Monument Bush

Situated on a level landscape and on a small NE-SW roadway c. 1km SW of Batterstown village. A bush, described as the ‘Monument Bush’ in italic script is depicted in the roadway on the 1835 edition of the OS 6-inch map, but it had been removed by the start of the next century as it is described as the site of the monument bush on the 1908 edition. According to the OS letters of the 1830s funerals were carried in procession around the Big Tree in Rathregan and the Monument Bush, but there was no explanation of the name (Herity 2001, 114). In the folk tradition it was regarded as a Mass bush where Mass was celebrated in Penal times (IFC Schools’ Collection vol. 0687, P 316). The roadway with its banks and hedges is still slightly wider at this point. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 9 December 2021