Hospital

The National Monuments Service's description

The precise location of 'a chapel' or the 'old hospital of Darragh' in the townland of Spittle has not been identified. Site of hospital in the parish of Daragh or Glenroe described by Lewis (1837, 59) as; 'near the road leading from Mitchelstown to Kilflyn are the remains of the old hospital of Darragh' (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 356). The ruins of this hospital are depicted on the 17th century Down Survey map of Coshlea Barony (Hib. Reg.). On this map the ruins of a church are shown standing on the N bank of the Keale River which forms the townland boundary with Darragh. Ballinacourty Castle (LI056-048----) is depicted on this map standing to the W of the church or chapel site. The terrier of the Down Survey map of Kilfinnan Parish recorded that 'upon the Lands of Spittle are the walls of a Church or Chappell' (NLI, MS 718). The church site or small chapel stood in the fields to the N of the Keale River in close proximity to the fording point of the river now crossed by Darragh Bridge.

See attached Down Survey map showing the church ruins in the townland of Spittle.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 20 October 2021

References

Lewis, S. 1837 A topographical dictionary of Ireland, 2 vols. London. Lewis and Co.

Gwynn, A. and Hadcock, R.N. 1970 (Reprint 1988) Medieval religious houses of Ireland. Dublin. Irish Academic Press.

NLI, MS 718 - National Library of Ireland, Parish maps with terriers, showing forfeited lands in County Limerick, commonly known as the "Down Survey", executed under the direction of Sir William Petty, 1657, and copied by Daniel O'Brien, 1786.

Hibernia Regnum: A set of 214 barony maps of Ireland dating to the period AD 1655-59. The original parish maps have been lost but the Hibernia Regnum maps are preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (Goblet 1932, v-x). Photographic facsimiles of these maps were published by the Ordnance Survey, Southampton in 1908.