Historic town

The National Monuments Service's description

Clonmel, sited on the N bank of the River Suir, was granted to William de Burgo in 1205/06 (Shee and Watson 1975) but it was probably his son, Richard, who founded the town (Killanin and Duignan 1967, 172-4). The parish church, St. Mary’s (TS083-019001-), and its graveyard (TS083-019020-) survive within the NW angle of the town wall. In 1225 Henry III granted Richard the right to hold an annual fair in the town. The manor of Clonmel was granted to Otho de Grandison in 1265, at which time he was also appointed its sheriff (Shee and Watson 1975). The Franciscan friary (TS083-019003-) in the SE angle of the town, was founded in 1269, also by de Grandison (Morrissey 1909, 248-50). There is a reference to a 13th-century Dominican foundation in the town (O’Flanagan 1930, vol. 3, 71), though it has been suggested that the Dominican Priory (TS083-019011-), traditionally located on the W side of the junction between Blue Anchor Lane and O’Connell St. actually dates to the 17th century (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 232-3). The town defences (TS083-019049-) probably date to the late 13th century, the earliest recorded murage grant recorded being in 1298, bestowed upon the town by Edward I for a ten year period. Subsequent grants were made throughout the 14th century and into the 15th century (Bradley 1985, 47). The town became the headquarters, or caput, of the County Palatine in 1328. This was an administrative area controlled by the Earls of Ormond (Shee and Watson 1975). Ten years later the manor of Clonmel was sold to Maurice Fitzgerald, the 1st Earl of Desmond (Shee and Watson 1975). In the late 14th century the town was almost continuously besieged by the Irish, leading James, Earl of Ormond, to exclaim in 1385 that the citizens of the town had been unable to attend divine service in their parish church (TS083-019001-) in the accustomed manner, due to the poor state of repair of the building. In 1516 the town was besieged by the Earl of Kildare (Power 1908, 6-7). Then in c. 1531 Clonmel passed, as the dowry of a Fitzgerald bride, to the Butlers of Ormond (Shee and Watson 1975). The town walls were well maintained throughout the 16th and 17th century (Shee and Watson 1975, 20; Thomas 1992, vol.2, 51). The Supreme Council of the Confederation of Kilkenny assembled in Clonmel in 1647 (Killanin and Duignan 1967, 172--4). Three years later Cromwell laid siege to the town (Power 1908, 6-7). The Civil Survey (1654-6) provides a good description of the Corporation’s property and occupiers in 1640 (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 385-8). It also describes Clonmel as having three suburbs, ‘The East Suburbs extending to the lane called Bohir Mullinne parky, containeing fifty [houses] & cabins or thereabouts with Garden plots and three Weires likewise three houses & consistinge of fowerteen houses or thereabouts with gardens & from the sayd North Suburbs, there was a lane inclosed all along with Gardens & oarchards leadinge unto. the west suburbs, w[hi]ch suburbs consisted of eighty houses or thereabouts, Whereof six were good slate houses & one Mill, And ye sayd suburbs did extend from the west gate to a lane called BoRinenenardcysy commonly called Cheiferentlane’ (ibid., 385). A list of Ormond property in Clonmel in 1641, includes 39 slated houses, 14 thatched houses, 9 thatched cabins and 3 castles, as well as the names of the owners before and after the confiscations (Butler 1978-9, 642-5). During Cromwell’s siege of the town in 1650 the building at the North Gate where the Manor courts were held was destroyed (Shee and Watson 1975, 34). When the Palatinate was restored in 1662 to the Duke of Ormond by the restored king, Charles II, a new Palatinate courthouse, the Main Guard (TS083-019004-) was built (Shee and Watson 1975). In 1660 the Franciscans, without their monastery but still present in the town, established a thatched church (TS083-019013-) in Irishtown. In the late 17th century the town appears to have flourishing. In 1665 500 families were brought from Canterbury by the Duke to initiate a woollen industry in the town (Power 1908, 6-7). A list of holdings and their occupants, made in the town of Clonmel, following the Settlement of 1666, includes a ‘castle and waste tenements’ in Bridge Street (Burke 1907, 260). In 1712 the County Palatine was extinquished by an Act of Parliament (Shee and Watson 1975).
The walled town is roughly rectangular in shape with the main street running E-W, parallel to the river, with the West Gate at the west end. Two streets run northward from the main street, Mary St. running past the church and graveyard and exiting the town via a postern gate and Gladstone St. at the E end of main street, leading to the North Gate. The latter street forms an offset junction with Mitchell St. which continues eastward to the East Gate and with Sarsfield St. which runs southward to Water Gate. The medieval market place was located at this junction until 1800. The base of the market cross (TS083-019108-) is still visible protruding from the base of 1 O’Connell St. on the Sarsfield St. side. At the W end of the main street the road is slightly wider, to accommodate ‘Middle Row’, a block of houses in the middle of the street from the junction of Mary St. and Bridge St. westward towards the West Gate (Burke 1907, 56). Bridge St. runs southward to the medieval bridge (TS083-019002-). There are also a number of lanes running N and S from the main street. Still visible on the former quayside W of Collet’s Lane are the remains of a late 16th/early 17th-century house (TS083-019006-), possibly that of merchant. Another house (TS083-019008-) of similar date can be seen on the W side of Flag Lane, immediately S of O’Connell St. There are buildings on O’Connell St. (TS083-019007-), Collet’s Lane (TS083-019012-) and West Gate (TS083-019010-; TS083-019010-) which have late 16th/early 17th-century features which are not readily visible, some having been obscured by later phases of building. It is likely that many other buildings in Clonmel also have an earlier origin than their 18th or 19th-century facades would suggest.
A number of medieval dumps or middens have been identified as a result of excavations at the rear of properties on medieval streets. While some middens are specifically dumps, others may have been deliberate attempts to raise the existing ground level, as at the rear of 35-36 O'Connell St. where the ground level along the Suir appears to have been raised in the 14th century within the newly constructed town wall (Henry 1997, 101). Excavations in 1996 NNE of the NE mural tower at Richmond House on Kickham St. revealed probable medieval cultivation furrows, c. 20m beyond the walled town (Pollock 1997, 101). Other excavations in 1996 and 1997 on Upper Gladstone St., c. 100m and c. 80m, respectively, beyond the walled town, found cultivated garden soil, a further indication of open fields beyond the walled town in the medieval period with no indication of extramural suburban settlement (Henry 1997, 101; 1998, 160-61).

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of revised upload: 16 February 2015

References

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1931 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol I: county of Tipperary: eastern and southern baronies. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.

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

Bradley, J. 1985 (Reprint 1997) The medieval towns of Tipperary. In W. Nolan and T.G. McGrath (eds), Tipperary: History and Society, 34-59. Dublin. Geography Publications.

Power, P. 1908 Placenames of the Decies. Journal of the Waterford and Southeast of Ireland Archaeological Society 11, 1-34, 45-78, 135-43 and 179-210.

Thomas, A. 1992 The walled towns of Ireland, 2 vols. Dublin. Irish Academic Press.

Killanin, M.M. and Duignan, M.V. 1967 (2nd ed.) The Shell guide to Ireland. London. The Ebury Press.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1930 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Tipperary collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1840. Bray.

Burke, Rev. W. P. 1907 History of Clonmel. The Clonmel Library Committee.

Shee, E. and Watson, S. J. 1975 Clonmel: an architectural guide. Dublin. An Taisce.

Morrissey, T.J. 1909 Notes on the places visited during the summer excursion of the society to Clonmel, 1909. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 39, 242-53.

Pollock, D. 1997 Richmond House, Kickham Street, Clonmel: medieval/post-medieval cultivation. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1996: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 101. Bray. Wordwell.

Henry, M. 1997 Upper Gladstone Street, Clonmel: urban medieval/post-medieval. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1996: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 101. Bray. Wordwell.

Henry, M. 1998 4 Gladstone Street, Clonmel: urban medieval/post-medieval. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1997: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 160-61. Bray. Wordwell.

Butler, H. 1978-9 Occupants of Ormond houses in Clonmel. Journal of the Butler Society 1 (8), 642-5.