Cong - the seat of the kings of Connaught
By Tom Gillespie
SAMUEL Lewis (circa 1782 to 1865) was the editor and publisher of topographical dictionaries and maps of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The aim of the texts was to give in 'a condensed form' a faithful and impartial description of each place.
The firm of Samuel Lewis and Co. was based in London. Samuel Lewis the elder died in 1865. His son of the same name predeceased him in 1862.
The names of places are those in use prior to the publication of the Ordnance Survey Atlas in 1838.
The dictionary gives a unique picture of Ireland before the Great Famine.
Lewis’ reference to Cong reads:
CONG, a parish in the barony of Ross, county of Galway, but chiefly in that of Kilmaine, county of Mayo, and providence of Connaught, 19 miles (S.) from Castlebar, and 121 (W.) from Dublin, containing 8,378 inhabitants.
This place, though now only a inconsiderable village, was formerly a town of some importance, and an ancient residence of the kings of Connaught.
A monastery, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, was founded here by St. Feehan, who died in 664, though by some writers its foundation is ascribed to Donald, son of Aed, nephew of Amirach, King of Ireland, who is said to have made St. Feehan its first abbot.
Little further is recorded of its history till 1134, when a great part of the town was burnt and the abbey plundered by the people of Munster.
Roderic O’Connor, the last king of all Ireland, spent the last 15 yeas of his life in seclusion within the monastery, where he died on November 29, 1198, in the 82nd year of his age; he was interred at Clonmacnois.
In 1201 the town and monastery were plundered by William de Burgo, who repeated his ravages in 1204; and in 1310, the town was plundered by Hugh Breifneach.
The family of De Burgo afterward became munificent benefactors to the abbey, to which they gave ample endowments in land, and it continued to flourish till the dissolution.
Queen Elizabeth granted part of its possessions to the Provost and Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin; and Jas. I. granted a lease of the abbey to Sir John King, Knt., ancestor of the present Earl of Kingston.
The town is situated in an island formed by the several openings of a subterraneous river that flows from Lough Mask into Lough Corrib; the principal of these openings rises in a great body from a depth of 73 feet, forming a powerful eddy which turns two large mills, and the approaches are over three bridges.
It consists of two streets of small houses, of which the greater number are thatched, and has a sub-post-office to Ballnrobe.
There are two large mills, the property of Mr. John Thompson, erected about 40 years since, and each grinding on an average 300 tons of wheat annually.
Fairs are held at Funshinough in May and September; and petty sessions are held every Saturday alternatively for Mayo and Galway.
The parish comprises 17,622 acres, as applotted under the Tithe Act, of which about 240 are woodland, 480 mountain and bog, and, with the exception of about one-fifth, which is waste, the remainder is good arable and pasture land, chiefly under tillage, and producing excellent crops; that which is in pasture, lying upon a substratum of limestone, feeds a large number of sheep and goats.
Limestone is everywhere found, rising in many places above the surface; and there are quarries of the finest discerption of building stone, which is sent to most parts of the adjacent counties, for which Lough Corrib, navigable for 20 miles to Galway for boats of 10 tons’ burden, affords a facility of conveyance.
The gentlemen's seats are Strand Hill, the evidence of T. Elwood, Esq.; Garracloone, of R. Blake, Esq.; Ballymagibbon, of J. Flynn, Esq.; Blake Hill, of mrs. Blake; Ashford, of Lord Oranmore; Royal Rock, of Rev. M. Waldron; Houndswood, of Martin D’Arcy, Esq.; and the glebe-house, of Rev. E.L. Moore.
The living is a rectory, and in the patronage of the Archbishop; the rectory is partly impropriate in Sir R.A. O’Donel, Bart., as representative of the abbot of Cong, and partly appropriate to the prebend of Killabegs in the cathedral of Tuam.
The tithes amount to £489. 4. 7., of which £18. 9. 2. is payable to the prebendary, and the remainder to the incumbent: the impropriate tithes are not under composition.
The glebe-house was built by aid of a gift of £400 and a loan of £380 from the same Board, in 1817: the glebe comprises 25.5 acres.
The church, a neat edifice with a small square tower, and in good repair, was erected by aid of a loan of £640 from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1811.
The R.C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church; the chapel is a handsome edifice, in the later English style, with a square tower surmounted with a cross.
The parochial school is under the Tuam Diocesan Society, aided by an annual donation from the incumbent; a school at Ballymagibbon is supported by John Flynn, Esq.; one at Funshinough is aided by Martin D’Arcy. Esq., and there is a national school at Carrokeel.
About 430 children are instructed in these schools; and there are also four pay schools, in which there are about 150 children; and a dispensary.
There is an ancient cross in the enface of the town, and the ruins of several churches are still to be seen here.
Spars of various colours are found, and the neighbour abounds with natural curiosities.
Lough Mask, which is on much higher ground than Lough Corrib, discharges its superfluous waters into the latter by subterraneous channels, which form the opening in the limestone, may in several places be seen flowing at a great depth below the surface.
The most remarkable of these openings is the Pigeon Hole, which is of great depth; a descent to it is formed by 68 steps, and at the bottom the water rushes with great violence and noise till it is again lost in the dark recesses of the cavern, which extends to a considerable distance; in the middle of the stream is a small eel weir.
There are several other caverns in the limestone range, of which Kelly’s Cave and the Lady’s Buttery have their roofs fantastically encrusted.