Penal Times

  • The Penal laws enacted against the Catholics at the end of the seventeenth century deprived them; the great bulk of the people (85%);of all political and civil rights.
  • They were not permitted to sit in Parliment or to vote in elections.

  • Their entry into commerence and the profesions was either restricted or forbidden altogether.

  • They were denied the right to educate their children, either at home or abroad.

  • They lived in a state of poverty and opression.

  • In the late 18th century, a Protestant patriot party; through Henry Grattan; demanded greater independence. This led to the establishment in Dublin in 1782, of an independent Irish Parliment.

  • Effective power, nevertheless, remained in the hands of the English authorities.

Here is a very historic spot on our ridge -top road to Macroom called "Luibin na gCorp"; the bend of the bodies. Two right angled bends ;one right, the other left ; about 50 metres apart, enclose a hidden section of road.n the grassy verge one finds a flat stone measuring approximately 1.5 metres by 1 metre on which coffins were laid as funeral cortage wound its way to Dundareirke graveyard which adjoined the Glebe.

  • The Glebe was the home of the protestant minister.
  • The funeral service having been conducted, the procession resumed its journey and the person was buried with no religious trappings.

Read more about our Glebe


Dundareirke Graveyard

Luibin na gCorp