Chapter 13/ Templevanny Sodens of Sligo/1824

The Sodens of Templevanny, Co. Sligo

 FRANCIS SODEN ,(2nd January, 1802 – 1867)

Templevanny , Co. Sligo

Son of Francis and Amy Soden, Rowington, Warwickshire

Francis Soden was the first recorded member of the Soden family to be a teacher.

He was recommended by Fr. Richard Fitzmaurice , the priest of Keash for training in 1824. He had at this time the appointment for the school in Templevanny from Earl Kingston.

He is mentioned 2 years later as being in charge of the pay school in Templevanny ,in the parish of Drumrat with scholars paying 1/3d to 2/9d per quarter . The school itself was a house built from lime and stone for between £80-£90.

(Sources : History of Achonry , 1689-1818 by Liam Swords , page 182 & O’Hara Papers Ms. 20,285 & Commissioners of Irish Education Enquiry ,

Irl Templevanny school ruins
Irl Templevanny school ruins

1826-27 , XII pages 1310-1330.

1824

‘…….Richard Fitzmaurice,parish priest of Keash,recommended for training in 1824,

Francis Soden,who had here appointment by Earl Kingston to the school of Templevanny.’

History of Achonry, 1689-1818

By Liam Swords,published 1997

Page 182

(See de Brun pp. 85,182,238,240,256.

Parliamentary Papers (1825) volume 12

Appendix 223,page 617 and

O’Hara Papers Ms. 20,285)

1826-27

Parochial Returns for Sligo

Appendix no.22 to the Second Report

from Commissioners of Irish Education Enquiry H.C.1826-1827,

X11 pp. 1308-1330.

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Francis Soden

Roman Catholic

page no.1316

Parish Drumrat

Location Templevany

Teacher

Pay school 1/3 yo 2/9 per qtr.School house built from lime and

stone for £80 – £90.

Names of primary schools in different counties and their parishes:

Sligo:-

Parish School Name in 1826

Drumcliffe Kilsellagh/Carney/Ballinful

St.John’s Sligo Prison,Oakfield,Sligo Female,Clover Hil,Cabry Female,Upr. St.John’s.

Ahamlish Mount Temple

Ballinasoden Ballinasoden (Hibernian London)

London Hibernian Society

No return.

Related Reports:

Hibernian Society for Soldiers’ Children/1844 (363) XLIII.155

page 427

The Sixth Report :Hibernian Society for Soldiers’ and Sailors’

Children 1826-1827 (441) XIII/35

from Dingfelder/NL IR 372/d/38 (4 vols.) &

Irish Education Enquiry/NL IR 372/1/6 (2 vols.)

Soden © 2019

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TAB (Tithe Applotment Books)

Reel 93

Page 5

Diocese Achonry

Parish Toomour

Townland Templevanny

Name Francis Soden

Quantity 1acre

School Plot

Valuation 18s.

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Francis Soden, the teacher mentioned above, was the great-great-grandfather of Mary Soden McNerney, now a resident in Leixlip, Co.Kildare on the banks of the River Liffey near Dublin and he belonged to the Soden branch of Templevanny, Co. Sligo , some of whom attended the Soden Reunion in 2000.

Francis Soden was born in Reading, England and employed as a teacher in the schoolhouse at Templevanny, now a ruin. He died Mary believes in 1867. This means the Sodens of Templevanny would have experienced the full blow of the Great Famine [1845-48] and the 1867 Fenian Insurrection. Francis had at least one child, a son, Francis Joseph Soden, [1842-1906], who became a Roman Catholic priest and worked in England. The family in Keash, Co. Sligo had a framed picture of him when Mary was a young girl. One of the parishes he served in was St. Mary’s, Euxton, England from which source his biography has been acquired.

Fr. Francis Joseph Soden , descended in a direct line from Francis and Amy Soden of Rowington, Warwickshire, the same line as that of Kenneth Gould, whose grandmother was Alice Soden, the subject of Ken’s novel, ‘ Time and Time Again’ published in 2009.

Francis Soden, the teacher in Templevanny, Co. Sligo was born in Rowington, Warwickshire, in 1802, the son of Francis and Amy Soden. Fr. Francis Joseph Soden, was born in Templevanny, Co. Sligo , the son of Francis Soden, national school teacher in the parish of Toomour. He was born in 1842 and died in England in 1906.

He was educated in his parish and then entered All Hallows Seminary in Drumcondra, Dublin where he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest for the English mission on 24th June, 1865.

He served in the 1860s in the Preston area, by 1870 he was serving at St. Patrick’s Liverpool and had moved to Wigan by 1875. In 1878 he became the priest-in-charge at Sacred Heart, Chorley and remained there till 1893 when he moved to Euxton. In 1896 moved to Mawdesley, Wigan and Southport till he was appointed priest-in-charge of St. Joseph’s Mission, Withnell in September, 1904. His health had greatly deteriorated and he died on 24th June, 1906 at the age of 64, the 41st anniversary of his ordination. He is buried in the graveyard at St. Chad’s Whittle on 27th June, 1906.

[Source: Archives of St. Marys , Euxton by Mary McNerney, Leixlip, Kildare, Ireland]