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| FETHARD, CO. TIPPERARY. -Fethard is what may be called a somewhat retrograding town, situated about six miles north of Clonmel, in one of the prettiest portions of fertile Tipperary. Gaelic analists call the place Fiodh-ard, which means high wood. The town was founded in the reign of King John, and is remarkable for the well-preserved condition of the castle and walls built at that time. The Catholic church, partly ancient but mainly restored, is shown in the sketch. Fethard stood some sieges during the long wars that raged between the Anglo-Normans and native Irish, but does not seem to have suffered as much as other places of less importance. Cromwell marched against it in February, 1650, but no resistance worthy of the name was made by either the garrison or the towns-people, and, consequently, all were spared the dreadful experiences of Drogheda and Wexford. The Irish troops were allowed to march out with the honors of war, and, strange to say, not even the priests were molested. Stranger still, when we remember the general ferocity of Cromwell's course in Ireland, they escaped the alternative of "hell or Connaught," which was almost invariably presented to the antagonists of the Parliamentary army in the Green Isle. One of Cromwell's most interesting letters-the original of which is in Chicago-is dated from Fethard, which he spells with two small "f's." "I am now," he says, writing to Col. Phayre at Cork, "in the bowels of Tipperary." |
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