Milestones

Milestones

There's a seldom seen reminder of the past that is often overlooked while more often than not it is in plain sight. These are Milestones, sometimes called Mileposts or Mile Markers. 

The one below is at Clonbullogue in Offaly and says on one side Dublin 40, and on the other, Port 9. It's believed to date to some time around 1830.

Milestones predate the era of the Car or Bus. They would have been very important to someone travelling on Horseback or on a horse drawn Carriage. Perhaps even those walking on foot might have found them useful. 

The Milestone below says Birr 7.2 on one side and Mt Melick 14 (Mountmellick) on the other side. 

It's located near Kinnity in Offaly and is dated to 1770.

The stones are almost like a type of early signpost for traffic. 

While today there are lots of road signs and plenty of Petrol Stations it would have been very important when travelling by horse to be able to accurately tell the distance to the next Town or to a far off City.

The Milestone below is in the Graveyard of the old ruined Church at Oughval on the Windy Gap in Laois. 

It references Dublin, Nenagh and Roscrea and is possibly a modern reproduction used as a Grave Marker.

I don't know when they became popular and widespread but certainly there were plenty by the 1700's and probably earlier too. 

The Milestone below references Roscrea at 7 miles. It is located at Dunkerrin in Offaly. 

It is also near the Homestead of Irishwoman Kate Shelley who became a heroine in Iowa in the U.S.A. and had a Locomotive and a Bridge named after her.

Milestones are easily overlooked and forgotten about yet there is a simple pleasure to be found in looking at them. 

Whenever I see one I try to read and decipher the inscription on it. They usually state the distance to another specific place such as a large Village, Town or City.

The Milestone below is at Fuerty in Roscommon and dates to 1780. It was not possible to make out the well worn inscription.

Some may also have what is called a Benchmark, Crows Foot or Sapper's Mark carved on them. This is a mark normally used to describe the point above Sea Level at the mark.

This Milestone below is at Aughrim in Galway. The area was also the site of the Battle of Aughrim which was the decisive battle between Williamite and Jacobite forces in Ireland. 

The Jacobite leader, Frenchman Charles Saint-Ruth had his head cleaved off by a Cannonball and in the subsequent confusion the superior Jacobite forces were routed by the Williamites and history was written.

A Milestone at Borrisoleigh in Tipperary indicating the distance to Templemore as 5 miles and 3 furlongs. This Milestone was originally a Guard stone/Jostle stone designed to protect a building from a passing horse and carriage wheel.

Below is what is listed on the NIAH as a Milestone but is also called a County Boundary Stone. It is inscribed "Queens County 1763".  

I didn't see any distances marked on it. Queen's County was the old name for Laois, named for Queen (Bloody) Mary. 

I don't know why the National Inventory has it listed as a Milestone but perhaps that was its original function.

The Marker below is a War Department Stone at Finvarra in County Clare marked WD XIII. It is near a British Martello Tower c.1810. 

I had initially confused it with a Milestone however I believe War Department Stones like the stone below were used to delineate the boundary of military sites.

Frontline Ulster has more details on these stones.

Keep the wheels turning....

 

Crossmorris Wayside Cross

I came across some old photographs recently of an interesting antiquity which would be part of the Heritage of County Laois. 

Even more interestingly it was tucked away in neighboring Kildare at Crossmorris.

The antiquity itself is the base of a Wayside cross which once held the Cross proper, upright. 

The entry in the archaeological records state it is known as the Wart Stone. It also goes on to say that a portion of the decorated shaft is at Kilkea Castle.

Wayside Cross's were erected from around the 12th Century onwards as memorials and markers to specific events or people.

This one was erected to mark the spot where the Knight Sir Maurice Fitzgerald was killed in 1520 by Con mac Melaghlin O'More of Leix.

The base is Diamond shaped with a deep recess where the Cross was inserted. It has a small pool of water in it now.

 

Presumably you put some of the water from the recess onto some body parts or Warts in hopes of a cure. 

I was fortunately unafflicted by Warts at the time I passed by so I can't vouch for the efficacy of the "Wart Stone" cure.

The clip below is from the Journal of the  Kilkenny and South East of Ireland Archaeological Society Vol 4, 1863.

This is the entry for Con mac Melaghlin on the Ancestry website.

 

The following entry is at williamgray101 and presumably taken from John Canon O'Hanlon's History of the Queens County.

On it Con's full name is listed as Connell og mac Connell mac Melaghlin O'More. Quite a mouthfull.

The O'More Clan were an indescribable "thorn in the English side" for many centuries in Laois. 

The killing of Maurice Fitzgerald would be just one of hundreds if not thousands of conflicts and scores settled and meted out throughout centuries of bitter internecine conflict in Ireland. 

It was another legacy of British Imperialism which seemed to bring more misery than fortune to those inhabitants unlucky enough to have the pleasure of hosting our near neighbours.

I don't know exactly when the Cross was initially erected at this spot in Kildare but it's quite amazing to think this little known memorial to a Leix Chieftan may well have been constructed in 16th Century Kildare.

Keep the wheels turning.

 

Ballylarkin Abbey, Kilkenny

Ballylarkin Abbey

Not far from Freshford in Kilkenny and just off to the side of a small Boreen lies an interesting and peculiar building, Ballylarkin Abbey.

The Abbey is in actual fact a small Church and Ballylarkin Abbey is its given "local" name. It's a bit of a curiosity in so much as old obscure Churches often are.

This particular Church has high Parapets that run along either side of the Church, sometimes called Wall Walks or Chemin de Ronde. 

Does this suggest that perhaps the Church needed to be heavily defended at one time, who knows for sure?

It is a multi-period Church having seen further construction and additions at several different times in its life but initially constructed some time during the 13th Cty.

There was a Sheela na Gig, a female exhibitionist figure found at the Church and it is now housed in the National Museum at Dublin.

A tunnel has also been described as running from the Church to a Castle just opposite on the other side of the road which only  seems to add further to its intrigue.

 

There are some small ruins across the road and a patch of easily identifiable and partially elevated ground. 

There was both an early Castle of some type and a later house here, probably fortified. 

The area was initially associated with the Ó'Lorcáins and later the Shorthall family.

Inside there is a Sedilia which seated three and a Piscina. Piscina is a Latin word meaning Fish Pond. 

Used in Church references it describes a little wall enclosure in which a small basin has been  carved. 

It's used for washing liturgical vessels from the celebration of communion or for washing the priests hands.

 

Often these little basins are carved in a beautiful shell shape like a Clam or Scallop. 

There is also a small Aumbrey, a type of small recessed box which would have held the vessels used in the Church ceremonies.

There is an embossed Plaque at the eastern end of the Church which probably came from Ballylarkin Castle across the road and commemorates the Shorthall family. It is believed to date to 1551.

The walls of the Church are quite high in comparison to its overall length and the Western wall is the remaining portion of a now gone tower. 

You can clearly see the pitch of the roof defined on this part of the wall and where the roof would have swept down to the defensive Parapets.

The openings into the Church consist of a large Gothic style East window, a small Ogee window in the South wall and a Doorway on a corner of the North wall.

Human remains were found both within and without the Church and suggest an associated Graveyard was once present.

Local tradition holds that there is a tree called the Bishop's Tree in a nearby field. 

That field is called the "eleven acres" and folklore tells a tale of 7 Bishops murdered here by Cromwellians in the 1600's. 

True or not it goes without saying that we wouldn't hold that particular Parliamentarian at high esteem in Ireland.

The combination of the large Sedilia, the Wall Parapets and the Sheela na Gig seem to suggest that the Church at Ballylarkin was of significant importance to either the local community or the Shorthall family, perhaps both.

Ballylarkin can be broken down into the Irish word Baile meaning town and Larkin as in the family name Larkin. 

The town of the Larkins. 

Larkin is the English version of the original Gaelic family name Ó'Lorcáin.

I don't know how accurate it is but I came across a distillery webpage that suggests Augustinian Monks at Ballylarkin once made Irish Liqueur. 

I don't usually link to commercial pages but this seemed interesting so there's a link here to Ballylarkin Liqueur.

This Church although small and at first unassuming is worth visiting if in the area. It struck me as a bit of a mystery as to why it seemed to be fortified.

Keep the wheels turning.

Co-ordinates Here :

52.722912 - 7.427906

52°43'22.5"N 7°25'40.5"W