The Story of Glenmore by Daniel Dowling (1927-2021)

Like any other Irish Parish, the history of Glenmore is the story of its people, how they lived and the conditions they had to endure, in the various centuries of time that have gone by.

Situated in the undulating countryside which forms the south eastern part of County Kilkenny, it is located roughly midway between the seaport towns of Ross and Waterford. It covers an area of 13,529 acres, and is bounded by the parishes of Slieverue, Mullinavat and Rosbercon, and by the River Barrow which separates it from County Wexford. A land of contrasts of sheltered valleys and exposed hillside, but all blending together to form a landscape, rich, both in its picturesque beauty and in its soil, which has provided countless generations of its sons and daughters with their means of livelihood.

Across the centuries man has worked and shaped the landscape here and what the eye beholds today is a memorial to the toils and endeavours of those hardy God fearing people. The exact length of time that man has been here is rather difficult to determine, but the discovery of cyst burials containing cremated remains at Haggard, Ballinlammy and Ballygurrim, indicate that the area was inhabited in the Bronze Age which covered the period of time from approximately 2,000 to 500 B.C. The numerous raths or rings forts which have dotted the countryside here were the dwelling places of our early farmers, and those habitations were in use from Bronze Age time to about A.D. 1100. Unfortunately a number of those monuments have been cleared away, and it is hope that those who have control over the few that remain, will pass them on to posterity as part of our heritage.

Legend has it that the great Apostle himself, St. Patrick came to Davidstown, but whether or not that ever happened, is a matter of conjecture. What is certain, however, is that the Christian Religion was in widespread practice here in early times, as is evidenced by the numerous Celtic Churches which were used as places of Worship. These early edifices were located in Rathaglish, Davidstown, Rochestown, Ballycroney, Ballygurrim, Kilmakevoge, Kilbride, Kilquan and Kilcolumb. Of all these only the ruins of Ballygurrim, Kilmakevoge, and Kilcolumb still survive, and the foundations of what was Kilbride.

The present Parish Church, dedicated to St. James, the apostle, is located in the townland of Robinstown, which forms part of the village from which the parish has derived its name. Built in 1813 it replaced an earlier church which was located nearby in the same townland. What is regarded as the present parish of Glenmore, is an ecclesiastical unit dating from 1846, when the then Parish Priest Rev. Edward Walsh, on his becoming Bishop of Ossory, made it a separate parish by dividing it from what are now the parishes of Slieverue and Ferrybank. In this form it has remained ever since.

The present population of the parish is about 1300 which is a little over a quarter of what it was at the time of the Great Famine in the 1840’s. The Census of 1841, showed a resident population of 4,480, while twenty years later the Census of 1861 gave the figure as 2,611, which was a drop of 1869 persons or a percentage decrease of 41.75. This clearly demonstrates the sizeable population movement from the area in that period, and the pressures which brought about changing circumstances in which large numbers of people were forced to emigrate in search of work and livelihood. By 1881, the population had declined to 2,152 while over half a century later in 1936, the figure stood at 1,543 persons. Again 25 years further on in 1961, with the Second World War having taken place in the meantime, the resident population had further diminished to 1,251 persons which was percentage decrease of 27.98. Since then the balance has change and there is now an upward trend.

Even before the Famine Period there was emigration from the area to places like Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and other areas of the North American continent, in addition to the new industrial centres of Britain. Australia too, got its sprinkling of our kith and kin. The Missionaries also had their quota from the Parish, and Glenmore priests, nuns and brothers were to be found in the forefront of the advance of Christianity, particularly in the areas of the new frontier in North America and Australia. Illustrious names like Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman (1802-1865), first Archbishop of Westminster, and first Cardinal in England since Reginald Pole died in 1588; Dr. Michael Kelly (1850-1941) Archbishop of Sydney in Australia and Thomas Francis Meagher of the Sword, come to mind from the list of worthies associated with the Parish.

Farming has always been the traditional livelihood of the people, and since the Creamery which was founded by cooperative effort in 1906, greater emphasis has been placed on dairying. Today it is a mixed farming area with dairying, tillage and dry stock raising being the chief pursuits. Brickmaking was an industry long associated with the area, and the Barrow, in days gone by, provided a livelihood for the numerous local boatmen who plied its waters in their “gabbards” transporting merchandise.

The Irish language persisted longer here than in most other parts of County Kilkenny, apart from the Tullogher area. Thomas Lacey, a Surveyor for the Waterford-Wexford-Wicklow and Dublin Railway Scheme, who was engaged in survey work in Glenmore in November 1844, mentioned that the Irish language was very generally spoken in this part of Co. Kilkenny. The great John O’Donovan, Topographer, Antiquary and Scholar Extraordinary can justly be claimed as a son of the Parish, his mother being a native of Rochestown, and he himself having been born in the parish before it was divided. The last native speaker in the parish died at Jamestown in 1941. Even today numerous Irish words can still be found in the vocabulary of the older residents. Irish as it was spoken was of the South Kilkenny dialect with its soft R.

Celt, Viking, Norman, Cromwellian, Jacobite and Williamite have passed this way in their respective periods over the long course of recorded history and others before them in prehistoric times. All have contributed in one way or another to the character of those hardy industrious people who today inhabit the Glenmore landscape.