Fermanagh - Derryvullan Old Church Cemetery 271-277 *********************************************** Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives Fermanagh Index Copyright ************************************************ File contributed by: C.Hunt/Typed by Celia Ewald DERRYVULLAN OLD CHURCH CEMETERY 271-277 [From Lady Dorothy Lowry-Corry.] The old churchyard of this parish, in which, until 1854, stood the parish church, is situated in the town land of Derryvullan (I.e. Maelan's oak-wood) on a hilly promontory overlooking Tamlaght Bay, on the eastern shore of Upper Lough Erne. This place seems to be first mentioned in the following sentence in the Martyrology of Tallaght; written about the eighth century A.D.: -- "Diochuill MacMaelduibh in Areach Muilt oe Locuibh Eirne." The church is mentioned by the Four Masters as that of Aireach Maolain,* and in the Annals of Ulster as Aire-Maelain-eaglais Tigernach. The name became latinized as Ecclesia Derrydmelan, by which name this church is mentioned in the Ecclesiastical Taxation of the Diocese of Clogher, A.D. 1302-7. The church was dedicated to St. Tighernach (28th February). The parish was formerly very large. Before the Reformation it included that of Magheracross, where there was a chapel of ease, and portions of the parishes of Kilskeery and Dromore, County Tyrone. The names of a number of the pre-Reformation clergy are known from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. They include Arthur MacCawell, who became Bishop of Clogher in 1389, and John Maguire, during whose pastorate Derryvullan Church was desecrated by the shedding of blood in 1484. From 1610 to 1870 the living was in the gift of Trinity College, Dublin. After the Reformation the parish ceased to be a distinct benefice in the Roman Catholic Church. From that date until the nineteenth century the parish was in six detached portions, the largest of which was in the north of County Fermanagh and *O'Donovan in the Annals of the Four Masters (vol. Iv, p. 923 note) remarks that it is curious how the place-name "Aireach" is anglicized "Derry" in the County Fermanagh. included Irvinestown, where, ever since the seventeenth century, there have been a chapel of ease and burial-ground. The new church and churchyard here became, after Disestablishment, the parish church, etc., of Derryvullan North. The parish church stood in the second largest portion of the parish; it was ruinous in 1623, but it was in repair in 1679. In 1854 it was ordered to be pulled down, a new church and churchyard having been consecrated in the adjoining town land of Mulrod. The old rectory was at Tullyclea, in the Irvinestown part of the parish. During the nineteenth century some re-arrangement of parochial boundaries and formation of new parishes took place, so that the modern ecclesiastical parish, is a compact one, formed out of portions of the old parishes of Derryvullan, Derrybrusk, Enniskillen, and Cleenish. The interior width of the old church was 27 feet; the east wall and part of the north wall are still standing. There was a large east window, but no windows in the north wall. The churchyard is in the custody of the Enniskillen Rural District Council, and is still used for burials by families of all denominations. It is surrounded by a very good wall, and contains a good many Irish yews, lilacs, and laburnums, as well as a great number of tombstones, on over 120 of which the inscriptions are still (1914) more or less decipherable. The inscriptions on all those prior to 1803 are given below; they are of some interest, as the earliest extant Parish Register only begins at that date. The previous Parish Register of Derryvullan is said to have been cut up into tailors' measuring strips by the clerk or sexton, who followed that trade. About 100 yards south-east of the churchyard is situated St. Patrick's Well. It is very small, and there is a tradition that St. Patrick baptized converts here after preaching at Tamlaght, an adjoining town land. The only relics of the old church are the Communion Plate, which is still in use, and which was presented by James King of Gola, in the neighbouring Parish of Derrybrusk, in 1727, and an old octagonal font with an octagonal stem, which is now preserved in the new church. Its age is unknown, but it seems to be of fifteenth-century design. The is any inscription on it, it must be interred. The Crawfords held lands from the Corrys of Castle Coole. Lawrence Crawford's mother was Anne, sister to John Corry, of Castle Coole who died circa 1683, and his daughter, Margaret, married James Corry, of Carrowmacmea. _____ In the south-western corner of the churchyard: -- No. 2. Headstone: -- I H S This stone was 'er | ected by Terence Mc | Manus in memory of | his father Michel who | died February 12th 1740 | aged 45. _____ No. 3 Irish cross. On the back is a skull and cross-bones: -- I H S PRAY FOR THE SOUL | OF Patrick McMAN | US WHO DIED OCTO | BER THE 3 1716 AGED | 23 YEARS. _____ No. 4. Round-headed headstone. On the back xvi.: -- I H S PRAY FOR THE | SOUL OF CATE |MANUS | WHO DY | ED AVI | 1709. _____ No. 5 Irish cross: -- . . . [M| ARY | McMANUS | WHO DIED | MAR 5 | . . . No. 6. Headstone: -- Here lieth | y Body of Roger | McManus who | Dyed Anno Domino | 1745 aged 69. No. 7 Headstone: -- Here lyeth | the body of | Constantine | Macmanus who | departed this | life July the | 1st 1750 aged | _ No. 8. Irish cross: -- I H S HUGH MACMA | NUS BRYAN ERECT | ED THIS CROSS THE 12 | OF OCTOBER IN THE | YEAR 1714. _____ No. 9 Flat stone, in front of last: -- HERE LYETH INTERRED | THE BODY OF HUGH (MAC) | MANUS . . . | THIS LIFE . . . | 1735. AGED 59 YEARS | HERE LYETH THE BODY | OF ELINOR MACMANUS | DAUGHTER TO HUGH MA | C MANUS WHO DEPARTED | THIS LIFE SEPTEMBER | 18 1732 AGED 58 YEARS | H (ere lieth y body of | B . . . MacManus son to H . . . | . . . who departed | this life . . . The 21st 1762 ag | ed 59 years. [Below the inscription a skull and cross-bones.] A Bryan McManus was employed by Mr. James Auchenleck, of Thomastown, Co. Fermanagh, in 1749, in collecting the tithes of Enniskillen and Derryvullan Parishes, and a Bryan McManus was employed by Col. Margetson Armar, of Castle Coole, in 1752, in paying servants and laborers at Belle Isle, Sir Ralph Gore's seat in Co. Fermanagh. _____ No. 10 Headstone: -- I H S HERE LYETH THE | BODY OF REDMO | ND McManus | WHO DIED IN 1744 AGED 76 | YEARS ALSO HIS | WIFE | ROSE . . . _____ No. 11 Headstone: -- HERE LIETH THE | BODY OF PHELIN | McMANUS WHO DIED | AUGUST 1792 | AGED 80 YEARS | ANDREW McMAN | US WHO DIED AU | GUST 1752 AGED | 8 YEARS. _____ No. 12 Headstone: -- HERE LIETH THE | BODY OF PETER Mc | MANUS WHO DIED | JANUARY THE 31th | 1757 AGED 45 YEARS. _____ No. 13. Irish cross: -- HERE | LYETH | THE BODY | . . . | McMANUS WHO | DYED JANUARY | 26 1721. | AGED 69. _____ No. 14. Cross: -- Here | Lyeth | the body of Ro | ry Man | us . . . _____ The south-western portion of this churchyard seems to have been a burial-ground of the MacManus clan, who had long been connected with Derryvullan, for Maurice, or Murtagh, MacManus, son of Cathal More MacManus, and Archdeacon of Clogher, who died on the 18th February, 1441, had been Parson or Rector and Plebanus of Daremaelan. The MacManuses had control of the shipping on Lough Erne, and held the office of hereditary chief managers of the fisheries under the Maguires, Lords of Fermanagh. Among the MacManus tombstones are the two following: -- No. 15. Headstone: -- HERE LYETH YE | BODY OF MILES | HIGGINS WH | O DEPARTED T | HIS LIFE . . . | AD 1771 AGED | 52 YEARS. _____ No. 16. Irish cross: -- On the eastern side a cross with no inscription. _____ No. 17. Irish cross: -- I H S THIS WAS ERECT | ED BY JOHN SON TO | CHARLES MACAF | FREY WHO DIED JAN | UARY THE 25TH 1762 | AGED 69. _____ No. 18. Headstone: -- THIS STONE | BELONGETH | TO TARANCE | McDOLE | _____ No. 19. Headstone: -- I H S Erected by Edward | Lunny in memory | of his father Hugh | Lunny who Dep this life May 1763. No. 20. Headstone: -- THIS STONE WAS ER | ECTED BY MARY ARM | STRONG IN MEMORY | OF HER MOTHER MARY | SEERY WHO DEP [The remainder of the inscription is buried.] _____ No. 21. Headstone: -- Only word legible "Roage." _____ No. 22. Flat stone: -- This Stone Erected by John | Moore in memory of his Wife Elizabeth Moore who | departed this life April | 16th 1794 aged 45 years. _____ No. 23. Headstone: -- I H S Here lieth The Body of Cornelius | Corry Who Died | ye 4th April 1737 | Aged 81 years Also His | grandson Patrick | McGahey Died ye | 5th August 1767 Aged | 28 yrs. _____ No. 24. Headstone: -- I H S Erected by Walter | Welch in memory of | his dau | Margaret | Welch who dept this | life Nov. 2nd 1800 | aged 24 years. _____ No. 25. Raised slab: -- Here lyeth Body of Edwd | Boardman of Lisnaskea | who Dept this life June 11 17 -- | aged 4 | 4 | yrs also his wife Elizth | Boardman . . . . . . . _____ No. 26. Flat stone: -- HERE LYETH THE BODY OF | JANE SHAW WIFE TO JOHN | SHAW WHO DEPARTED THIS | LIFE JULY 4TH 1769 AGED 68 | YEARS | HERE LIETH THE BODY OF JOHN SHAW WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE | MARCH THE 15th 1778 | AGED 76 years. continued in derryvullan02.html Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland Vol IX. (FHL # 1279285)