Curse of the River Barrow

When Jo Doyle née Mernagh, of Weatherstown, Glenmore, was a child she often heard the story that a curse had been put on the river Barrow. As she recalled it had to do with a woman condemned or left to die in New Ross. It was said that because the Friars in the Priory somehow let the woman down she died. As she was dying she placed a curse on the River Barrow that every year it would claim three lives. Last summer Danny Dowling recalled the curse involving three drownings but stated that he believed the curse sprang from the killing of friars in New Ross during the middle ages.

The Friar’s Curse

The only priory in New Ross in the middle of the twentieth century belonged to the Augustinians. I thought that I was on the right track when my husband told me that when he was a student at Good Counsel in New Ross, from 1966 to 1972, Father Kelly while discussing superstition told the amazed students that people sometimes came to the priory and asked for the Friar’s curse to be placed on another person. According to the Topographical Dictionary of Ireland published in 1837 a chapel belonging to a community of Augustinian Friars, consisting of only four friars, stood on the hill near the site of an older friary of the same order.  However, Patrick Donovan in 1946 published an article in the New Ross Standard identifying the “Bearers of the Cross” Friars, popularly known as the “Crouched” Friars as authoring the curse. Crouched is said to have developed from crux the Latin word for cross. According to Donovan the Priory of the “Crouched Friars” lay in the rectangle bounded by the present Priory Street, Priory Lane, Quay and a line formed by the continuation of William St. to the river. He believed that it stood quite near the river. It was established in the 13th century. Thus, it was not near the site of the oldest Augustinian Priory referenced in the 1832 text. (Patrick Donovan, “The Story of Ross,” New Ross Standard 29 Nov. 1946, p. 2)

According to Donovan, there were several different stories concerning the origin of the curse, but the oral tradition of the upper parts of New Ross, provided that the “Crouched” Friars were demanding more money from the townspeople than they were prepared to provide. Eventually things came to a head and there was a fight on the Quay between the “Crouched” Friars and the Rossmen. Three friars were killed or drowned; the priory was broken into, the remainder of the Friars were driven from New Ross and their priory destroyed. When departing the Prior stood up in his boat, raised his arms and cursed the town. He commanded the Barrow to take each year the lives of three townsmen as a penalty for the deaths of his three friars. (New Ross Standard, 29 Nov. 1946, p. 2). After the killing of the “Crouched” Friars the Church placed an interdict on the townspeople, churches were closed and Christian burial was denied to all. According to Donovan the interdict was not lifted until the Franciscans rebuilt the destroyed priory about 25 years later. Donovan noted that the townspeople of Ross passed the story down through the generations and continued to believe in the curse as each year they counted the persons drowned.

Intentionally or not, the New Ross Standard over the years when reporting on drownings often reinforced the curse in the minds of readers. Such was the case in August 1933 when two different articles appeared in the New Ross Standard on the 18^th of August.  On the last page of the newspaper a short article entitled “Three Drowning Cases in a Month,” gave brief details of three drownings that occurred in the previous month in the vicinity of New Ross. The first death involved a boy from The Maudlins (New Ross) was lost at the Quay. The second reported case involved a young man named Doolan who lost his life at Tinneranny and the third drowning was Patrick Hawe, of Rochestown, Glenmore. It was also reported that Patrick Hawe was a fisherman and champion oarsman. Over the previous 35 years Patrick had competed and won numerous prizes in cot racing at New Ross, the Pink Rock and Waterford Regattas (New Ross Standard, 18 Aug. 1933, p. 12). It is not known whether young Doolan was from New Ross, but Patrick Hawe was living in Glenmore, approximately 8 miles south of New Ross at the time of his death in 1933.

The August 1933 Third Drowning Victim

The second and much longer article published in the New Ross Standard, on the 18^th of August, was entitled, “The Toll of the Barrow” and provided details regarding the discovery and recovery of Patrick Hawe’s body from the river and the subsequent inquest (18 Aug. 1933, p. 7).

In 1933, Patrick Hawe, was living in Rochestown, Glenmore with his daughter Catherine Dillon. On the eighth of August Patrick had gone out fishing with his 17 year old grandson Patrick Dillon. After returning home that evening Patrick went back to the river to secure Tommy  Connolly’s boat. There was a strong wind blowing and it was believed that he pushed the boat out in the water to moor it a safe distance from the rock. When he did not return to the house his grandson went down to the river around 4 p.m. and saw the boat drifting near the Wexford side of the river and raised the alarm. Two days later, on Thursday the 10^th of August, Patrick’s body was recovered in about ten feet of water approximately twenty yards from the bank. On both Wednesday and Thursday extensive dragging of the river was performed by Sergt. O’Mullane and Gardai Nolan, Price and Barrett, of the Glenmore Barracks and local fishermen.

On Friday the 11^th of August Mr. J.D. Fitzgerald, coroner of Kilkenny conducted an inquest at Rochestown into the circumstances of the death of Patrick Hawe. Inspector O’Donovan, Thomastown, conducted the proceedings for the Gardai. The following jury made up of local Glenmore men from the townlands of Rochestown and Rathinure were sworn—Mr. M. Roche, Rathnure (foreman), Messrs. J. Kennedy, do.; Martin Kehoe, do.; Peter Forristal, Rochestown; Jas. Walsh, do.; John Aylward, do.

The first witness was Catherine Dillon, the daughter of the deceased. She testified that her father lived with her. On the day of his death he left the house telling her that he was going to the river to secure Phil Conway’s(sic)  fishing boat. She saw him walking in the direction of the river until he was out of sight. She never saw him alive again. When he left the house he was in his usual good health. He was 63 years of age and his occupation was fisherman. She was aware that he was not able to swim and stated that she identified his remains when they were found.

The second witness was Patrick Dillon, aged 17, the grandson of the deceased. Patrick Dillon testified that when his grandfather did not return to the house he went to look for him. He saw a boat drifting on the river Barrow on the Wexford side. He and Patrick Delahunty rowed over to the drifting boat and brought it back. He stated that it was Philip Connolly’s boat, the one that his grandfather had. When Patrick found the boat the oars were tied in it as was the anchor. Patrick Dillon said he fished with his grandfather last year and this year. He was fishing with him the morning of his death and when they came in his grandfather secured the boat. The reason his grandfather went down afterwards was to secure the boat because of the wind. He never saw his grandfather swimming. He believed he must have fallen out of the boat. To his knowledge, he was not able to swim.

Michael Kent of Piltown, Campile stated that he and Thomas Molloy helped search for the body of the deceased. They used hooks and searched some sixty yards below the pill, and at five p.m. on Thursday they recovered the body. The body was fully clothed. He assisted in bringing the body to the house of Catherine Dillon.

Dr. M.P. Higgins, Waterford testified that he performed a post mortem along with Dr. Valentine Coughlan, Waterford. The lungs of the deceased were water-logged and the stomach and intestines were full of water. The heart and other internal organs were well developed and normal. There were no marks of violence on the body. In his opinion death was caused by asphyxia, due to drowning. Dr. Coughlan agreed. The Coroner said that apparently the deceased must have got heaved out of the boat into the water. The jury, returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence that the deceased accidentally drowned.

Patrick Hawe (1871-1933)

Patrick Hawe was baptized at Glenmore on the 16^th of March 1871. He was the son of Michael Hawe and Catherine Hawe née Malone of Rochestown, Glenmore. The following siblings of Patrick were gleaned from the Glenmore parish records: (1) Catherine Hawe, b. 26 August 1865; (2) Bridget Hawe, b. 25 January 1867; (3) Daniel Hawe, b. 17 February 1869; (4) Edward Hawe, b. 24 April 1875;    and (5) Elizabeth Hawe, b. 6 November 1877.

Patrick Hawe married Mary Merrigan (c. 1862-1922) of Milltown at Glenmore on 30 October 1895. Mary was the daughter of Michael Merrigan and Mary Morrissey. Patrick and Mary Hawe née Merrigan had one child Kate Hawe who was born on the 28^th of October 1896. Kate Hawe married John Dillon, a fisherman from Carrigcloney, Glenmore on the 2^nd of August 1915. John was the son of Michael Dillon a platelayer for the railway. At the time of Patrick Hawe’s death in 1933 he was residing with his daughter Kate Dillon née Hawe and her husband and children.

It may seem odd today that a man who made his living on the River Barrow could not swim, but according to Danny Dowling it was quite common for local fishermen not to be able to swim.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh

The above featured photo of the Crouched Friars statute in London is available at http://[[File:Statue Of ‘Two Crutched Friars’.jpg|thumb|Statue of two Crutched Friars in London]]

The page of the medieval manuscript is from the Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. “Historiated initial and another coat of arms.” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed December 12, 2020. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-e47a-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99