Kinneigh 150 –
The Narrator Richard Sweetnam
The Reader David Bourne
The Celtic Soul Colum Cronin
The Preacher – (the Hon. & Rev. Charles B. Bernard - 1856)
Kenneth Strickland
The Bishop – Dive Downes – 1700
Kenneth Strickland
The Questioner Georgina Deane
Narrator One hundred and fifty years ago this church was consecrated – a new building on a very old site, where once the sound of monks voices was heard. Other churches had stood near here on this site. In that service 150 years ago, on 27th August 1856 the preacher remembered Jacob from the Old Testament who raised a stone to God when he realised he was on holy ground.
Reader (reading the lesson) ‘Jacob, came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
Jacob woke from his sleep and said ’Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it!’ And he was afraid, and said ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!’ So Jacob took up the stone, set it up for a pillar and poured oil on it an said ‘This stone which I have set up, shall be God’s house..’
Narrator The preacher likens this place to that of Jacob’s holy place. As Jacob’s ladder reached to heaven so the does the Round Tower for nearly a thousand years; so do our prayers reach up and out to God and God’s world.
And the preacher 150 years ago said………….
The Preacher (as dramatically as possible) How awesome is this place! This place! Built, and adorned, and dedicated, for what? That here you may meet God! This place! One hallowed spot within your parish, sanctified to holy purposes, standing in the midst as a token of God’s presence. This place! The sanctuary in which every Sabbath (if not oftener) your hopes will be withdrawn from earth and fixed on heaven. I see you, at the summons of the Sabbath bell, from north and south, from east and west, winding your way among the hills, gathering around the porch, and then! The sounds of prayer, the hymns of praise, and then! The silence while you listen unto words by which you may be saved, and I exclaim ’Surely the Lord is in this place.’
Questioner But how did this church at Kinneigh begin? How did it start?
Celtic Soul (imaginatively looking back, telling the story) Once we were up the hill at Kinneigh west of here but the Vikings, the Danes, came and sacked us. Our family at Cahirvagliair, Copeen were also threatened. So in 916 we moved here to Sleenoge townland, to this spot, but we retained the name of Kinneigh. We then had more peaceful times and our family monastery flourished. We were a cathedral of a diocese, of seven or eight parishes, as was considered normal in the old Celtic Church. Here we also had a sacred well of water giving such powers of health! You know, we had so many people come here! It was a real place of pilgrimage and you know, we had to feed them all! Like Jesus and the five thousand we couldn’t let them starve. Here too, we had a sacred stone upon which we swore in settling business and matters of property and marriage and such like.
Yes, we were the cathedral for the diocese of Kinneigh - our Abbott was also our bishop.
In the year 1014 we built the tower. It has stood well!
But times moved on. The Synod of Kells (ha!! what a mighty meeting was that!) was telling us of the Church under the Bishop of Rome – the Pope they call him and we the Celtic Church had better watch out with our so called backward ways. So we were united to the Diocese of Cork and had to conform to new ideas. Then 30 years later at the Synod of Cashel, we the old Celtic Church was brought in under the Roman system. This was the year 1172 as I remember..
Questioner What changes were there?
Celtic Soul (energetically and a bit credulous) Oh our clergy couldn’t marry in future, - sad that; and the calendars changed a bit …and more Latin now; less Irish in our worship…… and amazing really, but the Pope was boss over all of us! We Irish had done much to educate in the lands of Europe and other parts of Britain. Our missionaries were the best. But now we had to look to Rome. We even had to change the way we monks cut our hair! Tonsures we had, from the front – now we had to shave off hair on top of our heads.
Rome seemed so far away perhaps a month by sailing ship. But life here went on much as it ever did at first. Then the monastery dwindled as the ways of Rome demanded celibacy - we shouldn’t marry - and the church that had once been a cathedral was now just a church in the countryside.
Narrator During the next four hundred years the church at Kinneigh continued peacefully in the countryside and by the year 1591 we learn of the parish priest called Cornelius Donati Vicar (or Rector) of Kinneigh.
Celtic Soul (enjoying telling the story) Cornelius - he was also Rector of Ballymoney. He was a good chap he was and like very many others who cared for his parishioners (and no doubt for his own security,) he went along with whoever was in charge. This was a time of reformation and more change. With the English King Henry stating he was the defender of the Faith in these lands and that King, like the Pope, was very far away – and did it really matter out here in West Cork whether the Mass was in Latin or English? We ordinary folk didn’t understand either language! For like good St Brigit herself! didn’t we all speak the Irish at that time!! One year Cornelius would acknowledge the Pope as Supreme but when the changes came he was happy enough to say other – but what he really thought – who knows??
Questioner So were there many more changes?
Celtic Soul (laughingly) Oh yes! life is always changing – that’s the nature of life. All those English came to live here under the rule of Queen Bess. Names like Shorten, Kingston, Deane, Appelbe, Woods Clarke, Good and Sweetnam and more besides! And all those French (Huguenots they call themselves!) tried to sound English – Duke, Helen, Levis, Damery and Dukelow. What a mix!
(pause)
Narrator Irish history is complex and there are always more sides to an argument than just two. Ireland experienced sad times and good times; unjust times and enlightened time – depending who you were. The English Elizabethan settlers came here to turn wild land into farming countryside. Land that had never been under a plough was changed forever, as was the political scene. Old ideas of the land belonging only to itself was swept away, tribal territories and ownership took on new and disputed arguments. The Roman Church was under persecution, but the Huguenots themselves under persecution by the Roman Church in France, so they fled in their thousands here. Rebellions; famines; good landlords; bad landlords; – all have left their mark in this beautiful island.
Celtic Soul (meditatively) Through all this, the tower and church at Kinneigh regardless of who was in power; stood as a sign from the past and a silent witness to God’s presence in a troubled, muddled world, pointing to a new future.
Narrator A hundred years later there were so many of the Church of Ireland, the old church at Ballymoney was too small to hold the congregations and Kinneigh and Ballymoney became separate parishes again.
In 1700 Bishop Dive Downes made an extensive visitation through out his Diocese
Bishop (as though writing diary) I went to Kinneigh, the parish church stands three miles distant from Ballimony The west end of the church is cover’d, but the wall-plates give way; ’Tis supposed this church was formerly a cathedral. The church-yard, being an acre, is well inclos’d with a stone wall. About 30 acres of glebe lie round the church of Kinneigh. The country about Kinneigh is indifferent, coarse. Mr Woods and Mr Ware and Mr Woodly live in this parish. Kinneigh church ought to be kept in repair, and divine service, at least, continued once a fortnight. Kinneigh parish is worth to the Incumbent about fifty pounds per annum. The lands belong chiefly to the Lord of Corke’s brother. The country about Kinneigh is indifferent coarse. But a few Protestants live to the north of Kinneigh. A stone is in the S.W. corner of the Church of Kinneigh, counted very sacred, which the Irish solemnly swear upon. This church is accounted amongst the Irish as very sacred. The Vicar’s house, built of stone and thatch’t, is standing, and there are the ruins of a barn and stable. There is a tradition amongst the Irish that formerly in the church-yard there was a well that had great medicinal virtues, and that the concourse of people being very chargeable to the inhabitants, they stop’t it up. The Vicar of Kinneigh has half the tithes of Kinneigh. The Chantor of Corke has one rectory, and the Vicars Choral another. These two rectories are nearly equal in value..”
Narrator The old church that had also been a cathedral so long ago, was now no more than a ruin. In 1794 a new church was built next the old foundations. The Commissioners of the First Fruits who had a widespread church-rebuilding program at the time financed it. The building was consecrated as Christ Church. It had a low tower with a spire on top.
But something was wrong, this church was to stand for only 62 years or so.
By the year 1847 (we have the wealthy rector – the Reverend Godfrey Clarke enter the story of Kinneigh. Perhaps he just didn’t like the modest little church. Maybe there was an architectural fault – church buildings of the 1700’s weren’t always what they should or could have been.
The old glebe house was also in disrepair. It seems that out of his own pocket (or that of his inheritance) he personally funded not only a new rectory for himself but a new church on this site under the name of St Bartholomew – the unknown saint.
Celtic Soul (a bit sad) They had forgotten our old saints by then …..our old Mocholmóg, Forbasch and Maeluidhir; and the old days of healing….
(brighter and hopeful) But the spirit of the place remained through all this – the healing well may still be hidden as is the holy swear stone. But I was glad – the old place needed something worthy, something that would lead us to the future. That Kinneigh wouldn’t just crumble away to nothing. They put a bell in the top of the tower – now that was a bit silly as the tower was never for bells – but there you go!
Narrator The preacher in his sermon 150 years ago said -
Preacher (in full flow) There is something peculiarly striking in the situation where we dedicate this house to God. It is not in the wild sternness round, those rocky waves of nature out of which has been gathered the smiles and brightness of happy cultivation. It is the association with that Tower from which we have been summoned to the house of prayer…….
Celtic Soul (knowingly)Yes this preacher knew and felt the sanctity and ancient history of this place well enough inspite of everything.
Preacher (continuing in full flow) …………But there it stands – time has written down upon it the testimony of ages, and the grey lichen on its stones leads back into the past.
I see you, at the summons of the Sabbath bell, from north and south, from east and west, winding your way among the hills, gathering around the porch, and then! The sounds of prayer, the hymns of praise, and then! The silence while you listen unto words by which you may be saved, and I exclaim ’Surely the Lord is in this place.’
(slight pause)
Reader And he dreamed there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
Jacob woke from his sleep and said ’Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it!’
‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!’
Celtic Soul This place will always be special in the hearts that love her – here the past connects to the future, a special presence of the Spirit in the now.
Narrator And so we leave our reader and preacher of 150 years ago and the voice of the spirit of this place. This church has been well cared for and maintained. Its mock Norman architecture with its rounded arches is strong and solid. The Round Tower has had to have repairs and is in the care of the Government. Many visitors come here on a trial of discovering ancient sites. The bell is removed (lodging for the time being at Charles Fort near Kinsale for safe keeping) This building has witnessed so many baptisms, weddings and funerals as well as the yearly round of religious observance.
Today in more enlightened times we look to our friends in the other denominations and cultures with greater understanding and fellowship.
This church is now one of four churches within the Union of Kinneigh.
We pray that this holy place will always be a place of God’s presence.
* words of the preacher are from original sermon by Charles B. Bernard on 27th August 1856