Maynooth, Tithes and Parsonstown
Archived: 10 October 2026
In 1869, Gladstone’s Irish Church Act reshaped Ireland’s settlement by legislating disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, effective in 1871, while protecting clergy and reorganising property. It ended grants to Maynooth and Presbyterian ministers through compensation arrangements, prompting new church financing and governance. Selective release of Fenian prisoners sustained amnesty agitation, with Isaac Butt emerging as a constitutional nationalist figure. Inquiries into tenant rights and agricultural improvements prepared the ground for land reform in 1870. Mary Ward’s death near Parsonstown in an experimental steam carriage marked Ireland’s first recorded mechanised road fatality. Master McGrath’s Waterloo Cup victory generated sporting pride.