The high point of the Penal process came in 1704 when an act (Popish Clergy Act) was passed 'to prevent the further growth of Popery' to be followed by an act for the registration of all Popish Clergy in the land. This was designed to facilitate detection of newly ordained priests by compelling all priests living in Ireland in 1704 to register with the authorities in Dublin.

Possible ordinations to the priesthood therefore had to receive their education at the Irish College in Salamanca in Spain and on completion be smuggled back to Ireland.


Friar's Bush as a place of worship came to an end c1783 when the first St. Mary's Chapel was constructed in Chapel Lane, Belfast with the financial support of the Presbyterians and the Militia.

Grave-robbing: Prior to 1832 and the passing of the 'Anatomy Act', dissection of bodies for medical research was prohibited except on those regarded as hanged criminals. The medical colleges of the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow had need of fresh corpses and the era of the grave-robbers (or 'Resurrection Men' as they became known..)was born. Bodies buried on a given afternoon would be unearthed that night and shipped out for monetary profit. Burke & Hare were probably the best known protaganists and are credited with having actually smothered about 18 of their victims.
Stewart & Feeney were the two most active in N. Ireland and the News Letter of 1823 reported how the authorities were tipped off to board a ship leaving Belfast Harbour to find the bodies of a young mother and her baby in a barrel filled with sawdust destined for Glasgow. Both had been unearthed from Friar's Bush that very evening..............