SEE OF LISMORE

The SEE of LISMORE, soon after the arrival of the English, was enlarged by the annexation of the ancient see of Ardmore. Bishop Felix, who succeeded to the prelacy in 1179, gave the church of St. John to the abbey of Thomas-Court, near Dublin; and from this time fierce disputes were carried on between the prelates of this see and the bishops of Waterford, which were frequently renewed and continued by several of his successors, till 1358, when, during the prelacy of Bishop Reve, the two sees were united, and continued to be held as one by Thomas Le Reve, bishop of Lismore and Waterford, and by his successors till the passing of the Church Temporalities' Act, in the 3rd and 4th of William IV., when, on the decease of Dr. Bourke, both were annexed to the archiepiscopal see of Cashel, and the temporalities became vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Lismore is one of the eleven dioceses which constitute the ecclesiastical province of Cashel: it includes the greater part of the county of Waterford and part of Tipperary, extending 38 miles in length and 37 in breadth, and comprising an estimated superficies of 323,500 acres, of which 92,000 are in Tipperary and the remainder in Waterford; the lands belonging to the see and its gross revenue are comprised in the return for the see of Waterford.

The chapter consists of a dean, precentor, chancellor, treasurer, archdeacon, and the prebendaries of Tulloghorton, Dysart, Donoughmore, Kilrossanty, Modeligo, Kilgobinet, Seskinan, and Clashmore. There are five vicars choral, who were first instituted by Bishop Christopher about the year 1230, and are all appointed by the dean, who has a peculiar jurisdiction over the parishes of Lismore, Tallow, and Macollop during eleven months of the year, till inhibited by the bishop, a month before the episcopal visitation; he has also a right to appoint a registrar, and can grant licences under his own consistorial seal; the deanery, it is said, may be held by a layman. There are comprehended in the see the rural deaneries of Lismore, Whitechurch, Dungarvan, Carrick, Clonmel, and Cahir. The number of parishes in the diocese is 76, comprised in 43 benefices, of which 23 are unions of two or more parishes, and 20 single parishes; of these, 6 are in the patronage of the Crown, 26 in that of the Archbishop of Cashel, and the remainder in lay patronage. There are in the diocese 36 churches, and one other episcopal place of worship, and 15 glebe-houses.

In the R. C. divisions the diocese is united with that of Waterford, together forming one of the seven bishopricks suffragan to the archiepiscopal see of Cashel: it contains 65 chapels; the number of parochial benefices and clergy is stated in the account of the see of Waterford.

The cathedral church, dedicated to St. Carthagh, the only one remaining of the numerous ancient churches of this place, and now used as the parochial church, after being almost destroyed in the reign of Elizabeth by Edmund Fitzgibbon, called the "White Knight," was restored in 1663 at the expense of the Earl of Cork. It is a handsome structure, chiefly in the later English style, with a square tower surmounted by a light and elegant spire, which were added to it some few years since, when extensive alterations and repairs were made. The entrance is at the extremity of the south transept under a pure Norman arch of elegant design; the choir, in which the parochial service is performed, is embellished with windows of stained glass, executed by the late George McAllister, of Dublin; and the bishop's throne and prebendal stalls are of oak richly carved. The only ancient monument now remaining is one to the family of Mac Grath, dated 1548, and very richly sculptured; there are some handsome tablets to the memory of the late Dean Scott, Archdeacon Ryan, J. H. Lovett, Esq., and to the families of Musgrave, Chearnley, and others. The economy fund, on an average of three years ending May 1831, amounted to £823. 10. 8. per ann., arising from the tithes of the parishes of Lismore and Macollop; it is appropriated to the payment of two preachers in the cathedral, who have respectively stipends of £80 and £65; to the curate of Cappoquin, whose stipend is £90, and to the payment of salaries to the cathedral officers, and repairs.

The rectory of Lismore has been united from time immemorial to that of Macollop, and both are appropriate to the economy fund of the cathedral; the vicarage is also united to that of Macollop, and both are appropriate to the vicars choral, who have cure of souls.

The tithes amount to £1969. 4. 7. for both parishes, which, with the exception of four townlands in the county of Cork, comprise about 60,000 statute acres; there is no glebe-house, but a residence for the Archdeacon.

The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church; the chapel is a large and neat edifice, and there is a chapel also at Ballyduff. There are places of worship for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod of Ulster, of the third class, and for Wesleyan Methodists. About 650 children are taught in six public schools, of which the classical school is endowed with a house and £30 per ann. by the late Earl of Cork; two are partly supported by the Dean and Chapter and vicars choral, one of which is aided by a bequest of £17 per ann. from the late Mr. Magner, of Boston, in the United States; two by Sir Richard Musgrave and Captain Bushe, and one by the Duke of Devonshire.

There are also 15 private schools, in which are about 700 children, and a Sunday school. Six almshouses were founded and endowed by the first Earl of Cork for decayed Protestant soldiers; and there are a fever hospital and dispensary. Mr. Lovett, in 1805, bequeathed £500 to the poor.

At Kilbree are some remains of a castle built by King John, situated on an eminence commanding the Blackwater. There are vestiges of a double and single trench in this parish, the former, called Rian-Bo-Padruic, extending eastward from Knockmeledown, and twice crossing the river in its line towards Ardmore; and the latter from Cappoquin along the side of the mountains into the county of Cork.

Halfway between Lismore and Cappoquin is a weak chalybeate water, and there is another between Lismore and Knockmeledown; there is also a very strong chalybeate spring near Glenmore. Near the church are two small caves, and one in the grove near the castle; there is also a cave at Ballymartin, through which flows a rivulet; there are numerous circular intrenchments in the parish, especially on both sides of the high road to Dungarvan and the mountains.

Roger Boyle, first Earl of Orrery, and fifth son of Richard, first Earl of Cork, an eminent statesman and soldier; Robert Boyle, his brother, the celebrated natural philosopher; and Jonathan Henry Lovett, distinguished by his attainments in the Persian, Hindostanee, and Arabic languages, and who died off the Cape of Good Hope, in 1805, on his voyage from India, in the 25th year of his age, were natives of this parish. Lismore gives the titles of Baron and Viscount to the family of O'Callaghan.