WEDDING
HOWLIN and CORVAN
–
January 29th, 1906, at Clonegal Church,
by the Rev. Canon Ffrench, Edward Joseph Meadows Howlin,
youngest son of A. J. Howlin, Carna House, Co. Wexford, to Emelie
Elizabeth Corvan, youngest daughter of the late Revd. W. W.
Corvan, Rector of Bannow.
(Free Press, January 27th, 1906, p. 1.)
DEATH
WEBSTER – August 4th, 1914, at Ballykeenan, Myshall, Co.
Carlow,
John Webster, J. P., aged 67 years. Funeral to Clonegal on
Thursday,
leaving Ballykeenan at two o’clock. No flowers, by request.
(Enniscorthy Guardian, August 8th, 1914, p. 1.)
DEATH
PORTER – June 9th, 1939,
at his residence, Newry, Clonegal, Co. Carlow,
James Porter, at an advanced
age. “Peace, perfect peace”. Interred on Sunday at
Carnew.
(Enniscorthy Guardian, June 17th,
1939, p. 1.)
REGRETTED DEATH
The death took place, rather suddenly, at
his residence, Newry, Clonegal, on Friday last, of
Mr. James Porter. Deceased, who was a very
extensive and successful farmer, passed
suddenly away when coming down the stairway in his home. He had
reached a fine old age,
and as he had been receiving medical
attention, an inquest was not deemed necessary.
(Enniscorthy Guardian, June 17th,
1939, p. 12.)
DEATH
DURDIN – February 12th,
1904, at Huntington Castle, Clonegal,
Melian Durdin, widow of the
late Alexander Durdin, J. P.
(Wexford Independent, February 17th,
1904, p. 2.)
DEATH
DURDIN –
At King’s Lynn on
January 16th, 1926,
Robert Charles Garde Durdin, M. D.,
L. R. C. P. I., L. R. C. S. I.,
son of the late
Rev. Thomas Garde
Durdin, B.A.,
formerly Rector of
Oldcastle, Co. Meath.
Funeral at Clonegal.
(C. of I. Gazette, January 22nd,
1926, p. 40.)
OBITUARY
DURDIN – The funeral of the late
Dr. Robert Charles Garde Durdin, M. D., L. R. C. P. I., L. R.
C. S. I., one of the few remaining survivors of the
highly respected and old Irish Hugenot families, took place at
Clonegal Church on Tuesday, January 26th,
1926. The late doctor was the son of the
Rev. Thomas Garde
Durdin, B. A., formerly Rector of
Oldcastle,
County
Meath. His remains were laid to rest in the Family Vault in
the Churchyard. The Rev. A. Bradish, Rector of
Clonegal, carried out the Service first in the Church and
also at the interment.
There were several family
representatives at the graveside including
Mr. Francis Durdin
Cooke, M. A.,
Dublin;
Rev. and
Mrs. Talbot,
Mr. Magnus Robertson,
Huntington Castle;
Capt.
R. J. C. Crowden, M. C., King’s Lynn;
Major W. H.
Croker,
Beaufield, Newtownbarry (now
Bunclody).
The late doctor was a very well known English practitioner
formerly of Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, and retired a few
years ago. During his life he invented a very useful medical
instrument and was a constant contributor to medical papers. He
died after a very short illness at
King’s Lynn. Floral
tributes were numerous, including one from
Mrs. Love
bearing the inscription, “To my darling brother, from
Addie”,
others from Mrs. Cook, Mrs.
Robertson
and family,
etc., etc.
(Enniscorthy Guardian, January 30th,
1926, p. 8.)
MARRIAGE
SALMON and
BRADDELL – October
17th, 1876, by special license, by the father of the
bridegroom, assisted by the Rev. J. M. Ffrench, Rector of
the Parish, Edward William Salmon, only surviving
son of the Rev. George Salmon, D. D., Regis Professor of
Divinity, T. C. D., married
Henrietta Maria
Braddell, daughter of
Thomas Braddell, Esq., of
Coolmelagh, Clonegal, County Wexford.
(Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette,
October 24th, 1876, p. 336.)
JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE
PRESERVATION OF THE MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD
This journal has many local
associations connected with the dioceses of
Ferns
and Leighlin. It was founded by its Editor-in-Chief,
Colonel Vigors,
a well-known Churchman of the Diocese of
Leighlin, who
represents in that diocese the
Right Rev.
Bartholomew Vigors,
who was Lord Bishop of Ferns and
Leighlin in 1690
and until last year when
Lord Walter Fitzgerald
and E. R. McClintock Dix, Esq.,
joined the management he had as his only colleague and joint
editor the Rev. Canon Ffrench,
of Clonegal, Diocese of
Ferns. The journal, which
is now in the eleventh year of its existence, has counted among
its warmest friends the late
Professor G. T.
Stokes, and among its
steady supporters the late
Right Rev. Dr. Graves,
Lord Bishop of Limerick, and the late
Rev.
Professor S. Haughton, S. F., T. C. D.
Its present subscribers include the Lord Bishop of
Meath,
and Bishops Packenham Walsh
and Day,
the Lord Bishop of Cork, etc., etc. The following
testimony to its value, received a few days since by the senior
editor from the learned historian and member for the
University of Dublin, may interest your readers – “Dear Sir,
– I must apologies for not having sent you this before, but I
only found the journal on my return last night from the
Continent. You are doing an excellent work, and all who are
interested in Irish history should be grateful to you, – Yours
truly, W. E. H. Lecky,
38 Onslow Gardens, S. W., October, 1899.”
(C. of I. Gazette, November 3rd,
1899, p. 877.)
CLERGYMAN’S
RETIREMENT – REV. CANON J. H. BRADISH, CLONEGAL
After ministering to the needs of his flock for nearly
thirty-four years, Rev. Canon J. H. Bradish,
Clonegal,
has now retired, and will shortly leave
the Rectory,
Clonegal, to take up permanent new abode in
the Chase,
Carrickduff, Bunclody.
Canon Bradish, during his
long term in this pretty little
Carlow village, endeared
himself to a host of friends, who deeply regret his forthcoming
departure from their midst, but unite in extending best wishes
for his future happiness. He first came to
Clonegal in
1906, and after close on twenty-seven years’ faithful service
was appointed Canon in 1933. He gave wholehearted support to
many local ventures. Being a direct descendant of
Bagenal
Harvey, the famous ’98 Leader, he took a prominent part in
last year’s ’98 Commemoration Celebrations, his eloquent address
at the Clonegal
Monster Meeting being a masterpiece of
oratory.
(Enniscorthy Guardian, April 8th 1939, p. 12.)
OBITUARY
BRADISH – With deep regret we announce the death of
Rev. Canon John Harvey
Bradish, M. A.,
which occurred after a brief illness on Tuesday. The deceased
gentleman was 76 years of age and was in his usual good health
until Monday night when he was seized with a heart attack which
he survived for only twenty-four hours. The news of his death
was received with sincere sorrow in Wexford town and among his
numerous friends in the counties of
Wexford
and Carlow,
particularly by the members of the laity and clergy of the
Church of Ireland, with whom he was deservedly popular and
highly esteemed. The late
Canon Bradish was a member of
an old and respected Wexford family, being second son of
James and
Henrietta Bradish, of
“Strandfield”.
He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he
obtained the M. A. degree.
He spent some time on the teaching
staff of a College in Worchester, England, and in 1888
was ordained by Right Rev. Dr. Day, Bishop of
Cashel,
for the curacy of Clonmel, Co.
Tipperary. After
two years in Clonmel he was appointed curate of
Killabbon, Co.
Carlow, and in 1895 he became Rector
of Hacketstown. In 1907 he went to
Clonegal
as
Rector and for the long period of thirty-two years until he
retired in 1939 he fulfilled his duties with exemplary exactness
and solicitude for the welfare of his parishioners. He was made
Canon of Ferns diocese in 1927 and Treasurer in 1936.
His knowledge of Church affairs was highly appreciated by his
fellow clergy and for many years he was an esteemed member of
the Diocesan Council. On the occasion of his retirement
eulogistic references were made by the Bishop who presided at
the annual Synod, to Canon
Bradish’s splendid
record of long and meritorious service in the Church.
In his
youth the late Canon Bradish was a noted athlete and
while at Worchester College he had outstanding successes
in the hurdles and short-distance flat racing. For half a
century past he was a keen fisherman, being an expert in angling
for salmon and trout, a pastime which he actively engaged in
until a few days before his death. The late
Canon Bradish
was brother of Lieut.-Colonel F. L. Bradish,
“Strandfield”;
Captain Gilbert S. Bradish,
Kildavin;
Mr.
Edward Bradish, who is a Bank Manager in
Canada;
Madame Formichi,
England, and the
Misses H.
and A. S. Bradish,
“Strandfield”. His wife
predeceased him, and he is survived by five daughters –
Mrs.
Gifford,
Canada;
Mrs.
Barry Braddell,
Coolmeelagh, Newtownbarry;
Mrs. Fred Smith,
Alberta Lodge,
Newbridge, Co. Kildare;
Miss
Bradish,
Dublin, and
Miss Lily Bradish, Lady
Superintendent of the Clergy’s Daughters’ School in
Alexandra College, Dublin; and one son,
Mr. James Bradish,
Canada. Deep sympathy is extended to his bereaved family
and relatives.
(Free Press, June 28th, 1941, p. 6.)
DEATH
METGE – August 20th, 1891, at
Ballyredmond
House, Clonegal, the residence of her nephew, the
Rev. J.
F. M. Ffrench,
Eleanor Metge, daughter of the
Rev. James Metge, sometime of
Dungarvan, Diocese
of Ossory, and Chaplain of the
Molyneux Asylum,
Peter Street, and granddaughter of the
Rev. Arthur Palmer,
Chancellor of the Diocese of Ossory, and
Mrs. Palmer,
daughter of the Rev. Samuel Madden, Vicar General of the
Diocese of Ossory.
(Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette, September 4th, 1891,
p. 722.)
~ CHURCH HISTORY ~
St. Fiaac's
The Church of
Clonegal, otherwise
Moyacomb
(“The Plain of the Two Hounds” –
Joyce), or
Moycon,
is a modern structure, erected about the year 1819. I find that
in that year a sum of £1300 was borrowed from, I believe, the
Board of First Fruits, for the purpose of erecting the present
building. There are four burial-grounds in the parish, three of
which are used and one altogether disused, viz., there is the
old parish burial-ground which surrounds the parish church, the
“Yew-tree” burial ground, and the modern burial-ground, which
surrounds the Roman Catholic Chapel; also the remains of
a disused burial-ground surrounding the site of the old church
of Ardbrittan. None of these burial-grounds contain any
monuments or memorials of the dead of very ancient date.
In Ryan’s
“Carlow” there is mention of a tombstone in
Clonegal Churchyard, bearing the following inscription –
“Here lyeth inter’d the body of
Mr. John
Esmond,
who departed this life, June the 9, 1715.
Requescat on pace, Amen.”
This tombstone is not now to be found. The
Esmond family
were the former owners and occupiers of
Huntington Castle,
Clonegal. I remember a tomb to the memory of
Mr.
Joseph Cuff, the last member of the
Cuff family (now
Wheeler-Cuff), who lived in Ballyredmond House,
Clonegal, but the inscription seems quite worn away, and I
am not now able to find it on any of the tombs. There is also a
headstone with a quaint representation of a soldier in ancient
uniform – knee-breeches and stockings, with a gun on his
shoulder, and underneath the inscription –
“Here lieth the body of the spirited
volunteer, Henry Browne,
departed, the 14th May, 1784,
aged 26 years.”
This monument is suffering much from the
weather. And in the same churchyard there is a headstone to a
member of the Ralph family, who were once very numerous
in the parish, but who have now almost ceased to exist. The
headstone is inscribed with the following lines, said to have
been written by Mrs. Tighe, the author of
“Psyche”
–
“To the memory of
William
Ralph,
of Kilcarry,
who died on the 21st of
February, 1818, aged 71 years”.
“Guard of the wood, in settled low
content,
Lived William Ralph, – a ramble paid his
rent.
A boy, in sportive toil he climbed the
trees;
A man, he loved them rustling in the
breeze.
As he grew old, his old companions
spread
A broader, browner shadow o’er his head;
While those he planted shot on high, and
made
For many a rook a hospitable shade.
With this one change, life gently crept
away –
A placid stream it flowed from day to
day.
His friends and children loved him, as
the tear
Well spoke, profusely shed upon his
bier!
If he had faults, thou also hast thy
share, –
Strike thy own breast and feel what
lurketh there!
He who sees all, shall judge both him
and thee :
Repent! for as it falls so lies the
tree”.
This
William Ralph was wood-ranger
to the Tighe family.
The other churchyards do not contain any monumental inscriptions
worthy of special notice. In the
Clonegal churchyard
there is a large square granite stone hollowed out, which was
probably in ancient times the socket of a stone cross. There is
an old font; the one in use being a handsome modern one, given
to the church by Alexander Durdin, Esq., of
Huntington
Castle, Clonegal, in memory of his mother. The church plate
consists of a Chalice, Flagon and Paten. The Flagon is modern,
but the Chalice and Paten are fine specimens of old silver
plate. The Chalice bears the inscription –
“Moyacomb Church, Ferns, 1716”.
The Chalice has no hall mark. The Paten bears the inscription
round the border of the plate –
“The Gift of ye Mr. Cha.
Baldwin, A. M., Rector of
Moyacon,
in ye Diocese of Ferns, for ye use of ye said Parish”.
The hall marks are – a circle with 10 in it, a shield with P in
it, and a harp crowned.
(Irish Memorials of the Dead, Vol. I, 1888, pp. 35, 36.)
On an old tombstone in the Clonegall RC cemetery. The tombstone
is hard to decipher in its present state but here is the full
inscription as I (Roger Nowlan)
have it:
Sacred to the memory of the Rev.
MICHAEL NOWLAN
son to Mr. JAMES NOWLAN of Clonegall who
erected this monument.
He commenced and finished his ecclesiastical studies at the
celebrated College of Evreux in France where he was beloved by
his superiors & fellow students.
He was ordained Priest on the 11th of June 1844 by the R't Rev'd
Claudius Hippolytus Clausel of Montals The Venerable Bishop of
Bruges.
His constitution becoming impaired he returned to his father's
where he yielded his spirit unto his maker on March 11th 1845
Aged 28 years
(see
http://www.nolanfamilies.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=14&pid=812#top_display_media
)
Source: Roger Nowlan