Fermanagh - Derryvullan Old Church Cemetery 271-277
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File contributed by: C.Hunt/Typed by Celia Ewald
DERRYVULLAN OLD CHURCH CEMETERY 271-277
[From Lady Dorothy Lowry-Corry.]
The old churchyard of this parish, in which, until 1854,
stood the parish church, is situated in the town land of
Derryvullan (I.e. Maelan's oak-wood) on a hilly promontory
overlooking Tamlaght Bay, on the eastern shore of Upper
Lough Erne. This place seems to be first mentioned in the
following sentence in the Martyrology of Tallaght; written
about the eighth century A.D.: -- "Diochuill MacMaelduibh in
Areach Muilt oe Locuibh Eirne." The church is mentioned by
the Four Masters as that of Aireach Maolain,* and in the
Annals of Ulster as Aire-Maelain-eaglais Tigernach. The
name became latinized as Ecclesia Derrydmelan, by which name
this church is mentioned in the Ecclesiastical Taxation of
the Diocese of Clogher, A.D. 1302-7. The church was
dedicated to St. Tighernach (28th February). The parish was
formerly very large. Before the Reformation it included
that of Magheracross, where there was a chapel of ease, and
portions of the parishes of Kilskeery and Dromore, County
Tyrone. The names of a number of the pre-Reformation clergy
are known from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century.
They include Arthur MacCawell, who became Bishop of Clogher
in 1389, and John Maguire, during whose pastorate
Derryvullan Church was desecrated by the shedding of blood
in 1484. From 1610 to 1870 the living was in the gift of
Trinity College, Dublin. After the Reformation the parish
ceased to be a distinct benefice in the Roman Catholic
Church. From that date until the nineteenth century the
parish was in six detached portions, the largest of which
was in the north of County Fermanagh and
*O'Donovan in the Annals of the Four Masters (vol. Iv, p.
923 note) remarks that it is curious how the place-name
"Aireach" is anglicized "Derry" in the County Fermanagh.
included Irvinestown, where, ever since the seventeenth
century, there have been a chapel of ease and burial-ground.
The new church and churchyard here became, after
Disestablishment, the parish church, etc., of Derryvullan
North. The parish church stood in the second largest
portion of the parish; it was ruinous in 1623, but it was in
repair in 1679. In 1854 it was ordered to be pulled down, a
new church and churchyard having been consecrated in the
adjoining town land of Mulrod. The old rectory was at
Tullyclea, in the Irvinestown part of the parish. During the
nineteenth century some re-arrangement of parochial
boundaries and formation of new parishes took place, so that
the modern ecclesiastical parish, is a compact one, formed
out of portions of the old parishes of Derryvullan,
Derrybrusk, Enniskillen, and Cleenish. The interior width
of the old church was 27 feet; the east wall and part of the
north wall are still standing. There was a large east
window, but no windows in the north wall. The churchyard is
in the custody of the Enniskillen Rural District Council,
and is still used for burials by families of all
denominations. It is surrounded by a very good wall, and
contains a good many Irish yews, lilacs, and laburnums, as
well as a great number of tombstones, on over 120 of which
the inscriptions are still (1914) more or less decipherable.
The inscriptions on all those prior to 1803 are given
below; they are of some interest, as the earliest extant
Parish Register only begins at that date. The previous
Parish Register of Derryvullan is said to have been cut up
into tailors' measuring strips by the clerk or sexton, who
followed that trade. About 100 yards south-east of the
churchyard is situated St. Patrick's Well. It is very small,
and there is a tradition that St. Patrick baptized converts
here after preaching at Tamlaght, an adjoining town land.
The only relics of the old church are the Communion Plate,
which is still in use, and which was presented by James King
of Gola, in the neighbouring Parish of Derrybrusk, in 1727,
and an old octagonal font with an octagonal stem, which is
now preserved in the new church. Its age is unknown, but it
seems to be of fifteenth-century design. The is any
inscription on it, it must be interred. The Crawfords held
lands from the Corrys of Castle Coole. Lawrence Crawford's
mother was Anne, sister to John Corry, of Castle Coole who
died circa 1683, and his daughter, Margaret, married James
Corry, of Carrowmacmea.
_____
In the south-western corner of the churchyard: --
No. 2. Headstone: --
I H S
This stone was 'er | ected by Terence Mc | Manus in memory of |
his father Michel who | died February 12th 1740 | aged 45.
_____
No. 3 Irish cross. On the back is a skull and cross-bones: --
I H S
PRAY FOR THE SOUL | OF Patrick McMAN | US WHO DIED OCTO | BER
THE 3 1716 AGED | 23 YEARS.
_____
No. 4. Round-headed headstone. On the back xvi.: --
I H S
PRAY FOR THE | SOUL OF CATE |MANUS | WHO DY | ED AVI | 1709.
_____
No. 5 Irish cross: --
. . . [M| ARY | McMANUS | WHO DIED | MAR 5 | . . .
No. 6. Headstone: --
Here lieth | y Body of Roger | McManus who | Dyed Anno Domino |
1745 aged 69.
No. 7 Headstone: --
Here lyeth | the body of | Constantine | Macmanus who | departed
this | life July the | 1st 1750 aged |
_
No. 8. Irish cross: --
I H S
HUGH MACMA | NUS BRYAN ERECT | ED THIS CROSS THE 12 | OF OCTOBER
IN THE | YEAR 1714.
_____
No. 9 Flat stone, in front of last: --
HERE LYETH INTERRED | THE BODY OF HUGH (MAC) | MANUS . . . |
THIS LIFE . . . | 1735. AGED 59 YEARS | HERE LYETH THE BODY
| OF ELINOR MACMANUS | DAUGHTER TO HUGH MA | C MANUS WHO
DEPARTED | THIS LIFE SEPTEMBER | 18 1732 AGED 58 YEARS | H
(ere lieth y body of | B . . . MacManus son to H . . . | . .
. who departed | this life . . . The 21st 1762 ag | ed 59
years. [Below the inscription a skull and cross-bones.] A
Bryan McManus was employed by Mr. James Auchenleck, of
Thomastown, Co. Fermanagh, in 1749, in collecting the tithes
of Enniskillen and Derryvullan Parishes, and a Bryan McManus
was employed by Col. Margetson Armar, of Castle Coole, in
1752, in paying servants and laborers at Belle Isle, Sir
Ralph Gore's seat in Co. Fermanagh.
_____
No. 10 Headstone: --
I H S
HERE LYETH THE | BODY OF REDMO | ND McManus | WHO DIED IN 1744
AGED 76 | YEARS ALSO HIS | WIFE | ROSE . . .
_____
No. 11 Headstone: --
HERE LIETH THE | BODY OF PHELIN | McMANUS WHO DIED | AUGUST 1792
| AGED 80 YEARS | ANDREW McMAN | US WHO DIED AU | GUST 1752 AGED
| 8 YEARS.
_____
No. 12 Headstone: --
HERE LIETH THE | BODY OF PETER Mc | MANUS WHO DIED | JANUARY THE
31th | 1757 AGED 45 YEARS.
_____
No. 13. Irish cross: --
HERE | LYETH | THE BODY | . . . | McMANUS WHO | DYED JANUARY |
26 1721. | AGED 69.
_____
No. 14. Cross: --
Here | Lyeth | the body of Ro | ry Man | us . . .
_____
The south-western portion of this churchyard seems to have
been a burial-ground of the MacManus clan, who had long been
connected with Derryvullan, for Maurice, or Murtagh,
MacManus, son of Cathal More MacManus, and Archdeacon of
Clogher, who died on the 18th February, 1441, had been
Parson or Rector and Plebanus of Daremaelan. The MacManuses
had control of the shipping on Lough Erne, and held the
office of hereditary chief managers of the fisheries under
the Maguires, Lords of Fermanagh.
Among the MacManus tombstones are the two following: --
No. 15. Headstone: --
HERE LYETH YE | BODY OF MILES | HIGGINS WH | O DEPARTED T | HIS
LIFE . . . | AD 1771 AGED | 52 YEARS.
_____
No. 16. Irish cross: --
On the eastern side a cross with no inscription.
_____
No. 17. Irish cross: --
I H S
THIS WAS ERECT | ED BY JOHN SON TO | CHARLES MACAF | FREY WHO
DIED JAN | UARY THE 25TH 1762 | AGED 69.
_____
No. 18. Headstone: --
THIS STONE | BELONGETH | TO TARANCE | McDOLE |
_____
No. 19. Headstone: --
I H S
Erected by Edward | Lunny in memory | of his father Hugh |
Lunny who Dep this life May 1763.
No. 20. Headstone: --
THIS STONE WAS ER | ECTED BY MARY ARM | STRONG IN MEMORY |
OF HER MOTHER MARY | SEERY WHO DEP [The remainder of the
inscription is buried.]
_____
No. 21. Headstone: --
Only word legible "Roage."
_____
No. 22. Flat stone: --
This Stone Erected by John | Moore in memory of his Wife
Elizabeth Moore who | departed this life April | 16th 1794
aged 45 years.
_____
No. 23. Headstone: --
I H S
Here lieth The Body of Cornelius | Corry Who Died | ye 4th
April 1737 | Aged 81 years Also His | grandson Patrick |
McGahey Died ye | 5th August 1767 Aged | 28 yrs.
_____
No. 24. Headstone: --
I H S
Erected by Walter | Welch in memory of | his dau | Margaret
| Welch who dept this | life Nov. 2nd 1800 | aged 24 years.
_____
No. 25. Raised slab: --
Here lyeth Body of Edwd | Boardman of Lisnaskea | who Dept
this life June 11 17 -- | aged 4 | 4 | yrs also his wife
Elizth | Boardman . . . .
. . .
_____
No. 26. Flat stone: --
HERE LYETH THE BODY OF | JANE SHAW WIFE TO JOHN | SHAW WHO
DEPARTED THIS | LIFE JULY 4TH 1769 AGED 68 | YEARS | HERE
LIETH THE BODY OF JOHN SHAW WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE | MARCH
THE 15th 1778 | AGED 76 years.
continued in derryvullan02.html
Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the
Memorials of the Dead in Ireland Vol IX. (FHL # 1279285)