Getting to know ‘the other place’ and Comberford links with Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford … the Dean and Chapter took legal action in the 17th century against the Comberford estates in Staffordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

I was in Christ Church, Oxford, earlier today (6 April 2023) for the Maundy Thursday Chrism Eucharist and the annual renewal of ordination vows by deacons, priests and bishops in the Diocese of Oxford.

I have been in Oxford a number of times in recent months and I am reminded how, in a letter to Conrad Aiken on New Year’s Eve 1914, TS Eliot wrote famously: ‘Oxford is very pretty, but I don’t like to be dead.’ In a similar vein, WH Auden said: ‘Oxford city is sheer hell. Compared with New York, it’s five times as crowded and the noise of the traffic is six times louder.’ On the other hand, although AE Housman was at Cambridge for only a year, he could say: ‘I find Cambridge an asylum, in every sense of the word.’

Anyone who has been at Oxford refers to Cambridge as ‘the other place.’ And, after many years of staying in Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge while studying at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, I have long been inclined to think of Oxford as ‘the other place.’

Inside Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, after today’s Maundy Thursday Chrism Eucharist (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

I have written in the past about the many Comberford family connections with Cambridge over the generations, including many family members who were associated with Saint John’s College.

Humphrey Comberford (ca 1496/1498-1555) of Comberford Hall and the Moat House and two of his brothers – Henry and Richard Comberford – seem to have benefited under the terms of a bequest from John Bayley and his brother who had funded a fellowship at Saint John’s College, stipulating that preference be given to men from Tamworth.

Henry Comberford (ca 1499-1586) later became Precentor of Lichfield Cathedral, while Richard Comberford (ca 1512-post 1547) – often confused with Richard Comerford of Ballybur, Co Kilkenny – was the Senior Bursar of Saint John’s (1542-1544). Richard Comberford and his brother John Comberford both leased lands at Much Bradley in Staffordshire from Saint John’s College.

So, by default, I came to think of Oxford as ‘the other place.’

The Crown in Oxford … William Comerford’s Oxford MA may have been a reward for his loyalty to the crown during the Civil War (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

But, during my visits to Oxford in recent months, I have been reminded too of the many family connections with Oxford.

In the early 17th century, Christ Church, Oxford, took legal action as it tried to demand some of the income from the Comberford estates near Tamworth and Lichfield. But later, when Christ Church became the headquarters of Charles I and the Royalist party in the early stages of the Civil War, William Comberford was part of the king’s retinue in Oxford, and was given an MA degree by the university.

Earlier in the 17th century, two other members of the Comberford family matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, but died as undergraduates before they ever received degrees.

The family connections with Oxford begin in the late 15th century, with Edmund Comberford or Comerford, who was Dean of Kilkenny and Bishop of Ferns from 1505 until he died on Easter Sunday 1509. He was educated at Oxford, although his college and degree are not recorded, and his name is sometimes given mistakenly as Edward.

Nicholas Comberford or Comforde received his BA at Oxford 1518-1519. He seems to have been a member of the Irish family too, and may have been the Rector of Cottered, Hertfordshire (1541), or vicar of Nangle (Angle), Pembrokeshire (1545).

Nicholas Comberford or Quemmerforde (1544-1599), who was described as ‘a learned Irishman,’ graduated BA at Oxford in 1562 after four years studying logic and philosophy, probably at Oriel College.

He was born in Waterford ca 1544, and was educated at Peter White’s school in Kilkenny. He returned to Waterford, where he was ordained priest, and was chaplain to Sir Edmund Butler and Rector of Kilconnell in the Diocese of Cashel until about 1570, when he was ejected for nonconformity. He moved to the University of Louvain, and received the degree of DD in 1576. He joined the Society of Jesus about 1578, and was one of the 16 Waterford Jesuits from the Comerford family living in the half century between 1590 and 1640.

At one time, he was nominated as Archbishop of Cashel, although his nomination was blocked by the King of Spain and was never accepted by the Vatican. He died in Spain about 1599.

Philip Comberford (Quamerforde or Comerforde) from Waterford matriculated at Oxford at the age of 15 in 1581, and later studied law at the Inner Temple (1586) and Clifford’s Inn.

Henry Comberford and Thomas Comberford matriculated at Balliol College (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Philip Comerford was a near contemporary of Henry Comberford (1588-ca 1600/1616) of Comberford and Wednesbury, who matriculated at Balliol College in 1600 at the age of 12. Henry never graduated and died young, and his father had another son also named Henry who was born in 1616.

The Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford, took William Comberford (1551-1625) of Comberford Hall and the Moat House to court in Easter 1602, seeking an annuity of £29 from the Manors of Wigginton and Comberford and lands and tenements in Wigginton, Comberford, Hopwas, Coton and Tamworth. In his defence, William said the manor had been granted in 1534 to ‘Sir George Nevyll, lord of Begavenny,’ and that while Comberford was formerly a manor, he did not know if it remained one.

Thomas Comberford (1621-1639), son of Francis Comberford, of Oxley, Staffordshire, matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1639 at the age of 18. He too never graduated – he died unmarried within a month and was buried at Saint Peter in the East, Oxford, on 13 December 1639. This is a 12th-century church on Queen’s Lane, north of the High Street in central Oxford. It now forms part of Saint Edmund Hall, one of the Oxford colleges. The church has long been deconsecrated and houses the college library for graduates and undergraduates. The churchyard is laid out as a garden and contains a seated bronze statue depicting Saint Edmund as an impoverished student.

Meanwhile, the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford, continued their legal actions against the Comberford family. They took William Comberford to court in 1629, seeking the disputed rent or annuity of £29 from the Manors of Wigginton and Comberford and lands and tenements in Wigginton, Comberford, Hopwas, Coton and Tamworth.

Despite his earlier disputes with Christ Church, William Comberford was created MA at Oxford on 1 November 1642. No college is recorded, but he was probably with the king at Christ Church that winter, and the degree may have been a reward for William’s loyalty to Charles I as the Royalist High Sheriff of Staffordshire in the early stages of the English Civil War.

Thomas Comberford was buried at Saint Peter in the East, Oxford, in 1639 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

William Comberford first had his royalist headquarters at the ancient High House on Greengate Street, Stafford. Charles I stayed there in September 1642 on his way through Staffordshire. The king was accompanied by his nephew, Prince Rupert, who is said to have taken shots at the weathercock on Saint Mary’s Tower from the garden of the house.

By then, Oxford was the royalist headquarters, with King Charles I living at Christ Church, and on 1 November 1642 William Comberford received the degree MA from Oxford University, along with the herald and antiquarian Sir William Dugdale (1605-1686) from Shustoke, near Tamworth. Dugdale’s son-in-law, the Lichfield-born antiquarian Elias Ashmole (1617-1692), gave his name to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Of course, there were many other members of the Comerford families to graduate from Oxford in more recent decades, and I have stayed in the past at Wycliffe Hall and Ripon College Cuddesdon, as well as being a patient this time last year in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Perhaps, now that I am living in the Diocese of Oxford, I should stop thinking about Oxford as ‘the other place.’

The King’s Arms in Oxford … King Charles I was living at Christ Church in 1642 when William Comberford received his MA at Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

A visit to Saint Mary’s Church in Haversham in advance of the Feast of the Annunciation

The parish church in Haversham, on the northern edges of Milton Keynes, has been dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin since the early Middle Ages (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation (25 March 2023), or ‘Lady Day’. Earlier this week, I walked from Wolverton to Haversham to visit the parish church, which has been dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin since the early Middle Ages, and which still retains its rural setting in the old village, despite being on the edges of the Stony Stratford and close to the main Milton Keynes to Birmingham railway line.

I was also interested in visiting the church because of its links with the Hort family, and two church figures about whom I have written in books and journals, Jospiah Hort, Bishop of Tuam and Archbishop of Tuam after he had been Rector of Haversham, and his descendant, the Dublin-born Cambridge theologian and Biblical scholar Professor FJA Hort.

A fine old yew tree in the rectory garden in Haversham offers evidence of the antiquity of this ancient church site. It is said to be over 1,000 years old, has a girth 5 ft, and is 12 ft 8 in high. A mound about 55 yards from the tree has the outlines of an ancient large building.

Some experts say there is evidence of Saxon work in the west of the Church, although their findings are inconclusive. A rectangular-shaped church probably stood on the site of present nave, which was built ca 1160 in the early part of the reign of Henry II, and the tower was added later. Only the west wall remains of the church built ca 1160. The tower was built in 1190, and a large part of the remainder of the church was built in 1220.

The arrival of Hugh de Haversham and his family at the manor coincided with the building or rebuilding of the church. The chancel is 33 ft long and is almost as long as the nave, 40 ft, separated by a low archway.

The tower is of three stages and is part the original structure of 1190 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The tower is of three stages, and all of it – except the embattled parapet and the north-west buttress – is part the original structure of 1190. There are two small windows in the ground floor stage, and four larger ones in the bell chamber.

The Norman window in the west wall testifies to the early date of the church. The reverse side of this window, now inside the tower, was originally an outside window, showing how the tower was added a little later.

The church was considerably enlarged ca 1220, and only the west wall and the tower of the former building were retained.

Other early 13th century survivals include the two buttresses with edge roll moulding at the east end of the chancel, with an inscribed dial on one of them.

An old doorway from this period was on the north side of the church and may have been used by the rector. The doorway is now substantially built up. In some parts of England, an old disused doorway such as this on the north side came to be known as ‘the Devil’s door.’

An old doorway on the north side of the church has been substantially built up (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The de la Plaunche family added a chantry chapel ca 1290 and it was rebuilt about 1325, as two windows suggest.

The restoration of 1934 revealed the existence in this chapel of a hagioscope or squint, an ambry or recess for church vessels, originally much deeper, a 14th century piscina and a sedilia or liturgical stone seat.

The south aisle was entirely rebuilt to align with the new chantry chapel ca 1325. The south arcade was also rebuilt, as well as the chancel arch. The last stage in reconstruction took place ca 1360.

The chancel windows, which had been narrow lancets, were enlarged, as were two large windows in the north aisle. The south porch, the canopy over the tomb, and the font date from ca 1390. The clerestory was added in the 1400s when the pitch of the original roof was lowered.

The south porch of Saint Mary’s Church, Haversham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

I was disappointed not see inside the church, where the canopied altar tomb of Elizabeth Lady Clinton, dating from 1390, is an outstanding feature in the chancel. It includes an alabaster recumbent effigy of a woman with clasped hands in widow’s head-dress and pleated garb, her head resting on a cushion supported by angels, and a lion at the feet; an alabaster altar-shaped tomb, with six figures under trefoil-headed niches at the front, and another figure at the west end of the tomb; and a stone canopy.

Until recently it was assumed that this is the tomb Lady Clinton, who died in 1423, although it has no inscription. The canopy appears to be of an earlier date than the alabaster tomb and effigy, and the tomb may date from 1423-1424.

The tomb may not have been fitted into the vacant recess until as late as 1665. The tomb appears to be slightly too long for the recess, and may have been cut at the ends to make it fit.

A brass of 1427 in the chancel is in memory of Alicia Payn, who died four years after Lady Clinton. This brass was originally at the head of the Clinton tomb, and was restored in 1884.

A brass on the chancel floor of the chancel depicts a skeleton and is to the memory of John Maunsell of the manor house, who died in 1604.

The old organ was built in 1665 by Ralph Dallam for Hackney Parish Church and Samuel Pepys mentions it in his diary on 20 April 1667. The organ was moved from Hackney to Newport Pagnell in 1738, and was brought to Haversham in 1869. A new organ was installed in 1962.

The font is said to date from 1380. The 17th century pulpit is of oak and hexagonal in shape, although the base dates from 1934.

Two bells were hung in the church tower during the reign of Charles I (1625, 1638), and a third was added after the restoration of Charles II (1667). A ‘sanctus bell’ dates from 1752.

A piscina on the outside of the north wall of the chancel was revealed during restoration work in 1941 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The chantry chapel was restored in 1934. The hagioscope, which had been bricked up and plastered over, the ambry and sedilia, which had been greatly damaged, and the beautiful piscina were now exposed.

A piscina on the outside of the north wall of the chancel, dating from ca 1280, was revealed during restoration work in 1941, and can now be seen clearly from the churchyard.

During the Cromwellian period, the Clinton monument was defaced and damaged, and the church registers disappeared. The present registers date from 1665.

The advowson at Haversham was vested in the Lord of the Manor since at least 1221 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The advowson at Haversham was vested in the Lord of the Manor from at least 1221, when Michael de Haversham was the Rector. The names of all subsequent rectors are recorded.

John de Cheshull or Chryshull was at Haversham for 10 years before becoming Bishop of London in 1274. He later become the Lord Treasurer and Lord Chancellor of England and died in 1280. Chishull was succeeded by Master Angelus Cameracensis, advocatus dom. regis in curia or the king’s advocate in the Papal court in Rome.

In the Middle Ages, William de Ledcomb had been the rector for 18 years when the new Lord of the Manor did his utmost to make things unpleasant for him. William complained that he had been assaulted and imprisoned by Sir John de Olneye, John le Hare, Robert le Long, Nicholas le Someter and others at Haversham, and that they forbade the inhabitants of Haversham to give him tithes, fire or water, or to speak with him, assaulted his servants, took away his plough, starved his oxen and other cattle, and prevented his servants from saving his hay, corn and vegetables. Ledcomb resigned two years later.

The Revd Robert Sturmy of Haversham was attacked by William Golds, the bailiff of Newport Pagnell, in 1357. In defending himself, Sturmy accidentally killed Golds, but the Rector was pardoned and remained in office until he died in 1361.

During the Cromwellian era, the Revd Michael Bostock, who had been rector since 1623, was deprived of the living in 1646, and was replaced by a Puritan, John Newman.

Josiah Hort (1674-1751) by an unknown artist, oil on canvas, 126.1 x 100.4 cm, a gift from the Revd HJ Carter to Clare College, Cambridge, in 1897 (courtesy Clare College).

Josiah Hort (1674-1751), who was the Rector of Haversham in 1715-1718, later became Bishop of Ferns in Ireland (1722-1727) and ended his days as the Archbishop of Tuam (1742–1751). Hort was brought up as a Nonconformist, and is said to have spent some time as the pastor of a dissenting congregation in Newbury, Berkshire. He is the subject of my paper, ‘Josiah Hort (1674?-1751), Bishop of Ferns, ‘A Rake, a Bully, a Pimp, or Spy’ and ‘Bp Judas’,’ published in the Journal of the Wexford Historical Society, No 24, 2012-2013 (ed Celestine Murphy).

Hort never had the degrees he claimed from Cambridge – indeed, he spent less than one full academic year in Clare College – and, even while he was still alive, serious questions were asked about whether he had ever been ordained an Anglican priest. Hort’s lifestyle and his lies about his academic credentials became a public scandal when Archbishop William King of Dublin refused to consecrate him as bishop for Ferns and Leighlin in 1721. Eventually, he was consecrated by the bishops of Meath, Kilmore and Dromore.

Hort was an immediate ancestor of the Dublin-born, Cambridge theologian Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892), who was a member of the ‘Cambridge Triumvirate’ and Lady Margaret’s Professor of Divinity in Cambridge. He is the subject of my chapter, ‘F.J.A. Hort (1828–92), the Dublin-born member of the Cambridge triumvirate and translating the Revised Version of the Bible’ in Salvador Ryan and Liam M Tracey (eds), The Cultural Reception of the Bible: explorations in theology, literature and the arts (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2018), pp 189-198.

The Revd Edward Cooke, a former curate, was appointed Rector of Haversham in 1802. He contributed to many periodicals and publications, and owned an extensive library, particularly of theology, law, history, antiquities, classical literature, and local and natural history. He began a parish Sunday School for boys, and died at the age of 51 in 1824.

When the manor estate at Haversham was divided and sold in 1806, the right was retained by the trustees of the heir of the former Lord of the Manor so that he might be appointed Rector when he was old enough. The Revd HA Small was 25 when he became the Rector of Haversham and Clifton Reynes in 1828. But he lived beyond his means, and was sued for a debt of £10,000.

Haversham remained in the Diocese of Lincoln until 1845. The Bishop of Oxford sequestrated both of Small’s livings in 1850; Small formally resigned as Rector of Haversham six years later, and the Revd AB Frazer was appointed in his place.

Frazer initiated the Victorian restoration of the Church in 1857, with the renewal of the roofs, repairs to the flooring and pews. During this work, the Norman window was discovered in the west wall, and an ambry and piscina were found in the chancel.

The right of patronage later passed to Church Pastoral Aid Society.

• Sunday services in Saint Mary’s at 11 am, with Holy Communion on the Third Sunday of the month. Saint Mary’s is part of the ‘LAMP’ Group of Parishes including Saint Leonard’s Church, Little Linford, Saint Peter’s, Tyringham with Filgrave, and All Saints’ Church, Emberton. The Vicar of Haversham-cum-Little Linford is the Revd Adrian Low, Emeritus Professor of Computing Education, Digital Technologies and Arts at Staffordshire University.

Saint Mary’s Church, Haversham, is part of the ‘LAMP’ Group of Parishes including Little Linford, Tyringham and Emberton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

David Earl, a former Precentor of Limerick who became Dean of Ferns

Saint Edan’s Cathedral, Ferns … David Earl, a former Precentor of Limerick, was Dean of Ferns in 1979-1994 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2009)

Patrick Comerford

The Very Revd David Kaye Lee Earl (1928-2017), who was Dean of Ferns from 1979 until 1994, was one of my predecessors as Precentor of Limerick (1977-1979), and in the 1950s and 1960s he was also Rector of Rathkeale (1958-1965).

When a project looking at my predecessors as Precentors of Limerick was postponed some months ago due to the pandemic limits on public events, I thought it might still be interesting to continue looking at past precentors in a number of blog postings.

In earlier postings, I recalled some previous precentors who had been accused of ‘dissolute living’ or being a ‘notorious fornicator’ (Awly O Lonysigh), or who were killed in battle (Thomas Purcell). There were those who became bishops or archbishops: Denis O’Dea (Ossory), Richard Purcell (Ferns) and John Long (Armagh).

There was the tragic story too of Robert Grave, who became Bishop of Ferns while remaining Precentor of Limerick, but – only weeks after his consecration – drowned with all his family in Dublin Bay as they made their way by sea to their new home in Wexford (read more HERE).

In the 17th century, two members of the Gough family were also appointed Precentors of Limerick. In all, three brothers in this family were priests in the Church of Ireland and two were priests in the Church of England, and the Rathkeale branch of the family was the ancestral line of one of Ireland’s most famous generals (read more HERE).

In the mid to late 18th century, two members of the Maunsell family were Precentors of Limerick: Richard Maunsell (1745-1747) and William Thomas Maunsell (1786-1781) (read more HERE).

They were related to Canon John Warburton who was, perhaps, the longest-ever holder of the office, being Precentor of Limerick for 60 years from 1818 until he died to 1878 (red more HERE).

Last month, I looked at Warburton’ successor, Canon Frederic Charles Hamilton, who provides an interesting links with both this group of parishes, with the Mariners’ Church in Dún Laoghaire and the Anglican mission agency SPG, now USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), of which I am a trustee. (see HERE).

As I move to the end of the 19th and the early 20th century, Hamilton’s successor as Precentor, Francis Meredyth, was a published poet and dramatist, and some of the Precentors of Limerick were also among the last Deans of Ardfert, including Robert Archibald Adderley (1870-1946), who also served in Listowel and Ballybunion (see HERE).

Then, later last month, I told the story of Dean Charles Gray-Stack (1912-1985), one of the last Deans of Ardfert. He was one of my predecessors as Precentor of Limerick, and long before me had been in ministry in the Rathkeale Group of Parish in the 1940s and 1950s. He was also a well-known contributor to the The Irish Times in the 1950s and 1960s (see HERE).

David Earl was one of Charles Gray-Stack’s successors as Precentor of Limerick. He was born in Dublin in 1928, a son of Victor Earl of Grantstown House, Co Waterford, and was educated at Bishop Foy’s School, Waterford, and Trinity College Dublin (BA 1954).

He was ordained deacon in 1955 and priest in 1956, and he spent three years as a curate in Sant James’s, Dublin (1955-1958). While he was there, he married Christine Lepper from Clane in Clane Church, Co Kildare, in 1956.

He was appointed the Rector of Rathkeale, Nantenan, Ballingarry, Rathronan and Newcastle West in 1958. Saint David’s Church, Newcastle West, was closed that year, and it was demolished in 1962.

He remained in this group of parishes until 1965, when he became the Rector of Killarney, Aghdoe and Muckross, Co Kerry. In 1977, he was appointed the Precentor of Limerick, and Prebendary of Donaghmore and Ballycahane in the cathedral chapter in 1977.

He remained in this diocese until he was appointed Dean of Saint Edan’s Cathedral, Ferns, in 1979 in succession to the Very Revd Thomas Henry Crampton McFall, who had been dean from 1949 to 1979. He was also Rector of Ferns, Kilbride, Toombe and Ballycarney until he retired in 1994. He was succeeded by the Very Revd Leslie David Arthur Forrest, who was Dean of Ferns in 1995-2011.

In retirement, David Earl lived in Tramore, Co Waterford. He died in Waterford on 31 March 2017. He was survived by his wife Christine (née Lepper), his daughters and son, Alison, Judy, Susan and Jonathan, his sons-in-law Gerald Jephson, James Bourke and Elmer Dool, his daughter-in-law, Karen Cheevers, many grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

His funeral Eucharist took place in Christ Church, Tramore, on Sunday 2 April 2017, followed by burial in adjoining churchyard.

Bishop Michael Burrows of Cashel Ferns and Ossory said later that ‘the great throng of friends and former parishioners at the funeral was eloquent evidence of lives touched, enriched and guided by a ministry of great kindness and care for individuals.’

Bishop Burrows added, ‘To visit David was always a tonic … He was fun, wise, and had an incredible memory of people and events.’

Saint Mary’s Church, Killarney … David Earl was Rector of Killarney in 1965-1979 and Precentor of Limerick in 1977-1979 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Comerford profiles: did this Richard Comberford ever move from Lichfield to Ireland?

The Guildhall in Lichfield … four generations of the Comerford family were members of the Guild of Saint Mary and Saint John the Baptist, including Richard Comberford’s wife Isabella (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Joseph Comerford’s pedigree registered in 1724, and the pedigree compiled at the College of Heralds in 1786 for the Countess of Crequy, claim the Comerford families of Co Kilkenny and Co Wexford are descended from Richard Comerford.

But who was this Richard Comberford, and, whether he ever came to Ireland, what his career in England, and where does he fit in the story of the Comberford family of Comberford Hall?

(Judge) Richard Comberford (ca 1512-post 1547), was born ca 1512, a younger son of Thomas Comberford who died in 1532 and his wife Dorothy Fitzherbert. He was the ancestor of the Bradley branch of the family, but he was also claimed as the putative ancestor of the Comerford family in south-east Ireland.

Richard Comberford’s father, Thomas Comberford (1472-1532) of Comberford, had been admitted to membership of the Guild of Saint Mary and Saint John the Baptist in Lichfield in 1495. Two generation earlier, Thomas’s grandfather, William Comberford, as ‘Will’s Combford,’ was admitted to membership of the Guild of Saint Mary and Saint John in Lichfield, in 1469.

Within a few years, William Comberford’s son, John Comberford (ca 1426-1508), as ‘Joh’s Cumberforde,’ was admitted to membership of the Guild of Saint Mary and Saint John the Baptist in 1476. The guild acted as the city government until Lichfield received a charter.

Thomas Comberford was the third generation of his family to become involved in the governance of Lichfield when, as M’r Thomas Cumberforth, was admitted to membership of the Guild in 1495.

We have a good account of Thomas Comberford’s land holdings in Lichfield and the surrounding area around the year 1525, when John Archard, Master of Saint Mary’s Guild, recorded the land holdings of the guild on the outskirts of the city. He provides a thorough account of the neighbouring estates held by Thomas Comberford, particularly in Wall and Wigginton. In that account, Archard spells the family’s name variously as Comberfort, Combyrford, Combyrforde, Combyrfort, Cumberforde, Cumberforte and Cumbyrford.

Thomas Comberford’s wife Dorothea was a sister of Canon Thomas Fitzherbert, Precentor of Lichfield Cathedral, and Canon William Fitzherbert, Chancellor of Lichfield Cathedral, while another sister Alice was the Abbess of Polesworth.

Thomas Comberford’s son, Richard Comberford, the putative ancestor of the Irish branch of the family, was born ca 1512. His records at Cambridge note that he was born at Comberford, Staffordshire. In all, three Comberford brothers, Humphrey, Henry and Richard, benefited from the terms of a bequest from John Bayley, who had funded a fellowship at Saint John’s College, Cambridge, stipulating that preference be given to men from Tamworth.

His eldest brother, Humphrey Comberford (ca 1496/1498-1555) of Comberford Hall and the Moat House on Lichfield Street, Tamworth, was educated at Cambridge (BA 1525, MA 1528). However, his principle commercial interests were in Lichfield, and he was the fourth generation of the family to be involved in the civic governance of Lichfield when he became the Master of Guild of Saint Mary and Saint John the Baptist in 1530.

A second brother, Henry Comberford (ca 1499-1586), was admitted to Saint John’s College on 31 March 1533. He graduated BA (1533), MA (1536) and BD (1545). He went on to become a Fellow of Saint John’s College and a Proctor of Cambridge University, and later, as Canon Henry Comberford, was the Precentor of Lichfield Cathedral (1555-1559).

Saint John’s College, Cambridge … Richard Comberford was a Fellow and Senior Bursar, but did he ever move to Ireland? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Richard Comberford, who was born ca 1512, married Isabel Biggs before going to Cambridge. As ‘Dame Isabella Cumberforde,’ she was admitted to membership of the Guild of Saint Mary and Saint John the Baptist in Lichfield in 1530, in the year her brother-in-law, Humphrey Comberford, was the Master of the Guild.

Richard Comerford was admitted to Saint John’s College, Cambridge, on 8 April 1534, and became a Fellow of Saint John’s College that year. He proceeded MA in 1537, and, like other members of his family at the time, he was known for his Catholic sympathies during the Tudor Reformation.

In his history of Saint John’s College, Peter Linehan notes that ‘the Fellows were constitutionally quarrelsome.’ Richard Comberford was one of two fellows of Saint John’s, along with Richard Swayne, who led a conspiracy of regent masters in 1539 to take control of the Senate House in Cambridge and to stop an adjournment of the election of William Buckmaster of Peterhouse, former Lady Margaret’s Professor of Divinity (1532, 1534), as the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge.

When Comberford gave the signal, ‘nowe playe the men and I will begyne,’ Swayne barred the doors and there was a rush to assault Dr Geoffrey Glynn, who was presiding over the assembly.

Nevertheless, Richard continued as a fellow of the college’s seven seniors in 1542, and he was the Senior Bursar of Saint John’s in 1542-1544.

A senior barrister, after leaving Cambridge Richard Comberford was a serjeant-at-law or servillus ad legem, according to the Visitation of Staffordshire. He held one of the highest judicial posts as the King’s Remembrancer from about 1547.

Richard Comberford of Cambridge and his brother John Comberford both leased lands at Much Bradley in Staffordshire from Saint John’s College.

Richard and Isabel Comberford were the parents of a son and two daughters:

1, Dorothy, who married Edward Bulkeley.
2, Elizabeth, who died in childhood.
3, Francis Comberford, who was the ancestor of the Comberford family of Bradley.

Richard Comberford has sometimes been named incorrectly as the father also of:

4, John Comberford, whose daughter Alice married Walter Littleton [however, see Comberford 4: Comberford wealth from Wednesbury].

Richard Comberford has often been confused by 18th century genealogists with Richard Comerford of Ballybur, Co Kilkenny, and so in a confused way, the Comberford and Comerford family trees became entangled.

Joseph Comerford’s pedigree registered in 1724, and the pedigree compiled at the College of Heralds in 1786 for the Countess of Crequy, make an even more fantastic claim, saying Richard moved to Ireland and became Lord of Ballymacken and Danganmore, Co Kilkenny, through his marriage to Mary, daughter and heiress of Allen de Comerford, last Baron of Danganmore, said to have died in 1504, and niece of Edmond Comerford, Bishop of Ferns, who died in 1509.

According to these Irish pedigrees, Richard Comberford and his wife Mary Comerford were the parents of:

Thomas de Cumberford, who married Anne FitzGerald of the House of Kildare, and was ancestor of many of the Comerford families in Ireland, including: the Comerfords of Danganmore, Co Kilkenny; the Comerfords of New Ross, Co Wexford; Edward Comerford, Archbishop of Cashel; Joseph Comerford, soi-disant Marquis d’Anglure, who erected the Comerford memorial in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth; and the Comerfords of Athy, Co Kildare, ancestors of the Countess of Crequy.

Of course, these pedigrees are of a fantastical nature, composed to boost the claims of 18th century members of the family, and are totally unreliable. Yet they show how the family claims to links with Staffordshire continued to be part of family lore down through the centuries.

Saint John the Evangelist at Saint John’s College, Cambridge … Richard Comerford was Senior Bursar at a time he was said to be living in Co Kilkenny (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

This Comerford profile is written for the Comerford Genealogy site and I plan to migrate it to that site in due time

Did Harry Clarke make deliberate errors in the O’Keefe window in Bride Street Church, Wexford?

Harry Clarke’s window, ‘The Madonna with Saints Aidan and Adrian,’ was place in Bride Street Church, Wexford, in 1919 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford; click on images to enlarge)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday last (31 January) was the Feast of Saint Aidan, the patron saint of the Diocese of Ferns and Co Wexford. But he probably went unnoticed this year, because of the pandemic lockdown and because his day fell on a Sunday.

As I was scrolling through old photographs from Wexford last weekend, clearing up more space on my Google account, I came across photographs that depict Saint Aidan in a stained-glass window by Harry Clarke in the Church of the Assumption in Bride Street, Wexford.

Bride Street Church is one of Wexford’s great Gothic Revival churches and one of the town’s ‘Twin Churches’: the Church of the Assumption on Bride Street and the Church of the Immaculate Conception on Rowe Street.

The Twin Churches are architectural masterpieces by Wexford’s own Gothic Revival architect, Richard Pierce (1801-1854) from Kilmore, who was once AWN Pugin’s clerk of works. The foundation stones of both churches were laid in 1851, and they were completed in 1858. Their identical spires long defined the Wexford skyline until the building of the new Opera House in High Street.

The East Window by John Hardman and Company (established 1838) of Birmingham is often regarded as the jewel among the stained-glass windows in Bride Street Church. The Hardman studios, established in 1838, are closely linked with the Gothic revival of the 19th century, and many of their windows are in churches throughout these islands associated with AWN Pugin (1812-1852)

However, I wonder how many people visiting Bride Street Church also notice the O’Keefe window by Harry Clarke (1889-1931) in the side aisle.

This is one of only five Harry Clarke windows in Co Wexford – a second Harry Clarke window is in the mortuary chapel in Saint Michael’s Church, Gorey, and the other three are in Christ Church, the Church of Ireland parish church in Gorey: Saint Stephen (1922), Saint Luke and Saint Martin of Tours with the Beggar (1923) and a Rose Window (1923).

The inscription and heraldic details at the base of Harry Clarke’s window in Bride Street, Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The window in Bride Street church is an early masterpiece by Harry Clarke and has been described by the art historian the late Nicola Gordon Bowe as the epitome of Clarke’s work in the Art Nouveau style, where ‘the intricacy of detail is never sacrificed to the fluid integrity of the composition.’

The Wexford writer and researcher Lucy Costigan describes the O’Keefe window in great detail in her definitive book, Strangest Genius: the Stained Glass Windows of Harry Clarke (2010), published by History Press Ireland, with an introduction by Harry Clarke’s granddaughter, Sunniva Clarke Sheridan, and with generous illustrations by the Wexford photographer Michael Cullen. The window also features on the back cover of this book.

The window, ‘The Madonna with Saints Aidan and Adrian,’ was commissioned in 1918 by Matilda O’Keefe in memory of her son, Lieutenant William Henry O’Keefe, who was killed in World War I, and it was erected in the south aisle of Bride Street Church in 1919.

The O’Keefe family of the Faythe were prominent corn merchants and one of leading families in the malting industry that flourished in Wexford in the 18th and 19th centuries. The family lived at Faythe House, close to Bride Street Church.

Lieutenant William Henry O’Keeffe was born at Saint Magdalene, Wexford, on 13 July 1896, the second son of William Joseph O’Keefe, merchant, of Saint Magdalene and Faythe House, Wexford, and his wife Matilda Mary Agnes (née Fogarty) O’Keefe.

He went to school at Castleknock College, Dublin, and later studied engineering at the Royal College of Science, Dublin. When World War I broke out, he was commissioned in the 40th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, and by August 1915 he was on active service in France.

He was killed in action during the Battle of Arras on the morning of Saturday 19 May 1917. A stray German shell hit the officers’ mess, where he just had breakfast. He is buried in Plot VF 10 at Faubourg d’Amiens Cemetery, Arras, Pas de Calais.

The O’Keefe window was commissioned by his mother, Matilda O’Keefe, in remembrance of her son. World War I was still being waged when Harry Clarke (1889-1931) travelled from Dublin to Wexford to meet her on 14 September 1918 and to discuss the window. On 27 September, he sent Mrs O’Keefe a design for a two-light window that would cost £125.

Clarke selected the glass for his Wexford window in January 1919 and worked throughout the month of April on the window and the tracery lights. He completed the window in May 1919. The window is signed by Harry Clarke and was set in place in 1919.

The Madonna and Child by Harry Clarke in the O’Keefe window in Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

This vibrant stained-glass window is in the art nouveau style. The design is classic Harry Clarke, with figures that are elongated in a style that is typical of Clarke, who uses the grisaille effect on faces and hands.

In the first, left light, the image of the Madonna and the Christ Child evokes the bond between mother and child. She is floating serenely above the blue sea. She is clothed in a shimmering gown and an elaborate and bejewelled gown of deep blue that extends into the second panel, where two saints have come to pay homage.

The Virgin Mary’s turquoise headdress is encircled by a halo of ruby and emerald, while her slippers are of pink. There is a chalice to the right of her head, and a silhouette of the Crucifixion at her right shoulder.

Below her feet is another chalice, the monogram IHS (Iesus Hominum Salvator, ‘Jesus, Saviour of Humanity’) and a sail ship that Lucy Costigan describes as a ‘wind-blown galleon,’ although that Clarke may have intended this ship to represent the three burning ships on the coat-of-arms of Wexford town: ‘Argent, three lymphads flammant with pennons all proper; motto, Per Aquam et Ignem.

The Christ Child sits on a long white sole on the Virgin Mary’s lap and is dressed in robes of ivory and pale gold. His head is surrounded a silver halo with a gold cross. To his right is a miniature figure of Christ, holding a cross and flag as a symbol of his Resurrection.

Saint Adrian and Saint Aidan by Harry Clarke in the O’Keefe window in Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In the second, right light, the two saints are depicted in profile, paying homage to the Madonna and Christ Child: Saint Adrian is the patron saint of soldiers and Saint Aidan of Ferns represents Wexford.

While the Madonna and Child are on the sea, the two saints are on land, and their names are given in their halos. Saint Adrian is in a lemon, crimson and black cloak, with a blue helmet, and he carries a long, golden crucifix. Saint Aiden is depicted as an ascetic bishop, holding a church in his right hand and an ornate silver crosier in his left hand.

The borders are decorated with twisting branches, roses and lilies. Clarke fills every section with numerous tiny details, including a ship, two leaping fish, crucifixion images, a tiny image of the Church of the Assumption, a heart and cross representing the Sacred Heart as well as his ubiquitous floral ornamentations and his signature above the top fish.

Above, in a trefoil tracery light, is a bearded Franciscan friar with the initials SA, possibly Saint Anthony, who gazes out in an attitude of prayer. In an inverted triangle below the Franciscan saint is the emblem of the Royal Field Artillery, a crown and cannon.

The inscription in the lower left corner reads: ‘In loving memory of Lieut William Henry O’Keefe RFA, aged 21 years, killed in action in France May 19th 1917. Give him eternal rest O Lord.’

O’Keefe was still only 20, two months short of his 21st birthday, when he was killed, yet his mother must have approved this detail in the window. And this is not the only peculiar point to note in this widow.

The O’Keefe coat-of-arms in the window in Bride Street Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The window also includes a version of the coat of arms and motto of the O’Keefe family, with the motto above rather than below. The coat-of-arms seems to have been adopted from the heraldic arms on the monument to the London lawyer Arthur O’Keeffe in the west cloister of Westminster Abbey.

The heraldic display on O’Keefe’s monument is now worn, but the abbey website says the blazon was described in 1823 as: Quarterly of four: 1, azure, a lion rampant or, for O’Keeffe; 2, sable, an armed knight proper, on a grey horse, ground vert; 3, or, a peacock in its pride proper; 4; vert, three lizards in pale or, impaling or a chevron ermine, between three trefoils slipped proper. Supporters: two lions rampant. Motto: Forti et Fideli nihil difficile (‘To the brave and faithful nothing is difficult’).

However, Clarke changed the colours of the first quarter from azure (blue) and or (gold) to gules (red) and argent (silver), and the background colour in the second quarter from sable (black) to gules (red). He seems to have found it too daunting a challenge to depict a peacock in the third quarter or the details of the impaled arms in the fourth quarter. Indeed, the O’Keefe arms are normally given not as azure a lion rampant or, or as gules a lion rampant argent, but as: ‘Vert, a lion rampant or, in chief two dexter hands couped at the wrist erect and apaumee of the last.’

The Countess of Shrewsbury and her sister top the list of donors in the porch of Bride Street Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The O’Keefe arms in the window does not include the two severed rights hands, and Clarke’s change of colour makes the O’Keefe arms similar to those of the Talbot family, Earls of Shrewsbury: ‘Gules a lion rampant or, a bordure engrailed of the last.’

It is unlikely that Clarke was not familiar with the symbolism and meaning of colours in heraldry and how they are used in stained-glass windows –the flaming ship in this window is a reference to the arms of Wexford town. In a similar way, in adopting a coat-of-arms associated with Arthur O’Keeffe, the O’Keefe family of the Faythe would not have made the deliberate social mistake of using the arms of the Talbots, Earls of Shrewsbury.

A monument in the porch of Bride Street Church lists the various gifts given to the church when it was being completed and decorated, and is headed by the name of the Countess of Shrewsbury. Maria Theresa Talbot was a daughter of William Talbot of Castle Talbot, Co Wexford, and she married John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, in 1814.

This family connection was instrumental in bringing AWN Pugin, the architect of the Gothic revival, to Wexford, and his influence is clearly visible in the ‘Twin Churches’ in Bride Street and Rowe Street.

Perhaps this heraldic ‘imperfection’ is an example of those many deliberate mistakes by artists in an effort to show humility in the presence of God who alone is perfect. It is a tradition found from Japanese ceramics, to Persian rugs, Islamic architecture, and Navajo weaving, seen in the art of Leonardo da Vinci and the floors of the synagogues of Venice. This is a custom that seeks to illustrate that God alone is perfect but also to reinforce the idea that there is beauty in imperfections, and beauty itself is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.

As for Harry Clarke’s O’Keefe window in Wexford, it is also unique as one of only three known stained-glass windows in Roman Catholic churches in Ireland that are World War I memorial windows. This is difficult to explain, given that over 200,000 Irish soldiers fought in World War I, that 35,000 Irish soldiers died in that war, and that the majority were Roman Catholics.

Inside Bride Street Church … the East Window is by Hardman of Birmingham, who worked closely with Pugin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Finding one Saint Colman after another, and then a third Saint Colman

Saint Colman of Cloyne depicted in a window in Saint Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

Today (24 November) is the feast of Saint Colman of Cloyne, who gives his name to both Saint Colman’s Cathedral in Cloyne in the Church of Ireland, and Saint Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh in the Roman Catholic Church.

But when I was visiting Saint Colman’s Church and monastic site in Kilcolman, west Limerick, I was told that the Saint Colman honoured there is Saint Colman who is associated with Templeshambo, Co Wexford, and whose feastday is on 27 October.

Indeed, there is at least one more Saint Colman among Irish monastic saints, Saint Colman Mac Duagh, who is associated with Kilmacduagh, Co Clare, a diocese that is incorporated along with Kilfenora, into the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe in the Church of Ireland and, along with Kilefenora into the Diocese of Galway in the Roman Catholic Church.

Saint Colman of Cloyne (left) among the saints in a stained-glass window in Saint Mary’s Church, Buttevant, Co Cork … the window is the work Franz Mayer & Co in 1886 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Saint Colmán of Cloyne (530-606), also known as Colmán mac Léníne, was a monk, founder and patron of Cluain Uama, now Cloyne, Co Cork, and one of the earliest-known Irish poets to write in the vernacular.

Irish genealogies generally agree that this Saint Colmán was the son of Lénín, and descended from the Rothrige, a people who lived in the Déisi or present-day Co Waterford. Irish genealogies also try to associate him with the Éoganachta, the leading ruling dynasty in Munster.

He is said to have been educated as a bard or file, and became attached to the court of Cashel where he remained until he was about 48 years. He and Saint Brendan of Clonfert are said to have settled a dispute in 570 between rival claimants to the throne of Cashel. Aodh Caomh was acknowledged as king, becoming the first Christian king of Cashel, and was enthroned by Saint Brendan.

Saint Brendan then ordained Colmán, giving him his name which is a diminutive of Colm, derived from the Latin columba (dove). According to tradition, Colmán is named as one of the three ‘ex-laymen’ (athláich) of Ireland, along with Énna of Aran and Móchammac of Inis Celtra, suggesting that Colmán was ordained at a later age than was usual at the time.

After some time in Saint Jarlath’s monastery in Tuam, Co Galway, Colman returned to east Co Cork. He is described as a ‘religious and holy priest, who afterwards became a famous bishop.’

Saint Colmán is remembered as the founder of the monastery at Cloyne (Cluain Uama), Co Cork, on land given not given by the local king, but by the King of Munster. The Prince of the Déise, in Co Waterford, presented his child to Colman for baptism. Colman baptised him the child who became Saint Declan of Ardmore.

Saint Colman is also said to have founded a monastery at what became Killagha Abbey in Co Kerry, and many places in Co Cork and Co Limerick are associated with his name.

Many accounts describe him as the ‘royal poet of Munster,’ and his poems include a metrical panegyric on Saint Brendan. His surviving verses date from the period 565 and 604, and are among the earliest examples of Irish writing in the Latin alphabet.

He died on 24 November, ca 600, and was probably buried in Cloyne.

Saint Colman of Templeshambo depicted in a window in Saint Colman’s Church, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

However, the people of Kilcolman in West Limerick insist that bith the mediaeval church and modern church there take their name from Saint Colman of Templeshambo or Templeshanbo, near Bunclody, Co Wexford.

This saint was from Connacht, the son of Eochaidh Brec, and Fearamhla, but lived and laboured mainly in wat is now Co Wexford. He was a contemporary of Saint Máedóc or Saint Aidan of Ferns, who appointed him Abbot of Templeshambo, originally called ‘Shanbo-Colman’ or Saint Colman’s booth.

There are many legends about Saint Colman and of his holy well with its sacred ducks. He is said to have laboured zealously at the foot of Mount Leinster. He died ca 595 on 27 October, according to the Martyrology of Donegal.

Saint Colman’s Church of Ireland Parish Church in Templeshambo, Co Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The third saint, Saint Colman mac Duagh (ca 560-632), was born at Corker, near Kiltartan, Co Galway, the son of Duac, a local chieftain, and Queen Rhinagh. He initially lived as a recluse, living in prayer and prolonged fastings, first at Saint Enda’s monastery on Inismore on the Aran Islands, then in a cave at the Burren in Co Clare.

With the support of his kinsman, King Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin of Connacht, who lived at Dungaire Castle, Kinvara, he founded the monastery of Kilmacduagh, (‘the church of the son of Duac’) in 610, and became its abbot-bishop. His monastery became the centre of the tribal Diocese of Aidhne, practically coextensive with the later Diocese of Kilmacduagh.

Local legend says Saint Colman declared that no person nor animal in the Diocese of Kilmacduagh would ever die of lightning strike. His abbatial crozier was used through the centuries for the swearing of oaths. It was in the custody of the O’Heyne family of Kiltartan and later the O’Shaughnessy family, and is now the National Museum in Dublin.

Other legends tell of Saint Colman and his love for birds and animals, and how he kept a pet rooster to call him in the morning, a pet mouse to call him to prayer in the middle of the night, and a pet fly who served as a bookmark.

When they died, he wrote about his loss to his friend Saint Columba, who replied: ‘You were too rich when you had them. That is why you are sad now. Trouble like that only comes where there are riches. Be rich no more.’

He died on 29 October 632. Although the Martyrology of Donegal assigns his feast to 2 February, tradition in the Diocese of Kilmacduagh pointed to 29 October, and an annual pilgrimage to his hermitage was associated with 21 October.

Saint Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh … he is the patron saint of the Diocese of Cloyne, and his feast day is on 24 November (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The Precentor of Limerick who drowned in Dublin on his way home to Wexford

Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick … Robert Grave was Precentor of Limerick and Bishop of Ferns when he drowned in Dublin Bay on his way home to Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Among the many projects that have disappeared in the midst and mists of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, one was a proposed talk to the Friends of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, last month (8 September 2020) on the precentors of the cathedral.

It was planned as a light, even quirky, yet scholarly, look at some of my predecessors as precentor, recalling some of the more interesting, but also some of the more humorous, more curious and even more eccentric people who have gone before me, and, perhaps, even some of the more tragic precentors too.

The list of Precentors of Limerick goes back to 1204, but their biographical details are very light until the beginning of the 15th century, when we come across Dionisius or Denis O’Dea, who was allowed five years leave of absence as precentor to study at Oxford in 1415. He then became Bishop of Ossory in 1421, but he was allowed to remain Precentor of Limerick too. He had not yet been ordained a priest, and needed a papal dispensation for his ordination and consecration because he was the illegitimate son of a subdeacon.

Awly O Lonysigh, who succeeded O’Dea as Precentor in 1421, was also made Rector of the Monastery of Saint Catherine O’Connell, Limerick, which was abolished because of the ‘dissolute lives of the nuns.’ But he was deprived of office in 1445 when he was reported to the Pope as a ‘notorious fornicator.’

John or Richard Purcell, who was Precentor of Limerick in 1455, was also Archdeacon of Lismore, Papal Nuncio in Ireland and Collector of Papal Dues, and while he was Precentor of Limerick he was also Bishop of Ferns (1457-1479).

After the Reformation, John Long became Precentor of Limerick in the 1560s, and later became Archbishop of Armagh (1584-1589). His successor, Thomas Purcell, was dismissed in 1573 because of his support for the Desmond rebellion. Described as ‘a tall horseman,’ he seems to have spent some time in exile in Spain, and was killed by a Colonel Zouche in 1581.

One of the more tragic precentors at the end of the 16th century must have been Robert Grave.

Born in Kent ca 1560, he was said to have been educated at Cambridge University to have received the degree of MA. However, I can find no record of any college he attended in Cambridge, the date of his degree, when or where he was ordained, or when and why he came to Ireland.

He was in Ireland by 1590, when he was appointed Dean of Cork. A year later, he was appointed Precentor of Limerick in 1591, Precentor of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, in 1595, and then became Prebendary of Tullbracky in Limerick in 1600.

He was holding all four positions in cathedrals three different when he was nominated Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin on 30 April 1600 and was appointed bishop by letters patent on 17 July 1600.

At the time, the two dioceses were facing major financial crises. Grave’s predecessor in the Diocese of Ferns, Hugh Allen (1582-1599), had died at Fethard in 1599 and was buried at the parish church there.

But Hugh Allen, like Bishop Alexander Devereux before him, had made long irregular and long leases of many parts of the see lands. For example, he illegally leased the Manor of Fethard and other lands in south Co Wexford, to his son John Allen, and leased over 1,500 acres of other church lands at small rents to Sir Henry Wallop of Enniscorthy Castle.

In the neighbouring diocese, Richard Meredith had been Bishop of Leighlin (1589-1597) while he was also Dean of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin (1584-1597), and had once been jailed for his complicity in treason.

Meredith spent most of his time in Dublin. When he died in 1597, he was buried in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and the see of Leighlin remained vacant for three years until it was united with Ferns at the appointment of Robert Grave as Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin.

Saint Edan’s Cathedral, Ferns … the Diocese of Ferns was united with the Diocese of Leighlin at the consecration of Bishop Grave in 1600 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Diocese of Ferns and Leighlin included most of Co Wexford and Co Carlow and parts of Co Wicklow and Co Laois (then Queen’s County).

Robert Grave was consecrated Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, in August 1600. But he was allowed to retain all his other church posts when he became bishop, including the office of Precentor of Limerick.

At the time, the Bishops of Ferns were living in Wexford, rather than Ferns. In the early 15th century, Bishop Patrick Barrett transferred the bishop’s residence from Ferns Castle to New Ross and built Mountgarrett Castle as his residence. Later bishops lived at Fethard Castle in south Co Wexford, but they seem to have had their principal residence in Saint Mary’s Parish, Wexford, and were buried in the now ruined Saint Mary’s Church.

However, tragedy struck the new bishop soon after his consecration. As he and all his family made their way home by sea to Wexford, they were drowned in Dublin Bay on 1 October 1600. Bishop Grave had a watery grave, and was never buried in Saint Mary’s in Wexford.

Grave’s successor as Bishop of Ferns, Nicholas Stafford, was from an old Wexford family and had been Chancellor of the Diocese of Ferns and Leighlin. He was consecrated bishop early in 1601, and when he died in on 15 November 1604 he was buried in Saint Mary’s Church, Wexford.

Grave’s successor as Precentor of Limerick, John Burgoyne, was also educated at Cambridge. But the records of his education at Cambridge are verifiable, and show that he was educated at Jesus College and received the degrees BA (1581) and MA (1584). While he was Precentor of Limerick (1601-1614), Burgoyne was also Precentor of Waterford (1613).

Over the next few weeks, I may look at some other Precentors of Limerick. Perhaps, when this pandemic has passed and this lockdown is lifted, I may get to tell more stories about these predecessors in Saint Mary’s Cathedral on another day.

Mary Street, Wexford … a reminder in a street name of the former Saint Mary’s Parish (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Ballyragget Castle, a ‘sleeping giant’ with hidden potential

Ballyragget Castle, once the principal residence of the Mountgarret branch of the Butler dynasty (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford

Ballyragget Castle stands beside the village, close to the SuperValu supermarket, and just 100 metres from the banks of the River Nore. It is a ruined square tower house, with a defensive wall with corner towers, but it once provided excellent views of river traffic and the surrounding countryside and was strategically important for the Ormond Butlers along the northern lines of defence of Kilkenny Castle.

Ballyragget is about 18 km from Kilkenny, on the N77 road to Durrow, and two of us stopped to see the castle and parish church late last week on our way from Kilkenny to Askeaton.

Ballyragget is said to take its name from Richard le Ragget, a local Anglo-Norman leader who owned the land in the 13th century.

However, the castle is of a much later date. Popular stories in the area say it was built about 1485 by Lady Margaret FitzGerald, who that year married Pierce ‘Ruadh’ Butler (1467-1539), 8th Earl of Ormond.

A stone bench at the top of the castle is called ‘Lady Margaret’s Chair’ and is also known as the ‘Wishing Chair.’ The older people in Ballyragget said that if you sat in the chair your wish would be granted.

Enda Houlihan, in his BEd thesis, ‘Ballyragget Castle, Co Kilkenny, a history and comparative analysis,’ argues that this tower house was not an addition to an earlier castle but is an original construction from the late 15th century when it became important strategically because of the prevailing, fragile political situation between the Earls of Kildare and Piers Ruadh Butler, whose wife was a daughter of Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare.

Lady Margaret is said to have made Ballyragget Castle her favourite residence, and one account says ‘she often indulged in the turbulent and freebooting practices more suitable to an unprincipled Amazon than to a lady and often issued from the castle, at the head of her retainers, and plundered the cattle and other property of neighbouring families whom she was pleased to view as not belonging to the circle of her friends.’

The second son of Piers Ruadh and Margaret, Richard Butler (1550-1571), was the Keeper of the Castle of Ferns, Co Wexford, and became the 1st Viscount Mountgarret in 1550.

He inherited Ballyragget Castle, and for more than two centuries this castle was the principal residence of the Mountgarret branch of the Butler family.

A secret orchard seen through a breach in a wall in the grounds of Ballygarret Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Ballyragget Castle is basically 44 ft by 31 ft in size, according to Canon William Carrigan’s history of the Diocese of Ossory. The walls are about 7.5 ft thick and all the doors are of cut stone, probably limestone.

This five-storey castle consists of a large tower-house complete with crenellations and surrounded by a substantial bawn. It once had handsome cut stone windows, the four round towers that defend it are looped in order to command the surrounding lands, a look-out turret rises above the parapet in the north-east corner of the keep.

The fine arched entrance in the west wall is now blocked up but was protected by a machicolation. There is a machicolation in the middle of the south wall and the south-west corner tower was turned into a shrine to the Virgin Mary. The flanker at the south-east corner has a squinch containing a latrine chute. Local people say a dungeon stretches from the castle to the river.

According to Enda Houlihan, Ballyragget Castle ‘was a formidable and imposing structure, militarily and politically.’ From the 16th century on, Ballyragget Castle gained in military importance and in prestige, and it was the main defensive structure and fortified keep north of Kilkenny Castle.

An urban centre grew up around the walled fortifications. This became a prosperous town and gave the Butlers a military presence in an area previously unmarshalled. In this way, the castle and the people who lived in and around it were firmly tied to the shire of Kilkenny.

The castle became the seat of the Mountgarret branch of the Butlers of Ormonde, who used it as a defence and to raid the adjoining territory of the MacGiollapadraig or FitzPatrick family.

Richard Butler (1550-1571), 1st Viscount Mountgarret, was succeeded in 1571 by his eldest son, Edmund Butler (1562-1602), 2nd Viscount Mountgarret, who also inherited Ballyragget Castle He remodelled the state room, which was fitted with a massive cut-stone chimney piece, inscribed with his initials and the date: ‘EM 1591.’

But the castle also became the base for revolt in the late 16th century when Edmund Butler’s sons revolted against the crown and supported the Ulster rebels. Ballyragget was attacked and captured on three separate occasions, and Sir George Carew garrisoned the castle in 1600 against the Mountgarrets.

Edmund’s fifth daughter, the Hon Eleanor Butler, married Morgan (Murrough) Mac Bryan Kavanagh, of Borris, Co Carlow, and their daughter Grany (Graine) married John Comerford of Ballybur Castle, Co Kilkenny.

Edmund’s eldest son and successor, Richard Butler (1578-1651), 3rd Viscount Mountgarret, married Lady Margaret O’Neill, daughter of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone.

A blocked up window in Ballyragget Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Ballyragget Castle seems to have been abandoned, at least temporarily, by the Mountgarrett Butlers in the early 17th century. But the third viscount returned to Ballyragget Castle, and King James I granted him a charter in 1619, making Ballyragget a manor, with two annual fairs.

Edmund Mountgarret was the President of the Confederation of Kilkenny (1642-1648). After his death, Colonel Daniel Axtell held the castle during the Cromwellian era. Local lore says Axtell had one of the Butlers of the castle tortured and killed for not disclosing where the Mountgarret treasure was buried, and that he hung Catholic and Protestant royalists on the Fair Green in Ballyragget while laughing on from the castle.

Edmund Butler (1595-1679), 4th Lord Mountgarret, was restored to his lands after the Caroline Restoration in 1660. Bishop Carrigan noted that two sets of corbels in the same wall as the east entrance and other marks on the wall indicate a very large house or mansion was built against it but has since been demolished.

The Battle of Ballyragget took place in the shadow of the castle in 1775, involving the largest ever assembly of Whiteboys in Kilkenny, including 300 horsemen and 200 on foot.

However, the Mountgarret branch of the Butler family continued to live in the castle until 1788, when Edmund Butler (1745-1793), 11th Viscount Mountgarret, moved to Ballyragget Hall, a house close by. His son, Edmund Butler (1771-1846), 12th Viscount Mountgarret, later became Earl of Kilkenny.

The present owners of Ballyragget Castle have planted beautiful alder trees along the avenue leading up to the castle which is just about visible if one peeks through the corrugated iron gates.

The castle is a listed building in the 2014 County Development Plan, but it is not a national monument. The castle is blocked up, stands on private land beside a farmyard and is not open to the public, and entrance to the bawn is not permitted. However, the heavy metal gate was open when two of us arrived early on Friday afternoon, and we had a brief and rare opportunity to photograph the castle and walk around the bawn.

With imagination and the right grants, Ballyragget Castle could easily be put to good use become a tourist attraction. But the castle remains a sleeping giant, an untapped resource full of potential.

Ballyragget Castle could be put to good use, but remains a sleeping giant (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)