Fr. Thomas Ferris was parish priest of Castlelyons from 1880 to 1891.The 1st meeting of the Irish Land League
in Castlelyons was held on the 5th June 1880. Fr. Ferris was elected chairman. The treasurer was Fr Michael
Hennessy, C.C. and the secretaries were Davis Hegerty, Kilcor and Edmund Kent, High Park. Fr. Ferris
recorded that the meeting was a grand success and that it gave a stimulus to a good cause. The leadership
of the priests in the branches of the League was of tremendous value, as disputes were common among the
members. In the Castlelyons branch funds became the subject of a brief newspaper correspondance in 1883.
The Eviction of Fr. Ferris When the local branch of the League was formed Fr. Ferris followed the League rules and withheld payment of the rent demanded. In its place he offered to pay Griffiths valuation of the holding. This was refused. A writ of eviction was then issued. the holding was put up for auction and was purchased on behalf of the landlord for a nominal sum of something like a pound. Writs of eviction were very often left unimplemented as the threat of eviction was often sufficient to quieten the tenant. In Fr Ferris's case an ejectment order followed in due course and the day of eviction was fixed for 22nd Aug 1883. This was postponed at the last minute.
On the evening of 22nd March the Rathcormac Band heard that the eviction had not taken place as antipicated. They concluded that the matter hqas been settled amiably by landlord and tenant. By way of a tribute to the priest the band assembled outside his cottage and played a serenade of airs.
The eviction took place 8 days later on Thursday 30th August 1883. The landlords agent in Castlelyons, Perrot, an elderly man, and a Mr. Lane from Fermoy, a solicitor, accompanied the evicting party to the priests house. The evicting party was under the command of sub-sherrif John Gale. It consisted of 4 baliffs, 50 policemaen under the sub-inspector, Fleming and 40 men of the 37th Regiment from Fermoy under Lieutenant Crofts.
As parish priest Fr Ferris was a tenant of John Walter Perrot of Thorncliffe, Monkstown. He had a residence
at Castlelyons, the Manor, and was owner of the the former Barrymore estate in the district. The parochial
lands consisted of 14 acres. Griffiths "Valuation of Tenements" made in 1851 shows that the two tenements in
Bridesbridges of which Samuel Perot was the immediate lessor consisted of the Catholic Church and its yard,
with an annual valuation of £40 for which a total exemption was granted and a portion of land of 2 acres 21 perches
adjoining the Church at a valuation of £2 5s Od. The same book shows that the Mohera property consisted
of the parish preiest's house known as "Prospect Cottage" and 1 acre, 3 roods, 2 perches of land leased from
William Fitzgerald at a valuation of £9. After 1851 these properties passed into the ownershiop of the Perrots
and a new lease was entered into by Fr. McSweeney, the parish priest of the time. The new lease included the old
tenements and the connecting lands which are today the site of the National School and the Co-op. The valuation
of the additional land was £11 5s Od.