Vestry Meetings
As in the eighteenth century, much of the nineteenth and twentieth century history of the parish of Tyholland is detailed in the volume of vestry minutes which covers the years 1827 to 1944 for both Easter and Select vestry meetings.
The minutes of vestry meetings both Easter and Select were, in most cases, kept by the incumbent at the time, who acted as parochial secretary and treasurer and usually presided at the meetings (1). This changed after union with the parish of Monaghan in 1927 when Sharman C. Ross became parochial secretary and treasurer (2). The six incumbents during this period were the Revd Charles Henry Crookshank 1812-1836; Rev John Rotheram Tarleton 1836-1885; Revd James Wilson 1885-1910; Revd John Moorhead Strickland 1910-1927; Revd John O’Connor 1934-1945 and Revd Robert William Heavener 1946-1951 (3).
How well these early vestry meetings were attended it is difficult to know as attendees are not named, an exception was in 1891 when sixteen named persons attended to discuss the extensive repairs to be made to the church. When the Revd Strickland took over in 1910, those in attendance began to be recorded. Numbers varied from three to ten persons unless there was an important item on the agenda such as the sale of the glebe house when 12 persons attended a select vestry meeting held on 6 December 1927. Vestry meetings were held in three locations the church, the rectory and the school house. The Easter Vestries largely dealt with the appointment of churchwardens, sidesmen, parochial secretary and treasurer, select vestry members and after disestablishment synodsmen and parochial nominators tri-annually and with the passing of the annual accounts. Select vestries mainly dealt with general parish operations, such as initiating repairs, raising of finance, supporting the poor, burial fees, votes of sympathy and thanks, appointment of employees, the erection of memorials and other matters. The vestry minutes recorded in the volume 1827-1944 cover the time of the Great Famine in Ireland and of the two WorldWars but there is no reference to these events in them, except to the high price of oil at a select vestry meeting in April 1917, ‘due to the war’.
(1) Some exceptions – William Best, parish clerk kept the minutes between 1828 and 1832; William Henderson of Bessmount Park chaired select vestry meetings in 1891 when repairs to the church were being considered and in 1901 William Henry Wilson was elected parish secretary and treasurer.
(2) Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette, 29 January 1954, piece in praise of S.C. Ross following his death.
(3) Preacher’s Book 1943-1970, states that ‘Rev R.W. Heavener MA placed in possession of Tyholland Church’ on 21 March 1946.
Major Events affecting the Parish
The most significant major change in the running of the parish came in the early 1870s following the Irish Church Act (1869) which disestablished and disendowed the Church of Ireland. From 1 January 1871, when the act came into effect, parishes were left to run their own affairs while a corporate body The Representative Church Body was established, which took over ownership of church properties and became the new paymaster for the clergy.
At parish level lists of registered vestrymen were compiled and revised every year. Registered vestrymen had to be 21 years of age and were to sign a declaration stating that they were members of the Church of Ireland, were resident in the parish or practicing members of the parish and subscribed to its support. Only registered vestrymen could vote at Easter vestries or sit on the select vestry, which was to number no more than 12 persons. Parochial nominators and diocesan synodsmen were to be elected every three years.
The parish of Tyholland was preparing in early 1870 to initiate these changes to the running of the parish. By 3 June, a total of 47 persons and their addresses were recorded plus an additional five non-resident landowners. In the annual Easter vestry minutes for subsequent years adjustments and additions to the Tyholland list of registered vestrymen are recorded as various parishioners died or moved in or out of the parish. Women were not added to the list until 1921 when 13 female names brought the total of registered vestrymen to 49. By 1931 there were six women on the list. A book specifically kept to record the list of registered vestrymen was not purchased by the parish until 1934. In 1948, Mrs Ross and Miss Freeman were the first women to sit on the select vestry.
Following the completion of the first list of registered vestrymen another meeting was held on 21 June 1870 to elect a select vestry, parochial nominators and diocesan synodsmen. Ten men were elected to the select vestry – Edward Richardson, Poplar Vale; William Henderson, Bessmount; Captain Thomas Coote, Raconnell; George Campbell, Crovey; James Campbell, Cavanreagh; William Johnston, Seveagh; William Bothwell, Drumgoole; George Owen, Drumgoole; Andrew Boyd, Lappin and James Quin, Corvalley. The two churchwardens, Thomas Garland and William Garland both of Corbeg and the Revd Tarleton were all ex-officio members of the select vestry.
The first diocesan synodsmen were Edward Richardson, William Henderson, Henry Lloyd of Camla Vale and Captain Thomas Coote. The parochial nominators were Edward Richardson, William Henderson and Thomas Garland of Corbeg. Some of these landed proprietors continued to act in these compacities for many years as they had the time and resources to attend meetings outside the parish. By 1921, the parochial nominators were E. Taylor, S.C. Ross and F. Garland and the synodsmen were S. Ross and J. Ritchie. These men still filled these positions in 1942. In 1913, glebe wardens were elected for the first time by an order of the Diocesan Council. Sharman Ross and Francis Garland were the first to fill these posts.
It was also decided at the vestry meeting held in June 1870 that ordinary collections would be applied to the provision of the requisites for Divine Service, the purchase of fuel, repairs to the church and other local expenses which formally were defrayed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. This was the fund for local purposes or charges.
Further provision for the financing of the parish was passed at a select vestry meeting in November 1871. It was agreed that when the Revd Tarleton resigned from the parish a sustentation fund would have to be raised to continue to support ministry within the parish. Subscriptions from landowners and resident churchmen were to be placed in the hands of three trustees. The trustees Edward Richardson, William Henderson and Thomas Garland were to solicit for subscriptions from all churchmen according to their ability to pay. In 1875, the parish agreed to join a new Diocesan scheme under which they were required to pay £100 to secure an income of £150 for future incumbents. The parish’s assessment was still £100 when it was joined to Monaghan in 1927.
Parish funds or the lack of them are a recurring theme throughout the pages of the second of Tyholland’s vestry minute books. Special collections, concerts and sales were held to supplement parish income, for example in 1920 Sharman Ross and John Richie were thanked for fund raising for church repairs and Miss Richardson was thanked for the concert she organised and the officers of the Hand and Pen Hall for the use of their hall. This hall was located on the farm of Wilfred Garland at Corbeg. In 1989, it was donated to the Ulster Folk Museum and can be viewed there today
In 1927, following the retirement of Canon Strickland, the parish was united with that of Monaghan. Soon after Canon Strickland’s retirement came into effect, Canon O’Connor became rector of the union of Monaghan and Tyholland parishes although he was not instituted as rector of Tyholland until 1934, according to an entry in the preacher’s book. This union with the parish of Monaghan lasted until 1951 when the parish was regrouped with the parish of Donagh despite vestry members expressing a desire for the present union with Monaghan to continue. The rector Revd Heavener, later Bishop of Clogher, explained the difficulties the diocese was having in arranging the necessary regroupings within the diocese, owing to the desire to give the clergy a salary they could live on and also ‘owing to the shortage of applicants going forward for ministry’, similar problems to those facing many dioceses today. A deputation from the Diocesan Council attended one of these meetings re-emphasising the necessity of the alteration which duly took place.
The Church Structure
The Easter Vestry minutes of 1828 (8 April) reveal the cost for the building of the tower – £66.14.4½. The gallery and stairs were built in the mid-1840s. A plan, signed and dated J.F. Johnston, 1844, is in the R.C.B. Library (4). At the Easter Vestry held on 14 April 1846, the seats in the gallery, five on each side, were allocated and became the property of, on the reading desk side, Charles Hawkeshaw of Dromore House, James Bothwell of Knockacunmier, farmer; William Stokes of Cordevlish, farmer; John Richardson of Poplar Vale, Esq and Charles Hawkeshaw of Dromore Esq and the Revd John Tarleton of the Glebe. On the pulpit side the seats were allocated to Thomas Robinson of Sallymount Gent; James Morton of Killeef, farmer; William Lake of Fedoo, farmer; John Hatchell of Bessmount Park, Esq and John Richardson of Poplar Vale Esq. The last two pews on each side may have been for the servants of the Richardson, Hawkeshaw, Tarleton and Hatchell families.
The minutes of vestry meetings also record various minor repairs to the church building until the late 1880s when there was a move to make extensive renovations. At the Easter Vestry of 1890 it was agreed to proceed as soon as possible to spend whatever money the parish had on repairing the interior of the church. A year later Alexander Clarke was appointed the contractor to carry out the plan of John Henry Fullerton, architect, of Armagh. The improvements included a heating apparatus provided by Musgrave and Co of Belfast for which a chamber had to be built. The doors on the pews in the gallery were to be removed, the walls to be coloured ‘light blush buff’, the ceiling to be painted white and around the communion space ‘brick red’.
(4) Portfolio 3a. Architectural Drawing Plan | Elevation | Section Internal Arrangements Gallery Timber Work ( 6 images) 16 February 1844 J.F. Johnston, “Plan for Proposed Gallery in the Church of Tyholland. Dio. Clogher. Ground | Gallery Plan Transverse Section on Line CD. Section on Line AB. Seat Framing inch scale,” RCB Library – Architectural Drawings, accessed May 27,2023, https://archdrawing.ireland.anglican.org/items/show/986
A note in the minute book states –
Tyholland Church was reopened on 11 August 1891 after extensive repairs at an estimated cost of £350, including a new floor, seats, pulpit, prayer desk, lectern, communion rail and new mode of heating called Musgrave’s patent.
The re-opening service was reported on in the Northern Standard (15 August 1891). Dr Stack, Bishop of Clogher, preached and William Henderson, on behalf of the Select Vestry, addressed the Bishop stating that –
…This little Church is dear to many hearts as the place where their fathers worshipped; it has been hallowed by the prayers and praises of many generations, whose remains were laid in the yard close by. It is our hope that the present and future generations will greatly prize this house which we have re-opened for the honour of our God; that they will not neglect the assembling of themselves together to render thanks for the great benefits they have received at God’s hand …
In subsequent years repairs and maintenance continued to be recorded at various vestry meetings. One resolution passed at a select vestry meeting in 1904 was that the chancel be wainscoted. Heating the church continued to entail expense and a new heating apparatus was purchased from Messrs Musgraves in 1945. In 1948, it was agreed to pay Patrick Kelly for re-roofing and replastering the church ceiling and that internal painting of the church be carried out. On the afternoon of 21 November 1948, a special service, attended by 300 persons, was held for the reopening of the church after extensive repairs to the roof and decoration. The Revd A.E. Crawford took the service and Bishop Tyner of Clogher preached and referred to ‘the whole-hearted support the parish had received from the members of the other denominations who were so well represented at this service’. The Rev David F.R. Wilson, son of a former rector, was a special preacher reminisced on his childhood days at Tyholland (5).
(5) Northern Standard, 26 November 1948.
Church Services
Some knowledge of church services can be gleaned from the preachers’ books that cover the years 1885-1898 and 1917 to the present day so obviously one volume is missing. The preachers’ books contain columns detailing congregation and communicant numbers, the number of children catechized, the amount of general and special collections and remarks or observations.
The details of the services began to be kept when the Revd James Wilson became the incumbent in 1885. At that time two services were been held at noon and 5 pm. The attendance was about 90 and 50 persons respectively. By the end of World War I attendance at the two services had reduced to about 40 and 20 respectively. Remarks recorded at the Easter Day service of 1919 indicate that there were 44 families in the parish representing a population of about 150 post WWI. Once the parish was united to Monaghan in 1927 only one service was held weekly. Congregation numbers declined steadily and by the 1940s the average number was in the 20s. Special services such as the Harvest Thanksgiving were well attended, for example 60 persons in 1945, as were the services in aid of the Lord Enniskillen Memorial Orange Society, LEMOS, which began to be held every June from the mid-1940s. Other remarks in the observations column give us some indication of the weather at various times, the health of the clergy, the spread of influenza and international events, so reflecting some of the social history of the time. For example, on 3 September 1939 the following appears in the observations column ‘very wet. Britain’s ultimatum to Germany expired at 11 & war was declared’. Various days of National Prayer are recorded in the years 1940, 1941, 1944 and services for peace and services in thanksgiving for victory were held on 6 July 1919 and 13 May 1945.
Employees
Many of the parish clerks were also employed as the teacher at the parish school in Tuckmilltate. The Visitation Book of Bishop Tottenham of Clogher 1826, records William Best as the parish clerk and school master, with a salary of £12 for each post (6). Best wrote up and signed the minutes of vestry meetings between 1828 and 1832. Walter Johnstone was parish clerk and school teacher for the 1840s and part of the 1850s. Robert James Storey had taken over both roles by the time he married Margaret Forster on 11 April 1855. According to Jack Storey he migrated to Queensland, Australia in 1865. By 1862 John Gracey was the parish clerk. At a select vestry meeting held on 28 November 1871 it was agreed that the office of parish clerk be maintained and that the person appointed to succeed Mr Topping in that office be competent by his skill in music and be able to lead the singing of psalms and hymns. It was proposed that Sergeant John Stewart be Topping’s successor. Geraldine the daughter of John and Elizabeth Anne Stewart, parish clerk and schoolmaster was born on 9 February 1873 and the Stewarts remained in the parish until the mid-1880s. In 1879, the parish clerk’s salary was reduced to £7 and by 1885 the parish was unable to retain the services of John Stewart due to a lack of funds (17 June). The services of a parish clerk appear to have ceased from this time.
George Mitchell, sexton of the parish was buried on 13 June 1829. In the mid-1830s Ellen Garvin was recorded as the sextoness on a salary of £5.10.0. Ellen was married to John, a shoemaker of Tullylish and she was most likely related to William Best the parish clerk of the time, as her maiden name was Best. She was succeeded as sexton by her son William, who witnessed marriages in the 1850s so he may have already been filling the role of sexton before his mother’s death. In 1872, John Keenan, who died in January was to be succeeded as sexton by Joseph Cole at a salary of £4 per annum (20 February). John Keenan was described as a gardener of Tyholland Glebe at the marriage of his son Thomas in 1860. In July 1888, Sally Cole was appointed sextoness in succession to her husband who had died on 28 May, ‘her son Thomas agreeing to act for her as usual’. (6 July) (7) Following Mrs Cole’s death in 1903, aged 90, John Reilly her son-in-law was appointed sexton (8). The following year it was agreed that the sexton ring the bell for 15 minutes rather than half an hour before service, in other words at 11.45 am (28 May 1906). In 1907 John Reilly resigned and was replaced by Thomas McElnay, who died three years later, age 54. His son, Robert McElnay, became the sexton and was given an official contract by agreeing to the terms on a form sent by the R.C.B. (17 April 1914). By the early 1920s, Samuel Clougher was the sexton. He is described as such when he married Fannie Tyrell on 11 April 1923. He was aged 52 at this time and became the caretaker of the rectory in 1927. In 1933, repairs to the sexton’s house were paid for by the Tyholland Glebe Trustees. In 1938, Robert Simpson was appointed sexton. By 1942, Henry Heaney, the sexton, was looking for an increase in his salary and in 1944 his appointment as sexton at a salary of £8 was confirmed (13 April) (9). In 1950, Mrs Somerville was appointed sextoness at a salary of £15 per year with a free house. It would appear that the role of sexton was kept within families on many occasions.
Music in the church was provided by harmonium which was played by various organists. On 13 September 1849, Letitia Bruce (organist) married John Lake, the address of both parties was Tyholland Glebe. In 1908, the school teacher Samuel Curry or his wife Sarah (nee Wilson) were to be appointed organist and to receive £4 or £5 (5 May). Miss E. Hobson, the organist was thanked for her services in 1917 (19 April). The Preacher’s Book contains a reference to Miss A. Clarke playing the harmonium in 1918. In 1924, Miss Freeman took up the duties of organist.
Some but not all of the parish clerks also filled the role of school master. William Finlay is recorded as the Tyholland school master in 1834 with a salary of £9 (10). Walter Johnston had replaced Finlay by 1840 on a salary of £11. He was also parish clerk. He and his wife Sophia had children at two yearly intervals throughout the 1840s including the Famine years. Robert James Storey was schoolmaster in the early 1850s. John Stewart succeeded a Mr Topping in the early 1870s. At a vestry meeting held on 28 November 1871 it was agreed that if possible the parish school master should be a married man and that he must reside in the school house.
The school may have ceased to operate for a year or two in the mid 1880s. In August 1886 it was decided that the school should be repaired, a qualified teacher be selected and that the school should be placed under the National Board. Records for the school once it came under the auspices of the National Board are available in the archives of the Department of Education in the National Archives, (see also Duchas). Miss Freeman who was the school principle from the 1920s to 1950s was much involved in parish activities and was on the list of registered vestrymen until 1955. She was one of the first two women to sit on the select vestry in 1948.
(6) NLI, Visitation Books of Bishop Tottenham of Clogher, 1826 and1834, Mss 3190 and 43437
(7) Tyholland Marriage – 7 January 1844, Joseph Cole of Faulkland, Donagh and Sarah Nevin of Corvally.
(8) Tyholland Marriage – 15 July 1889, John Reilly son of John Reilly of Tyholland and Mary Anne Cole (Dressmaker) daughter of Joseph Cole (Gardener) of Tyholland. See 1901 Census also.
(9) Preacher’s Book 1926-1943, records Henry Heaney taking up duties as sexton on 29 June 1941.
(10) NLI, Visitation Books of Bishop Tottenham of Clogher, Ms 4343. The parish registers record his name as William.
The Glebe House and Lands
Canon J.B. Leslie in his biographical list of the Clogher Clergy (1929) records the building of a glebe house at Tyholland by the Revd James Hastings in 1739/40 (information from the ‘D.R.’ Diocesan Registry) and that he was granted a glebe of 40 acres. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage dates the building late eighteenth century and describes it as a ‘Detached five-bay two-storey over basement rectory, built c.1790, having additions of c.1820 stepping down to rear (north-west) of original house’. In 1837, Lewis referred to the glebe house being improved by the incumbent [Revd Crookshank] in 1820 and that the lands comprised 40 acres, valued at £80 per year. (Lewis II, 663). The Rural Dean’s Report of 1840 and 1845 both refer to the glebe house being in good repair with thatched out offices. The building of the glebe house is not referred to in the parish records.
Some information about the glebe and its lands can be gleaned from the vestry minutes. It is evident that after disestablishment there was a change in ownership. Griffith’s Valuation dating from the mid-1850s records the Revd Tarleton as occupying the glebe and its residence as freehold. A freehold interest in a property means you own it outright and it may have been the bishop or the diocese that held the freehold. After disestablishment it is obvious that the glebe house and its lands came under the control of the Commission of Church Temporalities. Joseph Byrne writes that ‘the church was permitted to acquire the [glebe] houses on favourable terms and the lands at market value’ and that subsequently the Commission transferred ownership of these properties to the R.C.B. This appears to have been what happened in Tyholland, the parish with help from the Revd Tarleton purchased an interest in the glebe house and lands which became vested in the R.C.B. for the benefit of the parish who would receive interest annually from the purchase money.
The Easter Vestry of 1879 records a vote of thanks to the Revd Tarleton as follows –
This being the first meeting of the General Vestry held since the new Tyholland glebe became the property of the parish, tender our most sincere and hearty thanks to the Revd John R. Tarleton, our faithful pastor for the great generosity shown by him in securing this glebe as the residence for the future incumbents of the Parish. (15 April 1879)
Another change wrought by disestablishment was that the cleric appointed to the prebend of Tyholland was not the incumbent of the parish. After the death of the Revd Tarleton his successors as incumbents of the parish no longer held the prebendary of Tyholland. They were known just as rectors of the parish and the glebe house as the rectory.
The fate of the rectory and glebe lands came to the fore again in 1927, when the parish was united to Monaghan. At a select vestry meeting convened on 6 December there was a lengthy discussion about the proposed sale of the rectory and its lands, which the vestry was not in favour of. At a subsequent meeting it was proposed by David Bothwell and seconded by William Garland that the parishioners purchase the rectory and its lands so that they remained the property of the parish. The Archdeacon of Clogher, Revd Joseph Ruddell, was in attendance and he explained that the select vestry was not a corporate body and therefore could not purchase the property. Canon O’Connor of Monaghan then proposed that a few vestry members consult some solicitor to get some legal advice.
After obtaining legal advice the parishioners of the parish bought the rectory and glebe lands on 21 April 1929, the property to be held in trust by seven trustees. The sale followed a meeting of 18 parishioners in the Hand and Pen Orange Hall three days earlier, at which it was reported that the Diocesan Council had agreed to the sale for £605 plus auctioneer’s fee at five per cent. At another meeting held a month later, it was unanimously passed that Francis Garland, Sharman C. Ross, John Ritchie, George Quinn, David Bothwell, George Owens and Samuel Robinson be the first seven trustees. The caretaker S. Clogher was to keep an eye on the property until a suitable tenant was found.
In September 1929, Mrs Nicholson of Cork became the tenant of the rectory, garden, tennis court and out offices, on a lease for ten years at an annual rent of £40. She remained the tenant until 1946. Following her death the next year she was recorded as having taken an active interest in all parish activities and subscribed generously to parochial funds. She was succeeded as tenant by a Mr Law who paid a rent of £60 per annum and with whom certain alterations to the house were agreed. In 1959, a new tenancy of the house and small field, was granted to George Lepp, manager of McCaldin’s Bakery, at an annual rent of £65 but he did not stay long and in late 1962 Jack Breakey, 12 St McCartan’t Terrace, Monaghan, took over as tenant at an annual rent of £85. Russell Taylor of Mill Street, Monaghan, became the final tenant in November 1966 with the annual rent increasing to £130 for the rectory, garden and small field. In early 1973, after two emergency meetings, the trustees decided it would be more profitable to sell the rectory and its lands, which in due course were sold to Ronnie Wilson.
Memorial Tablets and Window
Four clergymen ministered in the parish for most of the nineteenth century and memorials to all four are displayed on the interior walls of the church. The first of these was the Revd Edward Stanley.
STANLEY
Sacred to the memory
of the Reverend EDWARD STANLEY A.M.
Rector of Tyholland and Prebendary of Clogher
who died at Armagh, April 16th 1812, Aged 40 Years
and of CHARLOTTE STANLEY his wife
who died at Bondville, October 10th 1829, Aged 57 Years
This monument is erected by their affectionate Children
in grateful Remembrance of
pastoral, paternal and maternal Worth.
Edward Stanley was born in 1772, the son of Arthur Stanley, chemist of Arthur Stanley and Co, formerly Westland and Stanley, drug merchants of 4 Bride Street and Dawson Street, Dublin. The Stanleys originally Hanleys came of farming stock in County Westmeath. (12) In the early nineteenth century Arthur Stanley was a director of the Bank of Ireland. Edward Stanley was born in Dublin and educated in Drogheda and at Trinity College Dublin. He was Vicar of Errigal Trough from 1801-1806 when he resigned on his appointment to the Prebendary of Tyholland. At his first vestry meeting in Tyholland the purchase of a new registry book for keeping records of baptisms, marriages and burials was agreed (21 July 1806). In August 1807, his sister Elizabeth married Alexander Nixon Montgomery of Bessmount Park, who was very prominent in the affairs of Tyholland parish. The Revd Edward died intestate on 14 April 1812, aged 40, in Armagh. His wife Charlotte was granted administration of his estate in the same year. She died on 10 October 1829, aged 57, at Bondville, county Armagh, the home of her daughter Eliza who was married to Henry Coote Bond.
(12) F.G. Hall, The Bank of Ireland 1783-1946, (1949).
Another memorial is to his sister:
ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY
Sacred to the memory of Mrs ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY
wife of ALEXANDER NIXON MONTGOMERY of Bessmont Park Esq
who for upwards of twenty years was not more
the grace and ornament of the society in which she lived,
than distinguished for a strict discharge of all the relevant duties of domestic life.
Pious, amiable and accomplished she possessed in a high degree
those moral feelings and religious attainments which alone make society respectable and life desirable.
Her memory will be long and fondly cherished by those who knew the purity of her mind and the piety of her thoughts.
A young and numerous family must long deplore
the loss of a mother whose bright example would have given
confidence to virtue, ardour to truth and piety to religion.
An attached husband has erected this last tribute of affection
to the memory of the best of wives mothers and of friends.
She died on the 8: day of May, 1827, aged 40 years.
It is interesting to note that both siblings died aged 40 although 15 years apart. As already stated Elizabeth married Alexander Nixon Montgomery in 1807 at St Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, Dublin. Elizabeth was 26 years younger than her husband. They had eleven children, many of whom are mentioned in the parish registers and in Jack Storey’s account of the parish. She was buried at Tyholland on 11 May 1827. Both Elizabeth’s and the Revd Edward Stanley’s monuments were commissioned from Reeves and Son, statutaries and marble masons of Bath in Somerset, who were active from about 1778 to 1860. They are two of four memorials made by Reeves and Son for Irish churches, the other two are in counties Cork and Waterford.
Memorial to Elizabeth’s husband:
ALEXANDER MONTGOMERY
Sacred
to the memory of the much lamented
ALEXANDER NIXON MONTGOMERY
of Bessmont Park Esq who departed this life
on the morning of the 1st of April 1837
in the 76th year of his age.
As a husband and father he was unequalled
and as a Christian, a Friend and a Landlord
his name will be held in veneration by all
classes and denominations of society.
“Mark the perfect man and behold the upright
For the end of that man is peace”.
“Let me die the death of the righteous and
Let my last end be like His”.
This monument is erected by
his sorrowing and bereaved family.
Alexander Nixon Montgomery, born 1762, was the second son of Alexander Nixon of Nixon Hall, County Fermanagh and his wife Mary, daughter of Alexander Montgomery of Bessmont Park. He was a major in the Monaghan Militia and inherited Bessmont Park from his maternal grandfather. He played a very active part in the parish during the early part of the nineteenth century, serving as a churchwarden for almost 20 years. In 1824, he chaired meetings concerning the dispute between the parishioners and the Revd Crookshank over the amount to be paid to the rector in lieu of tithes. He survived his wife for ten years and was buried on 6 April 1837. There is also a memorial to one of their children in the church. In 1844, their seventh and youngest son Mark Anthony was killed by a fall from his horse, age 20. The baptismal register records his baptism on 22 September 1823 [born 9 September].
MARK ANTHONY MONTGOMERY
Sacred
to the memory of
MARK ANTHONY MONTGOMERY
late Ensign 67th Regt.
who died at Manchester on the 26th of April 1844
from the effects of a fall from his horse
aged 20 years.
This tablet is erected by his brother officers
as a token of their affectionate regard.
This tablet has the words ‘Knowles Manchester’ inscribed on the grey marble of the bottom right hand corner. John Knowles (1810-1880) was a prominent Manchester business man, best known from the mid-1840s as the proprietor of the Theatre Royal in that city. Among his many business interests he had a marble works that made chimney pieces, tombs and monuments and it is from there that this tablet is most likely to have come.
By 1843, Bessmont Park, home of the Montgomerys, had been sold to John Hatchell, who was High Sheriff of County Monaghan that year. There is a memorial to him in the church.
JOHN HATCHELL
Sacred to the memory of
JOHN HATCHELL Esqr of Bessmount Park
Who died 18th Dec. 1851 aged 66.
–
Eminent for Prudence,
Integrity and Benevolence,
he won the respect and love
of all who knew him.
Yet he sought,
as far more precious than the praise of men
that praise which cometh from God only.
He did justly and loved mercy
and earnestly desired
to walk humbly with his God.
John Hatchell was the son of John Hatchell, a hatter of Wexford and his wife Agnes Mackenzie of County Tyrone. John Hatchell, senior, was killed on Wexford Bridge in 1798 and his son John was brought up by his uncle Alexander Mackenzie (died 1844), a prominent brewer of Donaghmore House, Dungannon, County Tyrone. John Hatchell came to own a brewery in Monaghan town. He was involved in the affairs of the parish of Tyholland from at least 1832 as he is mentioned in the minutes of vestry meetings. He was assigned seats in the gallery in 1846 and was a churchwarden in 1847 and 1848. He is recorded as having played an active part in the relief of distress caused by the Famine (13). In 1836, he married Maria Maffett of Monaghan, who died on 15 November 1839, six days after giving birth to their daughter. In 1843, he married Anne Speer of Glaslough. John Hatchell and his two wives are all buried in Monaghan graveyard. His only child was Frances Maria Isabella, born in 1839. Maria held seven townlands in the parish of Tehallen at the time of Griffith’s Valuation (published 1861). She married William Wallace Henderson and in the late 1860s they remodelled Bessmount Park. In 1876, the Hendersons owned over 1,000 acres in County Monaghan. He died in 1893 and she died in 1901 and both are buried in Monaghan graveyard.
(13) Memorials to the Dead in Ireland, vol VII.
The second nineteenth century clergyman memorialized in the church is the Revd Charles Henry Crookshank.
CHARLES HENRY CROOKSHANK
Sacred
To the memory of the REVd
CHARLES HENRY CROOKSHANK A.M.
21 years rector of the parish of Tyholland
who departed this life 12th August 1836 aged 60.
This TABLET is erected by his WIDOW
CHILDREN and several attached RELATIVES
who thus record
their deep sense of his Christian worth
and many estimable qualities
which will be long remembered by those who
“Sorrow not even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again
even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him”. [1 Thessalonians 4: 13-14]
Revd Charles Henry Crookshank was the fourth son of Alexander Crookshank, Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, M.P. for Belfast 1776-1783 and his wife Esther, daughter of Alderman William Kennedy, Mayor of Derry. He was born in Dublin on 18 June 1776. He obtained a B.A. in 1797 and a M.A. in 1808 from T.C.D. He began his ministry at Randalstown, County Antrim, moved to Laracor, County Meath in 1809 and was appointed to Tyholland on 2 June 1812. His 24 years in Tyholland were rather mired by the escalation of opposition to the payment of tithes in the 1820s and 1830s on which the clergy were dependent for their income. Peadar Livingstone in his history of Monaghan wrote that
In 1831 Rev Crookshank of Tyholland sent out his proctors to collect the tithes but they were opposed by a huge and armed mob of farmers. Crookshank sent for the police at Tyholland but they felt unable to do anything. Help did come from Monaghan but the proctors resigned and that calmed the situation and tithes remained uncollected (14).
On 6 March 1809 the Revd Crookshank married Harriett, daughter of Colonel Thomas Morris Jones of Moneyglass, County Antrim and they had five sons and five or six daughters (15). His sons Alexander and Thomas were his churchwardens in 1834 and 1835. The Rev Charles Henry Crookshank died on 12 August 1836 and was buried two days later in Tyholland.
Thomas Kirk (1781-1845) was the sculptor who made this memorial. He was a prominent figure in Dublin artistic circles in the early nineteenth century and is best known for portrait busts and funerary monuments. His work included the 13 foot statue of Nelson commissioned in 1808 which sat on the top of the pillar in O’Connell Street.
(14) Peadar Livingstone, The Monaghan Story A Documented History of the County Monaghan from the Earliest Times to 1976, (Enniskillen: Clogher Historical Society, 1980), 199. PRONI, Certificate of agreement concerning the Revd C. Crookshank and the payment of tithes, parish of Tyholland, 29 May 1833.
(15) Jack Storey, newspapers and parish records identify the sons as Alexander born in Co. Meath 1810, buried at Tyholland on 21 July 1835; Thomas, born in 1811 entered T.C.D. on 7 December 1829 aged 18, obtained B.A. in 1834 and died at Toome House, County Antrim in July 1860; Charles Henry married his cousin – Britannia Nixon of County Cavan and died in Adelaide, Southern Australia, in 1867; Robert, born 1824, a solicitor in Dublin; Arthur, baptised at Tyholland, in 1826. Their daughters were Letitia, born 1815, died 1888 in Portrush; Esther, baptised 26 November 1816, buried at Tyholland on 31 December 1816; Harriet, born 1817, died in 1843 at Richmond; Esther Elizabeth buried 9 January 1820; Mary, born 1822, died 1843 in Dublin and Lucy who died in December 1858.
John Totheram Tarleton
Revd Crookshank was succeeded by the Revd John Rotheram Tarleton, the son of Edward Tarleton, a Dublin merchant. He was a scholar of Trinity College, Dublin, ordained in 1824 and became domestic chaplain to Bishop Tottenham of Clogher. He was appointed to Tyholland on 24 August 1836 and held the prebend and was rector for almost fifty years. His name appears frequently in the parish registers as he baptized, married and buried his parishioners.
In 1825 he married Judith Catherine, only daughter of Frederick Falkiner of Congor House, County Tipperary and they had four sons and one daughter. A number of the Tarleton’s grandchildren were baptized in Tyholland and sadly an infant grandson, less than two months old was buried in 1862. The Revd Tarleton died on 21 February 1885 and was buried at Tyholland four days later. The Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette of 28 February 1885 contains an obituary which records his distinguished career at Trinity College, his long ministry in Tyholland, his work for the diocese at the time of disestablishment and his many virtues and honourable character. The Easter Vestry minutes of 1885 record their sorrow and regret and the great loss the parish had sustained by his death and refer to their late rector ‘whose generosity, benevolence and high Christian worth and integrity have made him beloved and respected in this parish for nearly half a century’.
In 1887, his children had the present East Window of the church erected in memory of him. When the vestry was made aware of this plan by Frederick F. Tarleton in the autumn of 1885 they readily gave their approval but most respectfully asked that the ‘artist will avoid having any figure in it that might encourage what is known by the name Ritualism’. (SV 17 Oct 1885). In 1887 the church was closed for about three weeks, 21 August to 11 September, in preparation for the window’s construction. The inscription reads ‘In memory of the Reverend John Rotheram Tarleton erected by his children 1887’. The Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette of 12 November 1887 describes the window as of ‘floral design’ executed by Messrs Forrest and Sons, Liverpool, who were glass merchants in that city.
The Revd Tarleton was predeceased by his wife to whom there is a memorial on the church wall.
JUDITH CATHERINE TARLETON
Sacred
to the memory of
JUDITH CATHERINE
the beloved wife of
JOHN ROTHERAM TARLETON
having lived
in the holy faith and fear of
GOD
and in the exercise
of Christian love
she died in the Lord
24 July 1868
aged 69.
James Wilson
The Revd James Wilson succeeded the Revd Tarleton as rector of Tyholland parish. Following his death in 1910 a memorial tablet was placed above the vestry door in memory of him.
To the glory of
God
In memory of
The Revd James Wilson
for 25 years
Rector of Tyholland
he died on St. Mark’s Eve 1910
aged 73.
In the church which he loved,
among the people to whom he ministered,
and where he lived for so many years
his gentle and unselfish life,
his Widow and Children
have placed this tablet
with
Gratitude, Reverence
and Love.
The Revd Wilson ministered in the parish for quarter of a century 1885-1910. He was the son of a James Wilson and was educated at St Aidan’s College. He was ordained in Armagh in 1881 at the age of 44. He ministered at Templecarne, County Donegal, until his institution at Tyholland on 28 April 1885. Almost immediately the state of the church and school came up for consideration at vestry meetings. In August 1886 it was decided to place the school under the National Board and extensive repairs to the church were carried out in the following years. Vestry minutes from the first decade of the twentieth century refer to the illness of the rector on occasion and his son James was curate from 1903-1906.
James Wilson married Letitia, daughter of Thompson Ferris of Ballarat, Australia, and granddaughter of David Ruddell of Peacefield, at Seagoe, Portadown, County Armagh, on 20 October 1868. (Belfast Newsletter, 22 October 1868). They had three children all born at Portadown. Both their sons became Church of Ireland clergymen. Revd James Wilson died on 24 April 1910 at the Dublin home of his son the Revd David F.R. Wilson, succentor of St Patrick’s Cathedral and later its dean. His funeral service in Dublin was private but a memorial service was held in Tyholland at the same time. (Church of Ireland Gazette, 6 May 1910). A sketch of the inscribed mural tablet to be placed in the church in his memory was brought before a select vestry meeting on 21 May 1913 and approved.
Two memorials to members of the Richardson family of Poplar Vale adorn the walls of this church, including the most recent memorial to be constructed. The first is to –
JOHN RICHARDSON
Sacred to the memory of
John Richardson Esqr
of Poplar Vale, County of Monaghan,
formerly Captain in the 83rd Regiment,
who died 23rd of August 1859,
aged 64 years.
Having entered the Army at the early age of 13,
he was engaged in most of the great actions of
the Peninsular war and at the Battle of Waterloo.
He was twice severely wounded
during his long military career,
and after his retirement from the army in 1840,
he constantly displayed a zealous
and steadfast determination to do his duty.
His sorrowing sisters and children,
who erect this tablet,
forbear to fill it with superfluous praise.
May they who knew him best and loved him most,
praise him in their future lives
by a remembrance of his example
and an imitation of his virtues.John Richardson succeeded to the Poplar Vale estate following the death of his cousin Edward in 1845. Although the Richardson’s family home was in the parish of Tedavnet, most of their estate was in the parish of Tyholland where they worshipped and played an active part in parish affairs. John Richardson had a very distinguished military career, was High Sheriff of County Monaghan in 1846 and was buried at Tyholland on 30 August 1859.
He married firstly Elizabeth Woodwright of Gola, by whom he had one daughter and secondly Frances Jacson of Barton, Lancashire and they had four sons and one daughter. Some of John and Frances grandchildren were baptized at Tyholland and many family members are buried there. John and Frances were the grandparents of Major Edward John Richardson.
Manderson, Dublin, is engraved on the bottom right hand corner of this memorial. The father and son partnership of Messrs W. Manderson and W.R. Manderson, Victorian monument makers and suppliers of stone, statuary and marble, were active between the years 1839 and 1866. They worked on the white on black genre which became popular at the end of the 18th century. Their business was based at 172 and 174 Great Brunswick Street, Dublin, now known as Pearse Street.
EDWARD JOHN RICHARDSON
To the Glory of God
and in fraternal and loving remembrance
of
Major Edward John Richardson J.P. D.L.of Poplar Vale, Monaghan
who entered into rest on the 17th January 1938
aged 63 years,
and was interred in this churchyard.
He was High Sheriff of this county in the year 1901
and for many years held high position in the Church of Ireland in the Diocese of Clogher.
For twenty seven years he was the beloved and revered Right Worshipful Deputy
and subsequently Grand Master of the Masonic Province of Armagh.
This tablet has been erected by his brethren of that province
in order to record their deep and lasting appreciation of his constant devotion
to the interests of the craft, his many sterling qualities,
his integrity and uprightness in his dealings with his fellowmen
and his abounding kindness of heart which endeared him to all.
To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.
A.L. 5938
Edward John Richardson was the son of Edward Richardson of Poplar Vale and his wife Anna Charlotte daughter of Robert Adams, a surgeon to Queen Victoria and his wife Mary, daughter of Alexander Nixon Montgomery and his wife Elizabeth Stanley. His great grandparents Alexander and Elizabeth are also memoralized on the walls of this church. He was born in 1874 and was a captain and honourary major in the 5th Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. He died in 1938 unmarried and as all his five siblings also died unmarried he was succeeded by a cousin. Jack Storey writes that there are two vaults in the Tyholland graveyard – ‘one to the late Major Richardson of Poplar Vale & the other, much larger, to the Right Honourable Edward Lucas of Castleshane’.
This memorial was made by Harrison and Son, monumental sculptors of Pearse Street, Dublin. The firm was founded by Charles William Harrison, architectural sculptor of Dublin who died in 1903. His son and grandsons continued to operate the firm in the twentieth century.
Whilta Gravestone in Porch
On 4 July 1927 the select vestry approved a written request from Dr Whitla of Monaghan to have an old gravestone recording the death of John Williams on 14 February 1723 aged 70, set within the wall of the church tower. The brass plaque underneath states that it was removed from the churchyard for its better preservation in 1927 by Sir William Whitla and his brother Meredith, direct descendants of John Williams. The Williams family lived at Groves in the parish and this John Williams was the great great great grandfather of Sir William Whitla and his first cousin the artist Alexander Williams. The Williams family played a part in parish life during the eighteenth century, family members were church wardens for various years.
Exterior Wall Tablet
Jack Storey mentions a tablet erected over the entrance door of the church which is now difficult to read. It states that ‘This Tower was built & bell erected in the year of our Lord, 1827 – Rev Charles Henry Crookshank, Rector, Thomas Robinson, James Campbell, Churchwardens’.
In summary, all these memorials are to the memory of persons who would have been regarded as ‘well off’ and therefore their families could afford to place such memorials in the church. It is interesting but probably not surprising that there are quite a number of family connections, the Stanleys were related to the Montgomerys and the Montgomerys to the Richardsons. John Hatchell had a connection in that he had bought the Montgomery family home, Bessmount Park. It was common practice for clergymen to be remembered in the churches in which they served, four of whom are honoured here but all by family members.
© Brigid Clesham, August 2024