Roscrea - History

History

Early History & Medieval Period c.550-1500

Roscrea has historically been an important trading town. The settlement grew around an ancient church or monastery, founded by St. Cronan in the late 6th century. The town is situated strategically in a gap in the hills on one of the great ancient roads of Ireland, the Slighe Dála. It became an important ecclesiastical centre evidenced by the beautiful west gable of a Romanesque church, a 12th century sculptured High Cross, and a round tower also built during the 12th century. The round tower has a doorway 15 feet (4.6 m) from the ground and is the oldest surviving part of the ancient monastery. The usual conical cap is missing as the tower was shortened by c. 6 metres (20 ft) when it was used by snipers in the 1798 rebellion. The 8th century Book of Dimma, which belonged to Roscrea monastery, is preserved in Trinity College, Dublin. It contains a copy of the Gospels and a Missa Infirorum, and is enclosed in a shrine of bronze with silver plates ornamented with Celtic interlacing. In 1812, the Romanesque church was demolished with the exception of the west gable and its stones used for the erection of the parish church of the Church of Ireland at the same site. The church was designed by the Roscrea architect James Sheane and restored under the supervision of Sir Thomas Newenham Deane in 1879. Records show that John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist movement, preached in Roscrea in June 1750. Roscrea was one of the main settlements in the ancient and medieval Munster kingdom of Éile (commonly anglicised as Ely) and was briefly a diocesan see in the 12th century, before the superior power of the O’Briens ensured that the Roscrea was incorporated into the diocese of Killaloe.

King John I of England (reigned 1199-1216) is credited with having erected a castle at Roscrea in 1213, of which a circular tower and some sections of wall are still extant; such castles were built as part of a policy to consolidate the Norman conquest of the midlands. In 1209 King John's officials established twelve shires or counties in Leinster and Munster, one of which was Tipperary, covering areas of English settlement such as Roscrea. Within county Tipperary there were fourteen baronies; Roscrea was the chief town in the barony of Ikerrin; baronies became obsolete after the Local Government Act (1898), which set up county and borough/town councils. From the mid-1300s (particularly after the Black Death) and 1400s native Irish influence the areas outside of the English Pale revived, strengthened by the intermarrying of the Norman aristocracy with the native Irish aristocracy. The building of a castle at Roscrea was the subject of dispute between the king’s representatives and the bishops of Killaloe until 1280, as the castle was built on church land without the bishop’s permission. Though the castle was built as a royal castle, it was often in the hands of the Butlers as they controlled the surrounding lands and was close to Nenagh, where the Butlers had one of their principal castles. The castle was rebuilt in stone between 1276-81, probably as part of the King Edward I’s orders to secure safe storage and transport of mined silver from the Silvermines to the west of Nenagh. Large scale mining of silver ceased at the Silvermines in the early 1300s following disputes with local people and as a result of Gaelic resurgence in the area. The later rectangular gate house, known as Ormonde Castle, was built by James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond some time before 1450 and still stands today. There are also references to a gaol in Roscrea castle during the period c.1280-1315.

There is no surviving reference to the granting of a royal charter for the founding of Roscrea and it is likely that the town began to grow around the castle in the 1200s, adding to the existing ecclesiastical settlements. There are references to ‘the burgesses of Roscrea’, two mills and a town oven, which is accepted as proof that Roscrea was a medieval town. In 1315, when Sir Edmund Butler was created 1st earl of Carrick (he later distinguished himself during the Bruce Invasion of Ireland), he was granted the castle and manors of Carrick and Roscrea, along with the attached lands. The castle remained in the Butler earl of Ormond’s possession until it was sold by the 2nd duke of Ormond in 1703. The earls of Ormond had good relations with the local Éile (Ely) O’Carroll family, the ancient Gaelic lords of the area, and intermarried with them. The earls of Ormond were largely absent from Ireland between c.1464-1514, being engaged in the Wars of the Roses in England, and left the running of their lands to junior members of their extended family. Today the Catholic church of St. Cronin is built close to the site of a ruined Franciscan friary, which was founded by the O'Carrolls about 1477. Some portion of the walls of the old Friary has been retained in the modern church building.

Early Modern Period to Nineteenth Century 1500-1900

The expanding power of the O’Brien earls of Thomand from the West and the Fitzgerald earls of Kildare from the east caused a weakening of Butler authority and to Roscrea being controlled by the Gaelic lords of Éile, the O’Carroll’s, for several decades. Despite attempts of the Butlers to re-conquer northern Tipperary in the 1530s a manuscript in the National Library, probably dating from the time of the Irish ‘Reformation Parliament’ of 1536-37 describes Roscrea as being then by ‘Irishmen wasted, and not valuable’. The whole of northern and western Tipperary freed itself from Butler power after the death of the 9th earl of Ormond in 1546 and Roscrea remained virtually uninhabited for some years. The O’Carrolls fought wars with the Butlers in 1556-57, 1560-61 and 1564-66 but it was not until ‘Black Tom’ Butler, the 10th earl of Ormond, returned home from England that Roscrea was again under the control of the Bulters. During this time Roscrea lay on the northern edge of the County Palatinate of Tipperary (an territorial area administered from Kilkenny in which legal jurisdiction was held by Butler Earls of Ormond, rather than the King, but with royal permission). One of the benefits was that the Earl appointed the local judges and sheriffs to administer the law in Roscrea and gave the town some protection during this turbulent period. The plantations of King's County (now Offaly) and Queen's County (now Laois) from 1556 and the failure of the two Desmond Rebellions (1569–1573 and 1579–1583) saw the Gaelic lands to the north, west and south of Roscrea increasingly fall into New English hands. The friary at Roscrea, which had escaped dissolution, was finally suppressed in 1579. The conclusion of the Nine Years War (1594–1603), again lost by the Gaelic Irish, brought some stability to Ireland however the commencement of the plantations from 1606 set the scene for the great 1641 rebellion. The development of the town was affected by the Ormond succession dispute which broke out in 1614. During this time Roscrea was leased out by the earls of Ormond first to Gerard fitz Lewis Bryan and then Sir George Hamilton Sr. and Jr. The castle was taken by Owen Roe O’Neill in 1649 during the Irish Confederate Wars (1641-1653) and was recaptured by Cromwellian troops in 1650. The castle, town, lands and friary of Roscrea were granted to Sir Francis Peisley in 1659 for 21 years. The town was not caught up in the Williamite Wars (1689-91) and though orders were issued to have the castle demolished to prevent it falling into rebel hands in the future they were later rescinded. In 1703 the 2nd duke of Ormond sold the town to Robert Curtis, the Tipperary Palatinate was abolished by the Dublin parliament following the defection of the 2nd duke to join the English Catholic monarchy in exile in Louis XIV's France in 1714. John Damer purchased the town in 1722 and soon after build Damer House within the walls of the castle. During the eighteenth century Joseph Damer (created Baron Milton in 1762 and later created the Earl of Dorchester in 1792) owned Roscrea but the titles died out on the death of his son the 2nd earl of Dorchester in 1808. Damer House and the castle became a military barracks and in 1811 was garrisoned by permanent cavalry (1 officer, 21 privates and 16 horses) and permanent infantry (8 officers and 345 privates). When Damer's daughter died in 1828 the Damer estates (possibly over 40,000 acres of land) were inherited by his grand nephew John Dawson 2nd earl of Portarlington. Dawson died in considerable debt in 1844/5, Court of Chancery records from 1863 describe the estate of Roscrea in 1844 as comprising 2,248 acres worth £3,882 in rent yearly. The town was then sold for £20,000 to the Irish Landed Estates Court which eventually sold the town in a succession of land sales from the mid-nineteenth century, including the town and two town parks of Roscrea in 1858. Most of the town was sold to R.S. Palmer in March 1859 and July 1860. It is from this time that much of the modern town of Roscrea was constructed.

Roscrea Poor Law Union was declared in 1839 and covered an area of 242 square miles; 37 'Guardians' oversaw the operations of Union. The Union was responsible for a population of 61,374 souls in 1831 (it covered Bourney, Borrisnafarney, Killea, Killevinogue, Rathnaveoge, Roscrea, Agahancon, Cullenwale, Dunkerrin, Ettagh, Kilcommon, Kilmurry, Roscomroe, Shinrone, Borris-in-Ossory, Doanmore, Eirke, Kyle and Rathdowney until after boundary changes following the famine in 1853 ). A new Roscrea Union workhouse was erected on a six-acre site nearly one mile outside of the town on the Templemore road adjacent to Corville. The workhouse could accommodate up to 700 'inmates' and was declared fit for the reception of paupers in March 1842; it received its first admissions during May 1842. During the famine an additional 200 people were accommodated in the workhouse and a fever hospital was built on the site around this time. A large graveyard, probably containing the remains of hundreds of people who died in the Great Famine, was situated behind the workhouse to the south of Kennedy Park. The workhouse was partially demolished and altered, it became a fever hospital and a 'county home' for the 'aged and infirm'. It was closed in 1985/6 and demolished c. 1991.

The population of Roscrea appears to have reached its height in the 1830s (see below). In 1885 a wool merchant from the neighbouring town of Birr reported to the House of Commons Select Committee on Industries (Ireland) that in the early decades of the 19th century 1,000 men were employed in Roscrea as weavers and wool combers, but that by the early 1880s this number had dropped to just 2.

Historical and Current Population of Roscrea: