Mervyn Archdall (1723 – 1791) was an Irish antiquary and clergyman of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

Life

He was descended from John Archdale, of Abbotts Hall, Darsham, in Suffolk, who settled at Castle Archdale,

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...

as an Undertaker in the

Plantation of Ulster The Plantation of Ulster (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ) was the organised Settler colonialism, colonisation (''Plantation (settlement or colony), plantation'') of Ulstera Provinces of Ireland, province of Irelandby people from Great ...

.'Memoirs of the Archdales', H B Archdale, 1925, page 7 He was born in Dublin on 22 April 1723. After graduating from

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

, his antiquarian tastes introduced him to the acquaintance of Walter Harris, Charles Smith the topographer, Thomas Prior, and

Richard Pococke Richard Pococke (19 November 1704 – 25 September 1765)''Notes and Queries'', p. 129. was an English clergyman and writer. He was the Bishop of Ossory (1756–65) and Meath (1765), both dioceses of the Church of Ireland. However, he is best kn ...

, archdeacon of Dublin. When Pococke became

bishop 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, Ireland. In the Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but i ...

, he appointed Archdall his domestic chaplain, bestowed on him the living of Attanagh (partly in Queen's County and partly in

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the City status in Ir ...

), and the prebend of Cloneamery in the cathedral church of Ossory (1762), which he afterwards exchanged (1764) for the prebend of Mayne in the same cathedral. Archdall was also chaplain to Francis Pierpoint, Lord Conyngham, and a member of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

. Having married his only daughter to a clergyman, he resigned part of his preferments in the diocese of Ossory to his son-in-law, and obtained the rectory of Slane in the diocese of Meath, where he died, 6 August 1791.

Works

His major work is ''Monasticum Hibernicum; or, An history of the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses in Ireland.'' (Dublin: printed for Luke White, 1786). Mistakes in it are rectified in John Lanigan's ''Ecclesiastical History of Ireland.'' Considerable portions of the work appear to have been contributed by

Edward Ledwich Edward Ledwich LL.D. F.S.A. (1738 – 8 August 1823) was an Irish historian, antiquary and topographer. Life Ledwich was born in Dublin, the son of John Ledwich, a merchant. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, entering on 22 November ...

. The publication of a new edition, entitled ''Monasticon Hibernicum'', with notes by Patrick F. Moran and other antiquaries began, in parts, at Dublin in 1871. He also produced an edition of John Lodge's ''Peerage of Ireland'', 'revised, enlarged, and continued to the present time,' (7 vols. 1789).

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Archdall, Mervyn 1723 births 1791 deaths Irish writers 18th-century Irish archaeologists Irish antiquarians 18th-century Irish Anglican priests Christian clergy from County Meath People from County Fermanagh