The Plunkett Era
The Plunketts came to Tourmakeady in 1831 when the first Baron Plunket, the bishop's father, built a shooting lodge on land purchased from a local landowner. In 1833 members of the family acquired land from George Henry Moore at Gortfree and Tourmakeady Lodge was built. Thomas Plunket became Church of Ireland Bishop of the united dioceses of Tuam, Killala and Achonry in 1839. He got actively involved in the proselytising campaign -- the Irish Church Mission Society. He was aided by his sister, Catherine. He purchased some of the neighbouring estates and by 1858 his property covered an area of over 10, 000 acres. The proselytising campaign was concentrated in the poorer regions of Ireland, mainly from Donegal to Kerry.
The Achill Protestant colony was one of its earliest successes under its founder, Edward Nangle. The work was funded by parochial aid from England. Most of Church of Ireland bishops did not agree with the methods of the Irish Church Mission Society. They mostly lived in relative harmony with their Catholic neighbours and in many instances the Catholic chapels that were built, especially in Connacht during the 1840' s and 1850's, received assistance from the Protestant clergy. Bishop Plunkett was one of the first bishops to actively support the campaign of the Mission Society. Shortly after becoming bishop he decided to come and live in Tourmakeady, as he preferred the splendid scenery of Lough Mask and the surrounding mountains to that of Tuam.
He established three new Protestant churches in the diocese, including one in Tourmakeady, built in 1852, and appointed the Reverend Hamilton Townsend as Church of Ireland Rector. He immediately opened two schools in the parish; his sister, Catherine, was patron of one of them -- by now she had her own estate of nearly one thousand acres. By 1855 there were five Protestant schools in the parish and the only alternative school was one established by the Franciscan Brothers, who had to depend on the donations of the poor to keep the school open. George Henry Moore during the Famine had given the Brothers 30 acres of land. They drained and reclaimed the lands and established a school and monastery.
Under no circumstances would the Parish Priest, Fr. Peter Conway, allow the Irish Church Mission Society schools to exist peacefully within their area. Fr. Ward accused Bishop Plunket of being a proselytizer and this resulted in newspapers taking up the case. Funds poured into Fr. Ward from Irish and English sympathizers. Fr. Ward was prepared to take the fight to Plunket and in a letter to the Dublin Telegraph in December 1854, he gave a list of the names of 104 tenants evicted by Plunket upon his acquiring the estate. Those people included people of 90 years of age and newborn babies. Moore gave land to most of those evicted on his own estate and even on his own demesne. During Moore's ownership of the Tourmakeady estate no tenant had ever been evicted, but when Plunket acquired it, Catholics were replaced by Protestants in a number of cases.
Fr. Ward and Fr. Conway carried on the campaign against the schools, going so far as entering them and removing the Catholic children. When Fr. Ward was transferred to Williamstown he was replaced by Fr. Lavelle, a native of Murrisk, who made it clear from the outset that there would be no let up in the campaign against Bishop Plunket and his sister, Catherine. Fr. Lavelle could be quite ruthless in dealing with his parishioners, too. Within three weeks of his arrival in the parish he launched a campaign to counteract the influence of the Plunket schools. Preaching at Mass, he warned that parents who allowed their children to attend were exposing them to evil and danger. During the following weeks large numbers of children were withdrawn. Fr. Lavelle had the backing of his Archbishop, Dr. McHale, who was concerned because the children were being taught religion by Scripture readers.
There were some parents who continued to send their children to the schools for economic reasons as they were employed by the Plunketts and withdrawing the children would have meant dismissal and eviction. So parents were in a no-win situation. They also had to endure the force of Fr. Lavelle's anger. Time and again he gathered crowds of parishioners to prevent children going to the schools and he met with some success. The scripture readers and teachers were the most militant advocates of the crusade. The readers went round to the children's homes and asked that the children be sent to the schools, and if refused the agent was informed and the end result, more often than not, was eviction. Aggression and assaults were common.
Court cases between Fr. Lavelle and Bishop Plunket were frequent at Ballinrobe petty sessions or the Assizes at Castlebar. Again violence and assaults were common. Fr. Lavelle went to some English cities, especially Liverpool, London, Manchester and Stockport, and appealed for aid. He was given widespread publicity in national and international newspapers, especially the London Times. Even a French bishop made the evictions the subject of a sermon in Paris!
The Partry Defense Fund was established and money poured in from all parts of the country and from England, America and Australia. The money was used by Fr. Lavelle for the purchase of available land for the re-settling of evicted tenants.
Plunket carried out his biggest evictions in November 1860. During the preceding days large numbers of police were drafted into the area. Troops came from the surrounding towns and a company of the 24th Infantry from the Curragh. The local police did not take part. The people were terrified and the scenes of the helplessness and defeat and sadness were indescribable. Such troop movement had never been seen in the area. The eviction process lasted for three days.
On the first day a large eviction force under the command of Col. Knox, the Mayo High Sheriff, proceeded from Cappaduff bridge to begin the grizzly task. The houses were razed to the ground by the crowbar brigade and then handed over to Plunkett's men. Fr Lavelle and the tenants looked on helplessly and made no resistance -- they just accepted the finality of it all. Tenants on adjoining estates were warned not to interfere in any way such as providing shelter or solace to the evicted, so the unfortunates, some as old as ninety years and young babies, had to fend for themselves on the mountainside on a cold, wet November's night. Fr Lavelle wanted to take them to his home but they were afraid. He eventually got them re-settled and had houses built for them on land he had purchased from the Court of Chancery, formerly owned by Mr Gildea. Others were settled by the Franciscan Brothers on their property.
The conflict between Fr Lavelle and Bishop Plunkett became known as "The War in Partry". Plunket had replaced some tenants with converts from other parts of Mayo and Catherine had repeatedly carried out evictions, too, There were other reasons for evictions also apart from the school affair, such as sub-letting of land, non-payment of rents, burning land -- a form of reclamation the removal of stone from Plunkett's property, as well as being associated with Fr Lavelle's campaign. But the eviction of the 13 families in November 1860, and others in 1861 and '62 backfired for Plunket as he received widespread condemnation in the newspapers. By 1863 he was evidently tired of the prolonged campaign of unrest in the region and sold his estate to an English industrialist, Mr. Mitchell, and moved to Tuam. His sister soon followed. Relative peace and tranquility returned to Tourmakeady.
The Achill Protestant colony was one of its earliest successes under its founder, Edward Nangle. The work was funded by parochial aid from England. Most of Church of Ireland bishops did not agree with the methods of the Irish Church Mission Society. They mostly lived in relative harmony with their Catholic neighbours and in many instances the Catholic chapels that were built, especially in Connacht during the 1840' s and 1850's, received assistance from the Protestant clergy. Bishop Plunkett was one of the first bishops to actively support the campaign of the Mission Society. Shortly after becoming bishop he decided to come and live in Tourmakeady, as he preferred the splendid scenery of Lough Mask and the surrounding mountains to that of Tuam.
He established three new Protestant churches in the diocese, including one in Tourmakeady, built in 1852, and appointed the Reverend Hamilton Townsend as Church of Ireland Rector. He immediately opened two schools in the parish; his sister, Catherine, was patron of one of them -- by now she had her own estate of nearly one thousand acres. By 1855 there were five Protestant schools in the parish and the only alternative school was one established by the Franciscan Brothers, who had to depend on the donations of the poor to keep the school open. George Henry Moore during the Famine had given the Brothers 30 acres of land. They drained and reclaimed the lands and established a school and monastery.
Under no circumstances would the Parish Priest, Fr. Peter Conway, allow the Irish Church Mission Society schools to exist peacefully within their area. Fr. Ward accused Bishop Plunket of being a proselytizer and this resulted in newspapers taking up the case. Funds poured into Fr. Ward from Irish and English sympathizers. Fr. Ward was prepared to take the fight to Plunket and in a letter to the Dublin Telegraph in December 1854, he gave a list of the names of 104 tenants evicted by Plunket upon his acquiring the estate. Those people included people of 90 years of age and newborn babies. Moore gave land to most of those evicted on his own estate and even on his own demesne. During Moore's ownership of the Tourmakeady estate no tenant had ever been evicted, but when Plunket acquired it, Catholics were replaced by Protestants in a number of cases.
Fr. Ward and Fr. Conway carried on the campaign against the schools, going so far as entering them and removing the Catholic children. When Fr. Ward was transferred to Williamstown he was replaced by Fr. Lavelle, a native of Murrisk, who made it clear from the outset that there would be no let up in the campaign against Bishop Plunket and his sister, Catherine. Fr. Lavelle could be quite ruthless in dealing with his parishioners, too. Within three weeks of his arrival in the parish he launched a campaign to counteract the influence of the Plunket schools. Preaching at Mass, he warned that parents who allowed their children to attend were exposing them to evil and danger. During the following weeks large numbers of children were withdrawn. Fr. Lavelle had the backing of his Archbishop, Dr. McHale, who was concerned because the children were being taught religion by Scripture readers.
There were some parents who continued to send their children to the schools for economic reasons as they were employed by the Plunketts and withdrawing the children would have meant dismissal and eviction. So parents were in a no-win situation. They also had to endure the force of Fr. Lavelle's anger. Time and again he gathered crowds of parishioners to prevent children going to the schools and he met with some success. The scripture readers and teachers were the most militant advocates of the crusade. The readers went round to the children's homes and asked that the children be sent to the schools, and if refused the agent was informed and the end result, more often than not, was eviction. Aggression and assaults were common.
Court cases between Fr. Lavelle and Bishop Plunket were frequent at Ballinrobe petty sessions or the Assizes at Castlebar. Again violence and assaults were common. Fr. Lavelle went to some English cities, especially Liverpool, London, Manchester and Stockport, and appealed for aid. He was given widespread publicity in national and international newspapers, especially the London Times. Even a French bishop made the evictions the subject of a sermon in Paris!
The Partry Defense Fund was established and money poured in from all parts of the country and from England, America and Australia. The money was used by Fr. Lavelle for the purchase of available land for the re-settling of evicted tenants.
Plunket carried out his biggest evictions in November 1860. During the preceding days large numbers of police were drafted into the area. Troops came from the surrounding towns and a company of the 24th Infantry from the Curragh. The local police did not take part. The people were terrified and the scenes of the helplessness and defeat and sadness were indescribable. Such troop movement had never been seen in the area. The eviction process lasted for three days.
On the first day a large eviction force under the command of Col. Knox, the Mayo High Sheriff, proceeded from Cappaduff bridge to begin the grizzly task. The houses were razed to the ground by the crowbar brigade and then handed over to Plunkett's men. Fr Lavelle and the tenants looked on helplessly and made no resistance -- they just accepted the finality of it all. Tenants on adjoining estates were warned not to interfere in any way such as providing shelter or solace to the evicted, so the unfortunates, some as old as ninety years and young babies, had to fend for themselves on the mountainside on a cold, wet November's night. Fr Lavelle wanted to take them to his home but they were afraid. He eventually got them re-settled and had houses built for them on land he had purchased from the Court of Chancery, formerly owned by Mr Gildea. Others were settled by the Franciscan Brothers on their property.
The conflict between Fr Lavelle and Bishop Plunkett became known as "The War in Partry". Plunket had replaced some tenants with converts from other parts of Mayo and Catherine had repeatedly carried out evictions, too, There were other reasons for evictions also apart from the school affair, such as sub-letting of land, non-payment of rents, burning land -- a form of reclamation the removal of stone from Plunkett's property, as well as being associated with Fr Lavelle's campaign. But the eviction of the 13 families in November 1860, and others in 1861 and '62 backfired for Plunket as he received widespread condemnation in the newspapers. By 1863 he was evidently tired of the prolonged campaign of unrest in the region and sold his estate to an English industrialist, Mr. Mitchell, and moved to Tuam. His sister soon followed. Relative peace and tranquility returned to Tourmakeady.
