That he cannot declare anythinge of his owne knowledge concerning the sacraligious takeing away of the Vtensells and Ornaments of the Cathedrall Church of this Citty. And further saith not. Capt. coram nobis die et loco p'dict. WILLIAM BOLTON. ROBERT TAYLOR. THOMAS GOOSE. That a portion of the £400, proposed to be levied for repairing the cathedral, during Col. Leigh's governorship, was duly expended thereon, appears from the original account existing amongst the chapter records, and headed as follows: A note of what moneyes hath been disburst by Thomas Watts, Esq., for ye repairing of ye Public Meeting place in Waterford. By vertue of a commission from ye comrs of state to William Leigh, Capt. William Halsie, Samuell Wade, and Francis Vaghan, Esqrs., as followeth. The account is too long to insert at full length, but I have extracted some of the items as under: Paid to Henry Outlaw for twenty thousand of slats att 9s. per thousand ye 10th of May Paid John German for mending the gutters, May ye 30th, '56. S. d. 09 00 00 09 05 Paid to Henry Outlaw for ten thousand of slatts, ye 25th of June, '56 04 10 00 Paid to William Price and Devorix Poell, slatters, 24th of July, '56 Paid John German for mending ye gutters of ye Church Battlements, ye 2nd of August, '56 00 18 00 24 00 00 00 08 06 03 00 00 02 04 09 Paid to William Price for whiting the Church ye 29th of May, '56 Paid Mr. William Cooper for four dozen and a-half of Ridge tiles The " summa totalis" of the account, from which the above extracts are taken, amounts to £214 1s. Od. The carpentry comes to £50, William Holes was thirty-six days overseeing the work, and the wages of masons and labourers forms a large sum. Although thus stripped of its ancient monuments and furniture, the fabric of the cathedral of Christ Church appears to have remained intact, except so far as the course of time laid its heavy hand thereon, until the year 1773, when it suffered the fate which Samuel Wade had designed for it more than an hundred years before, there being then no one, as honest Mr. Watts did on the former occasion, to plead for a reprieve. It is said, indeed, on the authority of local tradition that the bishop of the diocess long refused to sign the death warrant of the noble old pile, paying little attention to the frequent hints he received of the insecurity of the fabric. At last, however, the demolitionists hit on a lucky thought. As the bishop was coming out of the cathedral one Sunday morning, a person, mounted on the roof for that purpose, let fall a shower of rubbish close to his lordship, whilst others of the conspirators, accidentally present, took care so to improve on this text, that the bishop's fears got the better of his good taste, and accordingly, "at a meeting of a committee appointed by the council of the corporation, held on the 14th of July, 1773, and assisted by the Bishop of Waterford, and the Dean and Chapter, it was resolved, that the old Cathedral Church should be taken down and a new one built in its place."1 "It is a matter of sincere regret to many who recollect the ancient edifice," continues the writer already quoted, "that the profane hands of the last generation should have violated this beautiful remnant of antiquity. It was stated, as a plea for destroying the old building, that it was become so much decayed, as to be judged unsafe for the purposes of public worship; but there is some reason to doubt the correctness of this opinion, not only from the acknowledged strength of all the ancient churches, but also from the extreme difficulty which the workmen experienced in effecting its demolition."2 No one can concur more heartily in the laudable sentiments of the Rev. Mr. Ryland than the present dean, whose anxious care is exercised to preserve every relic of antiquity connected with the cathedral which has escaped the ruthless hands of the destroyer. To his kindness the Society is indebted for the use of the ancient manuscripts which give to this brief memoir any interest it may possess; and it may not be amiss to state, that in his keeping the cathedral records are preserved with that intelligent care and solicitude which such invaluable documents always deserve, but, I grieve to say, seldom receive. THE LOCAL ANTIQUITIES OF BUTTEVANT. BY RICHARD R. BRASH, ESQ. In the following paper I propose calling attention to the local antiquities of the town and neighbourhood of Buttevant, which contain many objects of archæological interest. I have endeavoured to collect the historical notices connected with these localities, and to arrange them in connexion with the objects I propose to describe. These notices I confess are scant and meagre for a place of so much historical and antiquarian importance, but I trust the effect of this and all similar papers will be, to stimulate the zealous inquiry of those who have access to manuscripts and rare documents, that they may effectively follow up those investigations which others may have but commenced. Buttevant, a post and market town in the barony of Orrery and Kilmore, and county of Cork, is situated in a beautiful and fertile country at the foot of the Ballyhowra mountains, and on the banks. of the Awbeg (little river). These mountains are celebrated by the 1 Ryland's History of Waterford, p. 145. 2 Id. Ibid. quaint and inimitable Spencer as "the mountains of Mole," and the river under the name of " Mulla," a poeticising of "Mullagh," one of the higher elevations of the chain, Mullagh signifying the height or summit. The ancient name of Buttevant was Kilnamullagh, the derivation of which is obvious, being the kill or church near the height; it is so styled in the Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 1251, and Spencer thus alludes to it : Mulla, the daughter of old Mole so hight, The Nimph, which of that water course has charge, In many ancient documents it is called "Bothon," from whence some derive Buttevant. An ancient black letter inscription in the Franciscan abbey, styles it "Bothonia." That fanciful and enthusiastic antiquary, Vallancey, deduces the etymology of Buttevant from the Indo-Scythian.' He derives it from Buite-fane, the fane or temple of Buite or Budh; but the more probable derivation of the name is given by Smith, in his "History of Cork," from the exclamation Boutez en evant, said to have been used by David de Barry, in an encounter with the M'Carthys, and which was adopted by the Barrymore family, as their motto, who derived a title from this place.2 On the 26th September, 1234, a grant was made by Henry III. to David de Barry, of a market on Sunday, and a fair on the vigil and day of St. Luke the Evangelist, and six following days, at Buttevant. According to the Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 1251, a monastery was erected at Kilnamullagh, in the diocese of Cork, by the Barry; and it was afterwards selected as the burying-place of the Barrys." 66 In the 11th of Edward II., 1317, a grant of release of £105, required of the commonalty and town of Buttevant by the exchequer, to be applied to enclosing it with walls, was made at the request of John Fitz David de Barry, to whom the town belonged; and he was required to see that the money was duly employed in the same. In the 49th of Edward III., another grant was made, dated August 6th, to the provost and commonalty ratifying a former grant of part of the waste of the town, with the north gate and customs there. 32nd of Edward III., the king grants to Robert Tanner, of Botavaunt, the custody of one messuage, 103 acres of land and 4 acres of meadow, in Rathclare (which were of Elie, son of Matthew, deceased, which were held by Edmund of Hereford, and Elie de David Fitz David Barry, lately under age, and in the custody of the king, by military service), in the hands of the king "rone min' etat." 1 Collect., vol. vi. p. 156. 2 Smith's Hist. of Cork, vol. i. p. 314. Ed. 1815. |