Rev. Wm Carrigan (1860-1924)
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The Connawee Monument of Davidstown, Glenmore
Today, as our seventh and final excerpt from Canon Carrigan’s, The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory,( v. 4 p. 98-100 (1906)) we feature the story of Glenmore’s legend, the Connawee or yellow hound. Canon Carrigan’s coverage of this legend is from O’Donovan’s Ordinance Survey letter of 30 Sept. 1839.
Canon Carrigan wrote in 1906 “the small field called ‘the Cunnia-wvee’ is situated on Davidstown hill, at the bounds of the townland of Attateemore. There is nothing remarkable about it, at present, but two small cairns, or heaps of stones, one about the centre of the field, the other close to the fence, at the north side. The former merely consists of loose stones thrown carelessly together. The later is of the same description, and measures 6 or 8 feet across; in its upper surface are embedded two large, rough blocks of stone, one having an artificial bowl 1 foot in diameter and 1 foot deep; the other having a similar bowl 1 foot in diameter and 4 or 5 inches deep. The deeper bowl always contains some water and is known as Thubber Phaudhrig, or St. Patrick’s Well.”
“The curious legend connected with this place is known over the whole Barony of Ida. It is embodied by O’Donovan in his ordinance survey letter dealing with this civil parish of Kilcolumb, in which he himself was born.” Cannon Carrigan then provides the full text of O’Donovan’s letter, but we are going to just provide the extract concerning the legend.
O’Donovan’s letter of 30 September 1839
“In the townland Baile Dhathi or Davidstown in this parish, not far from the High Road which divides it from Blackney’s part or Attatemore, is a monument of great antiquity called Gluin Phadruig…It consists of a blind well and a heap of stones on which is placed a larger stone with two remarkable hollows said to be the impressions of St. Patrick’s knees. The following legend is told to account for the origin of the monument.
“When St. Patrick was traversing Ossory for the purpose of building churches, congbhails and cities he came to this beautiful elevation called Conna bhuidhe, and being struck with the amenity of the place and the beauty of the prospect (for he was a great admirer of the scenery) he came to the resolution of building there a Cathedral and city which he afterwards, for reasons which will presently appear, placed at Waterford.”
“He employed labouring men to dig the foundations of the Cathedral and houses, and masons to build them, and continued the work with cheerfulness and vigour for some days. At last a pagan woman out of Ballinchrea (whose name is fortunately forgotten, but it is supposed she is ancestress of Nicholas Bacach, the Garsun Balbh and Sawney Ribby) came to him with an offering of a dish of roasted meat for his dinner, which Patrick received with many grazagams.”
“On uncovering the dish he did not like the aspect of the meat, and thought that he perceived the paw of unclean animal. He was immediately struck with nausea, and kneeling upon the net stone to him he laid his two hands over the roasted animal in the dish, in the form of a cross, and prayed to God to restore whatever animal it was to its original life and shape. And lo, he had no sooner finished his prayer than a yellow hound (cuin bhuidhe) started into life and leaping out of the dish ran in the direction of Waterford!”
“Patrick was struck with disgust and horror at the sight and turning to the working men he said in a solemn voice: ‘Pursue and kill that hound, for she will kill every man and beast which she will meet in her course.’ The men pursued her with their spades, shovels and pickaxes, and overtaking her on the lands of Treanaree about a mile to the east of the place whence she started, succeeded in killing her there. There they buried her, and over her grave a small stunted white-thorn bush is now to be seen, called Sgeithin na con, i.e. the little thorn of the hound. The stones near this bush are impressed with the marks of a grey-hound’s feet, and one of them exhibits the figure of a grey-hound in miniature.”
“In consequence of this ominous occurrence St. Patrick abandoned his project, but erected this heap of stones as a memorial of his intentions, placing on the top of it the stone on which he knelt whilst he prayed and which was stamped the impression of his two knees. He called the place Connawee in memorial of the resuscitation of the hound and pronounced an awful malediction [curse] on the woman who had thus profanely insulted him, and on her descendants, and place of abode [Ballincrea, Slieverue].”
The Curse
O’Donovan provided 12 lines in old Irish, the translation is:
Accursed be Ballincrea’s people
From whom the hound was sent to me
As long as bell shall ring in steeple,
As long as man and time shall be.
Accursed the black breed of the woman,
Who served to me this filthy hound
From their wry mouths thenceforward, no man
Shall hear but foul, impious sound,
Accurs’d the place! Behold I strike it
With my red bolt and seal its doom
May all good men for e’er dislike it,
May it be curs’d with deaf & dumb.
“It is believed that the malediction of the great Patrick still remains in full force, as the inhabitants of Ballincrea are remarkable for blaspheming, and it has not been since the memory of tradition without a lame, dumb, or wry-mouth man. I could say more about the present inhabitants of Ballincrea, but I leave them under the patronage of St. Patrick, who will take care of them.”
The School Collection
The Schools’ Collection, contains statements and local items collected by school children in the 1930’s. Thus 100 years after John O’Donovan recorded the legend in his letter, John Knox of Ballinlaw, Slieverue, aged 76, for the Slieverue School Collection recounted the legend and curse for the project almost verbatim to O’Donovan’s original account.
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Please send any corrections or additional information to glenmore.history@gmail.com.
The feature drawing of a hound above is courtesy of the New York Public Library from the 15th century. Spencer Collection, The New York Public Library. “Miniature of a hound, with text and 1-line blue initial” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1475 – 1480. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-eb96-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh
A Glenmore Dispute: The Location of Leacht Ui Deaghaidh
Today, as our sixth excerpt from Carrigan’s, The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory,( v. 4 p. 97-100 (1906)) we feature Canon Carrigan’s coverage of his correction of acclaimed Irish scholar John O’Donovan. Carrigan’s correction of O’Donovan was based upon two interviews Carrigan conducted in 1900 of a Ballyrahan, Glenmore native Peter Grant (1811-1902). Although we could not find a headstone or obituary for Peter Grant, he is forever immortalised in Canon Carrigan’s work.
John O’Donovan (1806-1861)
In previous posts we covered various aspects of John O’Donovan’s early life. His mother was from Rochestown, now in the Parish of Glenmore. After his father’s death in 1817 John spent a substantial amount of time with his paternal uncle Patrick O’Donovan, of Donovan’s Mill, at Ballyrowragh, Slieverue on the border of what is now Glenmore Parish. O’Donovan is said to have started his education in a hedge school and then attended the Hunt Academy in Waterford City. His father, Edmund O’Donovan died in 1817, and a few years later at the age of 17 O’Donovan went to Dublin.
For further information regarding O’Donovan’s early life see our post of 9 Sept. 2023.
Schoolmaster O’Donovan
According to Carrigan, John O’Donovan started a school about 1822 “in his native district.” He gathered a number of pupils some were several years older than himself. “Of the alumni of this modest academy the last survivor was blind old Peter Grant, of Ballyrahan, Glenmore, whom the writer met on two occasions, in the year 1900, and spoke of his old master, ‘poor Johnnie Donovan,’ with the greatest admiration and affection.” (Carrigan, vol. 4, p. 356). If this and other information concerning when he moved to Dublin is correct, O’Donovan was a schoolmaster for about a year. Nothing has been found in any of Danny Dowling’s (1927-2021) transcribed notebooks concerning John O’Donovan being a schoolmaster in Slieverue or Glenmore.
Although a place was secured for O’Donovan to study at Maynooth he declined to go there because he did not wish to become a priest. O’Donovan’s first job was in the Public Service Office where he translated and transcribed ancient manuscripts (Munster Express, 10 Nov. 2006, p. 13). From 1830 to 1842 O’Donovan was employed on the first Ordinance Survey researching place names. He was sent into the field and travelled across Ireland. From around Ireland, O’Donovan sent letters to his boss containing descriptions of local lore, traditions and antiquities. These letters were placed in 103 volumes and became known as the “O’Donovan Letters.”
O’Donovan’s Incorrect Birthdate
Carrigan pointed out that O’Donovan incorrectly wrote that he was born in 1809 when he was actually born in 1806. In volume 4 Carrigan printed a copy of the Slieverue Parish Register proving that O’Donovan’s baptism occurred in 1806 (Carrigan, vol. 4 p. 356). Certainly, in that time before passports, driving licenses or even the State registered births and deaths many people provided incorrect ages or years of birth.
We all learn our age and birthdate from our parents. Prior to modern times little importance was attached to birthdates. Also, incorrect dates of birth for persons born in the early 19th century were probably due in large part to the fact that a sizable proportion of the population were unable to read or write. Penal laws were only fading when O’Donovan was a boy.
Notwithstanding Carrigan’s public comment that O’Donovan had utilized an incorrect year of birth, Carrigan failed to check the year of birth of Peter Grant, of Ballyrahan, Glenmore. Carrigan had access to the Parish Records, but did not find that Peter Grant was baptized on 30 June 1811. In 1900 Grant was not “over 90 years of age” as Carrigan claimed. Peter Grant was 88 or 89 when he was interviewed by Carrigan twice in 1900. Peter Grant (1811-1902) was the late Jimmy Reddy’s (c. 1926-2011) grandfather.
O’Donovan’s Letter of 30 Sept. 1841
Carrigan reprinted O’Donovan’s entire letter of 30 Sept. 1841 (Carrigan, vol. 4, p. 98-100). There were four sentences that appear to have caused Carrigan concern. After speaking with Peter Grant, Carrigan concluded that O’Donovan was wrong concerning the place where the Leacht Ui Deaghaidh was located.
“In the townland of Scartnamo about a half mile to the north of the Mill of Ballyrowragh and immediately to the left off the old road as you go from Waterford to New Ross, is shown the site of a monument called Leacht Ui Deaghaidh, i.e. the monument of O’Day, whom tradition calls the Ridire O’Day i.e. the Ritter or Knight O’Day. The site of his house is pointed out in a field on the other side of the road not far from the site of his leacht, but in a different townland, viz, in little Gaulestown…(O’Donovan’s Letter, 30 Sept. 1841)
Carrigan’s Location of O’Dea’s House and Leacht
“In the late Peter Grant’s Moon a’ Ridhizha (locally translated, the Baronite’s Bog), low down on the slope of Ballyrahan townland, and close to the old frowning rock of Corriganurra, is shown the site of “the Ridhizha O’Deaw’s house.” Who the Ridhizha O’Deaw, or O’Dea, is not quite clear. If we have to credit tradition, he was lord or owner of the whole Barony of Ida, and gave it the name of the Barony, viz., Ida, Eedeaw, or Ui-Deaghaidh, represents not the name of an individual after the adoption of surnames, but the name of the tribe that occupied it in much earlier times (Carriagan, p. 97).”
“The site of Ridhizha’s house was something more than half an acre in extent, and was covered over with foundations and low mounds, till it was levelled and tilled by the late owner, about 1840. It is now clothed with the greenest grass. The remainder of the field is low lying and boggy, and hence its name, Moon a Ridhizha. There was formerly a well here called Thubber-a-Ridhizha, or the ‘Baronite’s well.’”
“Leachth Ee Deaw, that is O’Dea’s monument bush, or ‘lone bush’ as they call it here, is on the roadside, opposite the Half -Way House in Aylwardstown, one mile and a half north of Moon-a-Rihizha. The bush was formerly surrounded by a little mound or earthen ring, which has been broken down by the trampling of cattle. Here rests ‘Brian O’Deaw,’ sometimes identified by tradition with the Ridhizha O’Deaw, who lived in Moon-a-Ridhizha. The Leachth field commands a view sublime in its extent and variety.”
“O’Donovan incorrectly placed Leachth Ee Deaw on the bounds of Scartnamore and Ballyrahan. There is, no doubt, a leachth, or lone bush on the spot he indicates, but it has never been known as Leachth Ee Deaw. It was planted there a great many years ago by a man named Kierevan, in memory of his deceased mother. The late Peter Grant, of Ballyrahan, when over 90 years of age, assured the present writer that this leachth was never called Leachth Ee Deaw; and that if it had any name at all it should be Leachth Ee Kierevawn or Kierevan’s Leachth, from the man who planted it, and was still living in his own early days.”
Peter Grant (1811-1902) of Ballybrahan, Glenmore
Peter Grant died the 10 August 1902 at Ballyrahan. He was a widower, a farmer, and aged 95, according to the death register. His daughter, Johanna Reddy, was present when he died.
Peter Grant was baptized 30 Jun 1811 at Ballinguile?, Glenmore, the son of John Grant and Bridget Aylward. Sponsors were William Grant and Mary Grant. His sister Anastatia Grant, baptized 10 June 1809, was born at Ballavrahen (sic), Glenmore and his sister Margaret Grant bapt.12 April 1807, the record reflects the address again as Ballinguile.
Peter Grant’s father is found in The Tithe Applotment Books (1829) for the townland of Ballyrahan. Plot 55 was comprised of 18 statute acres and John Grant was the tenant.
It is believed that Peter Grant (1811-1902) married Anne Grace of Glenpipe on 12 Sept 1846 at Rosbercon. Johanna Reddy (daughter of Peter Grant per the death register) married James Reddy on 24 Feb. 1881. Her address was recorded as Gaulestown. Their son John Reddy (1882-1961) married Margaret Hennessey (1886-1970) of the Rower. One of her sisters was the mother of May Roche (c. 1918-2001) of Scart, Glenmore. John and Margaret’s son, James Reddy (c. 1926-2011) married Kitty O’Hanlon of Newtown, Glenmore. Kitty died on 18 July 2021. The couple had no children.
Who Was Correct?
Generally, historians rely upon the earliest reliable written record, yet in this case both O’Donovan and Canon Carrigan were relying upon what they were told. O’Donovan was from the area and was an Irish speaker, and did not indicate where or when he obtained his information. Carrigan was not from the area and did not speak Irish. However, Carrigan found an elderly life-long resident who was about the same age as O’Donovan and provided what he had been told about the lone sceach. Relying on living boundaries or monuments is fraught with difficulties as trees fall are cut down etc. Loose stones are also easily moved or trampled by cattle.
It appears that O’Kelly (The Place Names of the County of Kilkenny Ireland (1969, p. 112)) agreed with or followed Carrigan’s view. It seems unlikely that we will ever know definitively who was correct, if either, but O’Donovan and Carrigan were agreed that the local tradition put an O’Dea house and monument in Glenmore.
For a brief outline of Canon Carrigan’s (1860-1924) early life and work see our post of 17 Sept. 2023
For a brief history of O’Donovan’s (1806-1861) early life see our post of 9 Sept. 2023 and our post of 13 March 2021.
Please send any corrections or further information to glenmore.history@gmail.com. The featured photo above is Donovan’s Mill taken in 2023.
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh