Graveslab in Priorpark

Situated on a rise of ground in undulating countryside. Medieval ruins of Cloghprior church (TN009-052001-) stands in centre of graveyard (TN009-052002-). Nineteenth-century headstones have been inserted into the external face of the N wall and E gable of church. A rebuilt doorway with no cut stone visible is at W end of the S wall. The E gable has a partially blocked-up twin-light ogee-headed window and in the W gable there is a round-headed single-light window with a round-arched bellcote on top. A single-light flat-headed window lies at the E end of the S wall. The E end of the church has been converted into a burial area for the Cambie family. A seventeenth-century graveslab with the Cambie coat of Arms was inserted into base of the window embrasure located at the E end of the S wall of the church. The inscription on this plaque reads 'HERE LIETH MARY THE WIFE OF SOLOMON CAMBIE DECEASED THE 11 DEY OF FEB 1684 AND RACHEL HARDING HIS 2 FEB 1687'. According to Lenihan the forfeited lands of Annagh Castle (TN009-036----) which belonged to the Irish papist, John Hurly, were granted to Captain Solomon Camby, 'one of Oliver Cromwell's officers' (Lenihan 1871). In 1656 Captain Solomon Camby of the Parliamentarian army was governor of the town of Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford (Hore 1911, 508). In 1659 Solomon Cambie [Sol. Camby] was one of the signatories to a petition to the Commonwealth for the compilation or 'hastening up of the Down Survey of Ireland and to have there his 'arrears satisfied in Ireland' (Larcom 1851, 80). The 1659 Census of Ireland listed 'Soloman Cambier Esq.' as the owner of the lands of Annagh in the parish of Kilbarron (Pender 2002, 298). In 1661 the Earl of Orrery requested pardons from King Charles II on full terms of the Act of Parliament [Engl.] of 25 April, 1660 for a list of people which included 'Major Soloman Canby, of ........, co. Tipperary' (Mahaffy 1905, 319). In the same year the Irish Treasury recorded the payment of arrears to the 'Foot' which included 'Major Solomon Camby, in part payment of £489 17s. due to him as Major and Captain' (Calendar of the manuscripts of the Marquess of Ormonde 1904, 426). In 1669 a Solomon Cambie and Alice [nee Craine] his wife were listed as defendants over the purchase of lands by the plaintiff, Charles Minchin for 'Annagh, Kilbarron, Knockballea, Tullaghan, Kilbelew alias Kilbeller' for the sum of £641 (Anon. 1869, 41). In 1672, a Solomon Camby is listed as a defendant against the plaintiff John Berckely, in Chancery Pleadings of the Palatine Court of Co. Tipperary from 1666-1690 (Anon. 1869, 47). O'Hart (1884, 664) gives the following pedigree for a Major Solomon Cambie 'of Ballycullatan [Ballycolliton TN009-042----] and Annagh Castle [TN009-036----], co. Tipperary, and Alice his wife, and Samuel Cambie (of Galway), son and heir apparent of said Solomon Cambie who was a witness with William Cleburne, of the city of Kilkenny, to a tripartite Indenture dated 20th July, 1677, for the sale of Castletown, Ballycullatan, Killinboy, Kilbulloir, Burnadubber, and part of Annagh, with all the Castles, towns, village, lands, premises, their rights, marches and appurtenances situate in the co. Tipperary, to the said William Cleburn. Major Solomon Cambie, here mentioned, was a Cromwellian Officer; Alice his wife, was a dau. of Henry Craine. Her daughter Elizabeth Cambie m. William, son of William Cleburn of St. John's Manor, Co. Wexford, and had one child Elizabeth, who d. in 1682, aged 16 days'. To see a 3D model of graveslab visit https://skfb.ly/ovWr9 Compiled and revised by: Caimin O'Brien. Date of revised upload: 8 July 2022