LEIXLIP CHRONOLOGY 1731 – 1749 A.D.
Leixlip Chronology 1731 – 1749
Compiled by
John Colgan
1731: The Rt. Hon William Conolly (Jnr) purchased various lands (not all in Co. Kildare), including the manor, castles etc. of Leixlip, Newtown and Stockumny [sic] from John Whyte [White] of Leixlip. George Finey of Celbridge acting as Conolly’s agent, which lands Whyte had earlier (2/6/1728) mortgaged for £4,000 to John Usher of Dublin City and agreed to sell in fee simple to William Conolly (snr) before his death for £11,883. Registry of Deeds Memorial No. 67-382-46484 (3 ½ pages) refers. The full deed (there is no map) is in box 28, Castletown Papers, IAA. Included were: .."all houses, buildings, mills, mill seats, mill streams, ways, waters, fishings, fisheries, woods, underwoods, commons .." etc at an annual rent of £210 for the life of John Whyte, for ever. Leixlip castle remained in the Conolly family until 1914, when it was sold to Lord Decies.
NB: George Finey Senior, from Limavaddy, Co. Londonderry, is the nephew of the late Wm. (Speaker) Conolly and lived at Killadoon, nr Celbridge from 1729, having taken a lease on it then. The current occupier of Lodge Park, Straffan, Robert Arthur Guinness, has stated that three sets of gates from Killadoon House are now at the Toll House. George was succeeded by his son of the same name, a small farmer; he lived in a house at Main Street, Celbridge, with the year 1724 attached, and died in 1752. [Lena Boylan, Celbridge Charter, No. 6, December 1977]
A second deed, on the same property as above, for one year at a rent of 5/= from 6/8/1731. This deed is registered at the Registry of Deeds, Memo No: 67-382-46484. This deed contains a list dated 27/7/1728 of Whyte’s [White] titles to a list of his family’s ownership of Leixlip lands over the years, and to be sold to Conolly. [Box 28,Castletown Papers, IAA].
A List of Arrears due out of Leixlip’s Estate to ye Hon Mr Conolly to ..Mitchell, Rent 1731
Includes: Robert Ingham, £9 3s 0d; Thos. Keating for ye Mills and Glin, £28 1s; Papper [sic] Mill & Tenements,
£41 4s 6d; Salmon Leap Inn, £14.14s; a tenement next to the Salmon Leap Inn, £2 17s [Castletown Papers, Box 25, IAA]. This suggests that the paper mill was functioning until this time. (Note the reference to paper made by Randall at a Newbridge, Parsonstown, premises in 1739.)
1731: On 3/11/1731 Parliament agreed to give £2000 per annum for two years to the Trustees of the Linen Manufacture to encourage the raising of sufficient quantities of hemp and flax in the Kingdom. [HoCJ, Vol 4, p??, this date.]
Note that the linen industry was carried out at Palmerstown, Co Dublin. [Nessa O’Connor, Palmerstown – An Ancient Place, Dublin, 2003, p47+.] A rettory or flax steep was used to soak flax bundles in readiness for scutching. O’Connor describes the arrangement at Palmerstown. A similar trough, later used as a swimming pool, existed near the Ryevale mills on Distillery Lane, Leixlip.
1731: Parliament decided to apply duties on tea, coffee, chocolate, and cocoa nuts for the use and encouragement of Hempen and Flaxen Manufactures of the Kingdom [HoCJ, Vol. 4, 8/11/1731.]
1731: On the 26/11/1731 the House appointed a committee to enquire into combinations and frauds of several brewers, malsters and others in respect of the buying and measuring of corn. Some days later, – on 4/12/1731 – they took Daniel Donovan, Brewer, into custody for grossly prevaricating in his examination. [HoCJ, Vol. 4, p??, this date.]
1731: An Act for repairing the Road leading from the City of Dublin to the Town of Kinegad in the County of West-Meath was passed in 1731 by the Irish Parliament, empowering the named trustees to erect turnpikes, receive and take tolls, in the manner specified, etc., the tolls to be collected for a period of 21 years from the 25th March 1732. The Act is to hand and is available in hard-copy at TCD library.
1731: Horse racing, including a race by girls, took place on Leixlip’s new race course on 18th & 19th October, 1731. There was also a leaping match for men, and prizes for all. The race was under the administration of Christopher Roe. [Falkner’s Dublin Journal From Saturday October 9th to Tuesday October 12th, 1731.]
1732: On 28/4/1732, fifteen of the trustees appointed by Parliament to operate an Act for repairing the road leading from the city of Dublin to the town of Kinnegad – including Henry Sandford, George Caulfield and William Beckett – assigned and made over to Hugh Henry and James Swift, of Dublin, the levying, collecting and holding the tolls for a consideration mentioned in the deed, from the previous 25th March, for a period of 31 years subject to a proviso for making it void on payment on the first anniversary of a sum of £4,000 plus interest at 6% to Henry and Swift. [Registry of Deeds Memo No 69-259-46201] Henry gave his name to Henry Street, Dublin 1. He was an MP for the boro’ of Randalstown, Co. Antrim, in 1744 [Watson’s Almanack] A Hugh Henry & Co., were bankers, at Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin and George Caulfeild was Counsel to the Revenue Commissioners, with office at the Custom House, Dublin, in 1738 [Directory of Dublin 1738]
1732: Wednesday, 28th June, 1732, John Loveday, of Cavesham, in Oxfordshire, travelled on horseback from Celbridge (Castletown House, where he stopped) to Newbridge (=Parsonstown/Barnhall) and thence to Lucan and Palmerstown. The road from Newbridge to Leixlip (= Barnhall/ Celbridge Rd) had not been constructed and most likely neither had Leixlip bridge, so he would have travelled on the south side of the Liffey to the Salmon leap Inn. [Thos. U. Sadleir, JKAS, Vol VII, No.3, 1913, p177.]
1732: Thos Pearson and Thos Trotter, agents of Wm Connolly (Jnr), in a deed dated 30/6/1732 (but registered with the Registry of Deeds on 7/3/1732, No 73-156-50292), demised unto John and Daniel Molyneux and John Twigg, all of Dublin City, Iron mongers, all that part of Leixlip town commonly called the Tuck Mill or Paper Holding, containing in front to the street 196 feet, in depth, 400 feet, the mill stream and little island, including and in the rear the millstream to the new road at the foot of the new bridge that is to be built over the Liffey at the said town of Leixlip and likewise the two islands lying eastwards of the corn mills and thirty feet depth, the length of Keating’s garden lying northwards of the said mill to make a pond, the whole containing one acre one rood and eleven perches [plantation measure] as by a map annexed to said lease may more fully appear with houses, buildings, mills, mill streams, rights members and appurtenances thereunto belonging and as the same are in the occupation of the said John & Daniel Molyneux and John Twigg…. during the natural lives of them, the survivors and renewable for ever, at a rent of £32 per annum, plus an additional £10 if the premises are assigned or made over during the said lease. Witnessed by Wm Molyneux, ironmonger, and John Coates, both of Dublin. Some signatures are available on the memorial, but not of great quality.
A copy of the map is available. This shows the line of the new bridge, over the pair of mill streams, the 30ft passage to the bridge; the upper mill stream having a widened ‘box’ section in the middle of the southern boundary of the paper mill field – suggesting this was used either as a washing station for the tuck or paper or as a location for a mill wheel [Box 27, Castletown Papers, IAA]. There is a reference to this property in the Leases Book on the Castletown Estate [Box 59, Castletown Papers, IAA, No 12, at or after 1751], where the tenants heirs, assigns or successors are then Wm Molyneux and Wm Constable and the "Tuck Mill or Papper [sic] Holding [is] now the Iron Mills" and the right of the tenants "to have 30 feet of passage from the Great Bridge along by the little stream to their Park.." A John Twigge [sic] was a member of the Common Council of Dublin City in 1735 (and perhaps earlier) and 1741 [Watson’s Almanack] and there in his capacity as a member of the Trinity Guild; he lived at Bridge St; he was Sheriff in 1736.
A John Twigg was a clergyman who lived in Palmerstown in 1701.[TCD alumni details for his son, Paul]. John was in charge of the vicarage of Chapelizod from about 1703, with his son, Paul, as his curate. [Nessa O’Connor, Palmerstown – An Ancient Place, Dublin, 2003, p35.] In 1713, James Twigge leased the plating mill and shop at Palmerstown to two (unnamed) ironmongers and rights over the mill waters. [O’Connor, opus cit, p46.]
A Daniel Molyneux, SC, was born in Dublin the son of Thomas Molyneux, a doctor of medicine and entered TCD as a student on July 9th, 1723, aged 15 years. He was awarded a BA in 1727 and MA in 1730 and was Fellow of the Royal Society; he had a younger brother, William, also schooled at Trinity. [TCD Alumni]. Dr Thomas Molyneux lived at New-Row, Smithfield, adjoining a couple of large, 3-storey, malt houses, in the parish of St Paul, in1710 [Newspaper report in the Dublin Gazette of 21/10/1710 advertising their sale].
An alternative scenario is possible, and perhaps more likely? A Danniel Mullenax (one of 9 different spellings of the name), son of William Mullenax, smith, and Rebekah, his wife, was baptised in the C of I parish of St. Michan’s, Oxmanstown (extending from Dublin bay to the Phoenix Park north of the river and north to little Cabra) on 23 July, 1682 [Henry Berry (ed), Registers of St. Michan’s, 1636-1700]
On or about 25 January, 1690, a John Mullenax was born to John & Alice? Mullenax in the same parish .The latter couple had a child every two years over a decade; all of those noted – except John – died within five years. William Mullenax’s children had similar mortality rates; there is no record of Danniel dying in the parish of St Michan’s up to 1700. It is noteworthy that the Marsden (aka Marstin) family were also living in the St Michin’s parish during the same period; a Molyneux Marsden was later to become involved with Leixlip iron works.. Thomas Marsden was listed as living in Church St in the Directory of Dublin, 1738.
Indenture made 28/3/1732 between Thos Keating of Leixlip, miller, of the one part and John & Daniell Molyneux, Ironmongers of the other part. For £4 Keating leased to the Molyneux part of mills etc. of Leixlip up to Costiloe’s work or gate. The Molyneux were required to repair and amend the weirs and make two sluice gates up to Costiloe’s [=Costelloe] works. Reference to location of old tuck mills. Provision for priority use of water to Keating for his corn mills over the iron mills for 80 days every summer, alternatively a £5 fee per day to Keating, with provision for arbitration in the event of dispute. The Molyneux were allowed to enlarge the pond near their works for that purpose alone, "and also access [etc.] through the island which lies westwards to the back of the said corn mills to the old tuck mills and all.. rights and appurtenances thereto belonging or in any pertaining in as large and ample manner as he the said Thos Keating now holds". [Box 27, Castletown Papers, IAA].
St. Mary’s graveyard headstone belonging to Geo. Beere and his posterity records the burial of the body of John Molyneaux, d 7/3/1736, with two of his grandchildren William and Susan Beere…1750; confirmed by the Church’s burial records – he is ‘Mulligneaux’. A John Molyneux, Dublin, gentleman, died with will in 1753. [26th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland] A Daniel Molyeaux of Dublin and an Elizabeth M. are buried in St Mary’s graveyard; Daniel died 16th March, year and age indecipherable now. Daniel Molineux and David Molineux were merchants at Essex St, and a John Mullyneux occupied premises in King St in 1738 – Directory of Dublin, 1738
1733: An advertisement in Faulkner’s Dublin Journal, 8th to 11th September, 1733, notified the public of a three-day horseracing event for purses of £5, £10, a pair of silver spurs, with a sweepstake, on the course of Leixlip, during the days, 24th to 26th September. Only inhabitants of the town could erect a tent or booth on the or about the race place. Horses were to be entered with Mr Christopher Roe in the town and the rules for the event laid out.
1733: William Conolly Jnr married Lady Anne Wentworth on 2 March 1733 or 1734 and came from London to Ireland in August 1733. After inspecting his estates they lived in Leixlip castle. In 1734 he was elected to the British Parliament. They had a son, also William, baptised on 5/12/1734 at St Mary’s; his name may have been changed later to Thomas? He moved to London for 1744 to 1748, returning to Leixlip at intervals. After Katherine Conolly died they moved into Castletown (1752).
1733: Watson’s Almanack listed the stops and fares charged for travelling by (Ringsend) carr, chair or chaise from Dublin to the suburbs. These included the following: Chapelizod, 6d; Palmerstown, 9d; Curtis Stream, 1s; Luttrelstown, 1s; Lucan, 1s 4d; St Catherine’s, 1s 9d; Leixlip, 2s 2d; Newbridge (Leixlip), 2s 2d. These set-downs and prices remained stable for many years. The prices remained unchanged until 1764, when they were increased, Leixlip then costing 2s 8d, and Newbridge was no longer listed as a destination.
1734: James Glascock (the 1st of them) was recorded, King’s inns papers, as a solicitor in practice at Chancery, c1734. He might be the brother of Christopher Glascock but probably was his nephew, one of the 7 sons of Francis, Christopher’s brother; he was followed by another Jas. Glascock, of Music Hall, Leixlip.
1734: Faulkner’s Dublin Journal of 16th to 20th April, 1734, reported the winners of horse races held on the course of Leixlip on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th April as follows: the Rt. Hon. The Lord Trimlestown’s horse won the five pound plate; ——— Fitzgerald, Esq, won the £10 plate. A race comprising 7 footmen for 20 guineas, was won be Squire Cunningham’s footman; also Col. Cary’s footman and Squire Callaghan’s footman came in third.
1735: An advertisement in Faulkner’s Dublin Journal, 26th to 30th March, 1734, [thus 1735 in modern calendar] notified the public of a three-day horseracing event for purses of £5, £10, with a sweepstake, on the course of Leixlip, during the days, 15th to 16th April. Horses were to be entered with Mr John Branwood in the town and the rules for the events laid out. Only inhabitants of the town could erect a tent or booth on the or about the race place. There was to be cock-fighting each morning.
1736: “The Inn commonly known as the King’s Head in Leixlip, being a large commodious well built House, with convenient Stabling, Am exceeding good Kitchen Garden with all sorts of Roots and Sallating, as also a large well Planted Orchard and Garden mareing [sic] on the river Liffey and navigable from a Boat up to the Salmon Leap, are to be let from the first Day of May next or sooner if required, and will give great encouragement to a good Tenant.
N.B. Any Person who takes the said Inn and Garden may be supplied with any Number of Acres for Graising or meadowing Land they please. Enquire of Mr. Richard Shulen [Shuldon?] on Usher’s Quay, or of Mr Richard Eustace at the Wool-pack in High-street.” – Advert. in Pue’s Occurrences, from Tuesday, March 23rd to Saturday March 27th, 1735-6 [Info from Thomas Byrne]
1736: Entry No.2 in a Castletown Lease Book (of or after 1751) cites a 31 years’ lease dated 16/4/1736 to Peter Gaynor of the Salmon Leap Inn. The book notes that the Gazebo next to the Swords tenement is not included, but he holds it at will for £1.10 rent. [Castletown Papers, box 59, IAA]. Note the turret, which could have served as a gazebo or watch tower, attached to the wall of a stone bridge, illustrated in (Austin) Cooper’s Ireland, drawings compiled by Peter Harbison. Perhaps there was such a turret on Leixlip bridge, and Swords was a tenant of the Toll/Bridge House then? No, see entry for 1741.
The Swords is Thomas Swords, who had a daughter, Mary, baptised 29/3 1710 or 11 at St Mary’s. The premises may also be those later occupied by the Tankard couple, near the Rye Bridge, south side of Leixlip Main Street. Edward Tankard had a memorial erected on his father, Simon’s grave, died 9/9/1736, at St Mary’s graveyard.
The lands on which Leixlip House now stands were once called Gazebo Park and leased to a Captain Brady, and later to Wm George Downing Nesbitt [Registry of Deeds Memo No 1855-9-247.] by Lieut. Col. Jas Smith Lawe, of Cheltenham, and in which deed is recited an earlier one with Brady in which the lands are said to be bounded on the east by what is now Captain’s Hill; on the west by the river Rye; on the north by Thos. Harpur’s holding by a wall and mearing to the Bleach yard; and on the south by gardens and house formerly held by widow Gaynor and other town tenements .The Brady and Nesbitt families share a burial plot at St Mary’s graveyard, the first internment listed being that of Maria Anne Brady who d. about 1772 aged 17 years and continuing to 1828, when John Nesbitt was buried. It includes that of General William Brady, d.28/5/1800.
1737: Robert Ingham was a witness to St Mary’s, Leixlip, Vestry Minutes of 13/6/1737.
1738: John White is described – Directory of Dublin, 1738 – as a land Agent, at Arbour Hill.
1739: A new Act was passed to enable new roads to be built from market town to market town, eg, Celbridge to Leixlip. The legislation was abused by grand jurymen and their friends in order to secure road contracts, deemed more profitable than farming. [David Broderick, The First Toll-Roads, Cork, 2002, p74-6].
1739: John Cane, curate of Leixlip, 1738/39, married Grace Proby of Leixlip, on 28/7/1739. Ms Proby probably lived in Marshfield at the time. As can be seen from 1747, a Mrs Grace Proby was allocated a prime seat in the chancel by the vicar, perhaps there were two Graces, mother and daughter? Grace Williams, daughter of Deborah Williams (sister of Bishop Narcissus Marsh), who was married to Archdeacon Williams of Cashel, married Charles Probey. [Muriel McCarthy, Marsh’s Library]
1739: While we have no knowledge of who was making paper at the Paper Holding or Tuck Mill, Mill Lane, Leixlip, in 1732 or thereabouts, we have a record of a Mr Randal or Randall as a manufacturer of paper at Newbridge, near Leixlip, in this year, for a pamphlet printed in Dame Street, Dublin. [Pamphlet is in the Bradshaw Irish Collection, (a bequest of a large library) in Cambridge University Library.] As an Oliver Wilson became tenant of the Toll/Bridge House, c1748, and as several persons of the name Wilson were then book-sellers and printers in Dublin, it is possible that the paper mill at Mill Lane was in his family.
1739: Heads of a Bill of an Act entitled "An Act for the publick registering of all Deeds, Conveyances and Will made since the 25th Day of March, 1708 that have been or that shall be made of any Honours, Manors, Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments" was read and committed to a Committee of the House on 8/12/1739. [HoCJ, this date, Vol. 6?, p316.]
1739: Carton House redesigned by Richard Cassels, this year. He also designed Leinster House and the Rotunda Hospital. [Adrian MacLoughlin, Historic Dublin, Dublin, 1979, p8.]
1739-40: Con Costello, Kildare Saints, Soldiers & Horses, Naas, 1991, p35: Reference to the parson-poet, Samuel Shepherd, vicar of Celbridge, d1785. His mother was a Burgh, of Oldtown, Naas. His verse called ‘Leixlip’ referred to the severe winter of 1739/40 [?] Shepherd’s papers are in TCD library.
1740: “In Mr. James Ussher’s Garden at Leixlip there is this Season brought to Perfection a Chili Strawberry, under the Management of John Charters, Gardener, which is four Inches round. The late Dr. Marmaduke Coghill first imported these Plants, but we are told they were not brought to Perfection till this Year.” [Dublin Newsletter, from 9th to 12th August, 1740.]
1740: William Connolly [sic], Esq., of Dublin, demised, in a deed dated 25/8/1740, the Shingled House and park in the town of Leixlip to John Barton, Brewer, for three lives, at a rent of £10 Stg per annum. The deed was witnessed by Conolly’s agent, Phillip Wakefield, and Oswald John Buckle of Leixlip; Wakefield and Wm Hall witnessed the memorial. [Registry of Deeds Memo No 168-482-113888.] The property was bounded on the east "by the Great road to the Bridge", confirming that Leixlip bridge had then been constructed. Nevertheless, the memorial of the deed was not delivered (by Barton) to the Asst Registrar of Deeds, Mr James Saunders, until 27/7/1754. Wm Conolly leased Levy’s holding (Main St. Leixlip, 2r 20p), to Barton by deed of 30/8/1744; also registered in 1754, on 12th January. [Registry of Deeds Memo No 166-198-111223.]
A John Barton, of Lucan, had a daughter, Ann, baptised on 14/2/1719 followed by a son, also called John, baptised on 14/9/1721. Ann(e) later married Charles Fellows and had a son John Fellows, baptised 16/10/1737 in Lucan, when she was about 18 years old. It is not clear whether the John of the 1740 lease is John Barton the younger or the older. Charles Fellows is mentioned in various leases relating to a field he had near the Black Castle.
John Barton may be related to Hugh Barton of Straffan House and his grandfather, Thomas Barton, wine maker, France. See ‘Kildare, saints, soldiers and horses’, Con Costello, Naas, 1991, reviewed, JKAS, p106/7, Vol XVIII, Part I, 1992-3. John Barton, snr, may have lived at Somerton, Lucan, home of the late Liam Lawlor, TD.
Con Costello, Kildare Saints, Soldiers & Horses, Naas, 1991, p111-2: mentions Hugh Barton (1766-1854), of Straffan, grandson of Thomas Barton, who had established himself in the wine business in Bordeaux in 1725. See Renagh Holohan, The Irish Chateaux, 1989. [?] See Turtle Bunbury and Art Kavanagh, The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy of County Kildare, Dublin, 2004, ‘Barton of Straffan House’, p13-25, for the early history of the Barton family in Ireland.
1741: Watson’s Almanack lists Nathaniel Clements, Esq as Cashier or Teller of the Exchequer. He was additionally chief park ranger of the Phoenix Park and had a relatively small three-bay house built for him in the Park in 1751. In 1782, after it had been bought by the English government as a residence for the lord lieutenant or viceroy, it was extended. [Adrian MacLoughlin, Historic Dublin, 1979, p131.] Also in Watson for1744. Clements, along with Rev. John Jebb, was a member of the Dublin Society (in 1740) for the improvement of husbandry, and other useful arts. Daniel Molineux of Essex St. (listed there in 1738 Directory of Dublin) was a member of the Common Council of Dublin City, 1740. John Molyneaux of King St was the collector for the City of Dublin Work House in the Oxmanstown, St Michan’s, St Pauls, Christ Church and Liberty areas.
1741: An Appendix to the House of Commons Journal of the time reports that Mary Cologan was transported in Michaelmas 1741, most likely to Maryland; no reason was given [HoCJ, Vol.4, p.??]. From Co. Kildare were deported two persons with Leixlip-locality names, Edward Roe, described as a Vagabond, on 9/3/1740 and James Neal, Grand Larceny, on 14/3/1742.
1741: James McManus, of Maynooth, was made High Sheriff of Co. Kildare in 1741 and Sovereign of Kildare in 1752. He was born c1700 of his namesake, merchant, of Maynooth. He was an MP and barrister. [T U Sadleir, JKAS, Vol VII, No. 3, 1913, p167.]
1741: “On Wednesday last the Honourable Mrs. Conolly gave a most splendid Entertainment to a great Number of Persons of Quality of both Sexes, at the new Gazebo at Leixlip, belonging to Mr. Peter Gayner: The Prospects from thence were very much admired by the Company, as was also the elegant Manner in which the Table was laid by said Mr. Gayner upon that Occasion.” – News item in Faulkner’s Dublin Journal, From Tuesday September 22nd to Saturday, Sept. 26th, 1741 [Info supplied by Thomas Byrne].
c1741: The Rt Hon Wm Conolly, MP, nephew of the Speaker, then living at Leixlip Castle, distributed £20 worth of meal in Leixlip and ordered his steward to attend to the wants of the people there during the frost. [John O’Rourke (PP, Leixlip & Maynooth), The History of the Great Irish Famine, 3rd edition, Dublin, 1902.]
1742: Another reference to the completion of Leixlip’s Liffey bridge is contained in the Registry of Deeds Memorial no 760-247-516182, in the context of a lease dated 29/11/1742, the property is described, inter alia, as : "..to the new road at the foot of the new Bridge that is built over the Liffey at the town of Leixlip".
1742: "At a Vestry duly called by the Rev. John Kyan on Sunday August 29 1742 and held this day it was unanimously agreed by the Minister, Church Wardens and Parishioners the poor of the parish “be badged with the name of their respective parish on their right shoulders and it is further agreed that notice be given by the Church Wardens and sidesmen to the poor of the said Parish to appear on Tuesday the 14th of this September at eleven o’clock in the forenoon in the Church of Leixlip”; signatures included Mark Cannon, Wm. Conolly, Richard Williams, John Barton, Peter Gaynor, Charles Fellows and John Caldwell.
The purpose of the badging was to license them to beg in their respective parishes. An Act to enable the same was passed during the 11&12 Geo. 3, c.20, i.e. during 1771/2, and a further and new Act to explain and amend this Act was passed in 21 & 22 Geo.3, i.e, 1783/4, c.45, page 345-7, Vol.12, Irish Statutes]
1742: Watson’s Almanack reports Hugh Henry Esq, representing the borough of Randalstown, Co Antrim and Wm Conolly the boro’ of Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, in the House of Commons. The members of the Privy Council in Dublin include Dr Arthur Price, Bishop of Meath and Rt Hon Richard Lambart, Earl of Cavan. Robert Sanford represented the boro’ of Newcastle.
1743: The Wonderful Barn, at Barnhall townland – formerly Rinawade townland – was commissioned this year, having taken two years to construct at the behest of Katherine Conolly, widow of William Conolly, of Castletown and Speaker of the Irish House of Parliament. Following the most severe winters of 1739 to 1744, Mrs Conolly began a series of projects to provide work for the poor. The builder was John Glin. The Barn was modelled on another smaller one also of conical construction, which had been completed in 1741 on the Conolly’s lands at Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin. The tower is 22.25 metres (73ft) high and flanked by dove-cotes of similar design but smaller in scale. [More details in Leixlip’s Wonderful Barn, pub. by LTC] Note that there is an alternative view of the Rathfarnham barn: in the winter of 1741-42 Major Hall, owner of Whitehall, (a house) built the ‘ink bottle’ or bottle tower on his lands, employing local men, to provide him with a barn and employment to the poor, then in great distress. It is said that Hall probably copied the Wonderful Barn. [Adrian MacLoughlin, Guide to Historic Dublin, Dublin 1979, p212] However, it is apparent that widow Katherine Conolly did the copying or used the same architect.
It appears that John Glin, or Glyn, aka Glynn, had a son or brother, Joseph, who was also a builder. A Joseph Glyn, of Mary St, Dublin, builder, died on 23/5/1791, aged 62 (therefore born c1729) and was buried in Palmerstown, Co Dublin, graveyard. His daughter, Mrs Honoria Walsh, who died 23/5/1801 aged 23, is interred in the same grave. [Nessa O’Connor, Palmerstown – An Ancient Place, Dublin, 2003, p122.]
1744: The Leases Book for Castletown Estates (Castletown Papers, Box 59, No.23, IAA) states that: "A house next the Watchhouse", to Thos. Swords; no area was specified. The lease from Wm Conolly to Thos Swords was dated 25/3/1744 and for 31 years. The Watchhouse may have been a tower alongside the graveyard attached to St Mary’s, placed there to allow persons to watch over graves to prevent the theft of corpses for ‘medical research’. Alternatively, it was a kind of police barracks where night watchmen (policemen) detailed unruly persons overnight as authorised by the HoC. Or the ‘watchhouse’ may be a reference to the gazebo, on Gazebo Park (where Leixlip House stands). Or a turret on the south side of the old partially demolished bridge over the Liffey at the Salmon Leap? Or another name for Knockmulrooney Tower?
For more on watchmen, see Brendan Twomey, Smithfield and the parish of St Paul, Dublin, 1698-1750, Dublin, 2005, p31-6. An Act of 1721 obliged parish vestries in Dublin to organise a parish watch; it was replaced in 1786 [Brendan Twomey, Smithfield and the parish of St Paul, Dublin, 1698-1750, Dublin, 2005.]
1744: Watson’s Almanack lists Rt Hon Henry Singleton Esq, Jervis St, as the Lord Chief Justice at the Court of Common Pleas (where Francis Glascock, in 1722, had to account to him for his correspondence to Wogan in Paris).
1744: Watson’s reports the Kinnegad Stagecoach: takes in passengers at Henry Hall’s grocers in Smithfield. Sets out in winter at 8am on Wed. and Sat., returns on Mon. and Fri. Rate: 5s 5d.
1744: Arnold Horner, ‘Land Transactions and the Making of Carton Demesne’, JKAS, Vol XV, No 4, 1974-5, p387-396, notes the existence of Baylie and Mooney’s map of Carton, 1744. This article refers to a William Mannwaring Snr leasing lands in Maynooth in 1717. One of the Barbour sisters at Bridge/Toll House married, c.1915, a Mainwaring; could be same name. Also mentioned a transfer of lands in July, 1744 to Robert Downes (Dowans or Dowan?). Downes is said to be some sort of agent to the Earl of Kildare. In 1748 Downes got Kellystown. Note Dowan as tenant of Mill Lane [?] property c1720.
There was a toll house on the Naas Road near the Athgoe exit on to it. It was a single storey structure, quite like another toll house on the Belfast-Down turnpike road. It was opposite the Blackchurch Inn. A picture is in [Hone, Craig & Fewer, The New Neighbourhood of Dublin, Dublin, 2002, p123.]
1745: In a will dated 17 June 1745, Francis Glascock, Kilbride, Co Kildare, willed his property to his son, James (Senior). [Registry of Deeds Memo No 117-546 -81896.] Kilbride may be near Celbridge, according to OS, or to Cloncurry.
1745: A map of Newtown, Leixlip, of this year is in the PRO, Dublin, ref. M2844. It was made for Thos Conolly.
1746: William Ingham II, born in 1722, married Margrat Brown, on 23/8/1746, according to St Mary’s marriage records.
1747: Rev Samuel Shepherd, rector of Kildrought [Celbridge], published a poem entitled “Leixlip” in which he describes, in detail, the scenery of the district. [Thos U Sadleir, ‘Some Notes on Leixlip’, p269-71, JKAS, Vol X, 1922-1928.] Shepherd’s works are in TCD library.
1747: The Dublin to Kinnegad stage coach costs 6s 6d; it has now been extended to Mullingar, cost 8s 1d. [Watson’s Gentleman’s and Citizens’ Almanack for 1747.]
1747: Robert Ingham, and his father, William Ingham [linen printer], were evicted some time before a 21-year lease, dated 29/9/1747, was granted by Wm Conolly to Oliver Wilson, for their non-payment of their rent on the Tenter’s park and Furryhill park at Leixlip. However, Wilson was expelled from the property by a Roger Coleman, using swords and clubs, by force of arms, on the 1st October following Wilson’s occupation of the premises. In a judgement of the King’s Court at Dublin, and dated 24/11/1748, the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, John Bowes, ordered the sheriff, Thos. Walsh, to secure the property for Wilson. Wilson was awarded £100 damages for his loss and other injuries against Coleman. The writ was also signed by Nixon and Glascock (no first names). The sheriff ordered Hugh Mc Manus to execute the Court order on 3/12/1748, which was so done on the 6th of that month. However, by June 1949, the property was again leased by Wm Conolly; evidently, Wilson didn’t stay. [Castletown Papers, box 39, IAA] A David Nixon was Clerk of the Pleas, Court of the Exchequer, Michael’s lane, and Ormond quay, Dublin in 1738 – Directory of Dublin, 1738. The Nixon family lived at Ravensdale, Leixlip.
Tenter was the frame on which cloth was stretched with tenter hooks (extensorium). About 1483, King Richard III made a law (c.8,) declaring that tenters must be set in open places, not houses .In Kendal: Ricmondshire Wills, there is a reference to ‘Item, tenture posts and woodde, 6 d., 2 tentures, 20s.’, 1562. Cited in Bardsley, Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames,1901, London.
The Registry of Deeds records a Joshua Wilson, who died in 1701, owning the Great or Large corn Mill and 14 acres, the church Field, and tenement and garden in Palmerstown village. [Nessa O’Connor, Palmerstown – An Ancient Place, Dublin, 2003, p42.] A Conolly deed refers to John Wilson, Jas. Wilson and Henry Wilson, (all sons of a Henry Wilson?), with an address at Luglass, Co. Wicklow. [Box 36, Castletown Papers, IAA]
1747: At a Vestry meeting on 1/5/1747 Rev. John Kyan, Rector of Leixlip, gave seats in the chancel as follows: No. 1 to his own family and successors, and to be filled up by any Hillsborough scholars for whom there was not room in the pews assigned them in the church; No.2 to Major Michael Studholme; No. 3 to Rev. Dr. Thom [Shem?] Thompson and No.4 to Mrs. Grace Proby. [Reproduced by Suzanne Pegley (Ed), Register of the Parish of Leixlip, Co Kildare: 1665-1778, Dublin, 2001, p47-8.] Hillsborough is a townland 5km south east of Newbridge, Co Kildare, in the parish of Great Connell, once owned by Sir Nicholas White of Leixlip, c1640. [Valerie J Keeley, ‘Excavation of Hillsborough Townland’, JKAS, Vol XVII, 1987-91.] There was also a Hillsborough near Lucan. Pews were sold, the best places being reserved for those who paid the most.
c..1748: Edward Francis French is the trustee of the will of the deceased Goodshaw, of Leixlip, in a lease to Edward Conolly. [Castletown Papers, box 27, IAA]. Is this the Thomas Goodshaw, who married Margery Browne, c 1737 by licence? [Addenda, 26th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland]
1748: On 12/2/1748 Christopher Glascock is the plaintiff in an action in Belfast Court to recover lands in Co. Armagh. The lands – of 100 messuages, 100 cottages, 100 orchards, 100 gardens, 2 pigeon houses, 5 mills, 500 acres of arable land, 500 acres of pasture, 100 acres of wood and underwood, 100 acres of moor and bog and 100 acres of furze and heath, commons of pasture, mines, minerals, quarries, waters, water courses with the appurtenances – were in the Markethill area, Co Armagh, and the case, which is recorded, exemplifies the recovery of lands. Glascock claimed them as his inheritance. The defendant was Campbell Craig and Arthur Graham was vouchee. The Sheriff of Co Armagh was ordered to give effect to the recovery of the property to Glascock. The original papers are in PRONI, ref. D.951. [Deputy Keeper’s Report for1954-59 (Jan. 1996), HMSO].
1749: ROE – This monument was erected here by Laurence Roe April 1749. Here lyeth the body of Peter Roe father to the above Laurence Roe who died April 1714 aged 50 years (56). From Ladychapel, nr Maynooth,churchyard; extracted by Martin J Kelly.
1749: Rt. Hon Wm Conolly MP to Christopher Glascock, Dublin, Gent: dated 10/6/1749. Conolly demised unto Glascock, for three lives, and to be perpetually renewed subject to conditions, the Tenther [sic] Park, the Furry Hill formerly in the possession of Robert Ingham and also the Island next adjoining the said orchard between the same and the River Liffey which was formerly in the possession of the said William Conolly and are part and parcel of the manor of Leixlip.. subject to a yearly rent of £11 18s 4d Sterling, plus 12d in the £ receiver’s fees. This land included the site of the Toll or Bridge House, located on the said Island. This lease is unregistered at the Registry of Deeds, but it is, complete with annexes, in the Castletown Papers, Box 39, IAA. Glascock was required to build a house of stone or brick and lime, with slated roof, to the value of £60 Sterling within five years of the agreement, in which case he would get rent remission of £16. In a memorandum on the back of the lease, Thomas Starrat, Conolly’s Leixlip attorney, noted that he had given the premises to Chris. Glascock on 2nd February, 1749.
Note that there are no baptisms, marriages or deaths in the name Starrat in St Mary’s records, suggesting that Starrat, if he had a residence in Leixlip, it was only a summer one.
Christopher Glascock is described as being of Co. Antrim and Middlesex (London). He died in 1758 according to the King’s Inns Admission Papers, which describe him as an attorney, King’s Bench. The Tenter Park lease passed to a James Glascock of Dublin City (York St.? and of the Musick Hall, Leixlip?). James was the son of Francis Glascock, of Kilbride, Co. Kildare and earlier of Music Hall, Leixlip. Christopher was the brother of a Francis Glascock, solicitor, who, in a Court examination of 29/7/1722, was said to live at Arran Quay, in Dublin. [PRONI. 546: State Papers, Ireland, Bundle 380.]
I have searched "London – a Complete Guide 1749" by J. Osborn, London; also the 1752 edition; also "Kent’s London Directory, 1754", London; "London – a Complete guide 1758" and "The Universal Pocket Companion, 1760", London, and found no mention of any Glascock in them. References are to hand for eight wills of Glascocks in Britain (mainly Essex) during the 18th century; none refer to a Christopher’s.
In a Castletown Estates Leases Book [Castletown Papers, Box 59, No.13], is noted: " Ingham’s holding to Chris. Glascock; 7a 1r 16p at £12 10s rent for 3 lives from 10/6/1749 by Wm Conolly to Chris Glascock, renewable forever. He must build [only] of lime and stone and slate…" An addendum note states that the Black Castle was added: ‘a lease of 3 lives renewable made at the same time and the same clauses pays £1 13s on renewal’. In other records, the area is described as "Ingham’s holding and the Tenther Park".
About this time Conolly also leased to Glascock the ‘Island Farm’. This is shown on a map of parts of the lands of Collinstown, Co. Kildare, the estate of the Rt. Hon Thos Conolly, of area 231a 1r 6p Plantation Measure, surveyed in 1775 by Pat Roe. Jas Glascock’s land is on the east side of the current Intel land. Along the Turnpike road is shown what might be representational of toll-gates; 2 houses are also shown on this road [Castletown Papers, Boxes 84 to 86, IAA].
A Chronology of Leixlip 1731 – 1749 AD compiled by John Colgan. Our thanks to John.
