Dublin Penny Journal

Sir Richard Shee's Monument: St. Mary's, KilkennySource: The Dublin Penny Journal, Vol. 2, No. 69 (Oct. 26, 1833), pp. 132-133Published by: Dublin Penny JournalStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30003595 .

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182 THE DUBLIN PENNY JOURNAL.

SIR RICHARD SHEE'S MONUMENT,

ST. MARY's, KILKENNYr.

Kilkennv is remarkable, among other tthings, for its Mtately imomumcnts. The tomb, of which a drawing is here given, is a mural monument, of the early part of the seventeenth century. It is to ble seen in the old choir of St. Mary's Church, and, although the building in which it was erected is now in a state of ruin, the mo- nument has not sutffred much from the ravages of time. It is eleven antl a half feet high by eight and a half. It was built about the year 1608.

The followiiqg notices, respectinrrg the founder and his family, may nv t be uninteresting to some of our readers.

Sir Richard Shee, knight, of Uppercourt, in the County of Kilkennv, and of Cloran, in the County of Tipperary, a membr of Gray's Inn, London, the repre- sentative of a very ancient Irish famnily, who became denizen inl the fifteenth year of the reiugn of King Richard II. (1381), died at his Castle of iBonnestown, near Kilkenny, (as appears by inquimsition,) August 10tth, 1608. In the fifty-third number of this Journal is ant extract from his will, which is altogether a very singular document. The following passages are extracted here, as having

reference to the monumenmit : "I bequeath my

soul to God, &e. &c. and my bodv e to be buried in my said LKrther's buri;ll, in my lparishe church of our Ladve, in Kilkennyve. Executors of this my last will and tes- tament, I doe make, constitute, and apipoynte, my sonnes Lucas Shce, Marcus Shee, and John Shie : whom I doe appoynte to buylde a decent monumnent, of the vailue of 100 marks stWr. over my saide Iuriall. And a chaplcn to be kept, &c. as formerlye I advysed, wishinu, if shec (viz. his second wife,

.!.argarct Fade,,n) s!:dl soe allow thereof, that

shee and I ,nilht

be buried together ini the new monumment, soc to be tuvlided ; and my laee deare wyfe, Margaret Sherloek,'s lbodle, to be brought from the other monu- ment thither with us."

Not far from tthe monument is Sir Richrl Sihee's Hospital, of whiclh na account is given by Ledwich, with a

loan and intercsti;inr extract from his will relative

to the for.uuhndation.

The, funds of thle hospital have been, in private ham:ds since the year 1752, notwithstanding a

roVyal charter. It is hoped their may It thc recovered. ('n the front of the hspitai, fitcin

lr:oe Inn-street, are o fri of :, fomb,

-r, wi-:b the follow,in ins(ri"

i'n in ?d E'glislh letrs-'

"l::sg.i Ria!Hi Shee, Arntigeri.

(iui hoe xenodochium fierie fecit, A. D 1. --;" andd on

the mere are the arums of O'ShIe. impa! l i ltAoe of Sherlock, *ith the inscription -" Insigisitt ia icati Sliee

et Margaretam Sherlock uxoris ejus qui hoc xenodo. chiun fieri fecerunt, A. 1). 1582 ;" near which is a tablet, with the following words-" Verba Raphael in Tobias ca. 13. Eleemosina liberat a morte, purgat peccata, et facit viam ad miscericordiamn et sitam eternam."

The following' are the armorial bearings on the several shiclds on the mionunment :-

First shield-a

quartering the arms of Shee, (viz. argent, 3 pheons sable,) impaling the arms of Rothe, which was the name of Sir Richard Shee's mother.

Second shield-per bend indented, or and azure, two fleur de lys counterclhanged, (the original arms of the family of Shee,) impaling the armis of Sherlock, viz. per pale argent and azure, two fleur de lvs counterchanged.

Third shield-a quartering of the arms of Shec, (being gules, three swords in fess argent, hilted or, the center sword pointing to the sinister side,) impaling the arms of Fagan, a chevron, and in chief, three covered cups.

Fourth shield-a quiartering of the arms of Shee, (gules, two swords in saltire, surnouuttdl lby a third poitnt up- wards, all argent, hilted or,) impaling the arms of But- ler, with four quarterings, alluding, most probably, to the marriage of Lucas Slice, eldest soui of Sir Richcr'd, with Ellen Butler, daughter of Edmond, the second Lord Viscount Mountgarret.

Immediately above the shiclds is the following inscrip- tion, beautifully executed in an old and curious charac- ter-" Inclyta Ricardi sunt hec insignia Shethi. Militis aurati Nobilis atque probi."

All the estates of Sir Richard Slihee were forfeited, in the year 1641, by his grandson, Robert Shee, (son of the above Lucas,) in whose house, in Kilkenny, the con- fedcrate Catholics held their assembly. Uppercourt and

Freslhford, containing above two tlhousand acres, were granted to Roger Asken, in satisfaction of an arrear of two hundred pounds! and, soon after, an attempt was made, by Griffith Williams, Bishop of Ossory, to recover those estates for the church, Sir Richard Shee having procured them, as a fee farm, at a very low rate of rent, from Bishop Thomory, in the reign of Queen Mary, during the life time of Bale, the deposed bishop; this attempt, however, after much litigation, failed, owing, as the bishop complained, to the conduct of the sheriff in packing a jury. The bishkop was more successful in re- covering for the church Freinstown, a property similarly circumstanced, which Sir Richard Shee had left to his seToid son, Thomas Slihee. A part of Cloran, one of the County Tipperary estates, which had been the inheri- tance of his ancestors since thle eleventh century, was restored to Robert Shee, by the Court of Claims, and remained in possession of his family until disposed of, about the year 1750, by the late Edmond Shee of Clo- ran, the last proprietor, eldest son of Richard Shee of

Cloran, by Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Michael Grace, of Gracefield. About the same period Edmond Shee disposed of the third part of the tithes of Kilmochhill, thIe property of Sir Richard Shee's Hospital, as has been alluled to before. His father, the last Richard Shece of Cloran, great grandson of Robert, died 30th May, 1743, leaving by his said wife, Elizabeth Grace, five sons and two daughters. His second son, Robert Shec, who nar ried a daughter of Sir Patrick Bellew, was created a Count of France by Louis XV I, and is stated, in the " Memoirs of the (;race family," to have been created a senator by Louis XVIII; but none of Richard Slihee's children left issue, except his eldest dauzhter Catherine, Swho married John Wright, Junior, of Cloncen, in the Ceutnty of Tipperary. died in Kilkenni', in 1770, iand was the last of thimily who was buried in Sir Richard Shee's tomb.

It is impossible here to forget the history of the cruel and unmerited sufferings, in the year 1798, of her eldest son, thIe late Bernard Wright, of Clonmiel ; for the parti- culars of which the reader is referred to Plowden's Hietoryv of Ireland, anid to the debates in the Iriqh par- liament for March, 1799, particularly the speeches of Mr. tI ly H-tchinion,

(afterwards LrtI l)on,,h:nore.) aud

tie late Colinel Bigo.well, whi,.h reflect the highest

Smionour on these distinguished members of the Irish pare Sli:ament.

'flhere is another taom.u-nt

in St, Mary's Choir, to

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THIE DUBLIN PENNY JOURNAL. 133

the memory of Eliam Sh e, brother of Sir Richard. lie died in 1613, as appears by the following inscription :-

BELT.L SIIEE AIIMIGEtO ~ULTIS NATURZn DOTIBUS Ac IULTiPLICI nDOCTRINS ORNJA I3ENTIS CONSPICUO CONIVGI SUAVISSIMO CeHARISSIN'A rIXOR MARARnc ETA ARCHERt 31LEsTA POSUIT OBIIT DnE 27 JULII, A. n. 1613.

The tomb is also coveredl with curious Inscriotions in Latin verse, smice of whiich h;ave beeI)n ploc:crvcl by Led- wich. He sents inot to iihave been unworthy of some of' the eulogiums recoi-!ed in his epitaph, for" H-olingshed speaks thus of himn in his chronliclcs--"' Eliams Sheth, borne i:i Kilkenny, so;;etitne scholer of Oxford, a gentleman ,a passing goodl wit, a pleasant conceited companion, full of miirth without gall. Ile wrote in English divers onflniets."

The present Sir George Shee, Dart. and Sir Martin

Archer Shee, President of the Royal Academy, claim to be descended from this Elias Slihee.

Thomas Shee, of Freinstown, Sir Richard Shee's se- cond son, left no issue ; but the estates of his grandson, Richard Shee, of Sheestown, son of Sir Richard Shee's third son, Marcus Shee, the fee of which was, by Sir Richard Shee's will, reserved to the descendants of his eldest son, Lucas Shee, were forfeited in the year 1641, and subse- quently restored by the Court of Claims. John Power O'Shee, of Gardenmorrcs, in the County of Waterford, and of Sheestown, in the County of Kilkenny, is the descendant and representative of this branch of the family. The late Field Marshal Clarke, Due de Feltre, was mnaternallv descended froml a younger son of Mar- cus Shee, of Sheestown, (Sir Richard Shee's third son,) his mother heing the sister of Henry Shee, of Landre- cies, the P'rcfeet of 1'aris, who was advanced to the peerage by Louis XVIII.

VILLAGE OF CUSIIENDALL

The neat little village of Cushendall is situated on the Antrim coast, on the route from Belfast to the Giant's Causeway by Carriclkfergus, between Glenarm and Bally- castle. It is supposed to take its name from Dallas, a predatory Scot, who is said to have fallen by the hand of Ossian. In its immediate vicinity, in a very prominent situation, stands a handsome school-house, built some tine since by Mr. Turnley. Oc the site of the school- house may be traced the remains of a very extensive fortification, called Court Mac-Martin ; and on the shore are several remarkable caverns, at one time the residence of a number of smugglcrs and pirates The square tower, in the centre of the villa ge,

i, a little prison, erected also

by Mr. Turaley, for the punishmient and safe keeping of offenders.

In proceeding to Ballycastle, by the little village ofl Cushendun, three mniles distant, very plca-ing and, in tn;Ivy instancen,

much romantic scenery is presentedt to the view ;-- the very handsome hill of Lu rgeidan, with its iImestone ipe, and flat hasaltic summiit, 1100 feet high, clothed vith the finest verdure--the lofty Tievebuclli, risingi 1,235 fbet, and capped with a deep covering of1 bhaalt-and the still loftier and vet more miajestic 'rostan, in th:e distance, rising to the height of 1,roo feet.

By many tha' s u 5pposed to be the real country of

Ossian-not long since his grave was pointed out near the shore, by persona resident in the neighbourhood- several of his poems having been handed down orally from father to son, and still repeated with great correct- ness by some of the old persons in the neighbourhood.

SIMPLE SCIENCE-MERCURY. Mercury or quicksilver is, for the most part, brought

from the Eiast Indies and Peru; but is also found, in great abundance, in Almaden in Spain, where it is ex- tracted from the ore by distillation. In this latter place it has been raised in such quantities, that, in the year 1717, there remained above 1700 tons of it in the maga- zine, after the necessary qutantity had been exported to Peru, for the use of the gold and silver mines there. The mine of Guanea V:lica, iii Peru, is 1020 feet in circum. ferance, and 2680 deep. In this proftbud abyss are seen streets, squares, andt a. c'ape). w~hcre religious mysteries, on all f -stivals, :re celebrut. Tl'housands of flambeaux are cont.inunlly burning to

enli,-hten it. Th'lie mine gene-

rally affeicts those wha work in it with convu!lsions, yet the unfortunate vietinis of n insatiable avarice are

pltred nahed i-t, those abysses. 'Tyranny has invented this retincLant in crultv to render ht inposusible for any

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