Hello friends Following is some history transcribed from the Ballymena Weekly Telegraph and the Larne Times, followed by a few links for further info.
I will be creating a web-page with this information, and if anyone has any transcription data, photographs etc., we would be pleased to add it. Any and all information, not only for Garvagh & Desertoghill, would be a welcome addition to our non-profit web-site, as we cannot grow without your help! Thank-you for your consideration. Teena 29 Nov. 1913 Garvagh's Church History Parishes of Errigal and Dessertoghill History the parish churches of Errigal (Garvagh) and of Dessertoghill The parish church of Errigal was anciently called Aireacal Adhamnain" which is the Irish spelling and means "St. Adaman's habitation or church." The cemetery and site of the church are in the townland of Ballintemple, south of which is a spot marked on the ordnance map "St. Onan's Rock." Onan and Unan are the vulgar forms under which St. Adaman-of-Books is known in Ireland and Scotland. In Archdall’s "Monasticon Htbernicum" (1786) it is stated; "The great St. Columb founded a monastery at Arragell in the territory of Oireacht Hy Cathan." and we afterwards find a "St. Muadan" of that place. This church is returned in the taxation roll of A.D. 1306, and is also mentioned in Primate Colton's Visitation of the Diocese of Derry in 1397. An inquisition in 1609 records "Aregylyl" out of the Herenagh land of Arregall, conteyninge one quarter (vis., 4 Balliboes -Templearregall, Outer, Brakagh and Gartnemoyagh), 10s. per annum." In the Ulster Visitation Book (1662) is the following entry; "The church of Aregall is ruinous. The incumbent Robert BAKER, an ancient, grave man, who resides in Killowen parish. The value in the King's books is XLI., which is about the thirde part of the cleare value. The vicisima XS. There is a townland allotted to it for a glebe. The cure is for the most part discharged by an Irishe scholar, the whole parish almost consisting of Irish Recusants," the balor Beneficiorum Ecclesisticorum in Hibernae, giving the First Fruits of the Ecclesiastical Benefices in Ireland, as taxed in the King's Book's 15th Jac I. (1617) records "Rectoria de Disertoghill £10 Rectoria de Argill £10. This parish is united with Desertoghill and ye two churches are within a short mile of each other. Errigall was removed from the mountains to Garvaghy, where it now stands and where there was an English plantation now decayed. The glebe is called Farrentee, or Farrentemple in ye survey, and contains 210a. The old Gort was only a garden, tho' the society claim the presentation the Bp. has hitherto collated." (Bp. Nicholson's primary visitation 1718.) The date of the founding of Errigal Church may be safely assumed to be not earlier than A.D. 500 and not later than 660 A.D. The change of the patron saint of Errigal to that of St. Paul when the church was transferred to Garvagh is a mystery at present unsolved. The date of erection of the present church "Sti Pauli" is about 1670 A.D. This church underwent extensive repairs in 1908; a beautiful new roof resting on Gothic principals, a new gallery at the west end, new carved oak Holy table, &c. &c. The church is lighted by electricity. The roof, &c. was designed by Mr. M. GIVEN C.E Coleraine and the work was executed by Messrs. REID and BLAIR, Portstewart. From the original manuscripts entitled "The Ulster Visitation Book 1622, preserved in the library of T.C. Dublin, the Rev. W. A. REYNELL made an attempt to trace the succession of clergy in the two parishes and we gather the following; 1618 - Rev. Robert BAKER 1626 - Robert MONTGOMERY 1685 - Rev. James WALMOUGH M.A 1691 - Rev. Michael CLENAGHAN M.A, 1693 - Rev. John CHALONER M.A. 1732 - Rev. George M'LOUGHLIN M.A. 1736 - Rev. Joseph BIRCHENSHAW A.B. 1738 - Rev. Thomas BROWNE 1755 - Rev. John LECKY 1759 - Rev. Richard LESLIE B.A. 1765 - Rev. William BABINGTON B.A. 1777 - Rev. Ralph MANSFIELD B.A. 1797 - Rev. John BALFOUR 1807 - Rev. George Vaughan SAMPSON 1827 - Rev. Robert ALEXANDER B.A. 1832 - Rev. Mitchell SMYTH M.A. This parish was united to the parish of Dessertoghill, by resolution of the Diocesan council, in 1879. Rector, Rev. William A. SMYLY M.A. 1900 - Rev. W. H. MORRISON LL.D. is the present rector of this union, having succeeded the Rev. W. A. SMYLY in said year,1900 and occupies the rectory house, Garvagh, admittedly the handsomest rectory in the diocese. Dessertoghill The patron saint of Dessertoghill Church is the same as that of Errigal, viz., St. Adamnan. Colgan, in his Tr. Th., p. 495. reckons this church among the churches founded bySt. Colomba. The derivation of the name is shown by the Irish form of spelling, viz., Disirt ni Thuathghaile, pronounced Desert O Tuahill, ie: OTuahill's Desert, or Hermitage, so called from the family which formerly resided here, of which "Rory Mor O Tuohill" is traditionally remembered as the last chief. Their descendants are still living in the district and are called "Tohills." This church is also mentioned in the Tax Rule of 1306 and Colton's "Visitation of Derry" in 1397. The Inquisition of 1609 finds; "Out of the herenagh land of Disert O Tuohill conveynince one yuarter 10s. per anm." This "yuarter" land contained the balliboes of Templedisert, Cloghnegall. Dromifrin and Moyletraghkill. The entry in the "Ulster Visitation Book of 1662 reads; "The church of Disert Tuohill hath good walls, but wanteth a cover. The incumbent is John CRAIGE, an honest man, but no preacher nor graduate. The value in the King's Book's XLI., the thirde part of ye clear value (th?) vicisima XS. There is allowed to this parish a townland and a yuarter of a towne, of which, there is built a dwelling house. The minister is resident and discharges the cure himself." Bishop Nicholson records in his visitation of 1718 - "No 36 sti ... Desertoghill, the rector and curate are the same as for Errigal." The Rev. W. REYNELL traces the clergy thus; 1622 - Rev. John CRAIG 1633 - Rev. Abel TOPSOLL 1663 - Rev. Edward CANNING 1663 - Rev. Francis WEBB 1690 - Rev. Michael CLEAGHAN M.A. 1692 - Rev. John CHALONER M.A. 1732 - Rev. Benjamin BACON B.A. 1736 - Rev. David MORGAN B.A. 1754 - Rev. Lewis BURROUGHS M.A. 1785 - Rev. Charles COLTHURST M.A. 1806 - Rev. Oliver M'CAUSLAND M.A. 1825 - Rev. William SMITH M.A. 1842 - Rev. Redmond C. M'CAUSLAND M.A. 1856 - Rev. Robert GAGE M.A. 1873 - Rev. William LOW 1879 - Rev. William A. SMYLY M.A., who was succeeded in 1900 by Rev. W. B. MORRISON LL.D., who is at present rector of the parish. 22 Nov. 1913 Garvagh Next we come to Garvagh, a very pleasant town of which one carries away bright and favourable impressions. Garvagh has the reputation of being one of the prettiest little towns in Ulster, or perhaps in Ireland and whether one approaches it from the railway station, several minutes walk from the main street, or from any other of the roads converging upon the progressive centre under notice, the conviction grows that this reputation is not undeserved. The fine breadth of the main street is an advantage that is in pleasing contrast to the narrow and tortuous thoroughfares, which in some other centres are not very flattering memorials to the planning instincts of those who were responsible for the “laying out” of their streets. The houses are substantial and well-built. The country around is undulating, the hills rising at a distance of about two miles from the town to what are called "the mountains", from which on a clear day a magnificent view is obtainable, the naked eye taking in such a wide sweep as from the Highlands of Scotland to the Mourne Mountains. Garvagh and its history presents material for a review as extended as that of any of the preceding towns upon which we have written in our current series and to do the subject justice an article of much greater length than the present would be necessary. Limitations of space, however, are prohibitive, but in purposely compiling the town with its neighbour Kilrea, the recording of much that would be merely repetitional is avoided, for the obvious reason that historically there is much in common between the two centres. The Plantation, the risings and raids of the native Irish (as in the 1641 rebellion), the hardships of the settlers, the tides of emigration, the state of the country, the causes and events of the 1798 outbreak, etc., etc., which have been touched upon in some detail in the Kilrea article, are all equally applicable to Garvagh and the former generations of its people and need not be repeated at similar length again. The earliest record that the writer has traced concerning Garvagh is that in Errigal or Arrigle, the parish in which the town is situated, a monastery was founded by St. Columb in 589, the era of Ireland’s greatness, as the home of saints and scholars. The monastery flourished until the ninth century, when it was plundered and destroyed by the Danes in their ravages through the country. The association of St. Columb with the district is testified to by the tradition concerning the famous stone still shown beside an old graveyard, where there is a running water. The stone is concave, but comparatively small like a causeway stone and the tradition is that St. Columb used to come there and baptize children from the water in the cavity of the stone, which it is said never went dry. Like so many of its neighbouring towns, assumed importance amongst the principal centres of the country soon after the plantation of Ulster. In 1641 Col. ROWLEY raised a regiment of foot and marched into the town for its protection. After keeping possession of it for some time he was attacked by a party of forces commanded by Sir Phelim Roe O'NEILL, who, making themselves masters of the place, put the colonel and many of its inhabitants to death, burnt the town and plundered the country to the very gates of Coleraine. In the fighting of 1641 Col. Wm. CANNING, of the Londonderry Militia, lost his life while bravely defending with only a small party of armed followers a post in the neighbourhood of his estate. It was George CANNING of Barton, Co. Warwick, father of the colonel who died so gallantly in 1641, who was the first of that distinguished family, to whom the town owes so much, to settle in the district. The CANNING family have been benefactors to Garvagh during all the generations that have followed. (transcriber note - In this article is mentioned, Mr. J. W. Kernohan M.A. who published in 1912 a concise history called "Two Ulster Parishes, Kilrea and Tamlaght O'Crilly". A book written 1972 by Rev. J. E. Kennedy titled "Errigal & Desertoghill Parish (560-1970); a brief historical sketch to commemorate the Ter-centenary of St. Paul's Church, Garvagh (1670-1970)". A book "Garvagh - a town and two parishes" by R.W. Patterson published by Garvagh Historical Society, 1999. At Ulster Ancestry- Garvagh Street Directory 1909 http://www.ulsterancestry.com/free/ShowFreePage-316.html#gsc.tab=0 At the Bann Valley site by Richard J. Torrens - Garvagh, Church of Ireland Marriages https://bit.ly/3hsCB9r Desertoghill Church of Ireland Gravestone Inscriptions https://bit.ly/3dZ3Tls 1663 Hearth Money Rolls Aghadowey, Desertoghill, & Errigal Parishes http://genealogy.torrens.org/Torrens/docs/1663hmr.html Bill Macafee's site Townland of Moyletra Toy in the Parish of Desertoghill https://bit.ly/2SWbeLo http://www.billmacafee.com/ Lavonne Kennedy Arburn Bradfield 's site https://www.angelfire.com/falcon/bannvalley/ The 1841 & 1851 census extracts at the NLI (National Library Ireland) lists some people from Desertoghill. https://bit.ly/3dYSjqI IGP (Ireland Genealogy Project) Desertoghill churchyard https://bit.ly/3yyelIC Cheers~ Teena https://cotyrone.com/ _______________________________________________ UlsterAncestry@cotyrone.com UlsterAncestry Mailing List Searchable Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/ulsterancestry@cotyrone.com/ https://lists.cotyrone.com/mailman/listinfo/ulsterancestry Website: https://cotyrone.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CoTyroneIrelandGenealogy/
