LEIXLIP CHRONOLOGY 1800-1835
Chronology 1800 to 1835
Compiled by John Colgan
1800: The Act of Union (with Great Britain) was passed by both Irish and British parliaments, leading many Anglo-Irish gentry to sell out and return to Britain. MacLoughlin [Adrian MacLoughlin, Historic Dublin, 1979, p60] writes that the "union did not ruin Dublin; it is often supposed that there was a mass exodus of Anglo-Irish, fearful of disturbances or dismayed at the city’s reduced status. Some people of influence did move out, just enough to quieten the property market."
1800-1848: Con Costello chronicled life in Naas and the country in general for this period, covering the condition of the peasants, farming, marriage, canals, gaols, markets and tolls. [JKAS, Vol XIII, No. 8, 1960, p423+].
1800: James Glascock (Jnr) died this year, it seems, as the turnpike trustees, meeting on 24/6/1800, noted that two of their number, James Glascock, and Col. Brady, had since died, probably since their meeting of 8/5/1798. If that Colonel be an outdated title for the General, he died on 28/5/1800 [Headstone, St. Mary’s graveyard]. In a marriage settlement deed [Registry of Deeds Memo No: 1848-4-15] is mentioned that Jas. Glascock by his last will and testament dated 4/4/1800 did leave and bequeath to Francis Wm. Greene and Owen Saunders all his freehold estates and leases for lives in Co Kildare etc. A Jane Glascock died intestate, a widow, in 1774 [26th Deputy Keeper’s Report of Public Records in Ireland.]
Note that Jas. Glascock (Snr) probably died about 1775-78, aged about 64 years.
The HoCJ for 1800, vol. 19, in Appendix, p. dccclxxxi, publishes a list of civil servants, among whom are: James Glascock, as Escheater of Leinster and Walter James Glascock is Clerk of First Fruits and Twentieth Parts; the data probably relates to 1799. In the same Table, Captains Stewart Bruce and the Hon. Proby are Aid de Camp to the Lord Lieutenant. Bruce and Proby may be of Leixlip.
1800: Wilson’s Directory for 1800 lists, for the first time (on p21) a Henry Brady, Smith and Ironmonger, 121 Great Britain Street, Dublin and John Brady, a Smith and Bell-hanger, at 59 Summerhill. The name ‘Brady’ is stamped on the wrought iron gates in the porch of the Toll House, Leixlip. By 1804, John Brady has left the register and Henry Brady has moved to no 129. In 1815, he’s at no 119, but in 1827, Henry is no more. John Brady is a Smith and Ironmonger at Henry’s premises, 119 Gt. Britain St, in 1828. By 1832, the Post Office Directory (Dublin) contains no Bradys as ironmongers or smiths.
Several iron works or foundries with names of Leixlip interest or origin existed in Dublin in the 18th & 19th century. These included Timothy Turner (fl 1765), Sheridan & Co, Bridgefoot St, & Sheridan’s Eagle Foundry, Church St, Dublin (where a Guinness family member had an iron works which went broke); J & C M’Gloughlin [McGloughlin, McLoughlin] (fl 1891, founded 1875). [Peter Pearson, Decorative Dublin, Dublin, 2002, p16-30; 10.] Richard Turner & Co were ironmongers at 4 Stephen’s Green [Wilson’s Dublin Directory, 1818].
1800: The HoCJ, Vol 19, 1800, has an Appendix, p.dccclviii, a table showing the Numbers of Houses paying Windows Tax for the year ending Lady-day, 1800. Among the data cited are those for three Kildare towns, represented by MPs:
Town Paying Exempt Total Duty Paid
Naas 57 255 312 £64 4s 2½d
Athy 107 243 350 £172 19s 7½d
Kildare 32 90 122 £37 16s 10½d
The same source has, on p.dclxviii of the Appendix a Schedule of Windows & Lights taxes. For example, a house with 10 windows or lights would be required to pay an annual duty of 18s 5d; and one with 11 windows, £1 1s 8d.
1800: The HoCJ chronicles [Appendix, p. cciv+, Vol 19, 1800] a list of (innocent) claimants seeking damages done to their property during the recent rebellion, in response to which the government was authorised to pay a portion (50%?). Among the claimants were:
Richard Guinness, brewer, with an abode at Leixlip, and having sustained losses at Sallins for horses, profits of cows, hay and cloathes [sic] to the value of £40 12s 7 1/2d, all of which claim was allowed, and an amount of half that was due from the Crown;
John Larkin, of "Lynam’s Garden", Co Kildare – no other address being given, but most likely of Leixlip, claimed losses of £269 9s 3½d for houses, furniture, cloathes and corn; for want of other information, it seems, the file remains open;
Richard Evans Esq [the Royal Canal engineer?], residence at Arden Wood, Kildare; "house burned, cattle, wine, furniture. He claimed losses of £7739 of which £7,300 was allowed, of which was payable (£433 6s 8d);
Patrick Skerritt, distiller, abode at Eyrescourt, Co. Galway; loss at Scullockstown, Co. Kildare for 5 bullocks and a cow; also a John Callanan with same details as Skerritt, except 6 cows and 1 bullock;
Arthur Guinness & Son, brewers, Dublin, losses at Robertstown and Monasterevin of porter and casks valued at £77.
Only one Hillas, Robert Esq of Sligo claimed; no Tannams; an Edward, Henry and Matthew Noble made claims relating to property in Co. Wicklow; Matthew was a yeoman with a residence in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin; no Glascocks anywhere, but 5 Glascotts, all in Co Wexford; of Mitchell, there was a Thos. and a Stewart Mitchell in Co Westmeath; a Matthew, Mogue, Penelope and William in Co Wexford and, in Co. Wicklow, an Elizabeth, John (twice, one a yeoman), James, Isaac, Thomas and William with none anywhere else, including Kildare. (p.ccclxxiv, opus cit)
A total of £824K was claimed and a grant of £309K was payable. Dated, 7/2/1800.
c1800: [After 1793 and before 1840] A map of ‘Part of the Lands of Confey in the parish of Leixlip and County of Kildare let by James Fetherston Esq to William Richards Esq, containing 120a 1r 20 plantation measure’. Author not stated; probably John Longfield or John Brownrigg. Period indicated by ‘Lane to Royal Canal’ opposite road to Dunboyne. This lane is now gone and a field to east of Confey GAA Club. Shows sketch of ‘Old Church of Confey’ with a ruined roof and a domed or pitched roofed tower at the west end, tower being of two storeys, indicated by window openings. Also shows Confey Castle with castellated rectangular towers at south west and north east corners and a domed or pitched roof in the middle. It also shows a miniature sketch of Confey Stud residence, lying, as it does today, at an oblique angle to the Dunboyne road. The quality of the drawing is good. [Longfield Maps, 21 F 37 no 160, ‘Part of the Lands of Confey’ etc, NLI.] A James Fetherston Esq was listed as Nobility and Gentry at Bracklin Castle, co Meath and Dominick St, Dublin in 1818. [Wilson’s Dublin Street Directory, 1818].
1801: Rev. Forster Archer, inspector general of prisons in Ireland, toured Ireland in 1801 and left a journal, now in the papers of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1801-6, in British Library? Add. MS 35920, f.2. [JKAS, Vol XVI, No 4, p341, 1983/84.] The source makes no reference to Leixlip, but to the general area en route from Mullingar to Maynooth.
1801: A court in Leixlip heard two men swear that they were held up going to a fair in Maynooth by two highwaymen armed with a blunderbuss and pistol, and robbed. (May be in Major Sirr’s Papers, TCD. Sirr was chief of police.) [See Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p149.]
1801: St Mary’s C of I, Leixlip, Baptismal Register: On 25/7/1801, birth of John, son of John Henry and Anna Maria Courtney, Ballyowen, Lucan.
1801: In a deed dated 20/6/1801 Captain Molyneux Marston of Dublin, eldest son of Daniel Marston, deceased, of Dublin, demised unto James Hilles of Abbey St, iron merchant, the Iron Mills, “formerly called the Tuck Mills or paper holding”, at Leixlip, containing to the front 196 or 136 feet, 400 ft in depth, the Mill stream and little island, incl. and in the rear by the mill stream 210 feet plus a passage 30 ft wide by the mill stream to the new road at the foot of the new bridge and the 2 islands east of the Corn Mills and 30 ft deep the length of Keating’s garden lying north of the Corn Mill; the whole being 1a 1r 11p, plus all houses, buildings, mills, streams and machinery for ever at a rent of £180 Stg, payable 25 March and half -yearly. [Registry of Deeds Memo No: 543-70-357275]. James Hilles signature is on the memorial.
1801: Several inquisitions were held in Maynooth in 1801 (in the Leinster Arms, proprietor, Patk Grehan) regarding the compensation to be paid for land used by the Royal Canal Co in co Kildare, before 2 or 3 commissioners and a panel of jurors. The latter included John Simmonds of Easton, Wm Donnellan [Ravensdale House], Richard Guinness [Leixlip], Mark Cannon [Leixlip], Geo Cooper [Celbridge/Barnhall], Thos Goodshaw [Leixlip], and others from the area [See Royal Canal Chronology file] [MS9067, MS9064, MS9079A, NLI]. Simmonds was also a commissioner at such an inquisition on 18/3/1806 [MS9075, NLI]. No Leixlip lands have been located yet; one Kildare file, MS9060, from 1791, is mis-filed and not available yet.
1802: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Marriage Announcement: John Brownrigg married Miss Jones, 1802 [p639]. See Royal Canal.
1802: In 1802 two Englishmen called Watkins took over a lease on a site at Ardee St, Dublin, and started Watkins brewery there. The brewery built 80 houses there for its workers in the 1880s. [Adrian MacLoughlin, Historic Dublin, 1979, p186] It sold "O’Connell’s Ale"[p170, ibid].
1802: In a deed dated 3/3/1802, Molyneux Marston, eldest son and heir of Dan. Marston released to Alexander Law of Cork the iron mills formerly called the Tuck Mills and paper holding, lately leased to James Hillas by Molyneux Marston, for the sum of £672. [Registry of Deeds Memo No: 545-58-358621.] The price was mentioned in another deed, Memo No 538-418-358622, as being £371 Stg.
Alexander Lawe Esq died 8/1/1850 aged 79 years and is buried in St Mary’s graveyard, the memorial having been erected by his wife.
1802: Patrick Brennan was appointed PP at Celbridge in place of J Boyse; he was succeeded by J Callanan in April 1821; Brennan moved to Maynooth (incl. Leixlip) as PP. [Cited by W M O’Riordan, ‘The Succession of Parish Priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin, 1771-1851’, Reportorium Novum, Vol 1 No 1, Dublin, 1955, p406-433.]
1802: An Inquiry into the Revenue Arising in Ireland etc has a return of the number of distilling stills for the year ending 29th September, 1802. Among those listed are Robert Law, with a residence at Mary Street, Dublin, and having premises in the Dublin District with a still of 604 gallons capacity. This capacity is a substantial one compared to the others listed; the Dublin District may include Leixlip. [Brian Townsend, The Lost Distilleries of Ireland, Glasgow, 1997, p154.] See notes on Alexander & Robert Law(e) of Ryevale, Leixlip.
1803: A jury was summoned by the turnpike trustees, meeting at John Healy’s house (beside Hillford House) on 5/2/1803, to decide how much compensation should be paid to certain landowners who were discommoded by the building of a new road [now Station Road] to avoid Leixlip Hill. The landowners included Nicholas Dempsey, and Robert Law. Thos Goodshaw was a juror. It wasn’t until 1810 (meeting, 2/1/1810) that the land had been acquired to make the new road.
Nicholas Dempsey (m. to Hannah Herbert) died 14/2/1833 aged 66 years; he is buried in Confey cemetery.
1803: Thomas, husband of Elizabeth Goodshaw, died this year. [Headstone, St Mary’s graveyard]
1803: On 23/1/1803 Arthur Guinness died at his house in Gardiner St., Dublin [PRONI: D/3031/3/1]
1803: A second Walter Glascock became an attorney this year. [King’s Inns ibid] He was the son of William Glascock [m. Letitia Scriven] and was assistant registrar, Registry of Deeds, Dublin. He married Margaret Webb of Roebuck, Co Dublin in 1806 and d14/8/1852, with three children: William [d. unmarried in 1829], Elizabeth and Anne. [Burke: A Genealogical etc., ibid]
1803: Tom Conolly died on 27th April 1803, childless, leaving his widow, Louisa, and having been an MP for about 40 years. In respect of Castletown and Leixlip, he was succeeded by Col. Edward Michael Conolly (formerly Pakenham), who became High Sheriff of Co Kildare in 1825. He died in 1848.
An indenture of 11/7/1814 between Luke White of Co Dublin (1st part); reveals that Richard Earl of Clancarty, Rt. Hon John Staples and the Hon Thos Pakenham (later to be called Thos Conolly), are surviving trustees of the last will etc of Thos Conolly, late of Castletown. By 15/8/1822, in another such lease to Alexander Lawe, Co Cork, Staples was gone.[Castletown Papers, box 75, IAA]. A list of tenants (the estate of which was vested in trustees for the payment of Conolly’s debts) showed their denominations, acres, yearly rents, renewal fines, terms and observations, which applied to Thos Conolly’s Leixlip estate at his death (c1803). Included are: Marston’s reps (Iron Mills), John McDaniel (Corn Mills) and Glascock’s reps, (Tyans, Inghams, and the Island Farm). The total annual rent was £1766 19s 1d. [Castletown Papers, Box 25, IAA]. See 1811 for the marriage of McDaniel.
An Accounts Book for the year 1803. [Castletown Papers, Box 80, IAA] An entry for 19th December 1803 is as follows:
"By cash to Mr Hilles, on Mark Cromie’s account, creditted [sic] to the Trustees, in Mr Hilles Bill of Timber and Cromie (the Smith) bill for Iron bought from Mr Hilles, viz.,
Bill. [for iron]……………………………………………………………………………£82 : 12 : 3
Payment herein charged by Mr Simmonds…………………………………….£34 : 10: 11}
Mr Hilles Debtor for Timber 2nd Septr. 1803……………….£27 : 0 : 0.5} £61 : 10 : 11½
Mr Simmonds to pay this Balance in May Account, 1805…………………£21 : 1 : 3½ "
1803: The State of the Country Papers, 1803, are said to contain immense material about the Maynooth [and presumably the Leixlip] area. See also the Rebellion Papers, 1803.
Terence Colgan, a tailor at Maynooth College, said to be from Lucan, gave evidence of making uniforms for the rebels. Information is contained in the Trials of the Insurrection of 23rd July 1808, in the RIA. Papers presented to the House of Commons relating to the Royal College of St Patrick, Maynooth (1808) contains a list of staff members for that year. [Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p97-104.]
1803: Daniel Reilly, Leixlip was involved in the Robert Emmett rebellion of this year. [Seamus Cullen, talk at Kilcullen, 19/10/2002.]
1803: Gilbert, Documents relating to Ireland, Account of Secret Service Money, Ireland, 1795-1804 has the following references for 1803: December 20, 1803: “Chaise, some time past, with Dorr from Leixlip £0 16s 3d”.
December 24, 1803: “Cologan’s [Colgan’s] subsistence, before sent to Kilmainham, 4 days at 2s 8d, 10s 10d; do., family allowance per Mr Wickham’s order, 1 week at 2s 8d per day, 15s 2d.” – £1 6s 0d
December 31, 1803: “Colgan’s wife, one week’s allowance at 2s 2d per day £0 15s 2d”.
Ditto, January 7, 14, 21, 28… 15s 2d; do., February 4, 11, 18, 25; March 2, 10, 17, 24, 31… 15s 2d. (end of accounts).
1803: 1794: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Marriage Announcement: Miss Caulfield, daughter of James, to the Hon George Cavendish, at Merrion Lodge, 23/3/1803 [p192]. See Leixlip Castle; Cavendish lived there.
1803: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Marriage Announcement: Edward Glascock married Jane Baker of William Street, May 1803 [p319].
1804: Charles Hamilton, of Hamwood, Co Meath, conveyed by indenture lands of Confey alias Newtown Confey totalling 112 acres Irish plantation measure to Richard and John Wilson, Esqs, of Rouske, Co Meath, lands formerly held by Michael Coyne and then by Vere Hunt Esq, forever, at a yearly rent of £114 16s. These lands were transferred by deed of lease and release dated 14 & 15/11/1792 by the Hon. & Rev Frederick Hamilton, of Middlesex, and Charles Hamilton. In addition, Charles Hamilton had purchased off Wm Donnellon, a linen printer, of Leixlip in 1798, a field on the north side of the Royal Canal, formerly with Wm Reaf [Read?]. Bounded by land then with Robert Furlong, on the east by a stream and the road formerly from Leixlip to Confey [now called Silleachán lane], and on the west by land formerly in the tenure of Mr Guinness, and now in the occupation of Elizabeth Bryan, spinster. The consideration for both parcels was £2400 paid by the Wilsons to Chas Hamilton. [Ms D.18, 579, NLI]
1804: In an indenture made 2/10/1804 Richard and John Wilson conveyed to Patt Diveny of Confey, farmer, the estate of the Hon & Rev Frederick Hamilton, bounded on the north by Patt. Furlong and Kennedy’s holding; on the south by the road leading from Carton to Dublin; on the east by Richard’s part of Confey and part of Dr Ferguson’s holding and on the west by the road from Leixlip to Dunboyne, about 44 acres plantation measure, for a term of 21 years at a rent per acre of £2 10s, making a total of £112 2s 2d. A Covenant in the lease requires Diveny not to plough up or break up his part of the Church [of Confey] meadow. [Ms D.18,580, NLI.]
1804: Andrew Ennis is still listed as PP of Maynooth (incl. Leixlip) this year in the archbishop’s list. [Cited by W M O’Riordan, ‘The Succession of Parish Priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin, 1771-1851’, Reportorium Novum, Vol 1 No 1, Dublin, 1955, p406-433.]
1805: The population of Dublin was 172,000 in a statistical survey taken in 1798 and published this year. [Wilson’s Dublin Directory, 1818].
1805: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Marriage Announcement: Miss Cooper, Park St., Merrion Square was married to Daniel Symmonds [Simmonds], 1805 [p61].
1805: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Marriage Announcement: William Coogan, Leixlip, married Miss Reilly, Johnson’s court, February, 1805 [p127].
1806: The earliest Register of RC Marriages for Leixlip & Maynooth union of parishes dates from 18/1/1806 to 1826. It is with the parish office, Maynooth.
1806: Sir Richard Colt Hoare travelled via Leixlip from Dublin to Trim. His Journal of a tour of Ireland in 1806 may contain Leixlip data. [See Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p142-3.]
1806: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Marriage Announcement: James Coogan married to Miss Cassidy, both of Leixlip, February, 1806 [p126].
1806: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Marriage Announcement: Miss Beere [probably of Black Castle, or Maynooth] married John Tuthill [probably of Lucan], 1806 [p512]. Several Tuthills are buried in Moyglare churchyard.
1807: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Marriage Announcement: Nehemiah Donnellan married Dorothea Hunt, 1807 [p575].
1807: Thomas James Rawson reported in his Statistical Survey of the County of Kildare for the Dublin Society, Dublin, 1807 that: “From its vicinity to the capital, the English language is very general, and the Irish seldom used [p95]. He added that the Scotch Fencibles spoke ancient Celtic but they were not easily understood by the native Irish in the county.
1808: A Statistical Survey of Kildare (1807) is of relevance.
1808: A map of a small part of Leixlip Demesne, drawn in April 1808, shows a parcel of land let by Major Brown to Fras. T Power Esq. [See Factory, below.] Major Brown may have been the tenant of the Castle at the time. [Longfield Maps, 21 F 37 No 158, ‘(Part of) Leixlip Demesne’, 1793, NLI.] The land includes the Rape Field, part of the garden with access down to just inside the entrance gate to the Castle, suggesting that the factory was in or about where the Lecture Hall is now located. Mr Power’s house and garden was on the site of the Glebe House, probably that.
1808: Peter Tannam, Blacksmith, Leixlip, by indenture of lease, dated 2/6/1808, demised the Bridge/Toll House premises to James Hilles, Merchant, Dublin for a term of 79 years, computed from 25/3/1808, subject to a yearly rent of £18 4s sterling. Witnessed by Charles Croker and Wm Robert Croker, Dublin city, Gents. [Registry of Deeds Memo No 604-427-415652.]
1808: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Marriage Announcement: Richard Townsend, MD [probably son of the Lord Lieutenant], married Miss Norris of Molesworth St., at St Wolstan’s, Co. Kildare, July 1808 [p447].
1809: The Abstract of the Presentments to the County Kildare Grand Jury at the Summer Assizes, 1809, notes under the caption County at Large: "Trustees of the Mullingar Turnpike Road, to be applied to the Purchase of one Acre, one Rood, twenty-six Perches and half of ground near Leixlip, to alter that part of the Mullingar road near Leixlip, so as to avoid the Hill of Leixlip, —– £267 3s 9d". The Hill of Leixlip referred to is now the pedestrianised Old Hill from Pound Street to its junction with Station Road at Gallivan’s Cross.
1809: RD Walshe, Cuttings and Notes, Lucan and Leixlip, 20th c, MS 11658 NLI, includes part of the Freeman’s Journal of 31/10 and 1/11/1809 which is an extract of the case taken by Charles Neil, inhabitant of Leixlip, before the King’s Bench and a jury. Neil’s character was supported by Mr Guinness, corroborated by Mr Fawcett and other witnesses. A public subscription was taken of the people of Leixlip to take the case against Col Legge [see 1810]. Legge was found guilty and ordered to open the roadway (along the south bank of the Liffey from Leixlip Bridge towards Backweston).
1809: John Roe surveyed the Lay College [of Maynooth] land in October, 1809. [Denis Meehan, Window on Maynooth, Dublin, 1949, p76.]
1810: By indenture dated 24/1/1810 Edward Constable of Dublin city sold (his interest in) the Tuck Mill or paper holding in Leixlip to Jas Hilles, merchant of Dublin city, which Hilles was then occupying on a total of 1a 1r 11p, noting premises were formerly in the possession of John & Daniel Molyneux and John Twigg. The premises extended 400 ft to the rear and included the little island and mill stream and “in the rere by the mill stream 210 ft.” Also 30ft passage to the foot of the bridge by the (upper) mill-stream. Also all the houses, buildings, mills, mill-streams belonging to the Molyneux etc. Contains Edward Constable’s signature. The original lease was dated 30 June 1732. [Registry of Deeds Memo No 618-161-424131.] Deed’s area does not appear to include Toll House site, south of the lower mill stream.
1810: RD Walshe, Cuttings and Notes, Lucan and Leixlip, 20th c, MS 11658 NLI, includes an extract from the Freeman’s Journal of 20 & 21/2/1810. The report is of a court case in which an action has been taken against a Col Richard Legge of Cooldrina [sic], who recently took over these lands from Mr Croker, Attorney at Law, in which he was made to take down a wall he had erected at Leixlip bridge which prevented the public gaining access over Cooldrina and Bakstown [sic]. See 1809.
c1810: The British Army in Ireland numbered ~25K soldiers, a great reduction from the 137K that were here in 1799, when the population was about 5 million persons. [Liz Curtis, The Cause of Ireland, Belfast, 1994, p30.]
1811: John Goodshaw and Ann Figgis obtained a marriage licence [Deputy Keeper, 30th Report]
1811: John McDaniel and Mary Brennan were married in an RC rite on 9/6/1811; their witnesses were a Mr — Daniel & Catherine Brien. [Register of Marriages (1806-2), St Mary’s RC church, Maynooth.]
1811: The Evening Telegraph of 7/3/1811 refers to a cart belonging to Mr Edward Guinness of Bridgefoot St falling though a wooden bridge at Lucan into the millrace; the cart was laden with coal. This was followed by a letter to the editor from the indignant Turnpike Keeper, Lower Road, Lucan, asserting that it was through the neglect or mishandling of the driver that the animal backed into the timber fence on the bridge that the accident happened. The letter was published on 15/3/1811.
Later, on 2/11/1811 there was an advertisement for a sale by auction of the premises [?] of Edward and John Grattan Guinness, who had gone bankrupt. [RD Walshe, Cuttings and Notes, Lucan and Leixlip, 19th & 20thc, MS 11658 NLI.]
1812: Population, 1812, Salt North: 6,903, in 995 houses. County Kildare Population was 85,133. [James N Brewer, The Beauties of Ireland, London, 1825, Vol II, p26.]
1812: RD Walshe, Cuttings and Notes, Lucan and Leixlip, 20th c, MS 11658 NLI, includes a newspaper advertisement, paper unknown, dated 6/1/1812, as follows:
Francis Thomas Power begs to inform his Friends and the Public that he has just received from his Factory at Leixlip an elegant and extensive assortment of Plain and Printed Bombazets [= twill dress material of cotton or silk] of every description, also Morines [?], Welbores [?], and Calimancoes [=glossy woollen material, chequered on one side], superior to any imported into this Kingdom. 16 Merchant’s Quay. [See 1808].
1812: To celebrate the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Moscow, R Wilson, of Confey Abbey, erected Knockmulrooney Turret, this year, complete with date stone including his name. [Anecdote conveyed by Mr James Lawlor, Snr, who lived opposite the turret.]
1812: The Treble Almanack and Dublin Directory 1812 [compiled from 1811 data?] listed the following names with Leixlip connections: T Figgis & Co. coach furniture manufacturers, 72 Abbey St.; also spring makers and platers, 2 S. Church St.
Figgis, Samuel, Porter merchant, Temple Lane;
Figgis, William, book-seller, 87 Nassau St.;
Guinness (A. Ben. And W. .L.), Brewers, 1 Thomas St.;
Guinness (Edward & John), Iron-merchants, 1 Usher’s Island;
Guinness (Richard), Haberdasher, 93 Great Britain St.;
Hilles, James, Iron-merchant, 96 Abbey St.;
Ingham, Thomas, Cabinet-maker, 41 Jervis St.;
Steel, George, Saddler and Army accoutrement-maker, 5 Upr. Ormond Quay;
Wogan, Pat., Bookseller, 15 Lr Ormond Quay;
Wogan & Larkin, Printers & Booksellers, 28 Merchants’ Quay.
1813: The original pews of Christ Church, Celbridge, were taxed to repay a loan given in 1813 by the Board of First Fruits. The loan was to repair the church. Pew No. 8 was occupied by John Cooper Esq. of Possextown (aka Roselawn); No. 17 by Laurence Atkinson, Celbridge factory. And pews in the gallery included ones by William Danford, Celbridge; and Mr Joseph Atkinson, Barberstown. [Lena Boylan, Celbridge Charter No. 56, December 1977.] Laurence Atkinson had come from Yorkshire in 1805 to open the then largest woollen fabric factory in Ireland at Celbridge. They came because they could use machinery which was forbidden in Yorkshire. The machines were coupled to a 200hp water wheel, the buildings lit by candles and heated by flues in the walls. About 600 worked there, including many children who carried material from one machine to another. All employees worked a 13 hour day. Children received 16p per week and weavers up to £1 per week. It closed in 1837 and reopened for assorted purposes afterwards.
1813: Typhoid epidemic this year [?].
1813: Rev James Hall published his Tour through Ireland, London, 1813, 2 vols, and referred to a visit from Balbriggan to Maynooth. About this time John Gough published his Tour in Ireland, also making a visit to Maynooth. [Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p153-4.]
1814: ‘Observations made on a Tour from Dublin to Lucan’ (1814) published by Cox [?].[Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p156.]
1814: Lucan Bridge (across the Liffey), the largest single-arch bridge in Ireland was erected this year [Ronald Cox, The Encyclopaedia of Ireland, Dublin, 2003, p652.] and was designed and built by George Knowles.
1814: Constable and Hilles, by deed of conveyance dated 23/7/1814, resold the Tuck Mill or paper holding to John Wisdom, late captain and adjutant of the Wicklow Militia, together with the Iron Mills built thereon and all the machinery therein attached to the lease between Edward Constable and Daniel Marston, subject to the undertenant lease thereof made by Edward Constable (presumably to Hilles). [Registry of Deeds Memo No 676-345-466421.]
1814: The earliest extant Register of Baptisms for the union of the RC parishes of Leixlip and Maynooth dates from 24/8/1814. It is held at the parish office, Maynooth.
1814: Robert Peel founded the Irish Constabulary, later the RIC, an armed force, to be centrally controlled from Dublin Castle. [Liz Curtis, The Cause of Ireland, Belfast, 1994, p20.]
1815: Con Costello, Kildare Saints, Soldiers & Horses, Naas, 1991, p15+, refers to A Atkinson, The Irish Tourist, Dublin, 1815, mentioning Celbridge, Maynooth & Kilcock.
1815: Peter Tannam, (older, judging by his signature) Smith and Farrier, of Leixlip, by deed of assignment dated 31/5/1815, granted and made over and sold to Thomas Goodshaw, Gentleman, of Leixlip, a dwelling house and garden in the town of Leixlip and 1 rood in area, originally leased by Thomas Conolly to Wm Bruce, merchant; another house with yard or garden behind that, originally leased by Ann Fellow(s) to Richard Dargan, containing 12 perches at a rent of £8 and also "all that dwelling and garden in the town of Leixlip aforesaid bounded towards the west by the Bridge of Leixlip and on the north south and east by the river Liffey and Mill Race reserving thereout [?] as is reserved to James Glascock Esq at the yearly rent therein mentioned"… “upon the Trusts.. and for the uses therein .. mentioned.” The memorial was witnessed by John Cogan of the city of Dublin Militia. [Registry of Deeds Memo No 690-251-474204.]
Thomas Goodshaw and Elizabeth Lawrence obtained a marriage licence in 1778. An earlier Thomas Goodshaw, father of the other, obtained, with a Margery Browne, a marriage licence in 1737 [Deputy Keeper’s 26th Report]. Elizabeth died 15/10/1829 and is buried in St Mary’s graveyard. The older Thomas married again, to a Jane …, according to headstone transcriptions.
1815: Anne Fellows, of Swords, Co. Dublin, died intestate [30th Report of the Deputy Keeper etc.].
1815: Rent Rolls of Castletown & Leixlip Estate (1815): One page allocated to each tenancy in Celbridge and Leixlip. Entries of obvious interest include:
No.3: John McDaniel – halfyears rent due Sept 1815 – £50. 0. 0 [probably Leixlip Corn Mill]
No.5: Glascocks Reps – halfyears rent due 25/9/1816 – £44. 2. 6 [from the money figure, would include Island Farm, Bridge House, Black Castle, Tyan’s land?]
No14: Marston per Hilles – ditto – £16. 0. 0 [probably Leixlip Iron Mills]
[Castletown Papers, Box 61, IAA].
1815/17: Marmaduke Deere had or managed an estate in Leixlip; a file of his correspondence is now with the PRONI. [Deputy Keeper’s Report for 1960-65 (NI), p85].
1815: ‘A map of Marshfield, at Leixlip in the County Dublin [sic]’ – Survey by JL [=John Longfield], 1815; tinted in two colours. Shows the iron works towards the river, the ‘Avenue from St Catherine’s’, a row of coach houses perpendicular to the Mill Lane, and a ‘lawn’ of 6a 2r 25p east of the house. Also turret at south-east corner of Black Avenue and canal in garden. Nice quality drawing. [Longfield Maps, 21 F 37 No 161, ‘A map of Marshfield’ etc, 1815, NLI]
1816: Mary, daughter of Thomas Goodshaw and Anne Morrow or Harrow was given an RC baptism on 12/4/1818. The sponsor was Mary McGee. [Register of Baptisms (1814-27), St Mary’s, [RC] Maynooth.]
1816: James Thomas Conolly Saunders, SC, entered TCD Aug 5, 1816, aged 19 years. He was the son of Morley Saunders, Gentleman, and born in Dublin. He received his early education from Mr Lyons and was awarded a BA in Spring, 1820 and an MA, Nov. 1832. [Alumni , ibid] He was later landlord of the Bridge/Toll house etc.
1816: Master Loftus Otway died, or was buried, 15/8/1816 [St Mary’s, Leixlip CoI, Burial Records book.]. He was the child of Rev Caesar Otway, the curate at Leixlip/Lucan parish, and his wife.
1817: St Mary’s Leixlip burial records have a George Ferguson dying about 17/9/1817 and the observation (unusual) "explinctus amabitur idem", meaning, "clearly loved the same". He was the doctor, who resided at Ivy House.
1818: Watson’s Gentleman’s and Citizen’s Almanack cites fairs at Leixlip on 4th May and 11th July, 1818. Six postal deliveries a week were made to Leixlip and the postage was 3d from Dublin. The Galway mail coach sets out from the Hibernian Hotel, Dawson St, Dublin, at 7.45pm each evening and stops at Leixlip, etc., arriving at Galway at 5pm next day. The Sligo mail coach set out from the same place at 10pm daily.
1818: Walter James Glascock and Edward Glascock were Remembrancer and Receiver of First Fruits this year. Richard Guinness, Mercer St., was a brewers’ representative on the common council of Dublin. Rev Hosea Guinness, DD, was a governor of the Foundling Hospital, Dublin. Robert Law Jnr Esq, was a Committee member of the Dublin Institution, in Sackville St., founded in 1811 to establish a library and provide lectures in science and related topics. Richard Cane and Rev Hosea Guinness were governors of St Patrick’s Lying-In Hospital, Dublin. [Watson’s Almanack, 1818]. Rev Dr Hosea Guinness lived at 52 Lr Camden St, Dublin and Arthur Guinness at 52 Rutland Square West. Rev Charles Maturin, author of Leixlip Castle, lived at 37 York St, Dublin. Glascock & Black, attorneys, were operating from 17 Duke St. [Wilson’s Dublin Street Directory, 1818].
1818: The British Parliament passed an Act to require grand juries to levy large sums for the improvement of mail-coach roads. Bianconi was able to increase the average speed of his coaches from four to five miles per hour. [APW Malcolmson, ‘A variety of perspectives on Laurence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse,’ in Nolan & O’Neill (eds), Offaly History & Society, Dublin, 1996, p66-7.]
1819: Rev. Mr [Caesar] Otway’s child died or was buried, 11/12/1819. [St Mary’s, Leixlip CoI, Burial Records book.]
1819: On 8/10/1819 a surrogate court was held at St Mary’s, Newfoundland, by Wm Glascock Esq, assisted by the local magistrate, Mr Phippard [Pippard] to consider an allegation of witchcraft levelled against Catherine Walsh. Was Glascock of the Irish & Kildare family? Newfoundland was full of Irish persons at the time. [Mike McCarthy, The Irish in Newfoundland, 1600-1900 – The Trials, Tribulations & Triumphs, St John’s, Newfoundland, 1999, p204-5.]
1819: c1819 the Whig Club met in Dublin and resolved that they were in favour of a strong Irish Parliament under the King of Ireland and that they were opposed to an English parliament controlling Ireland’s destiny. New members would be required to support this resolution. The meeting was chaired by the Duke of Leinster, and the Secretary was Thomas Conolly. A meeting summoned for Tuesday, 11/x/1819, of the Protestant gentry (voters) to consider the propriety of petitioning the Legislature to grant equal participation rights to His Majesty’s faithful Roman Catholic subjects was conveyed. It was chaired by the Duke of Leinster. A vote in favour was carried. Among those signing the petition in favour were Stephen G. Rice, Barrister; William Figgis and John Piggott. [Fitzgerald’s press and other cuttings; PRONI, D/3078/6/1, MIC541/25]. William Figgis was a bookseller and stationer at 37 Nassau St, Dublin in 1818; Samuel Figgis, a porter merchant, Temple Lane; and Thomas Figgis, a coach-spring maker and plater, 72 Abbey St. [Wilson’s Dublin Directory, 1818].
1820: Rev. Edward Berwick died 8/6/1820. [St Mary’s, Leixlip CoI, Funeral Records book.] James N Brewer, in his The Beauties of Ireland, London, 1825, Vol I, p267, stated that “The Glebe House [Lucan] is the residence of the Rev Edward Berwick, whose name is rendered familiar to the literary world by several productions, which reflect equal credit upon his talents and liberality of sentiment.”
A surviving son, Edward Berwick, became President of the Queen’s University of Galway, c1846. A photograph of a memorial to him is in Peter Pearson, Decorative Dublin, Dublin, 2002, p155. An image of him is on the UCG website.
c1820: At Maynooth there is a charter school with a capacity for 56 children. [James N Brewer, The Beauties of Ireland, London, 1825, Vol II, p65.]
1820: Rev. James Jones succeeded Edward Berwick as the incumbent in Leixlip Union. The following year he sought to build a new Glebe House at Esker. The house was later built "under the new acts in 1822 at the cost of £1,065 13s 6¾d British" [Ecclesiastical Revenue & Patronage Report, 1837].
1820: Leixlip and Celbridge Infantry, or Leixlip Infantry, existed in this year; there is also a record for 1825. [JKAS, Vol XV No. 1, p.47].
1826: JN Brewer’s Beauties of Ireland, 2 vols., came out this year; wrote of Maynooth, perhaps Leixlip? [See Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p244-5.]
1826: Lease dated 1/10/1826 of the Black Castle lands from the Rt. Hon Richard Earl of Clancarty and Hon Thos Pakenham, surviving trustees of the will of Thos Conolly, to Wm Greene and Owen Saunders, Ballinderry; attorney, D Simmonds, Clare Street, Dublin. The lease refers to a lease of 1749 from Conolly to Christopher Glascock, last renewed on 20/x/1773 [Castletown Papers, Box 39, IAA].
1826: Lease on the Tenther Park, Leixlip, was renewed from 1/x/1826; probably from the trustees of the will of Thos Conolly, to the trustees of the marriage settlement of the Saunders’ couple [Castletown Papers, box 39, IAA]. A copy of the lease of 16/2/1854 puts this date at 27/11/1826.
1826: The turnpike trustees set up a sub-committee to receive proposals for improving the road near Rye Bridge at Leixlip. The trustees put up £120 and together with £130 which the Grand Jury agreed, they later [18/5/1827] accepted the plan and estimate submitted by Thomas Timmens [sic] to do the job. Money was provided on account to Thos. Timmins [sic] on 12/6/1827 and in October [3/10/1827] they agreed to give Timmins another £30 for building the bridge’s parapets with cut stone. The surname Timmons is of Welsh origin; in 1420 a William Tomyn was a parliamentary collector for Kildare. The parish registers show strong groupings in Kill. [http://Kildare.ie/library/KildareHeritage/Surnames.]
1827: Richard Tuton and Jane Murray obtained a marriage licence [Deputy Keeper’s 30th report] – a rare name
1827: William Glascock boarded at TCD from January 1, 1827 at the age of 17. He was born in Dublin and son of Walter, a solicitor [Alumni, TCD.]
1828: Sarah Figgis, daughter of William and Mary Goodshaw, was baptised, 12/4/1828; another daughter, Eliza, was baptised 2/9/1828 [We must presume that Sarah Figgis had been born sometime earlier than her baptismal date]. [St Mary’s, Leixlip, Parish Register.]
1829: An indented deed of assignment from William Irwin of Bluebell, Co Dublin, woollen manufacturer, to Joseph Mayne, Bridge Street, Dublin, merchant, dated 9/5/1829. Whereas Wm Irwin demised to Joseph Mayne for the residue of the 21-year term of lease between William Irwin and Teresa & Eleanor Power of Summerhill, Co Dublin, made on 12/2/1829, the woollen mill at Leixlip bounded on the north by Mr Guinnesses’ garden, on the south by the Church yard, on the west by the River Rie [sic], and east by the other houses of the Powers and their tenants. [Reg of Deeds Memo No: 847-269-567269.]
1829: J Cooke, surveyor to the Dublin to Mullingar Turnpike Commissioners, made a map of the toll road. Daniel Simmonds, esq. had the lands at Collinstown on either side of the road from the road over Deey Bridge east to the Music Hall, which was owned by Hackett and let to John Canavan. Across the road from Canavan was Jas Hartley’s land with mail coach and stables etc., where the Hitchin Post is now located. Mr Cavendish was in the Castle; Mr Ham in the Glebe and with land opposite Cedar Park, Green Lane. Dalton’s had the upper end of Pound St. James Caulfield had Cooldrinagh estate, with a Mr Gordon there as subtenant. Mr Goodshaw was on the land beyond the Springfield Hotel to Cooldrinagh lane; then Mrs Ryan; then John Burke’s carman’s stage; then John Collins (Spa House). The Hon George Cavendish worked as Secretary to the Lords of the Treasury and had a residence at Booterstown, Co Dublin, in 1818. [Wilson’s Street Directory, Dublin, 1818]. Four entries for Ham in Wilson’s Dublin Directory for 1818: William (2), timber merchant & corn factor; Thomas, carpenter; and Paul, glover and leather importer.
Pierce Hackett Esq. of Musick Hall, d.28/6/1829 aged 74 years. He is buried, along with his eldest son, Michael, Vice-Admiral John Hackett, and other Hacketts in St Mary’s graveyard.
c1829: ‘A map of the Demesne of Leixlip in the County of Dublin [sic] belonging to the Hon. Geo Cavendish by B Hea’ is undated, but belongs to the period of Mr Cavendish’s occupation. It is tinted, about A3 size, and includes a small sketch of St Mary’s Church with tower. A plan view of the Castle buildings reveal many fewer buildings than existed in 1793. The holding on Pound St [not named] from the Castle gates northwards shows a terrace of five houses, but this may be illustrative; Mr Warner or Warrim [sic?] has the land behind this terrace. ‘Canavan’s Field’ lies inside the Castle gates on west side of avenue. [Longfield Maps, 21 F 37 no.157, NLI.]
c1829: [Date could be any time between 1788 and 1839] A map of a 33 acre odd filed of ‘Part of Cooldrina [sic] near Leaxlip [sic] done for Mr Maguire’ shows the outline of this field, which goes down to river Liffey. [Longfield Maps, 21 F 37 no.159, NLI.]
1829: Thomas Benbow was a watch and clock maker practising in Leixlip, according to a watch paper which has on the back: ‘9:29 Mrs Brady, 17/4. Clock and watchmaker, Leixlip’ (i.e., Sept 1829). Probably Thomas Benbow of Tullamore, who was working at Church St from 1823-1824. [William Galland Stuart, Watch and Clockmakers in Ireland, Dublin 2000]. The Mrs Brady may be the wife of General Brady or of his son, of Leixlip House.
1831: A “Catholic Reporter” wrote of a visit to Maynooth via Lucan and Leixlip, and referred to the latter. It was published in The London and Dublin Orthodox Journal of Useful Knowledge, 1835. [See Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p246-7.]
1831: Dr Daniel Murray, RC archbishop of Dublin, appointed Patrick Savage to be PP, Maynooth (incl Leixlip), in succession to Patrick Brennan who died 20th August this year. [Cited by W M O’Riordan, ‘The Succession of Parish Priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin, 1771-1851’, Reportorium Novum, Vol 1 No 1, Dublin, 1955, p406-433.] Patrick Savage was the person who championed the construction of a new parish chapel or church for Leixlip. He died before it was open and before it was completed.
1831: A reformed and expanded Board of Public Works, based in the Custom House, and with increasing responsibility for public projects, was established this year.
1832: The General Post Office Directory for Dublin and its Vicinity, 1832, lists "Hilles & Co. iron merchants, and iron steel manufacturers, Abbey Street, and Leixlip iron works". Pettigrew and Oulton’s Street Directory lists Hilles until 1853 [the last of this directory series at TCD]. By 1837, Hilles had added a Tolka Vale, Finglas, to his addresses in Abbey Street and Leixlip. In 1843, he was described as "iron, steel and shovel manufacturers". In 1853, he was at 98 Abbey Street, where there is also an entry for a Henry Courtney, merchant. Henry Courtney, of 7 Lurgan Street, married Grace Maria Hilles, most likely Jas Hilles’s daughter, in 1838. The Deputy Keeper’s 30th Report records a marriage licence between such a pair in that year. Thom’s Directory,1865 (the first at TCD) has no mention of Hilles or Courtney at Abbey Street, Dublin.
The same directory lists a "Bobbet’s Lane, Constitution Hill" in St Michan’s parish. A Bobbet, butcher, is also listed about this time.
1832: The Dublin Penny Journal issue of September 8, 1832, p.87, reports that Charles Bianconi, a native of Italy, came to Ireland as a print-seller, travelling from town to town on foot at first. He bought a jaunting car to take himself around and picked up passengers for fares. He then bought another, and established a network of cars, all radiating from Clonmel. At this time he had over 300 horses and was the principal contractor for His Majesty’s mails in the south of Ireland. See 1843 entry.
1832: The Dublin Penny Journal issue of September 29 1832, p.105+ continues Terence O’Toole’s Tour to Connaught.
Between Dublin and Palmerstown he notes the ".. deep-cut course of the river [Liffey], its steep banks adorned and enriched by the strawberry cultivation..". He claims that the Liffey must have originally been a lake around Lucan, until an earthquake struck and opened it to the sea. The Spa house, at Lucan, was a well-resorted hotel, emitted sulphureted nitrogen gas.
ON LEIXLIP: "Any one passing over the bridge of Leixlip must, if his eye is worth a farthing for anything else than helping him to pick his way through the puddle, look up and down with delight while moving over this bridge. To the right, the river winning its noisy, turbulent way over its rocky bed, and losing itself afar down amidst embossing woods: to the left, after plunging over the salmon-leap, whose roar is heard through half-a-mile off, and forming a junction with the Rye-water, it takes a bend to the east, and washes the amphitheatre with which Leixlip is environed. I question much whether any castle, even Warwick itself, stands in a greater position than Leixlip Castle, as it embattles the high and wooded ground that forms the forks of the two rivers. Of the towers, the round one, of course was built by King John, the opposite square one by the Geraldines. This noble and grandly circumstances pile, has been in later days the baronial residence of the White family, and subsequently the residence of generals and prelates. Here Primate Stone, more a politician than a Christian, retired from his contest with the Ponsonbys and the Boyles, to play at crickets with General Cunningham: here resided Speaker Connolly [sic], before he built his splendid mansion at Castletown: here the great commoner, as he was called, Tom Connolly, was born." [MORE..]
"Leixlip is… the place where, in the war commencing 1641, General Preston halted, when on his way to form a junction with the Marquis of Ormond, to oppose the Parliamentarians."
"Just beneath the bridge that carries the [Maynooth] road over the [Royal] canal, is one of the most beautiful and abundant spring wells in Ireland – if it was known in old times it would have been sanctified, as most such are in Ireland – but it burst out for the first time from the depths of the earth on the excavation of the canal; and as it was discovered in winter, and as its deep seated source caused it to appear warmer than other more superficial springs, so immediately there were attributed to its virtues of no ordinary degree, and the crowds that in faith .. resorted to it were enormous…. strings of carriages, miles long, might be seen on Sundays issuing from Dublin, containing crowds anxious to apply, internally and externally its healing waters;.."
On passing Celbridge to the south of the Maynooth road, O’Toole noticed smoke rising from a fire in the woollen mill – the largest factory in Ireland – started by Jeremiah Haughton, an Englishman.
Terence O’Toole is a pen-name for Rev. Caesar Otway [The Irish Penny Journal, 10/10/1840, p114].
1832: The Dublin Penny Journal issue of November 3, 1832, p.151 continues Terence O’Toole’s Tour to Connaught:
He writes of Usher and Colgan, "resorted hither" (at Clonard Abbey) – "these two holy men, while residing at Clonard,.."
1832: In this year 28,204 Irish persons emigrated to North America via Canada. Few of them passed on to the USA. Many were "persons of a higher class than the generality of emigrants"; they were in possession of some capital which enabled them to purchase land in Canada. More had emigrated in 1831, but cholera cut the figures in 1832. [Dublin Penny Journal, 19/10/1833, p126/7]
1832: Rev Andrew Colgan was ordained at Maynooth in 1832[?] [Reportorium Novum, Vol 2, No 2, p385.] A person of this name and title, with an address at Castledermot, was a subscriber to John d’Alton’s History of the Archbishops of Dublin, 1888 (or perhaps an earlier edition).
1832: Arthur Molloy Mitchell, 3rd son of John Mitchell, Leixlip, miller, and Ellen Molloy, was born in 1832 [evidently not at Leixlip]. He was educated at TCD, admitted as a student to the King’s Inns in Michaelmas term, 1854, to the English bar in 1855 and he received a degree of Barrister at the King’s Inn at Hilary term, 1859. [King’s Inns Admission Papers, 1607-1867, by Keane, Phair & Sadleir, Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1982.]
1832: George Belas, 2nd son of George Belas of Camden St., Dublin, and Anne Dale, deceased; was admitted to King’s Inns for training as a lawyer (solicitor or barrister). He was born about 1816. He is later connected to the Robinson Roes by marriage and by business, and he lived at Newbridge Cottage, Parsonstown. [King’s Inns Admission Papers, 1607-1867, by Keane, Phair & Sadleir, Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1982.]
1833: George Henry Belas and Maria Jones [Roe?] obtained a marriage licence [Deputy Keeper’s 30th Report]. They lived at Newbridge Cottage, Parsonstown, Leixlip.
1833: Thomas Goodshaw, flour miller, of Leixlip died on 6/5/1833 and was buried at Leixlip (St Mary’s CofI burial records). His wife, Elizabeth d.15/10/1829 – see gravestone, St Mary’s; they had a son John b. end-1787 to mid-1788 and a dau. Elizabeth b. c13/8/1789; also a son, Walter James, b 30/9/1799 (St Mary’s CofI baptismal records).
1833: Ellen Fergusson died and was buried on 27/11/1833 (St Mary’s Leixlip CofI burial records).
1834: The Freeman’s Journal (18/2/1834) reported that the Lord Lieutenant appointed Henry, Baron de Robeck of Killashee to be High Sheriff of Co Kildare for 1834.
1834: The Freeman’s Journal (24/3/1834) reported that the Duchess of Kent and Princess [Queen] Victoria plan to visit Ireland this summer.
1834: The Dublin Almanac and General Register of Ireland, 1834, Dublin, provides the following information: Kildare population was 99, 065 (1821) and 108,401 (1831). The Lord Lieutenant was the Duke of Leinster, Carton and one of about 14 deputies was Edward M. Conolly, MP, Castletown. Magistrates included John Downing Nesbitt, Leixlip, Robert F Saunders, Saunders-grove, Baltinglass and Major General Stratford Saunders, Baltinglass. The Deputy Clerk of the Crown was George Gibbs, esq., 119 Stephen’s Green West.
John Downing Nesbitt and Jane Brady, daughter of General Brady of Leixlip House, obtained a marriage licence in 1800 [Deputy Keeper’s 30th Report]. A John Nesbitt is buried in the Brady plot at St Mary’s graveyard and died 1828. John Downing Nesbitt boarded as a student in TCD from Oct. 3, 1789, when he was 17 years. He was born in Co. Derry, the son of Alexander Nesbitt, a clergyman, and received his earlier education from a Dr. Murray. [TCD alumni, ibid; see also Foster?]. This couple had a son, William George Downing (his father being originally Downing who took the Nesbitt name on marriage), who enrolled in TCD on Oct. 14, 1822, aged 14 and three-quarters. He was born in Kildare (most likely at Leixlip) and graduated with a BA in Spring, 1827 and became a S.C. An older brother, Alexander Clothworthy Downing, took the same path, on July 5, 1821, aged 15. He was born in King’s County and graduated with a BA in 1825.
Tameson Nesbitt and Rev. Alexander Clothworthy Downing obtained a marriage licence in 1765 [Deputy Keeper’s 26th Report].
The (1834) trades and streets directory lists, for the first mention, only two Tannams: Catherine Tannam, confectioner, 90 Nth King St, Dublin and John Tannam, smith and farrier, Cumberland St., Kingstown. These are repeated in the 1835 edition. John Tannam is listed at the same address and occupation until 1842; the following year, all but two occupants of Cumberland Street remain, Tannam is not among them; I have not been able to trace where he went.
1834: Wm. Murray, of Dublin city, gentleman, released to James Goodshaw, MD, a dwelling house, coachhouse, stable yard and garden, formerly with George Roecastle and lately with Wm Murray, located on the south side of Leixlip Main Street, west of Arthur Guinnesses former tenement, including original lease dated 17/6/1793 for the surviving two lives [Registry of Deeds Memo No: 1834-5-191].
1834: A disgruntled and expelled student of Maynooth College, Eugene O’Beirne, wrote (in) Maynooth in 1834, [See Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p234-5.]
1834: Rev GN Wright, Scenes in Ireland, provides an account of a visit to Maynooth College. [See Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p249-5.]
1835: Mrs Mary Goodshaw (nee Figgis and wife of Wm.) died on 13/2/1835 and was buried at Leixlip (St Mary’s CofI burial records).
See headstones, St Mary’s graveyard.
1835: A Parliamentary enquiry about the state of poverty in the country was held, to which the PP, Patrick Savage, gave evidence. He told the enquiry that there were three deserted children supported by the people (through the Cof I?); one illegitimate child supported by a tax on the parish; 25 widows ‘washing occasionally and begging in the town and through the farmers’; about ten old men and women were supported locally by the Duke of Leinster (in Maynooth?). There were some 20 beggars in the parish and about 20 householders in Leixlip who took in lodgers. The lodgers provided straw for their bedding, which was left as part payment for the lodgings. [Reported by Bob Cullen; See British Parliamentary Papers for Ireland, 1834.]
1835: Patrick Savage, PP, died on 30th June this year. On 11th July, Archbishop Murray appointed John Cainen to be PP of Maynooth (incl Leixlip) in his place. [O’Riordan, opus cit.]
1835: 6th August: inaugural meeting of the Civil Engineers Society of Ireland [Mallet, p.119]. Were Courtney or Hilles members?
1835: A memorial from the gentlemen, clergy and inhabitants of Leixlip was received by the turnpike commissioners [2/12/1835] looking for them to construct a foot way between Leixlip village and the Canal, which was badly needed, and especially because their neighbours at Lucan and Maynooth had been better treated.. The petition was sent by Daniel P Ryan, of Ryevale House, spokesman, and included Wm. Fergusson, MD, and Wm Goodshaw. D Ryan and D B Ryan were attorneys in practice at Dublin in 1818.
1835: Drs Wm. and George Fergusson come to the rescue when a Mr Rochfort dislocated his hip after the Galway Mail Coach tumbled into the River Rye near Rye Bridge on Christmas Eve. The doctors assured all that the driver of the coach was sober. Compensation of about £180 was paid to Rochfort… [Turnpike minutes]. Four years later [10/4/1839] a committee of the turnpike trustees was instructed to build a wall al Leixlip Hill to prevent accidents of the kind encountered by Mr Hartley, who was asked to pay for Rochfort’s bill.
James Hartley operated several stage coaches from Dublin to Boyle, Tuam, Galway and Sligo [Ruth Delaney, Ireland’s Royal Canal, p. 96] and invested a substantial amount in stabling premises in Leixlip which, with the onset of the railways, became a financial disaster and he was obliged to pay off his landlord to revoke his lease on the premises in the Main Street.
1835-1840: Daniel O’Connell’s group of MPs held the balance of power in the British parliament; both Tories and Whigs opposed the repeal of the Act of Union. O’Connell did a deal with the Whigs and voted against attempts to limit the working hours of women and children, and to prevent the employment of children under 9 years of age. [Liz Curtis, The Cause of Ireland, Belfast, 1994, p32-3.]
A continuation of a chronology of Leixlip from 1800 to 1835 by John Colgan. Our thanks to John
