The Lower Blackwater Region
The Lower Blackwater Region is in western Co. Waterford, on both sides of the River Blackwater betweem the points were it is spanned at Cappoquin on ByRoute© 2 and Youghal Bridge on ByRoute© 1.
This page describes a route southwards down the eastern bank from Cappoquin and then northwards up the western bank from Youghal Bridge.
Cappoquin // Clashmore
Lefanta, just south of Cappoquin, was the location of an archaeoligcal dig In the 1980s at the town, in which 7,000 year old artifacts were discovered, which evidence some of Ireland’s earliest inhabitants
Affane, the site of an ancient ford over the Finisk River, has an atmospheric old CoI church and graveyard.
Affane was the scene of one of the last private battles fought in the British Isles, a celebrated engagement on the 1st February 1565 between the armies of Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond (with allied O’Kennedys, Gillapatricks and Burkes) and his widowed stepfather, Gerald Fitzgerald, 15th Earl of Desmond (with allied O’Connors, O’Briens, MacCarthys, O’Sullivans, and McSheehys, Lord Power of Curraghmore and Sir Piers Butler of Cahir). As with most such confrontations, the immediate causus belli (the borderlands held by Sir Maurice Fitzgerald) were less relevant than the feud that had simmered between the two families for centuries.
Lord Ormond’s brother, Edmund Butler, hit Lord Desmond in the right hip with a pistol-shot, cracking his thighbone and throwing him from his mount. With their leader fallen, the Geraldine troops were routed and the Butlers pursued them to the riverbank. About 300 Geraldines were killed, with many drowning as they were intercepted by armed boats while crossing the river. As the wounded and captive Desmond was carried shoulder-high from the field, an Ormonde commander rode up and jubilantly inquired, “Where is now the great Lord Desmond?” Whereupon Desmond is said to have retorted, “Where but in his proper place, on the necks of the Butlers“.
Queen Elizabeth I was furious, and both Earls were summoned to London to explain their actions. Ormond, a maternal cousin of the Queen’s and a court favourite, managed to convince her that the Geraldines had been at fault. As a result, Desmond and his brothers, John and James, were arrested and detained in the Tower of London; it was seven years before the earl returned to Munster, contributing significantly to unrest in the province and, ultimately, to the first of the Desmond Rebellions in 1569.
Affane House occupies the site of Affane Castle, birthplace of Valentine Greatrakes (1629~83), aka “The Stroker” who cured Scrofula and other diseases by stroking with his hands and by hypnotism and faith healing; King Charles II was amongst his patients.
Villierstown, a beautiful village with stone cut houses, was built in the first part of the C18th by John Villiers (1692 – 1766), 1st Earl and 5th Viscount of Grandison, a cousin of King Charles II’s mistress, in order to service a linen weaving industry on his estate. Anglican weavers were brought from Co. Armagh, but the industry died in the first half of the C19th when pressure groups in England succeeded in stifling the Irish linen trade through a series of protective tariff barriers. The families who stayed survived through work gained on the estate or by fishing for salmon.
The elegant Queen Anne style church has three fine stained glass windows.
The clock was a gift of Mary Villiers Stuart to the people of the village. Two monuments commemorate some C19th Villiers Stuarts.
The Quay, which served commercial traffic on the navigable River Blackwater, is now a peaceful extension into a lovely stretch of the river. Water-skiing facilities are available.
Dromana House has for over 500 years been the seat of the Lords of Decies in an unbroken line, albeit occasional changes of surname. It was the home of Sir Maurice Fitzgerald, the supposed instigator of the Battle of Affane, and birthplace of Katherine Fitzgerald, “The Old Countess” of Desmond, who according to Sir Walter Raleigh and others died falling out of a cherry or nut tree on the grounds of Inchiquinn Castle in 1604, aged 140. Dromana had an exciting time during the wars of the 1640s. Its owner, Gerald Fitzgerald, sided with the English, but his wife, Mabel Digby, sympathised with the Kilkenny Confederacy rebels. As a result between 1640 and 1645 their residence was besieged numerous times by both armies, leaving it quite ruinous.
Dromana passed to the Villiers in 1676 when the Fitzgerald heiress, Katherine, eloped with her future husband Brigadier-General the Hon. Edward Villiers (d. 1693), eldest son of the 4th Viscount Grandison. Their son John Villiers, 1st Earl of Grandison, did much to transform the estate, and planned extensive additions to the house, some of which were not in place until the mid-C19th.
The exigencies of Irish country house life in the mid C20th took their toll, and in 1964 the large Georgian section was demolished, leaving only the late C17th house on its mediaeval foundations. This is currently / was until recently the residence of Emily and James Villiers Stuart.
Dromana Gate, the only Irish example of the Brighton Pavilion style of architecture, stands at the end of a bridge spanning the Finnisk river. A bizarre mixture of Hindu Gothic with ogee arches, it was originally built in 1826 of wood and papier maché to greet Thersia Pauline Ott of Vienna, on her return from honeymoon with her new husband Henry Villiers-Stuart (1803 – 1874), (who had rocked “society” earlier that year by being elected as an MP in the cause of Catholic Emancipation). The couple were so enchanted with it that they had it reconstructed in more durable materials.
Dromana Woods are all that remain of the former Grandison estate.
Kiltera Ogham Stones are signposted. One reads Collabot son of Lugson son of Lobchu; the second has the inscription Mucoi Luga. A third was removed to the National Museum in Dublin.
Aglish (probably a corruption of Eaglais, an Irish Latinate word for church) most likely took its name from the ruined old Transitional church that may still be seen despite the hideous modern Grotto imposed in front of it. Some interesting headstones can be seen in the graveyard, which discernible inscriptions dating back to the early C18th. The Roman Catholic church was built in the C19th.
Clashmore (”Great Hollow / Trench”) a photogenic village pleasantly situated between the River Blackwater and the Drum Hills on the River Greagagh, is known for its brightly coloured old houses.
The Old Distillery was built by Lord Hastings, 12th Earl of Huntingdon, and was run by the Dennehy family of Laurentum House. At it’s peak this distillery produced approx. 20,000 gallons of whiskey annually and had an adjoining house which had a secret cellar where illicit whiskey was stored to avoid excise duty, but was constantly raided by excise officers, which on one occasion led to the workers releasing thousands of gallons of whiskey into the river; rumour has it that the cattle that drank from the river later that day were all drunk! The Old Still ceased production around 1840.
Clashmore Heritage Centre is housed in the former CoI church (1818), built on the site of a monastery founded by a disciple of Saint Carthage of Lismore called Saint Conan / Mochua, to whom a nearby Holy Well is also dedicated; this is a pleasant stroll.
Our Lady of the Wayside Grotto (1971) marks the start of the 8km Kilmaloo Walk, taking in the ruin of O’Heeny / Ballyheeny Castle, a FitzGerald stronghold reputedly incorporating parts a C10th fortification built by Sineach Ruadh, and lovely views of the Rivers Licky and Blackwater. Wild flora en route includes hawthorn, hazel and ash, perfect habitats for the population of hedgehogs, badgers, stoats and rabbits.
A Rath in the townland of Kilmore, the largest and best preserved of its kind in the County, is one of several in the area; those at Creggs and Ballysallagh are said to have long subterranean passages.
Youghal Bridge is on ByRoute© 1.
Rincrew / Rhinecrew is the site of an old church and graveyard, beside a ruined medieval castle built by the Knights Templar overlooking the entrance to the Blackwater River Valley.
Templemichael parish church (CoI) is derelict, but through a gap in the door it is possible to see the Smyth family’s crumbling vault.
Some conjecture that the name of the parish may be connected with the Templars of Rincrew castle.
Ballynatray Estate & Molona Abbey
Ballynatray Estate, recently purchased by an English businessman for c.12,000,000 Euros, is private property, but is crossed by several public rights of way.
Ballynatray House is a fine Georgian mansion, incorporating some walls of a much earlier house and parts of a medieval castle. (Photo – Irish Waterway History)
The land was acquired after the Desmond Rebellion by Sir Walter Raleigh, who sold it along with all his other Irish property to Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, through whom it passed to his son-in-law Grice Smyth, whose descendant, another Grice Smyth, built the current house in 1795.
His daughter, Penelope Caroline Smyth, fled to Gretna Green in 1846 to marry Carlos Ferdinando Borbone, Prince of Sicily and son of the King of Naples. The couple went on to marry a further three times – in Madrid, in Rome and in England – but their union was never recognised under Sicilian law because the King of Naples withheld his consent. Penelope Smyth was so beautiful that she featured in a book called Some Fair Hibernians (1897).
His descendants at Ballynatray were not much happier. It was in fact a very tragic family, with a lot of young deaths, and the last generation of the family literally died out in the 1950s. Uncannily, at least half of all the deaths in the family took place on the 13th day of the month. Two of the three siblings of the final generation, all of whom died before the age of 35, also died on the 13th.
The family were apparently very well regarded in the area, mainly due to their benevolence to their tenants during the Great Famine.
Molana Abbey, originally built on an island, is accessible (on certain days of the week) via an early C19th causeway built by Grice Smyth. (Photo – Irish Waterway History)
Founded in the C6th by Saint Maelanfaidh, the monastery was a powerful influence throughout Ireland for several centuries before falling victim to Viking rapacity. It was re-established as an Augustinian Priory after the C12th arrival of the Normans by Strongbow’s colleague Raymond le Gros, who was reputedly buried here in 1186.
Ballynatray estate occupies much of the modern parish of Glendine and contributes to the unique beauty of this wooded area.
Glendine parish church is worth a visit for its idyllic grotto-like setting in a small wooded valley with a tumbling river and a picturesque cascade.
Kilcockan parish is noted for its scenic hilly landscape.
Kilcockan church, probably established in the C6th, was clearly connected with Molana Abbey, and was served by Augustinians from there from c.1200 until King Henry VIII’s 1540 Dissolution of the Monasteries. The vault is the longest but by no means the oldest of the graves in this ancient place.
Strancally Castle on the west bank of the River Blackwater is a Gothic revival mansion complete with arrow loops and a keep, designed by James and George Pain and built for John Keily in the 1820s.
The original castle, now in ruins, was built by Raymond le Gros and later held by the FitzGeralds of Desmond; it became infamous in folklore for its “murder hole”, used by some Spanish tenants around 1570 to dispose of neighbouring landowners into the river below. Stories vary as how it came to be destroyed, but most agree that an early 19th bolt of lightning delivered the coup de grace.
There is no access to the estate, which is privately owned by the Billensteiner family.
Headborough House is a beautiful early Georgian mansion on a hillside overlooking the spot where the River Bride flows into the Blackwater. It was formerly the seat of the Smyths of Headborough, a branch of the Smyth family of nearby Ballynatray.
The house dates from the C17th, but was largely remodelled in 1827 by the Rev. Percy Smyth (who also built a summer residence, now Monatray House Hotel). His son Percy Smyth (1839 – 1910) died of a heart attack on the way back from the funeral of his wife; their three sons died without issue, and her cousin Patrick Perceval Maxwell inherited the house in 1952. He was married to the prolific popular novelist Magdalen King-Hall (1907 – 1971), whose Tea At Crumbo Castle (1949), about the tragic life of an Anglo Irish family, is based on Strancally Castle, while her How Small A Part Of Time (1946) is based on the C18th Anne and Eliza Coughlan of Ardo House (now known as “McKenna’s”), near Ardmore.
The property is strictly private.
Knockanore is an unremarkable village, but its name has been made famous by an excellent locally produced artisan cheese.
Knockanore is within easy reach of Tullow and Camphire south of Cappoquin, all on ByRoute© 2.
Them Golden Fields I Trod is a book of local memoirs by Francie Murray, profusely illustrated with black and white photographs taken during the 1930s and 1940s of historic sites, people, and events.
