Leixlip – Chronology 1200 – 1499 AD

Leixlip Chronology to 1200 – 1499 AD             

compiled by

JOHN COLGAN

c1200-1400:  Numbers of ‘tourists’, on pilgrimages to St Patrick’s Purgatory, Lough Derg, Co Donegal, and other places are known to have come and travelled in Ireland. They came from various places in Europe, suggesting a sufficiently peaceful environment.  [Michael Richter, Medieval Ireland: The Enduring Tradition, Dublin 1988, p177-9.]

c1200-1300:  In this century bishoprics were divided into parishes, particularly in the anglicised areas. [Michael Richter, Medieval Ireland: The Enduring Tradition, Dublin 1988, p155.]

c1200:  Alen’s Register confirms several churches attached to the [Augustinian] Canons of St Thomas [Court, Dublin], including Ecclesia de Saltu Salmonis  =  the church of the Salmon Leap [Leixlip]. [Michael Mac Sweeney, ‘The Parish of Maynooth (1040 –1614)’, the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, October 1940, p308].

c1200:  William [Piro], Bishop of Glendalough, granted, ceded and in this paper confirmed to canons of the church (or congregation) of St Thomas, Dublin, a moiety of the churches of Chonefy [Confey] and Saltu Salmonis [Leixlip], with all the [cure] spiritual charge of the souls in each ‘villa’ pertinent to the church. They shall keep whole and undivided to themselves one tenth of the salmon and fishing in the aforementioned cures. He also granted them a moiety of the church of Tachcuminy [Stacumny], (and others churches not familiar to the Leixlip area). He retained in his own hands the means of the churches of Confey, Leixlip and Stacumny and one tenth of the salmon and the [income of the] cure with his fishery in the villa of Leixlip, (and other retentions not of Leixlip interest).  Witnesses to the deed included: Symone, bishop of Meath; Walter de Hereford, magistrate, and many others. [John T Gilbert, Register of the Abbey of St. Thomas, Dublin, London, 1889, No CCCXXXVI, p289-91.] Note that the year is uncertain; Gilbert cites no year. Stokes gives this time .[Calendar of the Liber Niger Alani, p972, cited by GT Stokes (ed) in JRSAI, Vol 27, p415, 1897.] As Tachcuminy / Taghcomyng is Stacumney, the house of [Archbishop John] Cumin, the date is a little early. He also granted the Abbey the fishing in the town of the Salmon Leap [St Thomas’s Register, p166, cited by Myles V Ronan, in ‘Union of the Dioceses of Glendaloch and Dublin in 1216’, JRSAI, Vol 60, 1930, p56-72].

c1200:  All of the mottes in Co Kildare were erected by this time by the Normans. [Jocelyn Otway-Ruthven, ‘The medieval county of Kildare’, Irish Historical Studies, Vol XI, March 1959, p183].  In some instances they may have been erected by the Vikings who preceded them. These included those in the deanery of Leixlip.

1201:  William, bishop of Glendalough, granted, ceded and in this paper confirmed to the church (or congregation) of St Thomas, Dublin, the church of Confoy [sic, = Confey] and that of the Salmon-leap [=Leixlip], with all the [cure] spiritual charge of the souls in each ‘villa’ near each church to be shared [or divided] in like manner. He also confirmed that they shall keep whole and undivided to themselves one tenth of the salmon and fishing in the aforementioned cures. Witnesses included, Simon, bishop of Meath; Walter de Hereford, magistrate, and Simon, clerk ‘de Ponte’ and many others. The year is from Archdall; the Register does no specify it. [John T Gilbert, Register of the Abbey of St. Thomas, Dublin, London, 1889, No CCXV, p182-3]. [Mervyn Archdall, Monasticum Hibericum: or a history of the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses in Ireland, Vol II, Dublin, 1879, p35].  Did Walter de Hereford give the name to the now-defunct townland, Walterstown, near the Rye by Shaughlin’s Glen?

1201:  Adam de Hereford granted for the good of his soul, that of his wife and parents and his predecessors, to the church of St Thomas, Dublin, the church of Conefi [=Confey] and the church of St Maria “de Hernie” [= of Urnaidh, of the oratory, now called Nurney], with messuages [=houses, outbuildings and sites], fishes, and all their appurtenances. In the same grant he retained just St Patrick’s chapel of the castle and his entitlements of the tithes from the occupiers of his Nurney [land] as far as his country house and farm buildings. He also granted a burgage that they can have beside Hernie [=Nurney] and in general they may share in his common woods, freely and fully, as their needs dictate, free from all taxes and hindrance. Witness, S. bishop of Meath, Roger de Hereford and others. [John T Gilbert, Register of the Abbey of St. Thomas, Dublin, London, 1889, no. CLXVII, p142-3.] Note that the year is uncertain; Gilbert cites no year; Archdall gives this year.  

In another deed or charter Adam de Hereford granted one burgage beside his castle of Ernia [=Nurney], which is quartered by the river, with three acres of adjacent land, to the church of Blessed Thomas the Martyr, at Dublin, and the canons regular serving there.  Witnesses included S., bishop of Meath, Thomas and Wm Marshall, and many others. [John T Gilbert, Register of the Abbey of St. Thomas, Dublin, London, 1889, No CLXVIII, p143.] This is about the same or perhaps an earlier date to the above. 

In yet another deed or charter Adam de Hereford granted one tenth of the salmon of Salt [=Leixlip] and Nurney – “decimam salmonum de Saltu [et decimam] salmonum de Erni”  – to the church of Blessed Martyr Thomas, of Dublin and the canons serving there, for the good of his soul, etc. The witnesses included John de Hereford, his son. Notes: salmon = salmo; genitive plural is salmonum. Saltus = leap. Saltu is an abbreviation for Saltus [Salmonum], meaning Leap of the Salmon, or Leixlip. As Nurney castle was on a river, one can presume that it had some salmon also. [John T Gilbert, Register of the Abbey of St. Thomas, Dublin, London, 1889, No CLXIX, p144.]

 Archdall assumes, incorrectly, that this is only a grant of the tenth salmon of the salmon-leap of Erny. [footnote: King, p174.] [Mervyn Archdall, Monasticum Hibericum: or a history of the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses in Ireland, Vol II, Dublin, 1879, p37.]

c1202:  A priory was founded at St Wolstan’s for the canons of St Victor, Paris, by Adam de Hereford, in honour of St Wolstan, late bishop of Worcester, then newly canonised. The bishops of Dublin (Comyn, who was a deacon at Evesham, Worcestershire), Meath (Simon), and Glendaloch (Wm), were witnesses. The grant was made between 1194 and 1212. [Mervyn Archdall, Monasticum Hibernicium,  Vol 2, Dublin, 1879, p291-6.]

1202:  King John confirmed a grant made by Wm Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, to Adam de Hereford and his heirs, with the assent of Marshall’s wife, Isobel, of the half cantred of land in Offelan [=Uí Faeláin] which is near Dublin, so that he shall have for his part of that half cantred the accommodation/homestead [?] called Oliuran and the town of Oughterard [nr Newcastle Lyons] and the town of Tachgumini [=Stacumny] and all the fishing of the Salmon Leap, also the castle which Machenlodher first founded which is seated in the homestead [?] [comodum] of Owaltan and one knight’s fee around it in the nearer part with Owaltan, and the place which is called Welteruin [aka Weterhunn] [is this Walterstown?] and the town which is called Cloncurry which is in the same comodum, and the half comodum of Oquirc, so that in his part he shall have Cunisi [Confey!] and two ‘Kirdarchs’ [cataracts, from the Greek] which are on the water of Awen-lifi [= Liffey] and all the land of Oquire which is in that part of the river in which Tachgumeni [Stacumny] stands and all the appurtenances thereof, etc. Given 1/3/1202. [Edmund Curtis (ed), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Vol 1, Dublin, 1932, No.29.]
Note that a Lambertus Loder was among a composite Dublin Roll of (Male) Names compiled at the close of the 12th century. [See JT Gilbert (ed), Historic and Municipal Documents of Ireland, 1172-1320, London, 1870.] Amongst the names which may have Leixlip interest were: Palmer, Pipard, Hereford or Havarfurd, Roger Price, Lunden or London, William Harold, Weston, Cogan, Kardif or Kerdiff, Croker, de Lacy, Samford or Sanford, Eustace (‘Eustacius belles’).

1203: Faelan MacFaelain, lord of Offelan, died in the monastery of Old Connell (near Newbridge town, Co Kildare) which was founded by Meiler FitzHenry. [Annals of the Four Masters, 1203, cited by Orpen, vol II, p326.]

1203:  This year Alard FitzWilliam, who had been given Liuecan [=Lucan] in the Norman settlement, transferred it to Wyrrys or Werrick Peche or Pecchie. [Jas Mills, ‘The Norman settlement in Leinster – the cantreds near Dublin’, JRSAI, Vol 24-5, 1894-5, p170] In Hampshire, Werrick Pecchie rendered his account of 40 marks and a palfrey [= saddled riding horse], for having the King’s confirmation of this land of Liuican [Lucan] in Ireland… and he is quit. [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1875, No 192, Pipe 5, John, Rot. 11 dors,. 1203-4; No 197 is similar.] De Peche married the daughter of the lord of Leixlip, Stephen de Hereford [Mills cites the Register of St Thomas, p103]. Lucan remained in the de Peche family until about the end of the 13th century. There may be a mistake here as Adam de Hereford was the Lord of Leixlip, unless he had been succeeded by a son called Stephen? [His only son] Check Latin in Register of St Thomas.

c1203-5:  Adam de Hereford founded the Augustinian priory of St Wolstan’s near Donaghcomper about this time. Archdall, in his Monasticon Hibericum, ie, monasteries of Ireland, records the founding year as 1202, but it took some years and much negotiation between de Hereford and the bishops of the dioceses concerning the ownership and income of Confey, Leixlip and Donaghcumper churches and the tithes of salmon there, ie, levies or taxes in kind, of salmon before the official founding. [T O’Connor, Ordnance Survey Letters, Co Kildare, 20/10/1837, in NA. H F Berry, in his Register of Wills etc, p193, cites ‘about 1205’ as the founding year.]

1204:  King John authorized Meiller Fitz Henry, the Viceroy, to erect a castle at Dublin, commencing with the erection of a tower (keep – Bermingham tower), and to leave the other buildings to be more leisurely constructed. [Cited by Myles V Ronan, ‘Anglo-Norman Dublin and Diocese’, Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Vol 45, 1935, p283, a publication subject to ‘nihil obstat’. Ronan writes that the ‘castle’ meant curtain walls.]

c1206:  Eustachio [Eustace], constabulario, [Eustace, the constable] is witness to a deed. [Maurice P Sheehy, ‘The Register Novum’ etc., Reportorium Novum, Vol 3, No 2, 1964, p266-7.]

1207:  John d’Erlée accompanied his lord, Wm Marshal, to Ireland in 1207 (Rot. Pat, 8 John, p69) and was given the custody of southern Leinster when Wm was summoned back by John. He was granted lands in co Kilkenny (the town of which was founded by Marshal), where his name is preserved in the parish of Erleystown, later corruptly called Earlstown [Orpen, opus cit, Vol II, p200].  Marshall had never been to his fief in Ireland before this, partly because he was in Normandy, but also because King John, who succeeded Richard I, refused to allow him go there. At the end of 1206, John gave an unwilling consent, and Marshal set out around February 1207 accompanied by Henry Hose and John d’Erlée. [Orpen, Vol II, p208-9.] When he arrived, he discovered that the justiciar, Meiler FitzHenry had taken over some of Marshal’s lands. About October, 1207 King John summoned Meiler and Marshal to his presence. Marshal assigned custody of his lands to Jordan de Saukeville and John d’Erlée and left them with his cousin, Stephen d’Evreux (founder of the Devereaux family of Wexford) and some knights. [Orpen, Vol II, p210-11] While en route, Meiler’s men raided and burned Marshal’s lands.  Meiler had arrived in England first and got the king to send letters summoning John d’Erlée, Stephen d’Evreux and Jordan de Saukeville back to England under penalty of losing the lands which they held of the king in England.  On 20/2/1208 King John wrote to the Earl Marshal as follows: ‘We have ordered that the land which John de Erleg held of your fee and which was taken into our … had be restored to you. We caused him to be disseised because for more than 2 months he failed to come to us after being ordered to do so. We desire you to send back him and the others whom we lent you..’ [Rot. Claus, 9 John, m.8, p103]. The earl’s men in Ireland decided to defend the Earl’s lands entrusted to them and summoned help from Hugh de Lacy, who came with 65 knights and 1,200 men and they devastated Meiler’s lands, some of which had been given Meiler by Hugh’s namesake and father [Orpen, Vol II, p216-7].

1207-1213:  Marshal lived for most of this time in Ireland, making Kilkenny his principal residence and the centre of his lordship.

1207:  The grant of 1202 from King John to Adam de Hereford is given again on 27/5/1207; it is now the fishery of Saltus Salmonum [Salmon Leap] and Confey is now Cunefi. The witnesses in this case include John Marescall [Marshall], Thomas de Santford [Sandford], Richard de Santford, Hugh de Santford, Richard de Hereford, Thos de Hereford, Richard Tirel, Philip de Prendergast, Eustace the chaplain [Edmund Curtis (ed), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Vol 1, Dublin, 1932, No.37]. Philip de Prendergast was son of Maurice de Prendergast and he married a granddaughter (Maud) of Strongbow. [Orpen, opus cit, Vol I, p391.]

1207:  A grant was made by [King] John, [Lord of Ireland,] to Adam de Hereford and his heirs of 4 curucates [each = around 100 acres; as much as one man can plough in a year and a day] of land in Coldreyn, [Cooldrinagh] Aderderc [Aderrig], inter alia, to hold of the King in fee by the service of a half a knight’s fee.[HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1875,  no. 371, Chart., 9 John, m5, 8/11/1207; also in Edmond Curtis (ed), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Vol 1, 1172-1350, Dublin, 1932, No. 38.]

1208:   King John did an about face and in March 1208 he gave a new charter (dated 28/3/1208) to the Earl, Wm Marshal, of his land in Leinster and ordered Meiler to make amends etc [Orpen, Vol II, p216-7 and Rot. Chart, 9 John, p176].

1210:  King John, having lost his Normandy lands, concentrated on his island colonies and made an expedition to Ireland, arriving near Waterford on 20/6/1210. Unfortunately, many of the rolls for the 10th to the 13th year of his reign are missing, hindering a full appraisal of his transactions during his visit. Apparently, he followed the same route as his father, Henry II, 39 years before, and one which he himself seems to have taken in 1185. He was accompanied on his trip by Wm Marshall and stopped at Thomastown, co Kilkenny, next day and probably that night and the next few days in Marshall’s Kilkenny castle. On 26th he was at Naas and on 28th John was at Dublin and is believed to have stopped at St Thomas (the martyr) abbey, founded 33 years before. On 3th June he was at Greenoge, barony of Ratoath, co Meath and on 2nd July at Trim.  En route, he seized many castles. Trim being too small for his court, he camped at a nearby mead, where his writs were dated at that place. On the 4th July he moved to Kells, camping there. He then turned north, probably via Nobber castle, co Meath, and thence on the 7th at Louth, his own vill. On the 9th he was at Dundalk, again camping, and from there he went to Carlingford on the 9th, where he seized Hugh de Lacy’s castle; this was retained as a royal castle until 1226, when it was restored to de Lacy. While there, until the 11th, John paid tradesmen to repair the damage done the castle by de Lacy on his abandoning it. He next crossed the lough, taking Rath or Dundrum castle and repeated the repair job. On the 16th July he was at Downpatrick and from thence to Carrickfergus from 19th to 28th July. De Lacy escaped to Scotland by boat and his troops surrendered. On the 29th he was at Holywood, and returned to Downpatrick for the 2nd and 3rd August, and from thence came to Carlingford on the 5th, Drogheda on the 8th, and thence to Duleek on the 9th, Kells on the 10th and Fore on the 11th. From there southwards to Granard on the 12th, Rathwire on the 14th and by the 18th he was back in Dublin, where he stayed for 6 days before his departure for Fishguard. John is said to have stopped at Castellum Bret on the 17th August. Its position is uncertain. Milo de Bret was given lands near Dublin in exchange in 1207 and his principal seat seems to have been at Mainclare, said to be Moyglare, co Meath, a few miles west of Leixlip. Perhaps he stopped at Leixlip en route to Dublin during the period 17th to 24th August? 

At Dublin, John made yet another charge against Wm Earl Marshal and demanded the Earl’s castle of Dunamase, (in co Laois) and named hostages: Geoffrey FitzRobert, Jordan de Sauqueville, Thomas de Sanford, John d’Erlée, and Walter Purcell. Only the last two were present and agreed to give themselves up. They were later released in England. The Sandfords were long connected with Moyglare-Confey-Leixlip area and John d’Erlée may have had his HQ at Leixlip castle. Lastly, the king handed over the earl’s two sons, one to Thomas de Sanford and one to John d’Erlée, in 1213. [Orpen, Vol II, p234-266].

1210:  At Kildare John confirmed his father’s charter granting Dublin to the men of Bristol. [Orpen, Vol II, p104, citing JT Gilbert, Historic and Municipal Documents of Ireland, p49.] He did this at ‘Kildare’: was it at Leixlip?

He also confirmed Wm, son of Maurice Fitz Gerald, in his barony of Naas, and probably at the same time Wm’s grant to his bro, Gerald, of lands about Maynooth. [Orpen, opus cit, Vol II, p104, citing Gormanston Register, f 190 dors and Red Book of Kildare, facsimiles, NMSS Ireland, vol iii, pl lx.]

The result of John’s Irish trip were that no great fief remained in the hands of his barons except the lordship of Leinster, which he had tried to curtail, and remained with Wm Marshal. His aim was to increase the power of the Crown, with new rights of appeal to the crown in the charters of 1208 granted to Marshal and de Lacy. [Orpen, Vol II, p272]

c1210:  Adam de Hereford granted to Thomas fitzPeter, clerk, land between Kildrophed [= Celbridge] and grantor’s land of the Salmon Leap, on the water of Anliphin [= Liffey], with half the water and a mill pool across the river on grantor’s land on the other side as perambulated by John de Possewek, then seneshcall [=steward of a great house or marshal] of the Salmon Leap; also common of pasture between that land and Kilmacrithok [= Kilmacredock], on the south and west, near the land of Milo de Rocheford: To hold for life at 40s rent, remainder to Stephen, grantee’s son, at a pair of white gloves or a penny, remainder to John, brother of Stephen. Witnesses – [inter alia] Roger de Hereford, Roger Marescall, c1210. [Deed No 970, Calendar to Christchurch Deeds, cited in an Appendix to the 24th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland].

1210:  Immediately after King John’s departure from Ireland (on 25/8/1210 – Orpen, opus cit, Vol I, p16), John de Gray commenced to build a wooden bridge and a stone keep or castle at Athlone. This may have been one of the first stone castles in Ireland [Orpen, Vol II, p282].

1212:  Henri de Londres was appointed c1213 after the death of John Cumin around the end of 1212 to be archbishop of Dublin. He was a minister of King John and a lawyer, acting as a judge at Westminster, and he had served as ambassador and treasury official. At this stage the excommunication of John had been lifted by the Pope [Orpen, Vol II, p299-300].

1212-1228:  NAMES OF CHURCHES ETC, COMPILED, 1212-1228:

NOTE Anthony Gwynn, writes in ‘The early history of St Thomas’s abbey, Dublin’, JRSAI, 1954, p1-35, foot-notes (p5) that the true date of this document is 1275.

In Deanery of Taney
 Inter alia:

Church of Adderke [=Aderrig], valued at 14 marks. Johannes de Daunteseia is the rector, and the Archbishop, patron. 

Church of Lyuechan [=Lucan], valued at 18 marks. Rector is the nephew of the lord bishop of Mide [=Meath].

Church of ‘Culmyn’ [Coolmine?], Alan notes: “monk”, presumably after Cumin, the archbishop and former deacon at Evesham Abbey, who is patron.

Church of Douenachymelach [Domhnach Ui Maille?] with the chapel of Cumyn’s town (‘villa’), and the church of Tully-fergus:  prebend is the precentor of St Patrick’s, and archbishop is patron.

In Deanery of Castledermot (‘Tristildermot’)

Church of Douenachmor, value, 38 marks; vicarage, 18 marks. It is a church in close communion with St Patrick’s.

In Deanery of Leixlip (‘Saltu Salmonis’)

Church of Salmon Leap, church of Confy, church of Stachcomeny [Stacumny], church of Donaghcumper (‘Douenachcumbyr’). Alen adds (1528-34): “but in which was the priory, at one time was a cell (or sanctuary) of St Katherine. Of course this was not begat until the 3rd year of Henry III” [c1219].

Church of Laraghbryan (‘Lairbruen’):  John Sandford, son of lord Laurence, held the prebendary, out of the ‘presentatione’ of the barony of Naas.

Church of Castledillon (‘Tristeudelan’), church of Straffan, church of Taghadoe (‘Tachto’).

Church of Maynooth (‘Mainoth’).  The archbishop is the Prebend and Maurice FitzGerald is the patron. Alen adds: “A chapel at one time” alternatively, “ A chapel one day”.

Church of Donaghmore (‘Douenachmor’), chapel of Mackelan’s town (villa), church of Kildrought, church of Killadoon.

Official Procurements of the Lord of Dublin in the Deanery of Omorthy

Inter alia:

Vicarage of Douenachmore, 5s 6d

One mark is equivalent to two-thirds of a pound, 13s 8d. [JT Gilbert, (Ed), “Crede Mihi” – The Most Ancient Register Book of the Archbishops of Dublin before the Reformation, Dublin, 1897, p136-149.]

c1212:  A charter, date unknown, and fore part is missing, is a grant from Laurence of Castlemartin to the chapel of Castle Warn, and firewood, etc. and one tenth of the fishing of the Salmon Leap to be preferred to the house of St Thomas [the Martyr, Dublin] and also to the abbot, etc… The charter or deed was witnessed by Richard de Hereford, Thos de Hereford, Roger de Hereford, and others. [John T Gilbert, Register of the Abbey of St. Thomas, Dublin, London, 1889, No LXXXVI, p74-5.]

1212-28:  In Deanery of Leixlip (‘Saltu Salmonis’) Church of Laraghbryan (‘Lairbruen’): John Santford, son of lord Laurence [Santford, archbishop], held the prebendary, out of the ‘presentatione’ of the barony of Naas. [JT Gilbert, (Ed), “Crede Mihi” – The Most Ancient Register Book of the Archbishops of Dublin before the Reformation, Dublin, 1897, p136-149.]

1213:  Anticipating an invasion of the French king on England, King John summoned all who owed him fealty to muster at Dover at Easter, 1213. Amongst those present was Earl Wm Marshal with 500 knights and many other horsemen from Ireland. Orpen ventures that the absence of such a number from Ireland without any disturbance arising was a measure of the contentment of the Irish with the new order of things. On May 15, 1213 John met the papal legate near Dover, where he surrendered to the Pope the realms of England and Ireland, to hold them as a feudatory of the Roman Church. He swore fealty to the Pope and undertook to pay the Roman Church 1,000 marks annually, 700 for England and 300 for Ireland [Orpen, Vol II, p312].

1214:  In 1214 a stone castle was built at Coleraine, having dismantled the cemeteries, clochans (=beehive cells) and buildings other than churches, to make it. [Orpen, Vol II, p292] Around this time, too, a stone keep or turret, part of a castle, was built at Dublin [Orpen, Vol II, p306-7].

1215:  Following the Magna Carta [=Great Charter] in England, John was prevailed upon to grant new charters to Dublin, Waterford, Dungarvan, Drogheda etc. The rights already given to Dublin by the charter of 1192 were extended. Additional rights were also given to individuals: Wm Marshal was to be given back his castle of Dunamase and all his fees in the lands held by Meiler FitzHenry, but this seems to have been more a decision for show, rather than reality. Orpen regarded John as undeserving of praise: he said he was capricious, vindictive, tyrannical – especially in Ireland [Orpen, Vol II, p314-321].

1216:  King John commanded the justiciary of Ireland to cause to be delivered to William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, the house of Ernye, which belonged to Adam de Hereford and is of the Earl’s inheritance, called The Salmon Leap’ [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1875, No 688, Pat, 18 John, p2, m9, May, 1216].

Chartulary of the Abbey of St Thomas the Martyr: The Grant of Adam de Hereford of the church of Confey to the Abbey of St Thomas the Martyr included a burgage (6 Tenements) beside his Castle de Ernai – ‘Un burgage apud castello mei de Ernai’ [NA, 1A-41-62 Bentham MSS Abstracts]. 

Both of these references were noted by Lena Boylan, in JKAS, Vol XVIII, Part II, 1994-95, p256. Lena asked whether Leixlip Castle was once called the Castle of Ernye or Ernai? These are references to the place called Nurney, aka, Erni, Erny, Hernia, Norny, in Co Kildare, which was part of Adam de Hereford’s estate. They are referred to specifically in John T Gilbert’s Register of the Abbey of St Thomas, Dublin, London, 1889, p144, 328 etc. I believe I have also eliminated Hervey de Montmorency, uncle of Strongbow.  Another possibility was John d’Erlee, custodian and biographer of Wm Marshal’s lands in south Leinster. Ernée is a village or small town in Normandy, France. Urnaidhe is the Gaelic for an oratory.

1216:  Pope Innocent III (1161-1216) wrote to Henry de Loundres, archbishop of Dublin, to confirm to him and his successors in perpetuity various canonical possessions. There follows a list of places, whose names are pronounced or imitated or translated (“exprimenda vocabulis”) incl. the hospital of St John, outside the New Gate; also the churches of the Salmon leap, of Confi, of Meune (=Moone, a Columban foundation), the town or homestead of Robert Widside; all parochial churches within the walls and in the civic suburbs and also all within the ramparts etc; also a list of towns in Co Dublin including Kiladreni [Cooldrinagh?], Douenachmor, [=Donaghmore, near Leixlip], and Arderia [=Aderrig?] [JT Gilbert, (Ed), “Crede Mihi” – The Most Ancient Register Book of the Archbishops of Dublin before the Reformation, Dublin, 1897, p8-11.]

1216: A charter relating to Maynclare [=Moyglare, Co Meath, where the Sandfords had a castle later], involving the Tyrells and Christ Church, exists. [Maurice P Sheehy, ‘The Register Novum’ etc, Reportorium Novum, Vol 3, No 2, 1964, p269.]

1218:  The priory of St Catherine was erected by Warisius Petche [jointly with him in charge of Leixlip?] this year for the
canons of St Victor. [Michael Mac Sweeney, ‘The Parish of Maynooth (1040 –1614)’, the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, October 1940, p308]. See SJ Connolly, (ed), the Oxford Companion to Irish History, Oxford, 1998, p31; the order was an Augustinian one, who were introduced to Ireland from France by St Malachy. They were also promoted by Laurence O’Toole in the Dublin province of the Church. By 1200 the Irish houses had become isolated from the rest. The most important house was the abbey of St Thomas the Martyr, founded in Dublin 1177. Diarmait MacMurchada (d1171) endowed several Augustinian houses in Leinster. Further investigation may clarify who endowed the abbey at Confey. The church of the Salmon Leap was also granted to the abbey of St Thomas; see 1200.

1218-24:  In the barony of Newcastle, and near the Liffey; here was a priory [St Catherine’s] of canons of the Congregation of St Victor. Warrisius de Peche, about the year 1220, for the health of his soul and the soul of Alard Fitz-William, and also those of his ancestors and successors, granted to the church of St Catharine, situated near the Salmon-leap, the land in Incherathyn [old name for St Catherine’s townland? Is this Cherachin [Cheraclun] of 1268 deed?], on which the priory was built, and several parcels of land adjoining thereto, with liberty to the said canons to build a mill on the river, and to make a mill-pond whenever they should see convenient. He further granted to them the church of the Blessed Virgin of Lyvecan [=Lucan], with all its appurtenances etc. Witness to the said grant, Henry, archbishop of Dublin, Simon, bishop of Meath, Peter, bishop of Ossory, Simon, abbot of St Thomas Abbey, Dublin etc.  John Warrisius was prior, and their patron, who was lord of Lucan, enfeoffed him with a messuage and a carrucate of land in Lucan, enjoining him, out of the produce thereof, to find six chaplains to celebrate divine offices for every, in the priory of St Catherine, for the souls of all his progenitors; and he further enfeoffed the said prior and chaplains with the moiety of a mill upon the river Liffey.  Adam de Hereford, Knight, lord of Leixlip, did also enfeoff the said prior with a carrucate of land, in the lordship of Leixlip, for the purpose of finding six chaplains in the priory of St Catharine, in like manner as Warrisius had done. Richard Shirman is named as prior in this deed, which is dated between the years 1218 and 1224. [King, p162] [Mervyn Archdall, Monasticum Hibericum: or a history of the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses in Ireland, Vol II, Dublin, 1879, p137.]

Inis (gen: inse), an island or a low meadow along a river, [PW Joyce, Irish Local Names Explained, Dublin 1923 & 1996, p102] Ráthín, a small artificial mound with ditch etc.

1218:  Henry III wrote to G Marisco, his Justiciary for Ireland, referring (on two occasions) to his castle at Castleknock with Ricardo [=Richard] Tyrel, which he had from his father, John, and which he now wishes to have demolished without delay in his own interest.  [Latin text paraphrased]- dated (in one instance) 8/7/1218. [Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Henry III, 1216-1225, London, 1901, p160-1.]

<1223:  An enquiry was made into the affairs of the church of Conephy [=Confey]. The report of the enquiry was concluded before this year, when Ralph of Bristol, was made bishop of Kildare (1223-32); he had earlier been first treasurer of St Patrick’s Dublin.  The enquiry was made by the undersigned jurors: the dean of Leixlip; Benedict, the chaplain; Roger, the gatekeeper (?); Hugh, the sergeant; Nicholas the church court-yard man; Roger Hellekyng; William of Coolock; Hugh White, and John, the summons-server of the place. The jury was called because lord Adam de Hereford had granted Thatheig [=Thady?], father of Gillecondi Maclother [Maclodher?], who was by then dead, and the said Tatheig was also dead, and Adam had considered, seeing that he was the patron of the churches of Leixlip [Saltu Salmonis] and Confey [Conephy] of the abbey and convent of St Thomas, Dublin, and asked them to consider the situation of his church, Gillecondy by then being dead, and the matter was in fact before the bishop at the diocesan headquarters by Nurney; besides he sought permission to pay by instalments ten ‘solidi’ annually and regularly to the canons for as long as he lived. Time passed and Wm de Pyro, then archbishop of Glendalough, moved the question of the remarkable canons in charge of the said church and eventually after agreeing an intervention comprising an authorised delegation from the lord Pope, it was agreed that the said church [of Confey] be equally divided between him and their church. Next, true to say, bishop William gave up the tithes of the church of Leixlip [de Saltu Salmonis] to Mr Radulfo [=Ralf] de Bristollia, his clerk, and half of the tithes of the church of Confey were assigned to him,  a mark’s payment which, in fact Gillecondy had released to Ralf for as long as the he held the said tithes. Ralf was himself promoted to bishop [of Kildare]; the archbishop of Dublin, Henry, [was made archbishop of ] Dublin and Glendalough after a union was made of them, and John, son of Andrew, contributed the said tithes with the said payments. They will be given over also because both are ‘wombs’ of the church, and because neither paid up since in any other way, [and] All conceded it was the case before Galfridus de Hereford had presented the said land, the tithes of it had been granted to laymen for many years. [John T Gilbert, Register of the Abbey of St. Thomas, Dublin, London, 1889, No CCCLXXV, p328-9.]

1226:  William Pippard was authorised to make his tenants ‘in the marches’ fortify their holdings, or, if they don’t, he is to do it, by enclosing them and fortifying them. [ HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1875, No 1445, Close.,10 Hen III, m4, 18/9/1226]. See 1316.

1227:   Confirmation of Leixlip by Pope Gregory IX, 27/7/1227, folio 142-143, in John T Gilbert’s (Ed), Register of the Abbey of St Thomas, Dublin, Rolls Series, 1889. The date has been suggested by Aubrey Gwynn, in ‘The early history of St Thomas’ Abbey, Dublin’, JRSAI, 1954, p9. Gwynn says Gilbert’s dates are wrong.

1232:  King Henry III directed Maurice FitzGerald, Justiciary of Ireland, to cause the water of the Liffey to flow as it ought at Chapelizod, so that boats may free ascent and descent. [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1875, no. 1980, Close., 16 Hen III, m4 dors., 5/9/1232]

Suggesting water transport on the Liffey beyond Chapelizod.

c1232:  Ralph, bishop of Kildare, died sometime before November, 1232, when a licence was issued by Henry III for his replacement.  [Patent Rolls, Henry III, 1232-1247, London, 1906.] Where did name, Ralph Square, come from?  No Leixlip surnames called Ralph are recalled by JC.

1234:  Henry III gave a mandate to Maurice, son of Gerold, Justiciary of Ireland, to let G Marshal, earl of Pembroke, have seisin of all lands in Ireland which fall to him by inheritance of which the late earl, Richard Marshal, his brother, had before the latter had gone to war against the king. [Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Henry III, 1232-1247, London, 1906, p70.]

1235:  Gilbert Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, represented to King Henry III that Wm. Marshall, formerly Earl of Pembroke, his father, and Wm. Earl Marshall, his brother, were seised by right of inheritance of the vill of Comyn, [etc]  [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1875, no 2255, Close.,19 Hen III, p1,  m15, 3/4/1235].

 This seems to confirm that Stacumny was the house of [Bishop] Comyn.

1240:  Maurice FitzGerald, judiciary of Ireland, was commanded by King Henry III to buy wine to be placed in his manors and castles; to provide corn, provisions and other articles required by the king on his visit to Ireland, planned for the following Easter, and to improve the houses where necessary. [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1875, no. 2496, Close.,24 Hen III, m.3,  c22/9/1240].

Did Henry III visit Ireland?  This suggests that Henry II’s son, John, may have visited Leixlip Castle in similar manner.

1245:  Henry III appointed Wm de Cheeny to the custody of all the lands and castles late of Wm Marshal, earl of Pembroke, in Ireland.  Robert de Turbervill was mandated to deliver him the lands with the castles  –  dated 16/1/1245. [Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Henry III, 1232-1247, London, 1906.]

1247:  It was settled and agreed between Warin, the abbot [of St Thomas the Martyr, Dublin] and Ralph de Pippard, that the moiety [=half of the amount] of the churches of Confoy and the salmon-leap, the whole of the churches of Cloncurry, Castle Warrin, and Oughterard, tithes, lands, rents etc., were the sole right of the said abbot; who agreed to pay yearly to John de Linford, chaplain to the said Ralph, one hundred shillings, till he had provided him with church preferments to the value of ten pounds yearly; and the abbot engaged, that Ralph, his ancestors and successors, should be forever partakers in all prayers, masses, etc., made and offered up in their church. [footnote: King, p167] [Mervyn Archdall, Monasticum Hibericum: or a history of the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses in Ireland, Vol II, Dublin, 1879.]

1247:  After the death of Wm Marshall, the elder, there being no living sons of his, the fiefdom of Leinster was partitioned among his five daughters or their representatives, to give each approximately one fifth of the annual worth of the territory.  The partition was made in the king’s court at Woodstock on 3/5/1247.  Each share included a chief borough, or caput baroniae, which went with the corpus comitatus, or ‘body of the county’.  The comitatus may be regarded as a tract of land or the community of landholders on it. . The eldest daughter, Matilda or Maud, who was also the only surviving one, secured territory in Carlow, Wexford and south Kildare.  One area she received was called Insula, now known as the Great Island in Kilmokea, Co Wexford, on the east bank of the Barrow river, and now no longer an island. This was the caput baroniae of Hervey de Montmorency’s fief many years earlier What was left of Montmorency’s fief (after he given a lot to the Church) must have reverted to the lord of Leinster for Matilda Marshall to get some.

Of the other daughters, the fourth, Sibyl Marshal was dead at the time of the partition of the Leinster estate and her share went to the seven daughters she had with Wm de Ferrers. These daughters included Agnes, wife of Wm de Vescy. Sibyl’s share did not pass immediately to her daughters as first it was assigned as dower to Margaret, Countess of Lincoln, widow of Walter Marshal.  After the widow’s death (c1270), Agnes de Vescy became entitled to the castle and manor of Kildare and principal share of the county, over which there was litigation with her sisters, Matilda, Eleanor and Agatha. See 1275. . [G H Orpen, Ireland under the Normans, 1216-1333, Vol III, Oxford, 1920 & reprinted 1968, p79-107.]

c1250:  There are reports of mercenary troops in Ireland to help the Irish. They were called gallóglach, [= foreign soldier or servant; anglicised as ‘‘gallowglass’’] and came from the southwest of Scotland and from the Hebrides. They were successful in Tír Connell and Tyrone and settled there in the 14th century. [Richter, opus cit, p154.]

1255:  Mention is made in this document of Agnes de Weston and her lands in Ireland, part exchanged for lands in Eston, co Derby. [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1875, no. 473, Close, 40 Hen III, m2 I dors., 3/11/1255].

1256:  The Augstinian order was reformed by pope Alexander IV; the main aim was to put Christian teaching into practice by serving one’s neighbour. [Michael Richter, Medieval Ireland: The Enduring Tradition, Dublin 1988, p180-1.]

1261:  Kildare appears for the first time as a sheriffdom this year, when the first council of magnates of Ireland which might be called a parliament assembled. [Orpen, Vol II, p276.] Otway-Ruthven cites 1224 as the year of the first appearance of a sheriff of Kildare, quoting the Gormanston Register, p201. Under the sheriff there were chief serjeants, one for each cantred, not as elsewhere, one for the whole county. [‘The medieval county of Kildare’, HIS, Vol XI, March 1959, p185 & 193].

c1267:  An agreement between the prioress of Grace Dieu convent near Turvey, Donabate, and Richard de St Martin, was witnessed by (Mauricio de Sancta Columba) Maurice of St Columba, (domino Eustacio) Lord Eustace and others. [JT Gilbert, (Ed), “Crede Mihi”  – The Most Ancient Register Book of the Archbishops of Dublin before the Reformation, Dublin, 1897, p112.]

1268:  This document is very long; a photocopy is to hand. It appears to define the boundary of the lands granted by Wirris Peche to the prior of St Catherine’s, and given partly by Strongbow, but not mentioned here. The General Index to the reference book refers to Adgarvan Thirinche as a ford on the river Rye-water near its junction with the Liffey at Leixlip.

Inspectimus and confirmation of charter of grant by Wyrreys Peche to the church of St Katherine near the Salmon Leap, to Brother William, called of Kil, its prior, his successors, and its canons regular, of the following lands and liberties, etc., namely:-  the site of the church that is in Cherachin [Cheraclun*, meaning: four of them or four heads??]; and all the land to the west up to the bounds of Conefi; and all the land of Meyfin with all the teskyn [reskyn*, tesca or tesqua, (Latin) = waste ground, desert] of Meyfin up to the next roadway and along that roadway to a ford called Adgarvan Thirinche, as that rivulet [or brook] runs into the Liffey; and all the land between that rivulet and the donor’s arable land up to the roadway which runs from the canons’ arable land to the donor’s arable land; and from the ford called Adlouan under the house of St Katharine, towards a fosse [or dike] on the south side which runs towards (the) arable land; and all the land between the latter and the Liffey up to the bounds of Coldreyny, and an acre of land lying between the land of Stephen de Hereford and a lawn [or uncultivated land] [landa] held by Hugh de Branton; and all the donor’s share of the river upstream to the ford aforesaid under the house of St Katharine, and all the water from that ford to the rivulet [or brook] which runs through the middle of the canons’ court into the Liffey, to wit, as that rivulet ran in the third year of Henry III [1219-20]; with power to the prior and canons to make, when and as they think proper, a mill and a mill-dam [or weir] [stagnum = standing water or pool], extending to his (the donor’s) land; saving the free-flow of water. Further grants to the prior and canons of the church of St Mary of Liuekan [Lucan], so far as belongs to the patron, for their maintenance and the reception of their guests and (the) poor; and also the tithe of Wyrreys’s, bread, beer, meat, and fish; with all liberty as enjoyed by his other free tenants in his common pasture and wood without (outside) the grantor’s preserve in the manor of Lucan. There is further provision for the transfer of these rights on the death of the prior etc. Among the witnesses to the charter were: the abbot of St Thomas, Dublin; Stephen de Hereford, Godfrey de Hereford, Roger, parson of Lucan, Hugh de Brancon, constable of Lucan, and David the clerk. [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1875, no 842, Chart., 52 Hen III, p1, m8, 28/4/1268].[*These words have been spelt differently in the same document cited in the Calendar of Charter Rolls, Vol II, London, 1906, p93, where there appears to be a better translation, which has been combined here with that from the first-named source.]

Adgarvan seems to come from the Irish Áth = ford and garamhail = useful, convenient, neighbourly and
Thirinche from thiar = wester(ly), behind, and inis [genitive case: inse] = island, river margin.

c1268:  Brother W., prior of St Katherine’s near Saltus Salmonum [= Leixlip] grants to Emma de Bethuen for life a messuage in Kerny, with 3 acres which the convent has of William de Ras for a term of 100 years, and after her death to her son, William; saving the yearly rent to the lord of the fee and to the house of St Katherine a penny at Easter. After the death of Emma and William, the said messuage and 3 acres to revert to St Katherine’s until the end of the term of 100 years. Witnessed by Sir G de Hereford, etc., the court of Kildare and the Salmon Leap and many others. [Edmond Curtis (ed), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Vol 1, 1172-1350, Dublin, 1932, No. 145.]

c1270:  Sluscaria, Matilda, etc, daughters of the late Howell Cocus [= cook], quit-claim [=renounce their rights] to Sir Ralph [Pipard], son of Ralph fitzNicholas and his heirs, a messuage in the vill of Saltus Salmonum [Leixlip] with 3 acres of land in the said vill.  Consideration, a mark of silver of new money. Witnesses: Sir Godfrey de Hereford, Warr’ Socal, Henry de Bakepuz, Robert de Sancto Paulo, Wm de Stanleh, Nicholas Parvus. [Edmond Curtis (ed), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Vol 1, 1172-1350, Dublin, 1932, No. 151.]

1270:  This document suggests it is the record of the establishment of county Kildare.  After the partitioning of the land of Earl Marshall in Ireland, a seneschal, sheriff, and other officers were ordered to be created, with power to issue writs, collect debts and customs under a common seal in county Kildare. [ HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1875,  no. 896, Close.,1 Edward I, m9 dors., 8/3/1270] This is contradicted by Orpen; see p100, Ireland under the Normans, Vol III, and 1297.

c1270-c1307:  Throughout the reign of king Edward I there was no lack of money for carrying out government and large sums were spent building and strengthening castles. For the next three centuries the Irish of Wicklow, the O’Byrnes and O’Tooles, who had been expelled to the Wicklow mountains, were a chronic source of peril to the English of the surrounding districts. [Orpen, opus cit, Vol IV, p10.]

1271:  Wm de Kaversham, seneschal to Fulk, Archbishop of Dublin, granted the lands of Tristildelane, [=Castledillon] to the priory of St Wolstan’s, with the appurtenances thereunto belonging in Franckalmoigne. He increased the number of canons, and obliged them to celebrate his and his wife’s anniversary, on which day they were to feed 30 poor men, give them in lieu a penny each, under penalties for not doing so. [Reported by Mervyn Archdall, Monasticom Hibernicum, London, 1786, p339-343; copied for me by Rev David Kelly, OSA]; also cited in Liber Niger Alani, Calendar of, in JRSAI, Vol 23, 1893, p304.

1275:  Agnes de Vesey settles her dispute with her three surviving sisters over their shares of Kildare. [G H Orpen, Ireland under the Normans, 1216-1333, Vol III, Oxford, 1920 & reprinted 1968, p79-107.]

1276:  An Indenture of agreement was made between Sir Ralph Pippard and Wm de Stacumeny by which he lets his farm to him and his heirs, forty acres of his lordships which Master Wm de Bakepus formerly held in the field of Stacumeni [Stacumny], for 20 years.  Paying 40s sterling. Given at the Castrum Munitum [Castlewarden] in 4 Edward [ie, February, 1276]. [Edmond Curtis (ed), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Vol 1, 1172-1350, Dublin, 1932, No. 197.]

1280: From this year on the reformed Augustinians were active in Ireland, especially in the areas of the English lordships. [Richter, opus cit, p180.]

c1284:  Various references made relating to the payment for the service of Confy, Confoy, Conefi, arising as a result of documents burnt in a fire. [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1875, no 2333-4,-5,-7] See 1289 for Edward I’s grant of timber..

1285:  The roll of receipt for the term of Michaelmas, a.r. 13-14, 1285, includes: Naul, for service of Conefy by R. de Crus, 20s 0d. [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1879, no.149, Q.R., Irish Exchequer, Bundle 531, no.22, m.1-8].

c1285:  John le Decer of Dublin [later mayor], granted to John, son and heir of Richard de Bakepus, and Petronila his wife a messuage and building in Bridge-street, Dublin…; rent, 16s, payable to Holy Trinity Church, and to grantor and his heirs one penny. [Deed no. 142, Calendar to Christchurch Deeds, cited in an Appendix to the 20th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland]  See 1303, Pippard to Bakepus.

1286:  King Edward I granted Gerald Fitz Maurice the right of a weekly market at his manor of Maynooth and a yearly fair of 3 days, from 7 to 9 September. . [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1879, no.238, Chart., 14 Edw.I, m.1, 10.5.1286].

1287:  William was abbot [of the abbey of St Thomas the Martyr, Dublin]. On account of his age and infirmities, he resigned in 1290, and a licence was granted to proceed to an election, dated 8th September.  When Adam was chosen, the same year the abbot and convent paid a fine of £40 for licence to annex and consolidate with their abbey the priory of St Catherine, near the Salmon-leap. [Mervyn Archdall, Monasticum Hibericum: or a history of the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses in Ireland, Vol II, Dublin, 1879, p45.]

1289:  A grant was made on 7/11/1289 by Edward I of 20 oak trees fit for timber from the king’s forest of Glencree to be given by John de Saunford, archbishop of Dublin, to the abbot [William] and convent of St Thomas as a gift, following the unlucky fire which recently destroyed some of the abbey’s buildings.[Cal. Docs, Ire. III, no  542, cited by Aubrey Gwynn, ‘Early History of St Thomas’ Abbey’, Dublin, JRSAI, 1954, p23.]

1290:  Wm de Vescy succeeded his mother, Agnes, grand-daughter of Earl Wm Marshall, the elder, to her share of the county Kildare lands (which included the manor of Leixlip).[Orpen, opus cit, vol III, p100.]

c1290:  Cooldrinagh, now held by Angelus, son of Philip Moton or Mocon, had a suit in reference to it with the prior of St Wolston’s [cited by Mills, opus cit, and in Plea Roll, no 15, Ed I, m 11 d]  It had much earlier been held by Angelus’s great-grandfather, Richard Moton.

1291:  In roll of receipt: Nicholas de Blakeston was fined half a mark at Dublin on 15/3/1291 for not coming when summoned. [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1879, Q.R., Irish Exchequer, Bundle 531, no.22, m.5-9].

Possibly the earliest mention of Blakeston [=Blakestown?]  No!  There was a Viking king of Dublin called Blake (anglicised); perhaps it is he for whom Blakestown is named; and Ravensdale may also be named by the Vikings, as the black raven was on their masthead.

1292:  In roll of receipt, a.r. 20-21: “For Henry Gaffeny, because he came not when summoned, half mark”. [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1879, no.1148, Q.R., Irish Exchequer, Bundle 532, no.4, m.1].

Possibly the earliest mention of Gaffney family.

1294:  A long record of “New taxation of the Diocese of Dublin” features as deed no. 150 in the Calendar of Christchurch Deeds [cited in an appendix to the 20th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland], causing the exasperated writer to append: “Now the writings are written, give me what I have deserved!”  Under the first sub-heading, ‘Taxation of the Dignities and Prebends’ [= part of estate revenue of a cathedral or collegiate church granted to a member as a stipend; portion of land or tithe from which this stipend (pension) is drawn] of the Church of St Patrick, Dublin, with their Vicarages, are mentioned Maynothe £5 17s 4d, and the vicarage there £1; Vicarage of Tauelaghte [= Tallaght?] nothing on account of war. 
Under the second sub-heading, ‘Common Fund of the Church of St Patrick, Dublin’ it is stated that church of Donaghmore, and the Vicarage of Donaghmore are all waste. 
Under the sub-heading, ‘Deanery of Christianity, Dublin’ is stated that the Prior of St Catherine, near the Salmon Leap, receives nothing of the rents in the city.
Under the sub-heading, ‘Deanery of Tanhy’ is listed: Church of Leucane [= Lucan] (Monastery of St Thomas) £5; and the vicarage there 1 mark; Temporality of the Prior of St Catherine ½ mark; the monks at Kylmacodrek [= Kilmacredock?] not sufficient for the charges.
Under the sub-heading, ‘Deanery de Saltu’ [= Leixlip]: Churches of Kyldonane [=Kiladoon] and Tristyldelane [= Castledillon] (Monastery of St Thomas) not worth the service of chaplains; of Confy (Monasteries of St Thomas and de Saltu) for two portions £2; Rent of the Abbot of St Thomas at Saltus 4 shillings; Temporality of the Prior of St Catherine nothing because waste, and he receives nothing of his rent at Confy; Churches of Taghto £5; Stacumny £5; and Straffane £2, but the vicarage there nothing beyond service of a chaplain; Temporality of the Prior of St Wolstan 10 shillings; Church of Kyldraght [Celbridge] (Monastery of St Thomas) £1, vicarage there no value beyond service of a chaplain; Donacumper and Donamore   –  Total, £15 14s.

Note the absence of any specific mention of a church of either Leixlip or the Salmon Leap. Was there a church of Leixlip, as such then?
1294:  Ralph Pyppard grants to his son, John Pyppard, for his life, [inter alia] his castle and manor of Saltus Salmonum  [Leixlip] –  and all their appurtenances and appendages and all manner of enfeoffments, wards, marriages, rents, reliefs,.. saving however to him the homages and advowsons, churches and vicariates and half of the wards and marriages. To hold of grantor and the heirs of his body, paying yearly during his life 500 marks sterling to the Friars Preachers of Chester.  29/6/1294. [Edmond Curtis (ed), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Vol 1, 1172-1350, Dublin, 1932, No. 316.]

1295:  The Roll of service of Tristledermot [= Castledermot], etc. contains, inter alia, the following entry:
[Co] Dublin Ralp Pipard, for Lexlupe [= Leixlip], 20s.
[HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1881, no.259, Q.R., Irish Exchequer, Bundle 532, no.28, m.1, Michaelmas, 1295].

This seems to be the first reference [chronologically] to Leixlip as a name of the place. Hitherto, The Salmon Leap has been used to identify a natural feature (not a town?) where things were near.

1295:  A papal Bull, from Pope Celestine V, dated 6/9/1294, informed the Archbishop of Dublin of his election as Pope. As the Archbishopric was then vacant owing to the death of Master John de Saunford [= Sandford], the Bull was endorsed to the effect that it was presented to the Prior of Holy Trinity, Dublin, on 21/5/1295. [Deed no. 151, Calendar of Christchurch Deeds, cited in an appendix to the 20th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland]

1295:  King Edward I, having conferred on Richard de Manston the church of Arderk [=Arderige], near the Salmon leap, in the diocese of Dublin (which is vacant by reason of the see of Dublin being in the King’s hand), the King commanded John de Langeton, the Chancellor, to cause Richard to have letters of presentation thereupon. . [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1881, no. 232, Tower Privy Seals, 23 Edw.I, no.4, 19/6/1295] 

No.  233, same series, provided letters etc for Richard de Manston to the church of Arderk, etc..; same date.

1295:  On 18/10/1295, Edward I appointed John Wogan as justiciar of Ireland, a post he held for 18 years. He belonged to a Pembrokeshire family of this name. [Orpen, opus cit, Vol IV, p39.] The Wogans later appear (early 18th century) in Kildare with Leixlip connections [Glascock] and the name lingered here in that of a pub on Leixlip’s Main St.

1295:  Con Costello, Kildare Saints, Soldiers & Horses, Naas, 1991, p87-91: The Wogan family of Rathcoffey, who came from Picton, Pembrokeshire, in 1295. They remained important in north-east Kildare until mid-nineteenth century.

1296:  The roll of great receipt, containing the following [inter alia]: 
“The Prior of St Catherine, near the Salmon Leap, for a false action, half mark”, [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1881, no.300, Q.R., Irish Exchequer, Bundle 532, no.29, m.10-14, 20/7/1296].

This suggests the onset of a desperate financial situation for the Priory of St Catherine; see 1298-9.

1296:  Sir Nicholas de Cambell was a witness in a charter to grant Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster’s, lands etc. to James, seneschal of Scotland, etc. [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1881, no.338, Pat., 24Edw.I, m.3, 10/10/1296].

Note the spelling of Campbell; the p was added later to facilitate speech. The name comes from the Gaelic, cam [= crooked] béal [= mouth].  A painting of the 1st Earl of Argyll, a Campbell, which is in the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, shows his crooked mouth!  [ A catalogue of the gallery, to hand, contains a copy of the portrait]. The Campbells of Leixlip may have come with the Bruce incursions [See 1581]; they were erroneously called Camels or Camils in parish registers.

1297:  In 1297 Wm de Vescy surrendered his lands, including the castle manor and county of Kildare to the king, in consideration for a pardon for his Crown debts. De Vescy was childless and a few months later the lands were given back to him for his life, which was not for long. The parliament held that year (called [John] Wogan’s first parliament, to which the sheriffs and seneschals of established counties were summoned) determined that the county of Kildare, which was formerly a liberty intentive to the county of Dublin, be henceforth a county in itself with a separate sheriff. [GH Orpen, Ireland under the Normans 1216-1333, Vol III, Oxford, 1920, p100; also Vol II, p276 and Vol IV, p51.] [VIDE: Crown Cal. Docs. Ireland, Vol iv, no 365]. Note that the barony of Carbury had been granted by Strongbow to Meiler Fitz Henry, but on his death it had escheated to the Marshals. Moone, Co Kildare, had similarly been parcelled out, having been given a charter by Wm Marshal the younger. [Justiciary Rolls, vol I, p369-71]. This would suggest that Leixlip may have received a similar charter.

Orpen, opus cit, Vol IV, p40, writes that the Act provided that ‘the county of Kildare, formerly a liberty intentive to the county of Dublin, be henceforth a county by itself’. This was after the re-drawing of the sheriffdoms of Dublin and Meath in 1297.

1297:  [Paraphrase]:  the King commanded the justiciary to determine the extent of the lands of Wm de Vesey, deceased, to reimburse his widow with her dower thereout. A jury said that William had at Kildare a castle with a piece of uncultivated land adjoining, worth 2s a year; £14 13s 4d of rent issuing out of tenements of men of Kildare; etc; the homage and service of Ralph Pypard of the manors of the Salmon Leap, Cloncurry and Chastelwaryn [Castlewarden], who held them by the service of two and a half knights’ fees, etc. [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1881, no.481, Close, 26 Edw. I, m 9-8 dors., 22/1/1297]. This confirms the tenancy Ralph Pipard had from the Marshal descendants at Leixlip, Cloncurry and Castlewarden.

The whole county of Kildare was assigned a part dower to Margaret countess of Lincoln, widow of Walter Marshal.

1297:  John Pyppard, son of lord Ralph Pyppard, remits and quit-claims for himself and his heirs to the said lord all his right and claim in [inter alia] the castle and manor of Salmon Leap etc., 12/5/1297. [Edmond Curtis (ed), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Vol 1, 1172-1350, Dublin, 1932, No. 857.]

Ralph Pippard, it seems, settled in Cornwall, where about this time he is a witness from here to several charters created by Edward I.  [For examples see Calendar of Charter Rolls, Vol II, 1257-1300, Henry II – Edward I, London, 1906].  He had been encouraged by the king to surrender his Leinster lands by being given lands in England in their place.

1298-9:  The roll of great receipt contained:
Dublin, Saturday, 14/2/1298-9, John Wodelok [sheriff], of arrears of his account, by the Prior of St Catherine [Lucan], in corn, 1 mark; and:
The Prior of St Catherine, for himself and pledges, in corn, 4s 8d. [HS Sweetman, (ed), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1881, no.587, Q.R., Irish Exchequer, Bundle 532, no.29, m.10-14].

c1300-1400:  Crown policy meant only English people were given the most important jobs in the administration.  They often stayed only for a year or two. Consequently, the area under English control shrank rapidly. In area in which English rule had collapsed, the manors and villages which they had established soon disappeared. [Richter, opus cit, p164, 170.] Compare Leixlip manor remaining; Confey withering?

1302:  A deed dated 14/11/1302 whereby Sir Ralph Pypard, knight, gives, grants and surrenders to Edward I, all his castles, vills, manors, lands and tenements in Ireland, with their appurtenances, to hold to the King and his heirs with knights fees, advowsons of churches and religious houses, homages and services of free men, liberties and free customs, etc., thereunto belonging, together with the service of John Pipard, his son, and Matilda, John’s wife, due to the King for the manor of Clouncurrie [= Cloncurry?] which they held of Ralph in tail, with the reversion of the manor. [HS Sweetman and G F Handcock, (eds), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1886, 1302-1307, no.149]. Ralph Pypard arranged for his seneschal in Ireland, Gerald Tyrel, or his locum tenens, and one or two others to deliver up all his castles, manors etc in Ireland to the King. [HS Sweetman and G F Handcock, (eds), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1886, 1302-1307, no.148; Close, 30 Edw I, m.1]. The manor of Cloncurry was the barony of Oughterany. Pippard was the lawful descendant of Adam de Hereford. Also included were Leixlip, Castlewarden and Oughterard. [CDI, 1302-7, no.149.] The other de Hereford lands in Salt and Ikeathy had descended through other co-heiresses and, apart from Naas, had been purchased by the crown by c1302-17, thus ending the Marshal inheritance in most of Offelan. [Jocelyn Otway-Ruthven, ‘The medieval county of Kildare’, Irish Historical Studies, Vol XI, March 1959, p196-7.]

Pipard also surrendered manors of Donaghmoyne [sic] and Ardee in Uriel [Co Louth], and Dysart in Westmeath [Cal, ibid, no.167]. He was given English lands by Edward I to encourage his surrender of his Irish manors. In this way the Crown built up direct holdings in Ireland. [Orpen, opus cit, Vol IV, p50.]

On the same date, 14/11/1302, the King directed John Wogan, justiciary of Ireland, to measure or have measured the extent of the castles, vills, manors and lands surrendered to the King by Ralph Pipard and when he has received the seisin [=act of taking possession of freehold lands etc] of the castles etc he is to grant custody of them, with any issues decided as the Exchequer, Dublin.
[HS Sweetman and G F Handcock, (eds), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1886, 1302-1307, no.150, 30 Edw.I, m.16].

1302:  Walter, bishop of Exeter, then Treasurer [of Britain], received the following on rolls, with other rolls of ecclesiastical taxation of all Ireland, at the Exchequer on October 1st, 16 Edw. II (1322), in a bag under the seal of the Exchequer of Dublin, by the hand of Wm de Lughteburg, messenger of the King, the bag being delivered on behalf of the Treasurer and Barons of the Dublin Exchequer [Q.R., Irish Exchequer, Roll B., membrane 2]. The data is presented in a tabular form. ‘Tenths’ of the value were collected for the Pope’s or King’s use, depending on circumstances. [Cited as no.711 in HS Sweetman & GF Handcock (eds), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, 1302-1307, London, 1886, Q.R., Irish Exchequer, 533/9, Roll B, m. 2]: 

1302:  On 21/11/1302, Edward I directed Richard de Bageputz, constable of the castle of the Salmon Leap, to deliver that castle to the King or his attorney [Close, 30 Edw I, m.1, cited in HS Sweetman and G F Handcock, (eds), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1886, 1302-1307, no.157].

1303:  At Easter, 1303, those charged with assessing the extent of Ralph Pypard’s lands etc in Ireland reported that the lands did not equal by a great sum the value of the lands given by the King to Ralph in England for his life, in exchange for his Irish lands.  Whereupon the King ordered Ralph Pypard to attend at York to confer with the Council, but he did not do so by reason of his infirmity, and his lawyers indicated that Ralph’s son, John Pipard, had sought to impede the King in respect of some of the lands held by Ralph. To this end, an indented agreement between Ralph and John and a quit claim of John made to Ralph were produced. The indenture of agreement, dated 30/6/1294, provided for Ralph to grant to John, his son, all his castle, manors and tenements in Ergallia, Ulthonias, and Media, to wit the castle and manor de Saltu Salmonum [= Salmon Leap], the castle and manor de Atrio Dei [= Ardee],  Castellum Munitum [= Castlewarden; means: fortified castle] with all the manor, the castle and manor de Donachmayn, with the vills de Maundevile, Urdsalauch, and Houserard, with the services and customs de Rathdoneny, ..in the county of Kilkenny,.. to hold to John for his life rendering yearly 500 marks sterling to the Dominican friars at Chester. In the quit claim dated 12/5/1297 John Pipard remised and quit claims to Ralph Pipard all the right and claim he had in the above lands, to which was added Leinster.
The outcome of the matter was to be determined by the King and his Council; it is not recorded. [HS Sweetman and G F Handcock, (eds), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1886, 1302-1307, no.149].

1303-4:  The Appendix to the 38th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records presents (p86) a transcript of the Calendar (= treasury accounts) pipe roll in this the 32nd year of the reign of Edward I. In respect of Salmon Leap (=Leixlip) there is an account by John Giffard, receiver, of the manor which belonged to Ralph Pypard (= Peppard) for one year to the feast of Circumcision. The charge due on the manor was £89 14s 1d, of which £72 10s was paid into the treasury and various allowances made for the construction of a kitchen in Leixlip castle; for the construction of a kiln to burn lime for the works of the castle and of Dublin Castle, and in breaking stone and cutting wood for sake; more for repairing mills and carriage of a mill stone there; an allowance for minding the castle and wood of the manor (at 1 1/2 d per day); Gerald Tyrel owed 68s for the fishery sold to him.  [See 1329-30.]

1303-04:  It is recorded that John and Nicholas de Saunford [= Sanford] did good service in Scotland in the war against the Bruces. 
[HS Sweetman and G F Handcock, (eds), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1886, 1302-1307, nos. 33 & 361].

1303 to 1344:  Ralph Pippard granted to Richard de Bakepuz, a virgate [a measure of land, esp. 30 acres] of the fishery, for salmon and otherwise, in Aneliffi, [= Liffey] on both sides of the Salmon Leap: rent, a rose. Date not legible. [Calendar to Christchurch Deeds, no. 970, cited in Appendix to 24th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland.] See 1276: Ralph Pippard to Wm de Bakepus.

1304:  A letter dated 2/5/1304 was sent by John Wogan, justiciar [in Ireland], to the King giving details of the action of novel desseisin brought by William Staloun and John Traharne against Walter de Keneleye concerning lands in Donaghmore and Kylmecridock [Kilmacredock], Co Kildare. [Cited as SC 8/163/8131 in Analecta Hibernica, No 34, Dublin, 1987, p53.]

In a related petition Walter de Keneleye asked for lands worth £8 odd in Ireland, as he had surrendered his lands to the King as he was afraid of the great lords who were opposing him. [opus cit, p53.]

1306:  Edward I ordered supplies from Ireland for his troops fighting Robert de Brus or Bruce in Scotland. [HS Sweetman and G F Handcock, (eds), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1886, 1302-1307, nos.505 and 610 refer].

1307:  Walter de Schuldam was a juror at Kilkenny this year. A Ms Shuldam of Leixlip married Rev Berwick of Leixlip.
[HS Sweetman and G F Handcock, (eds), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, London, 1886, 1302-1307, no.653 refers].

1308:  John le Decer, Mayor of Dublin, who financed the building of the Newbridge, Leixlip, this year [See Pembridge’s Annals], had the aqueduct for supplying drinking water to Dublin repaired and a marble cistern built.  He also made another bridge on the Liffey in 1322.  He died in 1332, a very popular man. [JT Gilbert (ed), Annals of Ireland, 1162-1370, Chartularies of St Mary’s Abbey Dublin, London 1884] [Richter, opus cit, p162.]

1310:  Stephen was prior [of St Wolstan’s], about which time Nicholas Taaffe gave for ever to this priory the manor of Donaghcumper. [Mervyn Archdall, Monasticum Hibericum: or a history of the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses in Ireland, Vol II, Dublin, 1879, p291-6.]

1313:  Thomas, son of John le Kew, released to Robert Helgru, land of his father at the Salmon Leap, whereof one acre is situate between the land of Walter Havel on the south, that of Godfrey Keteryne on the north, that of John, the clerk, on the east, and the highway on the west; an acre and a half are situate between land of Stephen and William Martin on the south and north respectively, the Rye water on the east, and the land of John, the clerk, on the west; and half an acre lies between the land of Godfrey fitz Henry on the north and west, the highway on the south, and the land of John, the clerk on the east; to be held at the services due the chief lords.  Witnesses  — Thomas Burgeis, then provost of the Salmon Leap, Geoffrey de Kerdyf, serjeant there, Robert Gyffard, Adam de Rathimegan, John Kat’, Richard Norreys, Hugh de Molinger, clerk. Dated, at the Salmon Leap, 6/6/1313 (6 Edward II). [Calendar to Christchurch Deeds, no. 543, cited in Appendix to 23rd Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland.]

1314:  This year a writ issued to enquire if the churches of Stacumney and Donaghmore, in the advowson of the prior of St Wolstan, might be granted to the sole and separate use of the said prior. [Mervyn Archdall, Monasticum Hibericum: or a history of the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses in Ireland, Vol II, Dublin, 1879, p291-6.]

1315-16:  Edward Bruce landed at Larne on 26/5/1315 with 6,000 men. On of the leaders was John, son of Neil Campbell, king Robert Bruce’s nephew. He proceeded to plunder and lay waste as he went along, including the town of Dundalk. At Ardee he burnt the church when full of refugees, men, women and children. [Orpen, opus cit, Vol IV, p162-4.] 

He later defeated Roger Mortimer, Lord of Trim, and continued his march into Leinster before returning to Ulster, king of Ireland (May 1316). 

1316:  Benedict Pippard, kinsman of the first effective lord of Ardee, co Louth, Roger Pippard, owned Pippardstown, now Pepperstown, a little north of Ardee. He died about 115. His tenants included Ralph Burgeys [Burgess?], John Kerdyff, Stephen Horbard [Hereford, Herbert?], Wm le Blak, and John son of Ralph le Blak. Benedict’s son and heir was John Pippard, aged c25.  Note: not to be confused with the son of Ralph Pippard of Ardee’s son, John. Of interest is Pepperstown was “in the marches”, bordering on independent Irish country, which was at the mercy of neighbouring marauding clans as well as Edward Bruce’s invading army. Although his land was good, it was only valued at 4 pence per acre, and he had only 16 pence instead of 40 shillings scuttage to pay [for service of knight’s fee etc], on account of the effects of the location and the Bruce’s wars. By 1500 Pippardstown had passed out of the family’s hands. [Dermot MacIvor, ‘Estate of Benedict Pippard of Pippardstown, AD 1316’, JLAS, Vol XIV, No 3, 1959, p165-9.]

1316-17:  A famine in Ireland. [Orpen, opus cit, Vol IV, p212.]

1317: On 23/2/1317 Bruce advanced towards Dublin but stopped at Castleknock, probably because the Dubliners had burned the western suburbs about St Thomas St, to prevent the Scots obtaining shelter there from which to assault the city. At Castleknock Bruce took Hugh Tyrrell and his wife prisoners, releasing them on ransom. When Bruce saw the desperate measures taken by the citizens and learned that that the city was well fortified to resist assault, he turned aside to Leixlip, where he remained for four days, burning and plundering. At this time, castles and walled towns were not easily or quickly taken, and a long siege did not suit Bruce’s plan, as he had to feed his men off the country as he went. So he preferred to swoop down on the rich demesnes and manorial centres of the great Anglo-Norman lords. After Leixlip, he headed for Naas (a town with castles and monasteries), conducted by the de Lacys, and on to Castledermot, where he plundered the Franciscan monastery and then to Callan, (on 12 March), Co Kilkenny, which was a manorial town, later to have an Augustinian priory. Wherever they went they plundered the rich monasteries and even burned or broke churches. [Orpen, opus cit, Vol IV, p189-191.] 

Initially he was quite successful, but account must be taken of the fact that the liberty of Kildare was without effective leadership after the death of the Earl of Gloucester at Bannockburn. Mortimer took over as leader of the English army early in 1317. [Richter, opus cit, p159-60.]

1318:  The Annals of Ulster note that Edward Bruce was killed at Faughart, [co Louth] and that he, Bruce, was the destroyer of Ireland, both foreigners and Gaidhil. For three and a half years the people had suffered and had to eat each other.. [Richter, opus cit, p161.]

1318:  By petition of Council [?], Edward II, at York, on 6/6/1318, made a gift to Godfrey son of Henry of a messuage and a carucate of land in the town of Leixlip (Saltus Salmonis), to be held by him and his heirs from the king and his heirs at fee farm by rendering yearly 4 marks at the Exchequer of Dublin, at which sum the said messuage and land are valued, as appears by a certificate from the Treasurer and Barons of the said Exchequer. [Calendar of Charter Rolls, Vol III, London, 1908, p409.]

1319:  A stone bridge was built at Kilcullen by Master Maurice Jak(e) or Jakis, canon of Kildare Cathedral, and he made another in 1320 across the Barrow at Leighlin, the latter funded by the Mayor of Dublin, John le Decer, who paid for the Newbridge near Leixlip.  Prior to this most bridges were of timber, carried on timber piles, and several had been wrecked in the war of the Bruces. [Orpen, opus cit, Vol IV, p209.]

c1320-3:  The poor tenants of the demesne lands of the manors of Saggart and Leixlip petitioned the King (Edward II), asking to have arrears of rent remitted because of their poverty and shortage of tenants there. [Cited as SC 8/118/5882 in Analecta Hibernica, No 34, Dublin, 1987, p41.]

1323:  Richard Turnour was prior [of St Catherine’s]; in whose time this priory fell into so great poverty, and was so oppressed with debts that they were not able to support themselves. The King therefore granted his licence to the said prior, to enable him to assign and make over to Stephen Tyrrell abbot of the house of St Thomas, in Dublin, the said priory, with all its lands and possessions; and Wm de Hastend, descended from Warrisius, the first founder, confirmed this assignment. Witnesses, Alexander, archbishop of Dublin; Wm Rodier, dean of St Patrick’s, Dublin; Wm de Nottingham, precenter; et al. [Mervyn Archdall, Monasticum Hibericum: or a history of the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses in Ireland, Vol II, Dublin, 1879, p137].

1326:  St Catherine’s passes from the canons of St Victor to the canons of the abbey of St Thomas, Dublin. [Michael Mac Sweeney, ‘The Parish of Maynooth (1040 –1614)’, the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, October 1940, p309] The abbey of St Thomas the Martyr was another Augustinian foundation. See 1218.

1326:  Robert Bruce invaded Ireland again and threatened Ulster. [Richter, opus cit, p163.]

1327:  Small-pox epidemic in Ireland. [Orpen, opus cit, Vol IV, p212.]

1327:  From this year onwards, the Mortimers were the only English family of consequence to take any real interest in their Irish possessions. By 1360, 80% of English landowners did not look after their land in Ireland themselves. [Richter, opus cit, p163.]

1328:  Influenza epidemic in Ireland. [Orpen, opus cit, Vol IV, p212.]

1328:  Thomas de Warilowe, constable of Leixlip Castle, petitioned the King and Council in 1328, asking that the treasurer of Ireland be ordered to pay for repairs to the castle out of the issues of the manor and suggests that the cost would be £20. [Rot. Parl. ii, 256; Cal. Close Rolls, 1327-1330, p282, cited as SC 8/11/507 in Analecta Hibernica, No 34, Dublin, 1987, p8.]

1328 – 31:  Great dearth of corn in Ireland. [Orpen, opus cit, Vol IV, p212.]

1329-30:  Seamus Taaffe, [‘The role of the Castle in Kildare, 1169-1550’, JKAS, Vol XVIII, Part IV, 1998-99, p516-532] reports that Master Robert Lenginour spent £9 6s 8d on repairs to the king’s castle of Leixlip, this year; in 43rd Report of Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland, 1912, p39. [See also 1304, 1329-30, 1340 and 1341-42.]

1330:  In this year a [de] Hereford of Co Kilkenny made a deed to which a wax seal of his family was attached. The seal includes a six-sided star in relief, with a leaping (bent) salmon within it and other signs outside the star. The first de Hereford, Adam, was given the barony of Saltus Salmonum [=Leixlip] by Strongbow. [Edmund Curtis, Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Vol I, no 617, cited and illustrated by Edmund Curtis, in ‘Some Medieval seals out of the Ormond Archives’, JRSAI, Vol 66, 1936, p1-3]

1332:  King Edward III made preparations to visit Ireland, but changed his mind at the last minute as France took priority. [Richter, opus cit, p162-3.]

1334:  John de Graunsete petitioned the King in 1334 asking him for redress against the treasurer and barons of Dublin Exchequer, who are distraining him to pay the full extent for the manor of Leixlip, although the tenants are so impoverished that they cannot pay their rents. [(C.81/215/7964), cited as SC 8/242/12061 in Analecta Hibernica, No 34, Dublin, 1987, p77.]

1334-45:  Simon, son of John, was Clerk of Leixlip during this period, according to a Calendar Pipe Roll cited in the 54th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland, p36. [Canon JB Leslie, Biographical Succession List of the Clergy of Glendalough Diocese]

1334-45:  Ralph Pedilowe released the manor of Parsoneston to Richard Bakepus. [In a deed no.970, Calendar of Christchurch Deeds, cited in Appendix to 24th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland.].  The deed was witnessed by [inter alia] Brother Wm de Bikirton, then prior of St Wilstan’s; Odo Hereford, Thomas Whyte of Ardresse, and Richard Delamare. Dated 12 Jan. 1344-5.

1335:  21st April, 1335, The Calendar of Papal Registers, Vol 2, records: “To Hugh de Saltu [Hugh of Leixlip], skilled in law. Provision of a canory of Dublin, with reservation of a prebend; notwithstanding that he has the Church of Kilhea, in the diocese of Meath, value £8. Concurrent mandate to the archbishop of Armagh, the bishop of Kildare and Roland de Scarampis.”  [opus cit, p516, reign of Benedict XII].

1337:  The prior of the Priory of the Holy Trinity, Dublin [=Christ’s Church] kept a record of his entertainment and related expenses. These included, business lunches or dinners with Hugh de Saltu [Salmonum], whom Cotton [unfamiliar reference] says was born at Leixlip, and was connected in some form with that manor. [James Mills (ed), Account Roll of the Priory of the Holy Trinity Dublin 1337-1346, RSAI, Dublin 1891, p146.] On 20/11/1337, ‘Wine for the Prior’s chamber at dinner and supper, 10 ½ d, for coming of master Hugh de Saltu, the marshal of the archbishop, and others. Also in ale for them, 10d. Around February 1338, there was similar expenditure for Hugh de Saltu, involving bread, wine, ale, herrings, tublyngs, plaice, trout, almonds and rice. And later the Prior incurred expenditure of 1d for the cost of a servant carrying a letter to Hugh de Saltu ‘on business of the house’. 
Hugh was a canon of St Patrick’s Cathedral, a post he got by Papal provision (Regesta Pontificum, vol iv, p517). In 1347 he became bishop of Ferns.

If Hugh de Saltu was the marshal of the Archbishop, it generally meant he was controller of the household or master of ceremonies in the hall of the Archbishop.  Hugh de Saltu may have led the Archbishop’s contingent to the hosting against the O’Byrnes, for which he was paid 100s for two horse lost in the company of John Rees, going against the ‘Obrynnes’ and other Irish enemies in parts of Leinster. A Fynok otothil [=O’Toole] was paid 66s 8d for wages for 10 hobelars and 12 footmen who took part in the attack on the O’Byrnes [sometime between 1337 and 1346]. [ibid, p157].

The prior also spent money entertaining the prior of St Wolstan’s.

1339:  Grant in tail made by Sir Walter de Maundevill to Thomas, his son, of the manors of Donaghmore, Blackcastle [Co Meath –  inserts editor] and Clonsangan at £40 pa to Walter for his life. Provision for reversion to Walter’s descendants etc. Witnesses: John de Cusack, John Bath, etc. Given at Blackcastle on Thursday next after the feast of St David in 13 Edward III, i.e. March, 1339.  [Edmond Curtis (ed), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Vol 1, 1172-1350, Dublin, 1932, No. 720.]

1340:  Thomas Burgeys and Thomas le Whyte were appointed to oversee the repairs of the houses, walls and mill of the castle and town of Leixlip. [47thReport of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland, 1915, p42.] [Cited by Seamus Taaffe, ‘The role of the Castle in Kildare, 1169-1550’, JKAS, Vol XVIII, Part IV, 1998-99, p516-532.]

1341-2:  Master Robert Lenginour (Robert the engineer?) received £11 9s 10d for carrying out work s at the castle of Leixlip and further moneys in 1343.  [Bradley J, Halpin A, and King, H, 1986, p310, Urban Archaeology Survey Co. Kildare, 4 Vols, unpublished report, OPW.] [Cited by Seamus Taaffe, ‘The role of the Castle in Kildare, 1169-1550’, JKAS, Vol XVIII, Part IV, 1998-99, p516-532.]  Taaffe noted that J Harvey, English Medieval Architects, London, 1954, p166, footnote 24, suggests that Robert was in charge of military works on Irish castles until 1341 or later.

1348:  A plague arrived in Ireland, affecting townspeople most of all, but ultimately everyone. [Richter, opus cit, p165.]

1348:  In June 1348 The Calendar of Papal Registers, Vol 3, records: “To the archbishop of Cashel, the bishop of London and the archdeacon of Wells. Mandate to induct Geoffrey, bishop of Ferns into that see, to which being reserved to the pope, he was appointed on the death of Adam; Hugh de Saltu, canon of Dublin and chaplain of archbishop Alexander, who was intruded into the said see, being cited to appear before the pope.”  I.e, the pope wished to appoint Hugh de Saltu to be bishop of Ferns. [in the reign of pope Clement VI, opus cit, p253.]

1349:  The Pipe Roll (no.66) in the 22nd year of the reign of King Edward III of England (1327 – 1377) recorded: "Leixlip – the Prior and brethern of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Ireland account for £40 12s 1/4d (for the) farm of the Manor of Leixlip…" [54th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland]. Their actual date of acquisition of Leixlip (following the surrender of Leixlip by Ralph Pippard) from the crown is not to hand. [See Jocelyn Otway-Ruthven, ‘The medieval county of Kildare’, Irish Historical Studies, Vol XI, March 1959, p198.] An analogous position arose in Kilkeel, co Kildare, when in 1335 there is first mention of the Knights Hospitaller castle there, which served as an important outpost of the Pale. It was “near the Irish enemies, the O’Tooles, where resistance and defence are required.” [Con Costello, Kildare, Donaghdee, Co Down, 2005, p36].

1349:  By deed, dated 24/6/1349, made at Personestoun, John de Bakbys [aka Bakepuz, Bakepus] released to Adam de Blakborn, clerk, Thomas de Blakbourne and Simon Loterall, land [,] and a mill at the Salmon Leap, in the manor of Parsonestoun near Donacoumpre, co. Kildare.  Witnesses included Wm. Comyn, knight, brothers Wm de Bykertoun, prior of St Wilstan, Matthew Whyte and John Baysom, canons, Hugh Hereford, John fitzJohn, clerk of Leap, and Richard de Lamore [=Delamare]. [Deed no.970, Calendar to Christchurch Deeds, cited in Appendix to 24th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland].

1349:  John Fitzgibbon was Clerk of Leixlip. [Source, Leslie, ibid].

1350:  John O’Byrne was elected leader of the O’Byrnes of Leinster in the presence of the justiciar, Thomas de Rokeby.  He was paid to keep his area of influence peaceful for 2 years. [Richter, opus cit, p171.]

c1350:  This year is the first record of a gun in Ireland. [Tadhg O’Keeffe, Medieval Ireland – an Archaeology, Stroud, 2000, p55]

1354:  Muirchertach Mac Murrough became king of Leinster, at the same time accepting money from the Dublin treasury in return for good behaviour.  [Richter, opus cit, p171.]

1360:  Roger, was priest of Confey. [Canon Leslie, p84.]

1361:  Edward III sent his son, Lionel of Clarence, to Ireland as ‘royal lieutenant’. [Richter, opus cit, p165-6.] Clarence’s daughter married Edmund Mortimer, Lord of Meath.

1362:  Clarence came again in this year and on his initiative the Statutes of Kilkenny were approved. These effectively forbad intercourse between the Irish and Anglo-Irish; the enforced usage of English, including names for children etc. [Richter, opus cit, p166-7.]

1367:  On 18 Kal. January, 1367 The Calendar of Papal Registers, Vol 4, records: “To the abbot of St Thomas and the prior of All Saints, Dublin, and the archdeacon of Down. Mandate to carry out the ordinances touching apostates in regard to Laurence Wyteleye, canon of the Augustinian priory of St Wulstan, in the diocese of Dublin, bearer of these presents, who, having left his order, desires to be reconciled to it.” [In the reign of pope Urban V, opus cit, p69.]

1380:  The manor of Donaghcumper having been granted to this priory [of St Wolstan’s] in 1310, and without licence, it was seized in the King’s hands, but was this year restored. [Mervyn Archdall, Monasticum Hibericum: or a history of the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses in Ireland, Vol II, Dublin, 1879, p291-6.]

1391:  Peter was prior [of St Wolstan’s], for this year we find him sued by John, the son of Robert Moynagh, and Joan, his wife, the widow of the late Wm Ford, for the third part of a rent of one hundred shillings, together with its appurtenances in Donaghcumper and Stupple’s mill. [Mervyn Archdall, Monasticum Hibericum: or a history of the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses in Ireland, Vol II, Dublin, 1879, p291-6.]

1394:  Richard II came to Ireland with 10,000 men, but stayed only 6 months, after securing loyal cooperation from almost all the Irish clan-leaders. [Richter, opus cit, p174.]

1399:  Richard II came to Ireland a second time, during which time Henry of Lancaster swept him from the English throne. [Richter, opus cit, p174.]

c1400:  By this time the English king’s lordship of Ireland was reduced to Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Louth, and area of about 20 by 30 miles, and a few towns outside this area. [Richter, opus cit, p174.]

1402:  In October 1402 The Calendar of Papal Registers, Vol V, records: “To the archbishop of Dublin, the abbot of St Thomas the Martyrs, and the prior of All Saints, without the walls of Dublin. Mandate to carry out Benedict XII’s ordinances, here recapitulated, [re] Laurence Whtcheley, Augustinian…, priest, bearer of these presents, who left his order about 30 years ago, and has worn the dress of a secular clerk. “ [in the reign of Pope Boniface IX, opus cit, p495.]

1413-1422:  Robert, son of John Loterell, released to James Iryell and Margery, his wife, a mill and land in Personestoun, near St Wolstanes, lands in Stacony [Stacumny], Co Dublin, a messuage etc. Dated 10/2/??, King Henry V. [Deed no.970, Calendar to Christchurch Deeds, cited in Appendix to 24th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland].

c1414:  The building of tower houses to defend the Pale may have begun c1414 when Sir John Talbot was the King’s Lieutenant in Ireland. He arrived this year. [Padraic O’Farrell, A History of County Kildare, Dublin 2003, p40.]

1422-1460?:  John Gyffard, clerk, released to Robert [Nott], Walter [Northampton], …chaplains, the premises in.. Parsonstoun as lately belonging to John Blackburn. [Deed no.970, Calendar to Christchurch Deeds, cited in Appendix to 24th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland].

1429: An Act offered subsidies of £10 towards building fortified houses in counties Louth, Meath, Dublin and Kildare.  Walled bawns protected the cattle against raiders from without the Pale. [Padraic O’Farrell, A History of County Kildare, Dublin, 2003, p41.]

1447:  Richard of York acted as locum tenens from this year until 1460, but making only a brief visit to Ireland.  He was well liked by the Anglo-Irish. [Richter, opus cit, p174.]

c1460:  Will of Joan White, apparently of Leixlip: “In the name of God. Amen. I, Joan White, though feeble in body yet sound in mind, do make my testament in this manner. First, I bequeath my soul to Almighty god, St Mary and all the saints, and my body to be buried in the cemetery of St Mary, at Leixlip [Lexlepe]. Item: I leave for funeral expenses for bread, five measures of wheat; for ale, 6 measures of malt’ for meat, one cow; for the obsequies, four priests with their clerks; four pounds [weight] of wax. Item: I leave one acre of wheat to the parish church of Leixlip. Item: I leave one three-legged pan and one trough with two trundles for the use of my neighbours of the said town [ville] of Leixlip, for the health of my soul and my predecessors. All my other property (whether in goods or in the hands of my debtors) not specially mentioned in this testament, I desire to be distributed by the hands of my administrators, to pious uses for the health of my soul, and that my creditors may likewise be satisfied by their [the administrators’] hands. Item: I make and leave John Lytyll and Avice Flattysberry administrators of this testament.” Undated, but within the period of the reference source  – Henry E Berry (ed), Register of Wills and Inventories of the Diocese of Dublin 1457-1483, JRSAI, 1898, p48.

1461:  In this year Sir Edmund Butler founded the Augustinian house of Callan, Co Kilkenny, which was made head of the Irish congregation in 1479, and independent of English control. [Michael Richter, Medieval Ireland: The Enduring Tradition, Dublin 1988, p181.]

1462:  Margery Waffre, [= Weafer? ] widow, granted to her cousin, Wm Typpyr, [= Tipper; see 1597] lands in Parsonestoun, Co Kildare, at the services due the chief lord. Dated 16/12/1462. [Deed no.970, Calendar to Christchurch Deeds, cited in Appendix to 24th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland]

1463:  Archbishop Ml Tregury confirmed to the canons of St Thomas the moiety of the churches of Confey and Saltus Salmonum [Leixlip], with the added authority of Parliament. The Repertorium Viride [=Fresh Discoveries] states that ‘the church, then called by the title of the Blessed Mary of Leixlip, was originally called “de Harnia” (corrected by an insertion “Herveo” [=Hervey]), as was also the castle, perhaps from Hervey [de Montmorice], the uncle of Count (sic) Richard’ [Strongbow].

1463:  In the year 1463, it was enacted by parliament, that the Church of St Columb, in this county [of Kildare], should be annexed to the Monastery of the Blessed Virgin, near Leixlip. [King, p138] [Mervyn Archdall, Monasticum Hibericum: or a history of the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses in Ireland, Vol II, Dublin, 1879, p281-2.]

c1468:  Garret Mor FitzGerald, the ‘Great Earl’ became the first of the Earls of Kildare, and assumed the senior position in Ireland for the Crown.

1473:  On the 3/11/1473, John, archbishop of Dublin, writing from his palace of St Sepulchre, [now Kevin St Garda station], directed William Huch, perpetual vicar of Cloncurry in the diocese of Kildare, to hold on his behalf a ‘synod’ in the Deanery of Leap [sic; i.e., Salmon Leap], to exact and receive the cathedratic or synodals [= sum of 2 shillings paid by inferior clergy to the bishop or archdeacon], to visit the clergy and people of that Deanery at the top and among the members, to correct crimes and excesses and to reform their mores; to adjudicate in causes which are mooted and ongoing in that behalf; to decree causes finally by definitive sentence and with dispensation in cases reserved to us and to receive proxies and to transact in our stead other matters which may [seem] necessary or in anyway meet to the office of Commissary in that Deanery; also with power of every canonical punishment, etc.
–  cited in Henry E Berry (ed), Register of Wills and Inventories of the Diocese of Dublin 1457-1483, JRSAI, 1898, p36-37 and 204.

1474:  On 12/8/1474 William White, chaplain of St Columba’s parish church, Confey, had an appeal hearing before Brother Wm Stevenot, prior of All Saints, near Dublin, and Delegate of the Apostolic See, against a decision and sentence passed on him by John Alleyn, dean of the church of Dublin, and lately guardian of the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Dublin during the then vacancy of the See.  The business concerned a dispute between the chaplain, W. White, and the abbot and convent of the Monastery of St Thomas the Martyr, near Dublin. A application was made by Walter Eustace, proctor [=manager of court business] for the chaplain, Wm White, to the court causing the abbot and convent and John Alleyn, the judge, to be called. They, not appearing, Walter Fitzsimon, advocate of Wm White, sought to have them pronounced contumacious [=insubordinate] and he sought that the judge should pronounce that his jurisdiction was valid; that the appellant was not too late with his appeal. As the parties were contemplating resorting to arms to collect the tithes of the church of Confey, the judge, in order to prevent bloodshed, pending the suit, decreed that the fruits and tithes of the church should be sequestered and he sequestered them and ordered them to be preserved. Witnesses summoned and questioned in the premises were brother Wm Kerney, Canon of the cathedral church of the Holy Trinity, Dublin; Wm Blewet, chaplain; Nicholas boys, Canon of the cathedral church of St Patrick, Dublin; Wm Chamberlayn, gentleman; Richard Gerrot, yeoman [NB: Confey family], and John Alexander, yeoman, also Wm Stewenot, literate – cited in Henry E Berry (ed), Register of Wills and Inventories of the Diocese of Dublin 1457-1483, JRSAI, 1898, p99-102.

1477:  On the 21/5/1477 the will and testament of John Borrard of Backweston was registered and proved before Richard Fich, official of the court of Dublin, and the administration of the goods was granted to Borrard’s executors, Richard and William Borrarde [sic], ‘they being sworn in form of law’. The will and inventory of the testator’s goods exemplifies the civilised and orderly nature of local life then, as well as the extent and type of agriculture practised. Note that testators at this time were required by law to provide a certain measure of her or his estate to the church, and to make the will in the presence of clergy and neighbours!
A few days earlier an inventory of all his goods was made: 13 ½ acres of wheat and barley worth £13 12s 6d; oats in fields of 141/2 acres worth 29s; wheat grain and malt in the haggard, eighty measures, worth 5 marks; 5 farm horses worth 25s; a cow with Thomas Forste of Hodgestown, in Fingal, worth 5s; and also with him, 2 young bullocks worth 2s; a cow with John Brounewesyn, in Meath, worth 5s; and a young bullock worth 12d; hogs worth 8s; 19 head of two-year-old sheep worth 9s 6d; 12 head of lambs worth 4s; brass pots worth 30s; 2 small pots worth 8s; 2 brass pans worth 5s; 2 small skillets worth 12d; 4 gammons of bacon worth 12s; and all other household stuff worth 12s. 
These are the debts due to him: Henry Rede owes 13s 3d; Thomas Row the younger owes 3s; Richard Row, of Churchtown, owes 2s  4 ½ d.  Maurice Brenane owes 5s 6d. Sum of all the goods, £17 4s 10 ½d. 

These are the debts he owes to others: ‘to the lord for rent, 23s 10d’; to John, prior of the house of St Wolstan, 4s 9d; to Sir Nicholas Millon, canon of the said house, 24s; to Ellen Battemane, 4d; to William Laules, his servant, for wages, 8d; to Wm White, 12d; to Sir Richard Taverner, canon, 5s; to John Rosere, merchant, Dublin, 18d; to Anstace Yonge, 2s; to Patrick Gerrot, smith, 2d. To Jenkyn Smythe of Lucan, 8d and a measure of wheat. Clear sum, £14 16s 1d; sum of the debts, £10 13 0d.

In his will he bequeath his soul to God etc., and his body to be buried in the church of the monastery of St Wolstan. To Ellen Borrarde, his daughter, he left 1 acre of wheat and 1 of oats. To the prior and convent of the house of St Wolstan, for the health of his soul, 1 acre of wheat, and to his executors he left authority to dispose of all his goods, moveable and immovable, “as to them may seem best for the health of my soul”. ‘Portion of the deceased, 7 marks 5s 4d.’ – cited in Henry E Berry (ed), Register of Wills and Inventories of the Diocese of Dublin 1457-1483, JRSAI, 1898, p140-2. In 1475-6, the king granted liberty to John Brounuesyn (aka Brownunsinge) and others the right to establish a guild of glovemakers in Dublin. In 1523-4 one John Browunsinge had 35 acres in Esker and Balliowne [sic], and he devised all his lands to the church of Esker etc. [Henry E Berry, opus cit, p 192-3.]

1478:  On 27th May, presumed 1478, the ecclesiastical court in the time of Archbishops Tregury and Walton excommunicated “Wm Gerrote, of Leixlip, on account of his contumacy [insubordination] incurred before us, at the instance of Janico Dartas, and we have decreed execution”. [Henry E Berry (ed), Register of Wills and Inventories of the Diocese of Dublin 1457-1483, JRSAI, 1898, p183-4.]  Note Gerrard families buried in Confey graveyard in 18th century; see headstones. Also in Celbridge’s Tea Lane cemetery.

1487:  This year marks the earliest recorded use of firearms in Ireland, with cannon being used the following year. [Tadhg O’Keeffe, Medieval Ireland.]

1494:  A statute of Henry VII for this year stated that only Englishmen were to be appointed to the office of constable at a number of particular castles including Leixlip castle. [Source cited by Seamus Taaffe, ‘The role of the castle in Kildare 1169-1550’, JKAS, Vol XVIII, Part IV, 1998-99, p516-532.] The castles were the King’s castles of Athlone, Carlingford, Carrickfergus, Dublin, Greencastle, Leixlip, Trim and Wicklow. [Desmond Guinness and Wm Ryan, Irish houses & castles, London, 1971, p211.]

The second part of John Colgan’s extensive chronology of Leixlip from 1200 – 1499 AD – it will be saved under Specific areas in Co. Kildare but can also be searched for by typing in Leixlip in the search box. Our thanks to John