SOME HISTORICAL NOTICES OF CORK IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. WITH NOTES BY COLONEL T. A. LUNHAM, C.B., M.A., M.R.I.A. THE [Submitted MARCH 31, 1903.] HE following notices are a copy of a мs. Annals of Cork, written by some member of the Morris family, of Castle Salem, which came into the hands of Mr. Abraham Abel, together with many other papers of theirs in 1838. This Ms. which I have copied, and which is now for the first time printed, is preserved in the Royal Irish Academy : "1644. James Lumsden elected mayor, but not sworn. The Irish inhabitants expelled out of Cork.' July 26, 1644. No mayor elected for ten years. : 1683. John Wright, mayor. The steeple belonging to Peter's Church built.2 1685. Chris. Crofts, mayor. Earl of Clarendon, Lord Lieutenant, came to Cork, and was highly entertained by the said mayor.3 1688. Pat. Roche, mayor. King James1 arrived at Kinsale on the 1 This or a like expulsion is said to have taken place in 1656-according to some, in 1666. Richard Coppinger was mayor in 1644. 2 Smith says that "the steeple is detached a considerable way to the west of the church, and served as a tower to defend the city wall." Writing in 1850, Windele adds "The belfry of the old church stood detached at the west side of the graveyard, close to the city wall. It was taken down in 1683." (Windele's Hist. Notices of Cork, p. 59.) 3 Henry, Earl of Clarendon, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was presented with his freedom of the city of Cork, in a gold box, by the Corporation. (Smith, History, vol. ii., p. 195.) 66 James landed at Kinsale, March 12th, 1689, and proceeded to Cork. On the Sunday following his arrival in the city, he attended mass at a new chapel, recently erected near the Franciscan Friary, or North Abbey. Crofton Croker says, in his note on the Macaria Excidium, James landed at Kinsale on the 12th March, and on the following day proceeded to Cork. He remained until the 20th." ("Narratives illustrative of the contests in Ireland in 1641 and 1690." Edited for the Camden Society by Thomas Crofton Croker, p. 117-note.) The King was supported through the street by two Franciscan Friars, and attended by many others in their habits." (Smith, ut sup.) Bishop Downes says:-"St. Francis Abbey, in the north suburbs of Cork, belonged to the Franciscans. Half a ploughland near the Abbey, and several other parcels of land in the country, belong to this Abbey, May, 1700. The site of it contains a few gardens on the side of the hill near the Abbey." "In King James' time, a new chapel was built by the Friars on part of the Abbey, but not where the former chapel stood-some Friars lived there. In the time of the siege the rest of the suburbs was burnt. A good strong steeple remains standing." (Bp. Downes' MS. Journal.) The suburbs were burned by Mr. McEllicott, Governor of the City, despite his promise to spare them, on receipt of a large sum of money. The steeple has disappeared. 12th of March, 1689, and came to Cork, and was lodged at St. Dominick's without South Gate, and went through the town three several times to mass without North Gate. Cork taken by the English, 29th of Sept., 1690. Dom. Sarsfield turned out, and Wm. Ballard, the former mayor, restored. 1714. John Allen, mayor. Great fireworks made in Cork on account of King George's arrival to the Crown of Great Britain. 1717. Wm. Lambley, mayor. Oct., 1717. going home in his chair in Dublin. Henry Luttrell was shot Feb. 8th, 1717. Christ Church began to be pulled down.' 1719. April 5, 1718. The foundation laid of Christ Church. Abraham French, mayor. 1719. Christ Church finished, but not steeple. 1719. The Alms' House adjoining the Greencoat Hospital built. 1719. John Morley, mayor. 2 1720. John Terry, mayor. James Cotter was hanged the 7th of May on a single post at the Gallows Green, by a staple and ring (the gallows being broken down the night before), for committing a rape on Elizabeth Squib, a Quaker, in a wood near Fermoy. Said Cotter, the day before he suffered, having procured a blunderbuss and case of pistols to be conveyed to him in the gaol, got his bolts off, and endeavoured to make his escape, but was stopped in the street by the sentinel, and Taylor and his assistants at the stairfoot. 1723. Dan. Pierce, mayor. A great drought of dry weather, so that no water ran at the south end of the town of Cork, insomuch that at last the inhabitants were forced to plough up the ground with horses where the river used to run at Gillabbey, to let the water down, but all would not do till the rain came, Aug., 1723. 1724. Ed. Brocklesby, mayor. All the old trees in St. Fin Barry's churchyard, with the great tree in which the bell formerly hung, culd (sic) (cut ?) down, and young trees planted. 1724. A long easterly wind. which continued 7 weeks constantly from 22nd Feb., 1724, to year (sic) 13 April, 1725, the like not having been known in these parts of the world by any man living in this age. There 1 Christ Church. Said to have been founded by the Knights Templars. was a Preceptory in Cork, for we find William le Chaplain, Master, circ. 1292. The building suffered severely during the siege (Sept. 28, 1690), from the fire of the besiegers (one shell fell through the roof), but quite as much from the defenders, who pulled up the pavement and used the materials to repair the neighbouring breach in the city wall. From these injuries," says Windele, "it never recovered, and in 1717 it was taken down." The new church was erected by Coltsman. (Records, vol. i., p. 109.) The register, from July, 1643, to February, 1668, was printed by Dr. Caulfield in 1877. If we except some fragments of old walls in the crypt, no part of the ancient structure now remains. 2 The apparent discrepancy between the dates assigned to the elections of mayors in the local Histories and the text may be accounted for by the different methods respectively adopted in calculating the commencement of the year. This may probably also explain the seeming anomaly in the record of occurrences under 1724, 1726. Ambrose Cramer, mayor. May 28th and 29th. Very great thunder and lightning each night from 8 to 11 o'clock. May 30 and 31st. Ambrose Cramer, then mayor, with the freemen and trades of the city, rode the fringes, or liberties thereof, in great order, with their cockades in their hats; the South liberties on Whitsun Monday, and the North on Tuesday. Sunday, June 19. Great thunder and lightning about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. It broke in the east end of St. Nicholas' Church without South Gate, burnt two large holes in the velvet cloth that covered the communion table, and shivered two of the panels in pieces. 1727. Robt. Atkins, mayor. May 29th. 89 thatched houses burnt, with the capell (chapel ?) in the street leading to Douglas. 1732. Jas. Huleat, mayor. The Quaker meeting-house with the bridge by it, joining Hammond's Marsh, built 1732. On Whit Monday and Whit Tuesday in the year 1732, the cloathiers walked through the town in companies, their wigs of all shapes, made of combed wool, their hatts edged with the same; one representing Bp. Blaze. June 29th, 1732. The Butchers and Coopers walked through the town; the Grenadiers with caps and adzes; the rest with wooden falchions; representing of Alexander the Great, with Diogenes in a Tub. June 27th, 1732. St. Paul's Church on the marsh consecrated, but built two years before.1 1733. Samuel Croker, mayor. William Newingham and Adam Newman, Sheriffs. On Thursday, the 13th Dec., the Dragon was blown off from the top of the Exchange by a high wind.' 1734. Thomas Pembroke, mayor. An extraordinary clap of thunder and lighting which damaged the houses near Peter's Church in Corke, throwing down a chimney, ripping up a floor over a cellar, broke several windows-frames and all, and shattered the roofs of several houses in different places; it happened the 21st of Sept., 1734, about 3 p.m. 1739. Adam Newman, mayor. A great frost which began on Christmas Eve, so that all the town waked (walked ?) upon the river, and meat dressed, and liquors sold on the river; also abundance of snow fell; the frost held for two months, 1739. 1742. Richard Bradshaw, mayor. St. Anne's Church, out of South Gate, restored and consecrated on Monday, 18th day of Oct., 1742. 1 In Tuckey's Cork Remembrances, the date assigned to this church is 1723. Smith says that divine service was celebrated for the first time in St. Paul's in 1726 by Rev. E. Sampson, and Windele states that the church was built in 1723, probably following Tuckey. A sum of £100 towards finishing the edifice was granted by the Corporation, to be paid May 1, 1728. Council Book, edit. by Caulfield, p. 466. 2 Dr. Caulfield writes that when the Exchange was taken down, the dragon referred to was sent to the Cork Institution, where it remained in the hall for some years, but was stolen in 1858, and was recovered with the loss of its tail. A woman stole it, but it was again recovered minus, this time, its head. The mutilated trunk was sold as lumber in 1865. It was made of copper, and thickly gilt, which seems to have excited the cupidity of the several thieves (note by Mr. Copinger in new edition of Smith's Cork, p. 431). 3 St. Anne's (Shandon), the church probably referred to, was, and still remains, 1743. Randall Westropp, mayor. Feb. 21st. An account came by express to Corke from Dublin that there were seven Popish priests taken up in Dublin and put in prison; and that all the French ships lying in that harbour were stripped of their seals (sails?) and their crews put on board the English men-of-war, and that the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs were searching all Popish houses for arms. 1755. John Reily, mayor. Nov. 1st. A slight shock of an earthquake was felt in Corke, but happily did no mischief here. It was dreadful in Spaine and Barbary, and particularly soe in Portugall, where it overthrew every house and building; the sea overflowing a great part of the rich and famous city of Lisbon. Above a hundred thousand people perished in the ruins, Feb. 6th; "a genuine fact."-(End of the "Annals.") THE WALLS OF CORK. "TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BOLTON, LORD LIEUT.-GENERAL AND GENERAL GOVERNOR OF IRELAND. "The Humble Petition of the Mayor and Sheriffs and Commonalty of His Majesty's loyal city of Cork, sheweth : "That the said citty of Cork is a very ancient citty, and a place of considerable trade, and pays a very great revenue to His Majesty. That in the late King James' time, your petitioners suffered very much for their adherence to the Protestant interest; were putt into prison, and their suburbs, which make a considerable part of the citty, were set on fire, and burned to the ground by the then Popish GovernorMakillieuddy; notwithstanding that he had beforehand agreed and promised to save the said suburbs upon the payment of a considerable sum of money to him by your petitioners. That your petitioners were relieved from their prisons and their miseries by King William, of glorious memory, under the command of your Majesty's renowned and valiant general, his Grace the Duke of Marlborough, who besieged the said citty and took it in the year 1690.. That soon afterwards your petitioners supplied several Regiments of King William's Army with several considerable sums of money for their subsistence, for which your petitioners never received any satisfaction, which has been a great loss to your petitioners, who have but a very small and precarious revenue on the north side of the city. In addition to the Cathedral, there were originally eleven parish churches in and about Cork, as appears from a paragraph in King Edward IV.'s Charter, 1462. For these the citizens paid 24 marks annually to the Crown; "but upon consideration that the said churches were destroyed by Irish rebels, and intestine wars, which continued fifteen years, occasioning great decay and poverty to the city," the tax was remitted. The churches on the south side of the river were at that time—extra muros :—St. John's, St. Nicholas, St. Bridget's, St. Mary Nard (or Spikenard); St. Stephen's, and St. Laurence's Chapel, near South Gate; but St. Anne's and St. Paul's were not then built. See Smith, vol. i., p. 371. St. Anne's was begun in 1720, and the spire built 1749. Tuckey, ad ann. The church of St. Mary de Nard occupied the site of Elizabeth Fort, and St. Bridget's that of Cat Fort. 1 The earthquake at Lisbon was on November 1st. for the support of their Corporation. That the several Governments of this Kingdom, since the said siege, upon representation that the walls of the said citty were of noe strength or defence against an army, were pleased to give liberty to open the same for gates in several places. That the tide ebbs and flows round the said citty, and the said walls, as they now stand, are of noe defence, but a charge to your petitioners, and that the ground next within the said walls, as well as the ground on which the said walls stand, belongs to your petitioners; may it please your Grace, in consideration of the premises, to grant your petitioners the said walls, and your petitioners will ever pray. Note. ABR. FFRENCH, WM. HAWKINS. The above-named Edward Hoare was M.P. at the time for Cork, in the Irish Parliament. He was ancestor of the Hoares of Factory-hill, whose city residence was the house in Hoare's-lane, afterwards Pike's Bank, with the date on the brick. Pike did not settle in Cork before 1664-(see Lives of Pike and Oxley). Joseph Pike's father-Richard, came to Ireland a corporal in a troop of Cromwell's horse, in which he remained until 1655. He was of Newbury, in Berkshire. Joseph was born at Kilcrea, County Cork, and died in 1729, ætat. 70. (See Wright's History of the Quakers in Ireland, ed. Rutty, p. 296.1) Abraham French was mayor in 1717, which is probably the date of the petition. Wm. Hawkins and Charles Cotterel were sheriffs. Daniel Perdreau was mayor in 1712, Edward Browne in 1714, Philip French in 1715, and William Lamley in 1716. Ed. Knapp, 1703. R. Delahoyde, 1708. E. Hoare, 1710. The walls appear to have been so effectually demolished that but little now remains of them. Some vestiges, however, are still visible; the most considerable portion is said to be that in Connel's Court, off Hanover St., which is some fifty yards in length, about four feet thick, and six or eight feet high, Another fragment is to be found on the Grand Parade, and others elsewhere. Part of these may be of Danish .origin. 1 NOTE ADDED IN THE PRESS.-The following notice of Joseph Pike occurs in the Register of the Freemen of the City of Cork, 1656-1782, copied from the original by Dr. Caulfield (MS. penes me) : : "Mar. 27, 1685.-Joseph Pike presented to the Council by Edw Webber, Esq., then Mayor, as his Freeman, and thereupon ordered that he be admitted and allowed as a freeman of the city." |