‘Items from the Archive: drawings of New Ross maces and a small letter’

Bill & Linda Doran

7, St Mary’s Road

Ballsbridge

Dublin 4

Bill@billdoran.net

Abstract

Included among the items associated with Philip Vigors held by the Royal Society of

Antiquaries of Ireland is a letter written to Vigors by his friend and fellow editor of

the Journal of the association for the preservation of the memorials of the dead Rev.

J.F.M. Ffrench. The letter throws light on events taking place within the Society at

this period. Associated with the letter are drawings of the New Ross small and large

maces. These maces are discussed here and the role of the mace as part of the

ceremony of the town as noted in the Corporation Books of the town is examined. The

fate of another mace captured from Ross by the City of Waterford as part of a long–

standing dispute is outlined.

Among the many interests of Colonel Philip Doyne Vigors, JP  was the history and

monuments of the town of New Ross. In the Society’s journal he published a number

of articles dealing with the town including extracts from the Corporation Books that

survive in the town from 1685. He was also responsible for rubbings of some

gravestones from the churchyard of St Mary’s parish church; these are now in the

Society’s collection. He shared this enthusiasm with Rev J.F.M. Ffrench, who was an

editor of the Journal of the association for the preservation of the memorials of the

dead. This group was established by Vigors, initially as a sub-committee of the Royal

Society of Antiquaries of Ireland and as a separate association from 1889. Both men

were follows of the Society and served as Vice–President. Within the Society’s

archive there is a letter and associated drawings that illustrate this shared pursuit and

recall a dispute between Ross and the royal town of Waterford that lasted for around

two hundred years and ultimately seriously damaged the commercial life of Ross.

The letter is dated 3 April 1896 and is sent from Ffrench’s residence at

Ballyredmond House, Clonegal, Co Carlow. He had been appointed to the Rectory of

Clonegal in 1868 and held it until 1907. The Vigors’ family home was close by at

Holloden, near Bagnelstown. The Ffrench family had strong associations with Ross in

fact J.R.M’s grandfather had been sovereign of the town. The letter indicates that he

was undertaking some research, perhaps on the religious orders in Ross as he

mentions using Archdall1, and was seeking Vigors’ opinion on the work. He notes

that Archdall ‘for a wonder’ is wrong in placing the Franciscans ‘on the summit of the

hill in the town’.2 This is presumably the church of St Stephen (Fig. 1). As Ffrench

correctly observes the Franciscan abbey was located close to the Priory Gate, which

takes its name from the Priory of the Crouched Friars, that earlier occupied the same

site as the Franciscans. Ffrench is incorrect in assuming with Archdall that the

Augustinian House was ‘inside and adjoining [the] North Gate.’ In fact it was in the

same general area as the Franciscan House (Fig. 1).

The second part of the letter is more personal and deflects tensions present in

the Society at this period. Ffrench notes that he was ‘much surprised not to see your

paper down in the programme. I am sure that it was not purposely left out. There was

simply an oversight somewhere.’3 He goes on the say ‘I never heard the slightest hint

that anyone wishes to remove anything from Kilkenny to Dublin. I imagine that idea

is a thing of the past.’ This reflects a debate taken place in the Society at this time. At

the annual general meeting of the Society held in June 1896 the tensions caused by

the move from Kilkenny to Dublin were obvious. Following a motion concerning the

loaning of books from the library — which had been available while the Society was

in Kilkenny but was now discontinued — the Honorary Secretary reported that

The Council desire to note that the altered conditions of the Society, since it

has become a metropolitan Society of the first rank compared with what it was

while only a provincial Society, have not been taken into account. Its

headquarters are now in Dublin, and not at Kilkenny; and this alone has made

a great factor in the permanent establishment of the Society as one of the

principal institutions of the kind in the Kingdom. The requisition [to re-instate

loaning of books] not only ignores this, but desires to again constitute

Kilkenny the headquarters, with a branch, or office, in Dublin.4

At a Council meeting held earlier in May 1896 it was unanimously resolved to

transfer ‘the Museum of Antiquities, at present in Kilkenny, to the Science and Art

Museum, Dublin’.5 This, however, was still a subject for debate at the AGM. Rev Dr

Buick, seconding the motion for the transfer, noted that the ‘community in Kilkenny

were anxious to retain Museum’.6 There appeared, however, to be little interest

locally in the collection and the Museum was in poor condition. Ffrench finishes by

noting that Hewson [Rev Edward Hewson, Honorary Secretary for Kilkenny] who

was organizing a conference ‘seems devoted to early rising. I am sure it is very nice

for him but I do not like it’. 7

Associated with this letter is series of small drawings, mainly of the small

mace, a replica of that captured by men of Waterford, with a detail of the large mace.

Both of these are held at the Tholsel at Ross while the original, probably fifteenth–

century mace is on display at the Waterford Treasury. These sketches are initialed

PDV for Philip Doyne Vigors (Fig. 2). The small mace shows the arms of Edward IV

or Elizabeth I (Fig. 3a & b) while the large mace is hallmarked for Dublin 1698. In his

drawing of the small mace–head Vigors poses the question ‘are these the arms of

Edward [IV] or Elizabeth [I]? England the France only’.8 The coat of arms seen here

was adopted by Henry IV (1399–1405) and restored by Edward IV (1461–1470;

1472–1554) and remained the same, with exception of the incorporation of the Arms

of Philip of Spain by Mary I, until the end of the Tudor era. The mace was taken,

prior to 1518, as part of a bitter dispute between Ross and Waterford concerning

access for shipping.

The medieval town of New Ross was founded by William Marshal c. 1200 as

an out–port for his caput at Kilkenny city. There had been an earlier ecclesiastical

settlement at the site associated with St Abbán moccu Cormaic, who died c.520, and

prior to the arrival of Marshal the place was an important crossing point on the

Barrow and was bisected by two ancient routeways making it an ideal setting for a

new town. Its location, at the lowest and narrowest point on the Barrow, also allowed

the construction of a bridge. In addition to its sheltered natural harbour the settlement

lay 1 km south of the confluence of the navigable Nore and Barrow rivers and 40 km

from the open sea. Marshal had inherited the lordship of Leinster through his wife

Isabel, the daughter of Aoife Mac Murchada and Richard de Clare (Strongbow) and

the grand–daughter of Diarmait Mac Murchada. In 1215, as part of the development

of the town, Marshal secured an agreement from the crown that ships bound for his

lordship could by–pass the royal city of Waterford and sail straight into Ross,

provided it did not damage the trade of Waterford. This allowed merchants to travel

up–river directly into the heart of the Marshal lordship and avoid two sets of duties.

This right was revoked, however, in 1219 under pressure from commercial interests in

Waterford. In 1227 William Marshal the younger again gained the concession but this

was later rescinded.9 The dispute lasted almost two hundred years and was graced by

claim and counter–claim, court cases, piracy, the seizure of forty ships by the citizens

of Ross and the capture of the New Ross mace by the men of Waterford.10 In the end

market forces ruled and it was more profitable for traders to come to Ross, which by

the mid–thirteenth century was the leading port in the country for wool, skins and

leather. The deteriorating position of Waterford at this period in relation to the

commercial Goliath of Ross is caught in a petition arguing against direct access for

shipping to Ross

….the port was always the port of Waterford, before and after the coming of

the English, that ships always went to Waterford until Marshal built the vill of

Ross. When the vill began to get rich, shipping left Waterford and transferred

to Ross.11

The circumstances of the taking of the mace are recorded in an inquisition held at

Ross in 1518. This account is striking for the number and variety of weapons

employed and the international flavour of the attacking contingent.

….citizens and commons of the city of Waterford, at the command of Patrick

Roofe, mayor of the said city, together with many Spaniards, Frenchmen,

Bretons and Irish, came riotously with a fleet of boats and ships, in piratical or

warlike fashion variously armed: to wit, with surcoats, coats of mail, helmets,

shields, spears, swords, lances, cross-bows, weapons, bows, arrows, broad-

axes, and bombards or cannon, on the 20th Day of May in the 10th year of the

reign of Henry VIII [1518], to assault and beseige, in a piratical and warlike

manner, the town of Ross. So that, intimidated by this assult and seige, and for

the preservation of the aforesaid town of Ross, the Sovereign and Commons of

the aforesaid town were compelled to deliver to the aforesaid bailiffs and

commons of the City of Waterford a mace of silver gilt, to the value of £20.12

The mace was an important symbol of local administration as can be seen by the

regular mention of the item and the office of mace–bearer or ‘Sergt –at-Mace’ in the

Corporation Books of the town. In 1687, for example

Wm Costally, Sergt –at–Mace,[along with other office–holders and burgesses]

went by land to the Tower of Rossa Tower of Hook to claim the

Corporation right to the said Tower, and seven acres of land belonging to the

said Town of New Rosse

The sergent–at–mace clearly had an important role in this ceremony as the entry

records that ‘The mace–bearer with his mace and the Mayor with his Rodd and

declared to the people thereabouts the intention of their coming’. Vigors, in one of his

paper in the Journal on the Corporation Books records the role of the mace–bearer in

the reception of the new charter granted to the town by James II.13

When that friendly salutation was over as aforesaid all [the companies] of

trades marched, first fower in a breast, then the seame [colours] flying, after

ye Porters commanded by the Master porter, then [ye serjeant] at mace, ye

Waterbayley, the Corporation Bailiffs before the Sov [eraigne], [then the]

Soveraign by himselfe before the Mayr, Recorder, High Sheriffe, [Sqr Robert]

Leigh Colclough, then all the persons of note…..

The books also record that at this period the bearer was paid 10s. and 10d. for every

freeman admitted to the town. The continuing relationship between the office of

Sovereign and mace–bearer is still important in the nineteenth century. In 1832 an

entery notes that ‘Since the Sovereign has agreed to pay for a Mace Bearer of his own

choice he will provide him with a cloak and hat’.

Most of the drawings by Vigors are of the earlier, and probably more

important small mace. The sketches are headed ‘The Waterford…Small mace at Ross

– Aug 17. 1892 – PDV’14 and the notes on the drawings are clearly for discussion as

some are posed as questions. Siobhán de hOir writing about Vigors says ‘ His advice

was practical and remains valid to this day for those engaged in surveying and

recording inscriptions’.15 These drawings bear out this attention to detail. The mace

consists of two parts (Fig. 4a &b) and Vigors has drawn the flanged end with a details

including the diameter of the top, which contains the coat of arms and one of the four

decoration that surround it. In addition to the rubbing of the arms there are drawings

of it.

In the case of the larger seventeenth-century mace Vigors has drawn the head

showing the coat of arms. (Fig. 5a & b) As it is hall–marked for Dublin 1698 and has

an inscription this mace is clearly dated. The inscription reads

The gift of the Rt Hon James Earl of Anglesey; to ye towne of New Rosse on

2 nd of October 1699

Nathaniel Steevens Esq Soveraigne

New Ross passed into the control of the Arthur, Earl of Anglesey under the Act of

Settlement and Explanation passed in 1662. In fact the second earliest map known of

Ross is one drawn for the Anglesey estate c. 1700 and showing the walls, streets,

some of the main features and the environs of the town (Fig. 6). In 1692, following

the political upheavals of the 1690s the Corporation presented the earl ‘with his

freedom and burgesship in a silver box value 20 shillings’16. In style this mace

resembles a number of others, such as Cork, Drogheda and Limerick that date to the

same period.

This small collection provides a fascinating insight into some of the concerns

and interests important to Vigors and to his fellow antiquarians as the nineteenth

century drew to a close. They capture the camaraderie, friendships and slight pettiness

that marked the relationship between these like–minded souls. They also provide an

insight into the tensions within the Society sparked by the transfer from Kilkenny to

Dublin, which has affected the nature and structure of the Society. The drawings

recall the exacting standards that were the hall–mark of Vigors and his associate. In

both letter and drawings there is an interaction between two scholars each seeking the

opinion of the other. They show precision and a genuine sense of inquiry and that is

the mark of solid scholarship.

Acknowledgements

We would like to Mr David Minogue, Town Clerk of New Ross, for permission to

view the Corporation Books and town regalia and to Mr John Moran of New Ross

Town Council for all his help and assistance. We are also grateful to Mr Damien

MacGarry for his discussion of the Royal coats of arms.

                                                                                                               1 Mervyn Archdall, Monasticum Hibernicum or a History of the Abbies, Priories, and

other Religious Houses in Ireland. (Dublin, 1786) 2 rsai/mss/jrnl/16 Box: 27 3 Ibid. 4 Proceedings, in R.S.A.I. Jn., (Sept., 1896), p. 269. 5 Ibid. 6  Ibid.  7  Ibid.  8  Ibid.  9 For a clear and detailed history of the dispute see Eamonn McEneaney, ‘ Waterford

and New Ross trade competition, c. 1300’, in Decies xii (1979), pp 16–24; ‘King John

and the city of Waterford’, in Decies, xxxvi (1984), pp 154–7. 10 The mace is now in the Waterford Treasurers Museum. 11 Cal. Doc. Irel 1285–1292, pp 246–7. 12 Quoted in Philip Herbert Hore, History of the Town and County of Wexford, 6 vols,

i (London, 1900, reprnt, 1978) P. 232. 13 P.D. Vigors, ‘An Account of the Reception of a New Charter from King James II to

the Town of New Ross, County Wexford, in March, 1687’, in R.S.A.I. Jn. (1889), pp.

133-136. 14 rsai/mss/jrnl/16 Box: 27 15 Siobhán de hOir ‘ Philip Doyne Vigors: soldier and antiquarian, 1852–1903’.

(forthcoming). 16 Corporation Books of New Ross