drangan and Cloneen, as his predecessor had promised to surrender that portion of his parish. On 06/05/1828, he laid the foundation stone of the present spacious church of Ballingarry, and later erected a school in the chapel yard. He also built a fine residence on 27 acres at Ballingarry Lr, which he intended to leave for a diocesan seminary. The erection of Thurles College frustrated this intention. In his will he left this house and the adjoining 27 acres to his nephew an Mr.O'Donnell.
In 1832, Fr.Meighan, PP Gortnahoe, disputed with Fr. Prendergast part of the boundaries of their respective parishes; both arranged for a Station 'in a house in the disputed area, and when they met they came to fisticuffs, for which both were suspended for a time. Dr. Laffan's decision on the disputed area was in favour of Fr.Prendergast.
BALLINGARRY CENSUS OF POPULATION CHART 1821 - 1971
The Presentation Convent
Dr. Philip Fitzgerald CC Ballingarry 1842-52, and PP 1852-69. During his time in Ballingarry he saw the ravages of the Famine, and the abortive rebellion of 1848 - he wrote a short account of this insurrection (Fitzgerald papers in NLI); he also witnessed heart-rending evictions on Lord Desart's estates in 1850 (Life of Frederick Lucas, ii-217f). Fr.Fitzgerald was appointed PP Ballingarry in 1852, having been administrator of the parish for the previous two years. He died in 1868, and is interred in Ballingarry. Prior to his death he had purchased the house and 27 acres from Mr. O'Donnell, Fr Prendergast nephew at Ballingarry Lower, these he left by will to the dioceses for a religious foundation. They were first offered to the Christian Brothers who declined the offer; His grace Dr. Leahy then offered the premises to the Presentation nuns Thurles who accepted; four nuns with Mother M.de Sales Ryan as Superioress opened a convent there in 1871; it flourished and prospered. Dr. Fitzgerald also left £680 for a burse for a Cashel student in the Irish College, Rome, and £400 to pay for the education of a poor student from Ballingarry in All Hallows College, Dublin.
The Parochial House
In 1886 his Grace Dr.Croke Archbishop of Cashel & Emly gave the Presentation Sisters £500 to build the Parochial House at Ballingarry Lower, James Cantwell PP, (Canon, VF, Ballingarry, 1885-1905) to pay him £25 p.a. for the use of it. By direction of the Archbishop the house reverted to the nuns after the Archbishop's death. The PP died 04/12/1905 and is buried in Ballingarry church grounds. He was a sterling Nationalist and took a leading part in the land agitation of the l88O's. He was appointed canon in 1889. The building of the Curates house commenced in 1905 at Ballingarry Upr. (It is not known what the arrangements for residency by the succeeding PP's were with the Convent). The following Parish Priests lived in the Parochial House after Fr. James Cantwell,
James Hickey: 1906-1924
John Nolan: 1924-1932
William Fitzgerald: 1932-1951
Michael J. Lee: 1951-1964
William Noonan: 1964-1974
John Lee: 1974-1983
Philip Morris: 1983-2000
Ballingarry Parish Church c 1900
(The article above was researched, borrowed or comandeered by Bill Martin (2009) with help from Ger Croke, Billy Walsh, Richard Clutterbuck and many others offering local folklore as a point of reference)
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