Rockstown Graveyard & Church
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Rockstown graveyard is situated on the road between The Hunting Lodge and (Keoghs Cross) Fedamore village, and adjacent to Rockstown Castle near Rockstown castle. The graveyard is small, surrounded by large trees and part of it is sloping. It is difficult to access with several steps up to the gate, which is on the bend of the road. It contains the ruin of an old church. The church was 16.1 meters long and 7.5 meters wide. A stone roof 2.2 meters high covers about one third of the church forming the Kelly vault. This vault has a heavy steel door and over the door is a plaque with the words “Erected by John Kelly Esq.A.D.1830.”
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The Record of Protected Structures in Fedamore Parish has the following entry
“Kelly Mausoleum, Medieval site, Rockstown Fedamore. “Ref No. K22(34)”
Also on the wall of the Church are inscriptions Numbers 21 and 47. There are two other vaults, one, Number 48, to the memory of James Barry of Rockstown, is in the main body of the church and the third, number 43, just inside the gate is to the memory of The Barry’s of Sandville House.
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Sandville House
The home of the Barry family in the 18th and 19th centuries was a two-storey house and cost about £400 to build. The house became known as Sandville in the early 19th century. The Ordnance Survey Field Name Book dates the building to 1799. John Barry occupied this house on the Kelly estate at the time of Griffith’s Valuation when the buildings were valued at £26. John Grene Barry was resident in the 1870s.
The oldest headstone in the graveyard, No 34, is of Margaret Carroll, alias Barry, who died on the 20th January 1814.
As large parts of the graveyard does not have any headstones, there may well be quite a number of unmarked graves.
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Mass Rock (Source: diocesan website)
According to locals, there was a Mass rock at Rockstown, however, it is now inaccessible. People no longer visit the site. The rock was situated in a hollow below Rockstown Castle and was hidden from view of the Castle.
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Rockstown Castle
It is one of 400 or so Tower houses that dotted the country at the time of the Desmond palatinate. These Tower houses proved to be very safe places to live in until the advent of the heavy cannon. Very little history remains of the castle but it is a 4 Storey tower house standing on rocks. It is 50ft high and 26ft by 24ft inside. It was held by William Bourke in 1583. In 1600 James Gould held it. In 1655 Captain George Ingoldsby held it.
It is later recorded as a building valued at £18 at the time of Griffith’s Valuation, occupied by Chartres Brew Maloney and held from James Kelly. Chartres Brew Maloney, second son of Patrick Maloney of Cragg married his cousin Alice, daughter of James Barry of Rockstown in 1841. Rockstown Castle was inherited by James Kelly’s grandson Basil James Kelly in the 20th century and was left by him to his nephew Derrick Morley in 1945.
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John O’Donovan
Under the heading of Rochestown Parish, John O’Donovan wrote this of Rockstown:
This townsland contains 52 acres, which are arable land with limestone. Soil is light and gravelly, producing potatoes, corn and flax. The proprietor, John Kelly Esq. has it let to three tenants by leases of one life@ £1 16s an acre and they again to three others @ £3 an acre. Co Cess is 1s 2d to 1s 4d per half acre, Tithe 2s 0d an acre.
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