Wilde excited about Lord Farnham’s Crannóg
BAILIEBORO’S BLOODY BELL
In 1863, Sir William Wilde (Oscar's dad) reported on an excavation of a crannog on Tonymore Lough. Historian Jonathan Smyth tells us more in his Times Past column...
An edition of the Royal Irish Academy journal, published in 1863, provides an informative description of the excavation carried out on Tonymore crannog, on Lord Farnham’s County Cavan estate. Then on Monday, January 26, 1863, Sir William Robert Wills Wilde delighted members of the Academy with a talk on the findings that were made; Wilde was both vice-president and secretary of foreign correspondence with the society.
By profession, William Wilde FRCSI, was an esteemed eye surgeon, ordinary oculist to Queen Victoria, a prolific author, and father of Oscar Wilde, the celebrated Irish wit and literary genius whose star still shines brightly. William’s own written works were on a variety of subjects, often covering the medical front, archaeology, travel, folklore and other matters. Books written by Wilde senior include The Epidemics of Ireland; The closing years of the life of Dean Swift; Practical observations on aural surgery and the nature and treatment of diseases of the ear; The beauties of the Boyne and the Blackwater; The Narrative of a Voyage to Madeira, Teneriffe, and Along the Shores of the Mediterranean; and then there were his academic contributions to journals that included the likes of the Royal Irish Academy; and The Irish Builder.
Wilde’s foray into Cavan's ancient past takes us on a tour of discovery to the crannóg at Tonymore, where much of what was recorded is concerned with the ‘later occupation’ of the man-made lake island. Sir William's paper, as read by him to his colleagues, noted that: ‘On the 23rd January, 1860, I communicated to the Academy an account of a newly discovered crannóg, on the property of Lord Farnham, in the townland of Cloneygonnell, parish of Kilmore, barony of Lower Loughtee… the aspect of this crannog at that time was that of a green oblong mound, partially cutaway by the line of railway (for the MGWR) from Crossdoney to Cavan, from which town it is distant about two mile, one mile from the old cathedral church of the diocese, and about 500 yards from the ruined castle of Tonymore.’
As an interesting aside, an edition of the Royal Irish Academy’s journal in 1864, suggests that Tonymore castle may have been the residence of Hugh O’Reilly, the Catholic Bishop of Kilmore in the 1630s when Bishop Bedell lived in the nearby neighbourhood.
Tonymore Lough, upon which the artificial island rested, was described by Wilde as a small lake measuring a quarter of a mile in diameter and that the drying out of the crannóg was assisted by drainage works carried out around the lake in the 1850s; one account suggests that the lake required draining at the time of the railway track being laid because the ground in the locality was quite marshy. Incidentally, the strength of the crannóg was demonstrated by the fact that a portion of it was able to hold the railway track and could support the trains that passed over it. Sir William surmises that the crannóg was a place of safe retreat for the ancient Cavan dwellers who lived, nestled in an area surrounded by raths like ‘Shancloon’ and ‘Cloneygonnell.’ He also spoke of the excellent pike fishing for which Tonymore Lough was celebrated and attracted fishermen to its lapping waters.
Wilde specifically thanked Mr O’Brien, the ‘intelligent’ stationmaster at Cavan, who first told him about the Tonymore crannóg and then overjoyed the academy with a fruitful donation of some material discovered at the archaeological site. From O’Brien's information we learn that the island rested upon oak beams, laid into position in ‘layers’ and that below the surface of the soil various artifacts were readily discovered. They were items that included quern stones and two elk heads, one of them remaining in the possession of Lord Farnham. Under the noble landowner’s direction, Dr Malcolmson from Cavan undertook to do a further study of the location.
On behalf of Lord Farnham, Wilde would subsequently present 41 silver coins to the Royal Irish Academy, all safely retrieved from the crannóg. The archaic hoard dated back to the reign of Elizabeth I, James I, and Charles I, with the journal noting that the money, although from a later period, would greatly contribute to the ‘extensive’ collection now amassed by the academy. Wilde was hopeful that the coins and other similar items could be arranged properly with the competent assistance of ‘some numismatist'.
I recently discovered a reference to a relic named the ‘bloody bell’, the Clog na fuila that was kept near Bailieborough. Evidently, used in healing or to ward off spirits, I could find very little to increase upon my knowledge of the bell’s ritualistic purpose, only save to say that the bell, by the means of an attached cord, had to be swung three times in a circular motion about the head of the beleaguered person. A mention of the Bailieborough bell features in a paper on ‘primitive bells’, from the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. 1, published in 1855. Its author, Mr Bell of Dungannon, offered the following commentary on such objects and their similarity to ecclesiastical handbells found in Scotland: ‘The barbarous usage, the judicatory purposes for which bells were in requisition, the miracles narrated of them, and the veneration with which they were regarded, render relics of this kind valuable from their illustration of ancient Celtic manners, and connect them with the history both of the Irish people and of the Scottish Gaols’ who possessed ‘the same celestial bells.’
As John Donne might say, ‘For whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.’
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