Ulster journal of archaeology (Volume 4) online

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iTORY and Antiquities

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Vol, IV, TS98.



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ULSTER JOURNAL OF ARCHEOLOGY



ULSTER JOURNAL



OF



ARCHEOLOGY




Seal of Hugh O'Neill, King of Ulster.



VOLUME IV.



JSelfast:
MARCUS WARD & CO., LIMITED

ROYAL ULSTER WORKS
1898



ULSTER JOURNAL



OF



Archaeology



Vol. IV.



OCTOBER, 1897.



No. 1.



Hrbboe, 0. {Tyrone: its Cross anfc (Tburcbes.

By FRANCIS JOSEPH BIGGER and WILLIAM J. FENNELL,

RDBOE has still a number of ecclesiastical remains of import-
ance, although much ruined. The cross alone is in an
excellent state of preservation, and may be considered one
of the finest high crosses in Ireland. The group of ruins
consists of an early church, a later church, the cross, and
some fragmentary remains of domestic buildings.

The cross stands about 18 feet 6 inches high, the arms
being about 3 feet 6 inches wide. The shaft is 23 inches
broad and 14 inches deep. The lower base stone is 3 feet
6 inches wide and the upper stone 2 feet 2 inches wide,
both together being 3 feet 6 inches high. The top
stone of the cross fell off about 18 17, and the upper
portion, including the arms, fell down in 1846. The
restoration was carefully carried out by Colonel
Stewart of Killymoon, so that at the present time the cross stands in
a well-preserved state close to the gate of the old churchyard. The
top stone is somewhat weather-worn, and an upper portion of the
nimbus is wanting. The upper parts of the arms urgently require
some attention to preserve them from the effects of water and frost ;
and unless this attention is soon given, this fine monument will part
with some of its beautiful sculpture.

The eastern face is divided into panels, the lowest of which depicts
Adam and Eve ; the second, Abraham offering up Isaac ; the third,
A




2 AKDHOE, CO. TYRONE: ITS CROSS AND CHURCHES.

Daniel in the lions' den ; the fourth, the ark borne along ; the fifth,
the resurrection ; the sixth or central panel represents Christ coming
in judgment surrounded by angels, beneath the central figure being
a pair of scales.

The west face is also divided into panels, the lowest one represent-
ing the nativity ; the second, the adoration ; the third, the driving of
the money-changers from the temple ; the fourth, the triumphal
entry ; the fifth, Christ taken prisoner ; the sixth and central panel
shows the crucifixion.

The north side is also panelled, the lowest of which represents the
holy baptism ; the second is Moses ; the third, the two women dis-
puting about the children before Solomon ; the fourth is King
Solomon ordering the child to be cut in two ; the fifth is doubtful.

The south side represents first, Cain slaying Abel ; the second,
David rescuing the lamb ; the third, David slaying Goliath ; the
fourth, David and Saul reigning under one crown ; the fifth looks
like symbols, but is uncertain.

The following very interesting letter was written by the late
Bishop Reeves, when Rector of Tynan, to Christopher Treanor at
Ardboe. It has been reproduced in a small Guide to Ardboe by
James E. Treanor, which also contains some information about the
details of the cross which we have made use of. We must also express
our indebtedness to A. Treanor, the present owner of the soil, for his
courtesy and kindness on the occasion of our visits.

Copy Letter from Rev. William Reeves to C. Treanor.

The Rectory, Tynan, 30th November, i86g.
To Mr. Treanor, Ardboe.

My Dear Sir, I myself made a pilgrimage many years ago to the old Cross
of Ardboe, when I was fresh in the incumbency of Ballymena, ere my tastes had
broken out in a love for antiquities.

I copy all that is said about it in Archdale's Monasticon :

" In the Barony of Dungannon, and two miles west of Lough Neagh, a noble
celebrated monastery was founded here by St. Colman, the son of Aid, and
surnamed Macaidhe ; his reliques were being preserved in the Abbey, and Festival
is kept on the 21st February.

"a.d. 1 105. Monchad O'Flarthican, Dean of this Abbey, and a doctor high
in esteem for his wisdom and learning, died in pilgrimage in Armagh.

"a.d. 1 166. Rory MaKany Mackillwarry Oilloona did so destroy this
Abbey by fire that it immediately fell to decay, and was scarce visible in the time
of Colgan the Franciscan. However, there still remains here the walls of an old
church, with a cross, in good preservation, about 25 feet in height, on which are
several inscriptions.



ARDBOE, CO. TYRONE : ITS CROSS AND CHURCHES. 3

"Ardboe is now a poor village near the River Ballinderry, which falls into
Lough Neagh." Page 678.

I am sorry the details are so meagre ; but the County of Tyrone is particu-
larly barren in ecclesiastical records or authorities ; so that one must be content
with a few dry crumbs. I don't know any other book which touches the spot.

I remain, dear Sir, yours very truly, William Reeves.

The remains of the older church at Ardboe lie a few hundred feet
to the north of the later church, and at a little distance look more
like a clump of wild bushes than a ruined church.

The door was in the west gable, but all its dressings have dis-
appeared. The walls are not more than nine feet six inches high at
the highest point, and in many places are much less.

The breaks on the south wall, shown on the plan, are not to be
regarded as proofs of windows ; nor is the want of such on the east







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THE OLD CHURCH, ARDCOE.



wall to be taken as evidence that no window existed, as in all prob-
ability the sill was at a higher level. Other measurements are given
in the ground plan annexed.

It is a curious thing that there are now no graves about this old
church, whilst the later one and the graveyard around it are full to
overflowing. When cultivating the field around the ruin, some years
ago, the farmer disinterred several skulls and some bones, which were
carefully buried at the east wall again. This church has all the
appearance of being an eighth or ninth century erection ; but the
absence of the original doors and windows makes this estimate
problematical.



AKDIiOE, CO. TYRONE : ITS CROSS AND CHURCHES.




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THE LATER CHURCH, ARDBOE.




NOW IN THE I'ARISH CHURCH



ARDBOE, CO. TYRONE : ITS CROSS AND CHURCHES.



5



The later church sits in the centre of the present crowded grave-
yard ; but it, too, has lost all its cut stone, which deprives it largely
of the tokens by which its age might be known still, sufficient remains
to place it not earlier than the sixteenth century. The east window
was removed and fitted into the present parish church when it was
built about 17 14, as stated in a
mural tablet built into its south
wall, a drawing of which is here
given. The old oak door was also
used in a like manner. The giving
up of the old church and the erection
of the present one was occasioned
by the inconvenient distance of the
former to most of the parishioners.
This window, although not now of
its former full size, bears the ap-
pearance of a sixteenth or early
seventeenth century window.




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THE EAST GABLE OF LATER CHURCH FROM
WHICH WINDOW WAS REMOVED.



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OPOSIT HEREO
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DEPARTED-TH1S- LIFE
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MURAL TABLET ON SOUTH WALL OF ARDBOE PARISH CHURCH.



6 ARDBOE, CO. TYRONE: ITS CROSS AND CHURCHES.

The present church was consecrated by Dr. John Stearn, Bishop of
Clogher, under commission from the Primate, Dr. Thomas Lindsay,
on the 25 Sept., 1723. The Rectories of Ardboe and Clonoe were
united in 1674 by Primate Margetson, and so remained until 1708.
The advowson was granted to Trinity College by King James in
1 6 10, but the Primate presented to Ardboe from 1686 until 1825,
when the presentation was resumed by the college.

Near the older church is a singular piece of masonry like a great
retaining wall, four feet six inches thick on the top, holding up the
edge of the field where it steps down to the fiat shore of the lough,
on which side it is like three sides of a rectangle, and evidently formed
some portion of a monastic building. The masonry is very strong,
solid, and well built, but beyond the rubble walling has no special
feature. There are also traces of artificial ponds on the edge of the
lake, but of what age cannot now be definitely stated.



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WROUGHT STONES FROM THE OLD CHURCH, ARDIiOK.




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The old carved stones in the garden of
A. Treanor, the farmer living near the church,
may have come, as he positively states, from the
older church ; but if so, they must have been later
insertions, being thirteenth century mouldings.
The annexed drawings represent some of these
stones, now carefully preserved ; and it may be
here stated that every assistance will be given
by A. Treanor in their restoration to the original
church, and the conservation of that very inter-
esting building now rapidly tumbling into a
heap of stones, if some help and guidance is
afforded by those interested in the preservation
of our ancient monuments.



ARDBOE, CO. TYRONE : ITS CROSS AND CHURCHES. 7

The following list of the Rectors of Ardboe has been supplied by
the Rev. W. A. Reynell :

1603, 7 Nov., George Lee, Fellow T.C.D., 1603 ; Dean of Cork, 1605 ; died,
1628.

1615, 23 May, Robt. Jackson.
1617, Gilbert Sutton.

1619, 19 June, Robt. Maxwell, Fellow T.C., 1617; B' 3 Kilmore, 1661;
died 16Nov r .,'1672.

1623, 18 Feb., Henry Leslie.

1632, Abel Walsh.

1625, 2 June (John?) Binns, Fellow T.C., 1617; Chancellor C" O Cath.,
Dub: 1621-7.

1632, William Darragh, died in the Rebellion of 1641.

1663, 9 May, Tempest Illingworth.

1686, 12 June, William Delgardao, presented by the Primate, as were his
nine successors in Clonoe.

Thomas Wilkinson.
1682, Edward Walkington, Fellow T.C., 1676 ; B' 1 Down and Connor, 1695.
1695, Christophilus Jenny.

1724, George Berkeley, Sch.T.C, 1707 ; Fellow, 1717 ; B' 1 of Cloyne, 1733 ;
died 14 Jan y , 1753.

The above officiated in the old church in the graveyard, the

following in the present church :

1724, Wm. White.

1727, Hon 1>Ie Chas. Caulfeild, d. Jan'* 1 , 1768.

1768, Thos. Ferguson.

1773, John O'Connor.

1794, Richd. B. Vincent.

1804, Francis Hall.

1832, John Darley, Fellow T.C., 1823 ; died 4 Dec'., 1836, aged 37.

1837, John Thos. O'Brien, Fellow T.C., 1820 ; B' 1 Ossory, 1842.

1842, Thomas M'Neece.

1863, Wm. Lee, Fellow T.C., 1839 ; Archdeacon of Dublin.

1864, Wm. de Bvr<;h, d.d.
1867, Thomas Jordan, b.d.

C. L. Garnett, a.m.
1894, 20 March, William Dancy.

Pascal Ducasse, held Arboe with Ardtrea, 1724-30, as also J no . Rob'.
Berkeley, 1732-42 ; Fellow, 1724 ; died 1787.




B jflint 3mplement from Bal^castle.

By W. J. KNOWLES, m.r.i.a.

SHORT time ago I became possessed of a flint
implement from the neighbourhood of Ballycastle,
which had been known to several local collectors for
a long time, but which no one was able to obtain,
as the owner refused to sell it. Like others, I had
frequently seen this implement, but was also unable
to tempt the owner to part with it. I called at his house lately when
I was passing in that direction, but without any hope of obtaining the
desired object, when, to my agreeable surprise, I found the gentleman
had changed his mind and was willing to sell it, as he said he was
getting old, and had no one to whom he could leave it. When we
had settled on the price, I asked him to give me all the information
he knew regarding its past history, and he informed me that it was
found in the townland of Carndoo, not far from the town of Bally-
castle, about eighty years ago, along with two other slightly smaller
implements of the same kind ; that the one now being described had
been in the possession of his family ever since, but that the other two
had been lost through lending them to neighbours for the purpose of
curing cattle. The implement which remained in his possession, and
which I bought, is a large spear or lance-head of flint of the leaf-shaped
kind, and is 7 inches long, 3^ inches broad at its widest part, and
about an inch thick along the greater part of the central ridge. It is
boldly worked and has a decided character of stoutness, being thus
unlike our ordinary large spear-heads, which are generally delicately
worked and thin. It is shown in Fig. 1. I also show in Fig. 2
another stout flint spear-head somewhat smaller than Fig. 1, but
displaying very similar bold workmanship. As the shape of the
two implements is very much alike, which may be seen by reference
to the figures, I have often thought that the object shown as Fig. 2



A FLINT IMPLEMENT FROM BALLYCASTLE. 9

may be one of the two missing implements referred to. I bought
it from a dealer in Ballymena who travelled widely in search
of antiquities, and who often purchased from pedlars and smaller
dealers in different districts. He told me that it came from
Co. Tyrone; but now, when I reflect on the considerable quantity
of flint and other stone implements which he would have at different
times, and that he never labelled his articles, I can very well imagine
how a wrong 'locality might be given in mistake. I know he went
often to Ballycastle to purchase articles from ragmen and pedlars in




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that neighbourhood, and I now suspect that, instead of coming from
Co. Tyrone, the implement in question more likely formed one of
the group of three found near Ballycastle, and that it was sold by
some person who borrowed it to cure his cattle. The only objection
to this theory is that the implements differ slightly in shade of colour ;
but then it is probable that two such massive spear-heads, which,
after being manufactured, are still in parts an inch thick, would not be
made from flakes struck from the same core, but from different blocks



IO A FLINT IMPLEMENT FROM BALLYCASTLE.

of flint, and, if so, the difference in the shade of colour is easily under-
stood. The two implements, when compared, would give one the
impression that they had both been made by the same workman, but
if found in widely different localities, there is difficulty in accounting
for their being so much alike both in shape and style of workmanship.

In reference to the use of flint arrow and spear-heads in curing
cattle, I had recently an account from a man now well up in years,
who lives about three miles from Ballymena, of how cattle-curing was
done when he was a young man. He had a neighbour, a very respect-
able farmer, who was a cow doctor, and who had a considerable
number of beautiful flint arrow-heads, by means of which he effected
cures in the case of cattle which were ill. This cow doctor invariably
found that the animal was either "elfshot" or "dinted," or it might
be suffering from both troubles. When " elfshot," I suspect the arrow
had pierced the hide ; and when " dinted," I imagine there was only
an indentation, which the doctor could feel as easily as the holes.
When he was called in to see a cow which was ill, he would feel the
hide all over, and find, or pretend to find, holes or indentations, and
would call on anyone present to feel them. He would then assure
the owner that he would very soon cure the cow. My informant told
me that the man's usual expression when he found the holes was, in
his own local language, " Begor, we hae found the boy noo," meaning
that he had found the cause of the beast's ailment. Some gruel
would now have to be prepared, into which he would put a few of his
arrow-heads, a piece of silver, usually a sixpence, and he would also
add some sooty matter which he had previously scraped from the
bottom of the pot. When all had boiled well together, and was ready
for use, he would take a mouthful and blow it into the animal's ears,
another mouthful and blow it over her back, and then he would give
the remainder to the cow to drink, and would go away, assuring the
owner that she would soon be better. I understand he was generally
successful in effecting cures, and was held in high estimation as a cow
doctor. My informant said he was often sent for by Lord Mount-
cashel's agent, when he lived in Galgorm Castle, to prescribe for cattle
which were ill. There must, however, have been sceptics in those
days, as I am told that the poor cow doctor was often jocularly asked
to examine a cow that was in perfectly good health, and that there
was considerable merriment when he pronounced her to be both
" elfshot " and " dinted."

The implements generally used to cure cattle are the smaller



A FLINT IMPLEMENT FROM BALLYCASTLE. II

arrow-heads. I had not previously heard of any implements so large
as those figured having, been used for that purpose ; but then large
implements are comparatively scarce whilst the others are plentiful,
which may account for the smaller kinds being more generally con-
nected with cures.

Although we have various kinds of flint implements besides
arrow-heads, we scarcely ever hear of their being employed by cow
doctors. On one occasion a countryman showed me a small box of
arrow-heads which, he said, he lent to the neighbours to cure cattle,
and among the lot was one of those small objects which antiquaries
in Co. Antrim call flint knives. He considered this to be as
efficacious as the arrow-heads ; but these implements in some cases
have a resemblance to arrow-heads, and similar objects in England
are known as single-winged arrow-heads. Coming from Ballycastle
some time ago I exhibited a polished stone axe, locally known as a
"thunderbolt," to my fellow-passengers, and one of them told me that
such objects were used in curing cattle. In addition to a somewhat
similar process of preparing gruel to that already described, he said
the cow doctor had to get a sixpenny loaf and a pint of whiskey for
himself, and that, after administering the medicine to the cow, he
marched round her with the loaf in one hand and the bottle in the
other, repeating to himself

"A'll tak' my bite an' A'll tak' my sup,
An' A'll cure the coo \vi' the rotten grup."

This is the first instance that has come to my knowledge of a
stone axe having been used for curing cattle, and it would be
interesting to know whether anyone else has heard of such an object
being employed for that purpose. The lore on this subject is not, I
am sure, so far forgotten but that many of your correspondents may
be able to give further information regarding the implements formerly
used by cow doctors in their various neighbourhoods.





motes on 3rt6b Etbnolo^.

By JOHN M. DICKSON.
No. II.

N a previous number the writer drew attention to
the confusion of ideas that exists concerning the
ethnology of these islands, as shown by the frequent
allusion, by writers otherwise well-informed, to
" Celtic temperament, &c, &c," when they refer to
the characteristics of the dark and comparatively
small race (the Firbolgs of Duald MacFirbis) from which most of
the Irish population is derived, as well as that of the Western High-
lands of Scotland and South Wales the race named by Caesar
Iberii, in its nature essentially southern, easily excited, subtle and
imaginative, and racially so distinct from the Celt, that, in comparison,
Saxon, Norman, and Celt might be classed as brothers of one family.

The writer referred this race to some original starting-point near
the Mediterranean, from which it had spread northward while these
islands were still included by the continental coast-line that extended,
during pliocene times, from the Equator to the Shetlands ; and he
further ventured to suggest that the Berbers, the white race of North
Africa, are its most typical representatives at the present day.

Very similar views were stated more fully by the president of the
anthropological section in his opening address at the meeting of the
British Association in September last ; while in February of this year,
in Dr. Douglas Hyde's lecture on Irish folk-lore, a confirmation of
them was given so interesting as perhaps to justify a return to the
subject, viz., the frequent occurrence of the lion in Irish folk-lore.
Dr. Hyde said, " Where does the lion come from in these stories ?
We constantly find him in Irish folk-tales, and it appears to be an
Eastern rather than a Western trait. If so, it would seem to me a
presumption that the new theory of the Aryan race having sprung
from the North of Europe, instead of from Asia, is incorrect?"



NOTES ON IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 1 3

But why, it may be asked, seek for the lion in Aryan tradition at
all, when a much more- obvious source is at hand ? What is more
probable than that the aborigines had brought the recollection of the
lion with them from Africa, its native habitat? In fact, these tales
being of enormous antiquity, the lion is found just where he might
be most expected, and supplies a valuable link in the chain of
evidence.

This oversight on the part of Dr. Hyde seems all the more sur-
prising, as he has devoted so much study to the subject, and is perfectly
aware of the relations the two races have borne to each other in
Ireland, as he said further on "The difference in the folk-stories, not
of Ireland and the Highlands alone, but of the various provinces and
districts in Ireland itself, is actually due to racial differences ; in other
words, that those spots of Ireland where the primitive European
races (ousted thousands of years ago by the Aryan-speaking Gaels)
still survive most strongly, have a different selection of folk-lore from
those of their masters." This is a most interesting difference, indeed,
and one that had been observed independently by Larminie, another
labourer in the same field.

Now, although the correction of popular errors generally might
prove too heavy an undertaking for this journal, there is another to
which some reference may be made, as being related to the matter in
hand, viz., that the English population is of necessity mainly Anglo-
Saxon ! We know that Caesar found most of England occupied by
tall fair-haired " Celti " less than two thousand years ago, while the
small dark-haired " Iberii " had been driven to the outskirts. It is
inconceivable that while the feebler race has held its ground till the
present day in Wales, the stalwart Celti, who had penned them among
their sterile mountains centuries before the Roman invasion, should
themselves have been unable to survive. It is not so in fact ; the
bone and sinew of England are largely Celtic still. The Saxons
established themselves chiefly in the Southern and central counties,
and made little impression on the type north of the Humber, so that
the big men of Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland are almost
as purely Celtic to-day as their congeners across the Scottish border.
There is no record of any extermination of the English people during
the Saxon occupation, and even had that conflict been more sanguinary
than anything recorded of it, a fusion of the races would have been
the utmost result, as in those times the women of the vanquished
were always reckoned among the perquisites of victory.



14 NOTES ON IRISH ETHNOLOGY.

Race being the key to history generally, and more especially so
in those times of turbulence when physical prowess was the first
essential to supremacy, it was inevitable that, when the Celts reached
Ireland in force, these hardy Northerns, robust of mind as well as
body, high-handed and self-reliant, should take and keep all that they
desired in the country ; and accordingly in the earliest records we find
the large fair-complexioncd Gaels (or Celts) ruling the roast, while
the poor natives seem to have sunk to a condition of serfdom, being
contemptuously lumped together as " kerne," much like the " meere
Irish" or "wood-kerne" of Elizabethan times, whose proprietary
rights and whose lives seem to have been about as much regarded