Notes on Kinneigh Church and its history
Cionn Eich - Kinneigh (from Cork, History and Society)
The parish is said to derive its name from Airchinneach, a chieftain of the Cineal Laoghaire. The clan’s main residence (that we know about, is near what is now Copeen at the large ring fort of Cahirvagliair. In a genealogical poem of 1320 he (Airchinneach) is described as ‘Archinnigh Sin Chill Chain’ or Airchinnigh of the gentle or pleasant church. The monastery of Kinneigh was founded in A.D. 617/9 by St Colman or Mocolmog. Remains exist (in the town land of Kinneigh which is just west of the present church of Kinneigh situated in the townland of Sleenoge. - jfh) Kinneigh monastery was destroyed by the Danes about A.D. 916 and later a new monastery and a round tower were erected at Sleenoge.
The monastery later became the Cathedral of a diocese before the English invasion. The See of Kinneigh was united to Cork at the Synod of Kells in 1152. Tradition says the diocese contained seven or possibly eight parishes. Bishop Dive Downes (a real historian who would not write things down lightly) wrote in 1700 “ ‘tis supposed the church was formerly a cathedral.” The round tower seventy–two feet high has a hexagonal base to a height of eighteen feet and is unique.
750 In the “Annals of the Four Masters”, Forbasach, son of Maeluidhir Abbot of the Church at Kinneigh is recorded as having died in 750 a.d.
916 Monastery destroyed by invasion of Danes
Monastery is rebuilt at Sleenoge townland (present site) and became a cathedral of seven to eight parishes.
1152 The See of Kinneigh was united to Cork at the Synod of Kells.
1172 The Synod of Cashel ended the Celtic Christian system and brought the Celtic Church under Rome.
Kinneigh – The following history notes are from Brady and Coles with additional notes from various sources including my own – [jfh] by Judith F. Hubbard-Jones Rector of Kinneigh Union; instituted September 2002
From Brady
1591 Cornelius Donati; appears as Vicar of Kinneigh or “Rectoria de Kineighe. Precent. et vicarii Chorales sunt rectores. Vic. ibm Cornelius donate. Exhibiti sunt tituli, Dominus deliberavit super iisdem.” [M.S. T.C.D., E.3 14] (See note 2)
1615 Edward Clerke;A.M.appears as Vicar of Kinneigh. Clerk was also
Dean of Cloyne. He is vicar up until 1639. [Some notes from Cork Historical & Archaeological Society on Bishop Dive Downes Visitation = “From the Regal Visitation we learn that the church was in repair and furnished with books (probably a Bible in English and an early version of the BCP) in 1615; also in good condition in 1634. In 1682 repairs were ordered by a Grand jury presentment.]
1640 Thomas Hensey; Vicar of Kilmicheal and Kinneigh.
1641 By 1641 the Protestant population of Kinneigh was substantial as 42 family heads filed for reparations as a result of damages to them and their property during the 1641 rebellion (see 1642 Depositions). Very few parishes in the diocese had a higher number of depositions. This may indicate also that the settler community in Kinneigh was particularly badly affected by the rebellion, being very much on the frontier between the areas of British and Irish influence. After the 1641 rebellion, the parish may have been slow to recover its settler population, many of whom would have fled to Bandon or home to England when the garrisons at Castletown and Newcestown were overrun early in the rebellion. [Donald Wood.]
16_ _ Nicholas Winterbourne; Vicar of Kinneigh (He was afterwards a member of the Chapter (Treasurer) of Ross cathedral)
(1662 Year of the then new Book of Common Prayer in England)
1664 January 7th Robert Golborne; Vicar of Kinneigh – also of Fanlobbish and Ballymoney. (He appears in records 1666 to 1672)
1666 Book of Common Prayer in Ireland
1674 May 2nd Isaac Mansfield; Vicar of Kinneigh, Fanlobbus and Ballymoney; also Inskenny. (He appears in records 1674 to 1688)
1682 ‘The Church of Kineigh to be repaired.’ [Co Cork Grand Jury Presentments.]
1689 The Vicarage is empty. [The parish was combined with Fanlobbus and Ballymoney from 1661-1699 under the supervision of the Rector of Ballymoney. Eventually Ballymoney Church became too small for the increasing Protestant population and the parishes separated after a dispute over seating at Ballymoney church in the late 1690's. Perhaps late arrivals from the distant parts of Kinneigh had to stand during Sunday services and objected to this. We are told that the church at Ballymoney had limited seating at the time. Donald Wood.]
169/1 John Fortune; Vicar of Kinneigh. Went onto be vicar of Glanbarrahan.
1692 April 11. Andrew Symes, A.B. Vicar of Kinneigh. In 1695 he resigns but comes back again in 1718
1695 Dec. 23rd. John Patrickson A.M. Vicar of Kinneigh (appears in records 1695 to 1717. He was also Precentor of Cloyne.)
1699 “A sermon once a fortnight at Kinneigh, by Mr Patrickson. The church not in good repair.” [VB 1699.DD]
1699 “About five miles to the west of Bandon, on the North side of the river, adjoining to the parish of Murragh, begins the parish of Kineigh. Near the river is Inniskeane, a little market town, in the parish of Kinneigh. The parish church of Kineigh stands three miles from Inniskean, to the north-west, Inniskean is in the Earl of Corke’s Estate.
There are 30 plowlands in this parish. Half the tythes of 14 plowlands belong to the Chantor, half the other 16 to the Vicars Choral. Kinneigh Church is out of repair. Divine service once a fortnight at Inniskene, by Mr Patrickson.”
1700 (Bishop Dive Downes wrote) Mon. May 27th I went to Kinneigh, the parish church stands three miles distant from Ballimony to the N.N.W. The west end of the church is cover’d, (i.e. roofed - jfh) but the wall-plates give way; the partition betwixt that part of the church which is cover’d and the east end, which is uncovered, is not plaister’d. A high round tower stands in the SW corner of the church-yard. A door was in the north side of the church, and it is thought, opened into a vestry. ’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. Towards the north, at about a mile distance from the church of Kineigh, begins the parish of Inchigeulah. There is no church northward of Kineigh Church nearer than Macrop (?Macroom) which is seven miles distant. 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. Half a plowland of Kinneigh, lying near the church to the west, belongs to the Bishop of Corke, and contains about 60 English acres, indifferent coarse land. 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..” [from Downes’ Tour] * [Donald Wood writes - Downes recorded the existence of a holy well in the church grounds, the water of which was reputed to have ‘healing powers’. However, its reputation resulted in an influx of sick and maimed people to the area, seeking a cure. The locals, who became responsible for feeding them, had at some stage become fed up with doing so and closed the well up. Local tradition appears to record the existence of two wells with medicinal powers. St. Patrick’s well is located some distance to the north of the church grounds. A second well, called Faha-ving-diragh-a-choil, is mentioned in some 19th century documents and may be the well that Bishop Downes refers to. The 19th century writer says ‘it was closed up by inhospitable neighbours’.]
1718 Nov. 6th Andrew Symes reappears as Vicar of Kinneigh. He was also Precentor of Ross.
1720 Samuel Broome appears as Vicar of Kinneigh. He took a second collation on 15th Feb.; on becoming Chancellor of Cork.
(1739/41 The ‘Forgotten Famine)
1768 Sept 19th John Kenney A.M. Vicar of Kinneigh, on the death of Samuel Broome. In 1796 he became V of Kilbrogan.
1769 March 4th Michael Tisdall A.M. Vicar of Kinneigh In 1781 he became Archdeacon of Ross.
1781 June 8th Stephen Baggs A.M. Vicar of Kinneigh. In 1782 he became vicar of Myros, Ross Diocese.
1782 April 1st. Meade Swift A.M. Vicar of Kinneigh He afterwards took the name of Dennis, and in 1796 became a Vicar Choral of Cork.
1794 September 3rd. Armiger Scaly, Curate, (there would have been curates to do the work for the absentee Vicars - jfh) and Edward Wood and Alexander Nicholls, Churchwardens, petition the Bishop to consecrate the new church, built near the foundation of the old church by the Commissioners of First Fruits; and it is accordingly consecrated the same day under the name of Christ Church. (The foundations of this former church still can be seen north of the present church - jfh)
[Donald Wood writes - A new church, dedicated as Christ Church, was built in the early 1790s near the base of the old ruined church. The building was financed by a grant from the Commission of First Fruits and cost the sum of 461 pounds ten shillings and nine pence farthing. Edward Wood is recorded as one of the churchwardens who officially invited the Bishop of Cork to perform the opening ceremony in September 1794. The 1837 Ordnance Survey map shows this church, located near the middle of the old graveyard. A lithograph print of the Round Tower and church appear in the 1815 edition of Smith’s History of Cork. The church is shown with a low tower and conical spire, very much how it is described in Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of 1837. The old glebe house is shown beside the round tower. By the end of the 20th century this building had become ruined but most of the structure still stood. Griffith’s surveyors recorded the dimensions of the church in 1847. The tower and spire were recorded as 40 feet 9inches high on a base of 14 feet by 13. The church was 48 feet long, 36 feet wide and 15feet 6 inches high.
Lithograph of Kinneigh Round tower and Christ Church c. 1815, printed in Tony Brehony’s book
‘West Cork, a kind of history like’ from Smith’s History
(The Commission for First Fruits operated in the late 1700s and early 1800s. It was established to manage the fund that resulted from all newly ordained clergymen handing over their first year’s income to the Church. The fund was used to finance a widespread church-rebuilding program at the time. By the 1830s, the commission had been disbanded).
1796 January 7th Thomas Kenney A.B. Vicar of Kinneigh. In 1801 he became priest at Donoghmore, Cloyne Diocese.
1799 September 1st . Kenney memorials for permission to build a glebe-house; and the bishop approves on 15th Nov. 1800 The house was built, but no charge for it was ever made on his successors. (Usually where a rector spent his own money on building or improving the house, he could charge some or all of this to his successor. - jfh)
1801 Nov. 4th. John Kenney Ll.D Vicar of Kinneigh. He was also priest at Kilbrogan. (Presumably son of Thomas. (1801 was also the year of the Act of Union – joining Irish and English Parliaments and the forming of the United Church of England and Ireland.)
1815 March 10th Abraham Hamilton A.M. Vicar of Kinneigh, vacant by the death of J Kenney. £500 per annum in value.
(1816/7 and 1822 – Famine)
1830 Protestant population is 392.
1837 (notes form Parliamentary Returns) = “Kinneigh : a vicarage with cure, 10 miles long by 6 broad, containing 13,539 acres. Gross population, 5,708. Two curates employed, at stipends to the senior of £69 4s 71/2d. and to the junior of £75 per annum. Composition for vicarial tithes, £450; 451/2 acres of glebe, valued at 20s per acre, £45 10s.; subject to visitation fees, 11s.; diocesan schoolmaster, £1 11s. Kinneigh glebe-house, built in 1798, under the old acts, but at what cost unknown, as it was defrayed out of the private funds of the builder, without subjecting his successor to any charge on the house, which is reported to be unfit for residence, having been originally intended for offices. Incumbent is non-resident; he resides occasionally on his other benefice, but more generally at Florence Court, being domestic chaplain to the Earl of Enniskillen. One church, capable of accommodating 120 persons, built in 1790, at an expense of £461 10s 91/4d., granted as gift by the late Board of First fruits. No charge on the parish in 1832 on account of the church. Divine service is celebrated once on all Sundays and on the principle festivals. The sacrament is administered monthly and on the three great festivals. The rectorial, consisting of one moiety of the tithes, compounded for €450, are appropriate, and divisible in equal moieties between the Chantor and Vicars Choral of the Cathedral Church of St Finbarr’s, Cork.” (according to some handwritten notes in my possession – the round tower was hit by lightening in 1837, causing a fissure on the south side – jfh)
1861 Abraham Hamilton, from 1801 to 1815, was Rector of Clonmany, Derry; from 1815 to 9th Feb. 1847, Rector of Kinneigh; and from 1822 to 1856, Rector of the Union of Manorhamilton, in Kilmore diocese. He died on 16th December, 1861, at 8, Rutland Square, Dublin, and desired to be buried in the vault of his family at Drumholm, county Donegal.
[Donald Wood - During the first half of the 19th century, the Rector of Kinneigh was an absentee from his parish. Rev. Abraham Hamilton, who held the post between 1815 and 1847, was also ‘domestic chaplain’ to the Earl of Enniskillen, at whose castle he normally resided. Business of the parish was conducted by a succession of curates, notably Rev. Armiger Sealy, Rev. Thomas Waggett, Rev. Hall and Rev. Francis Tempest Brady. Rev. Brady seems to have been his own best customer, baptizing no less than 4 of his own children during his time there.
There is also evidence that some curates did not devote all their time to their parish duties. Armiger Sealy, who was curate of Kinneigh in the 1790s, is also recorded as a partner in a ‘boiling mill’ business in 1800 (Registry of Deeds). The parish register, which starts in 1795, has an eleven-year gap between 1802 and 1813. We do not know whether the church was closed during this period or just that no records were kept.]
(1831 and 1845 – 51; years of famine and mass emigration)
1847 Feb. 18th. Godfrey Clarke Charles William Smith, A.B.; Vicar of Kinneigh. Certified net value £305 18s.
1847 May 24th The old glebe house and offices are condemned and on 31st July, 1849, the bishop certifies that Smith has expended
£1,1000 in erecting a new glebe-house (the present “old Rectory” now named Kinneigh House), etc.(offices- stables etc.) and that the certified yearly value, exclusive of poor rates, is £400 per annum.
1856 August 27th A new church, on a new site, is consecrated under the name of St Bartholomew. (The Unknown Saint.)
1856 Installation of a bell in the tower hung from two girders set on blocks of granite on top of the wall and reached by ladders from floor to floor inside. The bell is embossed “J. Murphy. Founder Dublin 1856” having a device of a harp, with a crown above it, and (?) shamrocks below. )
[D. Wood - parish populations declined significantly between 1830 and 1860. In 1830, the Protestant population of Kinneigh was estimated at 392 and there were signs that the 1794 building already needed money spent on its upkeep. Whatever the reason for replacing it, 62 years seems a particularly short life for a church building. ]
1860 G. Smith, Vicar; James Clarke, Curate. The church is in order. The glebe-house is in good order, and the glebe is in Incumbent’s use. Divine service twice on all Sundays during summer in the church, and once in winter, and on usual holidays. Evening service during the winter months is held in the school house. Sacrament monthly; average of communicants 30; and on festivals, average 68. 72 children are on the rolls of two Church Education schools. The Protestant population is 341. The rent charge is £337 10s. The land is worth £45 10s. Total value, £383 per annum, with residence.
G.C.C.W.Smith (youngest son of Rev. Charles Smith Vicar of Kilmocamoge) was ordained Priest at Cloyne on 10th June 1827.
On 19th May 1830 he was licensed to the curacy of Kilmeen. He is married and has issue.
[* Donald Wood writes - When Rev. Godfrey Smith became rector in 1847, he took up residence in the new glebe house to the east of the church (official name St. Olav’s glebe). There is some doubt about when this house was built. Maziere Brady suggests it was first constructed in 1798 and according to Lewis it was built before 1837 but was not fit for residence. Bennett says it was erected at the time of Smith’s arrival as rector. I am more inclined to believe Brady and Lewis. Bennett’s checking of his facts was sometimes suspect. Whichever is right, it remained as the rector’s residence for the next 100 years, until about 1953/4 when a new rectory was built just to the east of Ballineen village to serve the combined parishes of Kinneigh and Ballymoney.]
From Cole
Kinneigh – It is spelt by the Four Masters –“Ceann-Ech” – the Horses Head. [This is thought to be poetic licence however, see first paragraph - jfh.]
1864 The Ven. Alexander Stuart, A.M. archdeacon of Ross, Vicar of Kinneigh. Married firstly Caroline; secondly Anne Matilda – eight children. Resigned in 1872 and died in Kingstown 11th Nov. 1883 aged 82 years.
(1871 The Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland)
1873 John Haines, rector of Kinneigh. Population is about 250.
The parish church is dedicated to St Bartholomew, and (as mentioned by Bishop Dive Downesin 1700) “a high round tower stands in the south-west corner of the churchyard.” This tower is peculiar, as being the only one in Ireland which has its base hexagonal, instead of round.
Bishop Dive Downes says that Kinneigh Church was “accounted among the Irish very sacred”; and that there was a stone in the south-west corner of it, upon which the Irish solemnly swore; and that “’tis supposed this church was formerly a cathedral.”
The present church is a plain, substantial structure, much improved of late. It is a new building, on a new site, consecrated by the name of St. Bartholomew in 1856. The former church was called Christ Church, and stood in the centre of the graveyard. It was taken down, and the stones used for building the walls fencing the new church yard. The Revd. Godfrey Smith tried to save the tower of the old church, but unfortunately the contractor had been too quick, or the Revd. G.S. too slow.
A school house at the village of Enniskeane is licensed for Divine Worship and Sacraments. Service is held in the parish church on Sundays and festivals at 12 noon, and also, in summer, at 5pm. At Enniskeane, at 6.45 in summer and 5pm in winter. Holy Communion, first Sunday and on chief festivals.
The parish is under Diocesan scheme. There is a capital sum, which yields £2 16s 0d towards the assessment, which is £134: stipend of rector, £250. The parish receives a grant of £30 a year from Diocesan Council.
There are two schools, under Church Education Society.
There is a comfortable and substantial Glebe House, picturesquely situated close to the church, in 221/2 acres of glebe land, the rent being £28 7s 8d per annum.
John Haines B. 22nd Jan. 1842 – Blossomfort, Ballyclough, Co Cork, son of John Shetheck Haines, J.P. of Cork. Deaconed 1866, for curacy of Kinneigh and priest 1867, both at Cork. He held the curacy of Kinneigh until appointed Rector of the parish. He died 3rd September 1913
1913 Hedley Webster
1920 Frederick Thomas Deacon
1923 George Thomas Levis
Ballymoney Parish united with Kinneigh Parish
1942 Cyril Du Cros (Last incumbent to live at the (Georgian) Kinneigh Rectory)
New rectory for Kinneigh and Ballymoney built 1953/4 at Derrigra near Ballineen village. The site was given by Mr W. Daunt (next door.)
1954 Frank Richard Skuse Instituted 23rd April
(first occupant of the new Rectory)
1969 Thomas George Hudson Instituted 25th February
1972 John Luttrell Haworth Instituted 12th May
New Union of Kinneigh and Desertserges formed 11th July 1976 under the Rector of Desertserges, Kilowen and Murragh -
1973 David John Patrick Llewellyn Instituted 3rd August
1984-1993 Ronald Peel Beresford Mathews
1993-1998 David Cole
1999-2002 Stuart Sandeman Burns
2002 -
Judith Frances Hubbard – Jones
2004
Book of Common Prayer 2004 published
Other notes
1) Celtic Christianity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Christianity
2) Cornelius Donati may have been the last pre-reformation incumbent. He was also rector of Ballymoney. He like many at that time, in the interests of job security, would have adopted the new discipline or gone back to what was before depending on who was on the English throne at the time and who was in his congregation. Crammer’s 1549 Communion Service was little more than an edited translation of the Latin Mass. It wasn’t until 1662 that the full Book of Common Prayer came fully into being. Services in the mid 1500’s were to be in English but to most Irish people English was as incomprehensible as Latin at that time. A special Irish Act allowed services to be continued in Latin so long as it was the Book of Common Prayer – so maybe there wasn’t much change in places like Kinneigh to begin with. The idea of reformation was as much to do with the division of politics, wealth and what was English or not, as the deciding factor on church division. The Huguenots and other Protestant settlers brought in the particular strength and brand of reformation to Ireland, partly by their definition. (Not indigenous Irish and not Roman Catholic.)
St. Bartholomew’s is situated just outside the southern wall of the old graveyard. The new graveyard at Kinneigh, to the south and east of the new church, was opened early in the early 20th century and several families in the parish purchased plots there. Before that, as far as we can tell, no so-called Protestants were buried at Kinneigh.
Why is this?
Through all historical developments the local and then Roman Catholic population continued to be buried in their ancestral plots in the old Kinneigh graveyard. Following the upheavals of the 1641 rebellion, the settlers probably preferred the safe confines of the garrison at Enniskeane for their Sunday worship until well into the 18th century and also avoided using the somewhat remote church for burials. Those Anglican and dissenter families living to the north and east of the parish tended to use Murragh as their family burial ground. Those to the south used Ballymoney.
4) The organ
According to some notes I have – the organ is a very fine “Gray and Davidson” pipe and pedal organ, with an electric blower. It is thought to be the only one of its kind in Munster.
5) The church seats 250 persons