Tiscoffin () is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

, in

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It lies in the old barony of

Gowran Gowran (; ) is a town located on the eastern side of County Kilkenny, Ireland. The historic St. Mary's Collegiate Church is located in the centre of Gowran close to Gowran Castle. Gowran Park race course and Golf Course is located one km from t ...

, county of Kilkenny, and province of Leinster, roughly ten kilometres east of

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

town. Tiscoffin is reputedly the site of a battle in 1362, where

James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond (4 October 133118 October 1382) was a noble in the Peerage of Ireland. He was Lord Justice of Ireland in 1359, 1364, and 1376, and a dominant political leader in Ireland in the 1360s and 1370s. The son of James Bu ...

slew around six hundred of the clan of the Mac Murroughs - (

Art Mór Mac Murchadha Caomhánach Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of what ...

). Tiscoffin parish is the location of Freestone hill: the site of an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

ringfort Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wales ...

and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

. During archaeological excavations in 1948 and 1949 led by Dr.

Gerhard Bersu Gerhard Bersu (26 September 1889 – 19 November 1964) was a German archaeologist who excavated widely across Europe. He was forced into exile from Germany in 1937 due to anti-Semitic laws in pre-war Nazi Germany. He was interned on the Isle ...

, a number of important Roman artifacts were unearthed. These included: a decorated bracelet, a possible buckle stud, a strip of decorated bronze and three rings, a copper coin of

Constantine the Great Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

(c.337 to 340AD), iron needles, a blue glass bracelet, two shreds of later Roman pottery and a small, polished cone. On top of Freestone hill stands an ancient hawthorn tree long held in reverence by the local population. Freynestown townland was the site of the old monastery of St. Scuithin from whom Tiscoffin-(Tigh Scuithin) drives its placename. In ''

A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland Samuel Lewis (c. 1782 – 1865) was the editor and publisher of topographical dictionaries and maps of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The aim of the texts was to give in 'a condensed form', a faithful and impartial description ...

'', published in 1837, Tiscoffin is described as: :''The parish comprises 7128 statute acres; Culm has been found within its limits, and was formerly worked. It is a rectory, in the

Diocese of Ossory The Bishop of Ossory () is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient of Kingdom of Ossory in the Provinces of Ireland, Province of Leinster, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remain ...

, constituting the corps of the prebend of Tascoffin in the cathedral of St Canice, Kilkenny, and in the patronage of the Bishop. The church was built in 1796, when the late Board of First Fruits gave £500 towards its erection, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have lately granted £308 for its repair. :''In the R. C. divisions this parish forms part of the union or district of Gowran, and contains a chapel. About 130 children are educated in three private schools''

Townlands

Tiscoffin civil parish includes the following townlands: *Blanchvilleskill *

Castlewarren Castlewarren (), previously known as Buile (pronounced "Boula"), is a small village in County Kilkenny, Ireland, located some north of the N10 national primary road at Flagmount. The castle site, from which Castlewarren takes its name, is o ...

*Coolgreany *Coolmarks *Coolgrange * Freynestown *Grangehill *Moonhall *Rathcash Little *Rathcash East *Rathcash West *Reevanagh

References

{{County Kilkenny , state=collapsed Civil parishes of County Kilkenny