Cemetery: Desertoghill Churchyard & Kilrea Church - Clutterbuck Chalice
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Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives
Derry Index
Copyright
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Contributed by C. Hunt & M. Taylor
CEMETERY: DESERTOGHILL CHURCHYARD & KILREA CHURCH - CLUTTERBUCK CHALICE
DESERTOGHILL CHURCHYARD
[T. W. KERNOHAN, Esq. M A, Belfast]
'Since the previous notes on Desertoghill were published
some additional information has been obtained. The
Ordnance Survey Memoir of this parish (1836) states there
was aroof on the church ... [p386] in 1773 and also gives
the complete inscription on the gravestone to the north pf
the ruin, a sketch of the curious carving on which was
given in the previous report. Only a few words can now
be traced. The Memoir has also a curious story in
explanation of a "cock and a child", then visible on the
stone, it appears. As Thomas DUNLAP was cutting sticks a
cock flew upon the "dresser" breaking some delf whereupon
DUNLAP threw the hatchet at the bird but missing killed a
child. The cock, according to the story, then attacked the
child's brains. The recovered inscription is' :-
Here lieth the body of Archibald Dunlap who departed
this life January 23rd, 1779 aged 2 years.
'Whether the story was invented to explain the rude
carving on the stone it is impossible now to say. On a
headstone (R.C.) not far from the other I found a
somewhat similar carving,but much more symmetrical,
beneath which was the following inscription' :-
Underneath |lieth the body of Francis | CASSIDY who
departed this | life the 10 April 1817 aged 52 years.
'The sculpture consists of circle enclosing a heart-shaped
figure. surmounted by IHS and supported on either side by
a hatchett. On the right and left of the circle again are
twofigures with aureoles representing saints or angels;
beneath these again are two circles enclosing crosses.
The account of the Insurgent victory at the Battle of
Ravelin's Hill, as given in the "Ordnance
Survey Memoirs" corresponds nearly to that given in the
previous report, which is the local tradional version.
The first authentic account of the Garvagh Battle has been
published recently in FITZPATRICK'S "Bloody Bridge"
from the Trinity College depositions. by which we learn
that Edward ROWLEY, Esq. of Castle ROE near
Coleraine, had a garrison of over 200 or 300 men at
Garvagh. There were two assaults made on the
garrisonThe first of which was repulsed with a loss of
"diverse of the enemy" but in the second the Irish were
victorious, slaying among others ROWLEY the
commander on the 13th December 1641.
Sir Phelim O'NEILL is also to have admitted having slain
over 600 at Garvagh. On a portrait of Lieutenant-Colonel
CANNING in Lord GARVAGH'S collection it is stated
the he was "killed by Sir Phelim O'NEILL and his party
AD 1641;" but whether on the same occasion as
ROWLEY I have not sufficient evidence to show.In Vol.
II, Part III of "The Ulster Journal of Archaeology" will be
found a complete list ofthe ministers and rectors of [p387]
Desertoghill since 1622 compiled by Rev, W.A.
REYNALL, M.D., B.D. . In a list of jurors about 1620 I
found :-
Bryan Oge O'CAHAN, Desarte, gent. Shane O'MULLAN.
Desarte, gent.'In the neighbouring parish of Errigal, the
commonest names on the oldest gravestones are,in
addition to O'KANE, the junior branches of that family,
O'MULLAN, McCLOSKEY, &C.It is gratifying to be able
to report that since my previous notes were made up, the
font which had been stolen, has been returned to the
"Desert" cemetery. It Is I am informed the same as the
stolen "Columbkill stone."
As the majority of the residents in Desertoghill are, and
have been for 200 years, Presbyterians, I forward some
inscriptions from their stones.
A broken stone' :-
[Wil]son who dep|arted this life July | ye
9, 1785 aged | 83 years.
_________
To the memory of John WILSON late of Ballyagan
who died on 6th August 1851 aged 73 years. His wife Mary
died on 2nd April 1865 aged 74 years. 'Professor Wilson D.D.
of Assembly's College Belfast belongs to this stock.'
______________________________
Here lieth the dust |of John YOUNG late of
|Ballyagan who was born in AD 1748 and died in 1784:
also |his wife Sarah YOUNG |who was born in 1744| and
died in 1805
____________________________________________
Here lieth the body of Ann |McILPATRICK who
died August |17 1787
____________________________________________
Here lieth the bo|dy of Dugal CA|MPBELL who di|ed
March the 18 |1791 aged 80 years
_____________________________________________
Here lieth the remains of Robert GILMORE who
departed this life 20 March 1791 aged 71 years
His grandson John GILMOUR of Inchaleen who
departed the life 6th July 185[6-?] aged 46 yrs.
_______________________________________________
Here lieth the body of Samule KENNEDY who
died October 10 1794 Aged 1[_?]
_______________________________
Sacred| to the memory of |John COCHRANE M.D.|
Garvagh who died December 1801
'In same enclosure as preceding' :-
Erected by Isabella CLINTON in affectionate
remembrance of her beloved mother Flora relict of the late
John CLINTON, Garvagh and daughter of the late John
COCHRANE, MD who exchanged this life for
immortality on 11th March 1874. Isabella CLINTON died
14th July 1895 aged 83 years.
__________________________________________
In memory of Daniel CASKEY who departed
this life 8 Feb. 1807 aged 65 years
"Parens benignus amicus sincerus hom
honestus jacet hic"
__________________________________________
IHS
Here lieth the body of Jarmia'h McREADY who died
Mar. 15 1807 aged 55 years.
"EPITAPH: A PARENT KIND, A FRIEND
SINCERE, AND HONEST MAN LIES BURIED HERE"
__________________________________________
Here lieth the body of Edward PATON who departed this
life June the 17 18011 [sic] aged 60 years.
__________________________________________
Here lieth the body of John NICHOL who departed
this life 24 April 1808 aged 89 years
__________________________________________
In memory of Rev. Archibald FULLERTON
Presbyterian Minister of Aghadowey who died 1st January
1813 aged 48 years Also of his eldest son John
FULLERTON who died 3rd Dec'r 1819 aged 23 years.
___________________________________________
To the memory of Hugh KENNEDY late of Tamlaght who
departed this life 15th August 1819 aged 100 years
___________________________________________
Here lieth the body of James WALKER who departed
this life 29th Dec'r 1819 aged 66 years
______________________________________________
Here is interred the body of William
HENDERSON late of Crosland who departed this life 28
July 1819 aged 79 years
_______________________________________________
[p389]
Erected to the memory of Ralph FULLERTON of Laragh who
departed this life Mar 17 1827 aged 73 years.
_______________________________________________
Here are interred the remains of | Robert
THOMPSON, J'r late of Garvagh who departed this life |
15th of June 1830 aged 77 years.
____________________________
Here lieth the remains of Robert ELDER, late of Ballury who
departed this life 22 January 1842 aged 69.
'This Robert ELDER was a brother of Rev.
James ELDER, of Finvoy,known as The Gun of the Gospel" '
_______________________________
'I have ascertained the the Parish of Desertoghill supplied
to the Presbyterian Church in Irelandduring the late
century at least nine ministers and the borders of the next
parich five ministersan two mayors of BelfastIt should be
added that a junior branch of the important Church family
of County Derry "bury" here.The stones are quite modern.
AS family of HILTONS "buried" here in the eighteenth
century'
______________________________
KILREA Church
[T. W. KERNOHAN, Esq. M A, 1903]
THE CLUTTERBUCK CHALICE
'The inscription' :-
The gift of Richard CLUTTERBUCK of London,
Merchant, to y'e Parrish of Kilrea in Ireland. 'Further than
the beautiful inscription on the plate there is no record in
Kilrea parish by which the donor of the chalice, paten and
bell may be identified. When it is remembered,
however,that Kilrea is the town on that "proportion" of
Londonderry allotted to the Worshipful Company of
Mercers, London, at the great division of lands among the
Londoners in the reign of James I: andas directions were
given to the companies to repair [p390] the churches on
their several proportionsand furnish the ministers with a
Bible, Common Prayer Book and a Communion Cup -
almost the first action of the Irish Society was the
presentation of silver-gilt Communion Cups to the
churches atDerry and Coleraine.
The description on the above chalice, "Merchant of
London" naturally suggests that Richard
CLUTTERBUCKE was one of the above company of
Mercers, desirous of encouraging the reformed
religionamong the settlers. There is, fortunately,
sufficient evidence elsewhere to support this generally
accepted opinion.
The Subsidy Roll of 1662 mentions "Richard
CLOTTERBOOK of London" as a landowner in Kilrea
parish, just at the dateof the presentation the cup. But out
principal knowledge of thisgentleman is gained in
PRENDERGAST'S "Cromwellian Settlement" which
shows that he was a "mercer"of London seeking an
investment for his surplus capital in Irish land.
His name is No. 314 in the list of "adventurers" who
advanced money for CROMWELL'SEXPEDITIONS with
prospect of repayment by grants of land in Ireland.
CLUTTERBUCK'S subscriptionamounted to £700 and a
further sum of £200 for "sea service" in satisfaction for
which he received agrant of 2,000 acres in the barony of
Middlethird, County of Tipperary in 1658.
As his claim was fully satisfied in Munster, it is
probable that he got this property inDerry County from the
Mercers' Company or other "undertakers" as was
commonly done then.
We have further evidence to connect this family with
Kilrea. Eleven years after the presentation of the plate,
Laurence CLOTTERBOOK became the rector of Kilrea,
which living he heldtill his death in 1725 (REYNELL"S
"Estate of the Diocese of Derry"; in the "Ulster Journal
orArchaeology" N S)
He is described as from Derryluskan, near Fethard,
County Tipperary; and Richard's grant in 1658 includes
Derryluskane. Laurence's will shows that he died
possessed of land near Kilrea, and also a lease of the
townlands of Kilrea itself and Gortmarain (Gortmacrane)
as well as thelands in Munster which he left to his son,
Richard.
He left £10 to the poor of Kilrea and £2 to the
poor of Fethard. We cannot be far wrong in concluding
that Laurence was Richard's son and heir.
The last mention we find of Richard the Mercer is
among those to be "attainted conditionallyin 1689 (Harris,
"Life of William III). In the lists appended to the Act of
Attainder, as given inKing's "State of the Protestants"
Richard CLUTTERBUCK of Derryluskane is included
among those gentleman who had left the Kingdom and
"must be presumed to adhere to the Prince of Orange"
From the same authority it is plain he had not lived
much in Ireland, his name occurring in that clause of the
Act requiring such "whose residence hath always been in
England" to givetestimony there of their loyalty to James.
The date of Richard's death has not been determined,
nor is his will [p391] registered inIreland. His
descendants were in occupation of the Tipperary lands far on
late in the century. The latest representative held some of
the ancestral estates in 1876 and is at present a rector in
England. He informs us that the last interment in the
family vault at Fethard - it was then full -took place in
1848.
The family of CLUTTERBUCK originally fugitives
from persecution in the Low Countries had
risen to considerable eminence in England in the
seventeenth century.
The church of Kilrea was reported to be "in a good
state" early in the ministry of therev. Laurence
CLUTTERBUCK. It was repaired about 1780 and is now
a ruin in a fair state ofpreservation, with an old Celtic
window hidden beneath its mantle of ivy.
It cannot now be determined whether there was a cup
presented by the Mercer's Company previous to this one of
CLUTTERBUCK. The old bell is said to have been
concealed in a bog during the Jacobite wars and the cup
may have shared its company.
Though there were but thirty households of all sorts
in the parish when it was presented,it is pleasant to
reflect on how many have been ministered to since those
stirring times by thisold "chalice of the grapes pf God."
*(Acknowledgment is due to Rev. W.A. REYNELL,
M. D., for drawing attention to the will of Laurence
CLUTTERBUCK, clk.)'
Source
Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the
Memorials of the Dead in Ireland Vol 6 (FHL # 0258795)