LEIXLIP CHRONOLOGY 1781-1799 AD
LEIXLIP CHRONOLOGY 1781 - 1799 AD
by
JOHN COLGAN
1781: Conolly's land agents rent books [TCD MSS 3945] have Daniel Marston paying rent of £16 0s 0d half yearly, due 25th March and 29th September on the Iron Mills, Leixlip; and Simon (later Eleanor) Tankard paying half yearly rent of £1 2s 9d for the Bridge Tenement, Leixlip, due 25th March and 29th September; also John King for £40 0s 0d arrears of rent on the Corn Mills, Leixlip, due 1st May 1781, paid on March 20, 1783; and rent from the Reps. of Chas. Fellows for the Shingled House and adjoining garden of £6 11s 3d and £0 17s 5¼ d respectively, half yearly; also George Warren paying half year's rent in full for the Salmon Leap Inn, £7 0s 0d. Is it Warren or Warner? A George Warner and a Susannah Turvey obtained a marriage licence in 1768 and a George Warren and a Eliz. Maria Cross, ditto, in 1776! Turvey and Warner are names which have been in Leixlip in recent times [Deputy Keeper's 26th Report]. A Simon Tankard, perhaps the aforementioned Tankard's father or grandfather, died on 9/9/1736 and is buried in St Mary's churchyard.
1782: George Warner, Leixlip, gent, died with will probated by the Prerogative Court in 1782; a copy, ref. no. O.C.576, is available in the National Archives [Deputy Keeper, 57th Report]
1782: It was recorded by the House of Commons that "The name of the Rt. Hon. Thomas Conolly being called, and no Excuse having been made for his absence, ordered that the Rt. Hon, Thomas Conolly be taken into custody of the Serjeant at Arms attending this House" [HoCJ, Vol 9, p398, 14/2/1782].
1782: Elinor, [sic] the daughter of Thomas Goodshaw II and his wife, Eliza., was baptised on 5/9/1782 at St Mary's, Leixlip; Elinor later married Daniel Johnson at St Mary's on 7/1/1808 at just short of 16 years of age. Eliza is buried at St Mary's graveyard, Leixlip; the gravestone declares she died 15/10/1829.
1782: By the end of the three half-years to 1/5/1782, Charles Fellows had been replaced by reps., suggesting his death and Glascock's rents arrears had increased greatly - nearly tripling, thus:
Tyans lands arrears at end of period, £57 8s 0d
Inghams Holding ditto, £112 3s 9½d
pt. Hamiltons Farm ditto; £35 13s 1½d
Inghams Holding ditto, £112 3s 9½d
pt. Hamiltons Farm ditto; £35 13s 1½d
[Castletown Papers, box 72, IAA]
c.1782: Kenneth Milne reports, JKAS, Vol XIV, No. 2, p262+, that Naas was collecting tolls and customs in a rented tollhouse from goods entering the town. A report of the commissioners appointed to enquire into the municipal corporations in Ireland, 1835 is cited.
1782: For the two years to 25/12/1782, hearth taxes raised a total of £125,506 16s in Ireland. The Naas District for these purposes covered Carbury, Carlow, Kildare, Leixlip and Naas with Leixlip being partly in Kildare and Meath! Of the Naas District, 10,340 had one hearth; 1,445 had from 2 to 5 hearths and 297 had six or more. The comparable figures for Dublin were 7,384, 6,176, and 8,634, Dublin district covering the City and South County Dublin [HoCJ, Vol 11, Appendix, p. xlvi and xlvii].
1783: Alexander Taylor's Map of Co. Kildare, in 6 sheets, was made for the Grand Jury. Facsimiles are available from the RIA, Dawson St. [Background details in JKAS, Vl XVI, No 4, 1983, p389 and 365.]
1783/84: An Act for naturalising foreigners - merchants, traders, artificers, artizans, manufacturers, workmen, seamen, farmers and others (except Jews) as shall settle in this Kingdom was made this year [Irish Statutes, Vol.12, 23 &24 Geo3, c38, p692-4]. It was an extension of a similar Act made in 19&20 Geo 3, c29.
1783: Rent Book Commencing 14/4/1783 and ending 1/6/1785 includes, inter alia:
28/4/1784: "Received from reps. Jas. Glascock in full for rents and arrears due Nov. 1780 as returned to me by Mr Coane for his holdings in and about Castletown and Leixlip...£216 19s 0½ d"
"Received from ditto in full for 5 half - years rent due 1/5/1783 for same.... £104 4s 9½d"
"Received from ditto in full for 5 half - years rent due 1/5/1783 for same.... £104 4s 9½d"
Throughout the period, King and Marston paid rent on the corn and iron mills, respectively.
On the outgoings side of Conolly's accounts is an entry for 13/2/1783: "By one year's subscription to Mr Bruce for Leixlip Post office, due 23 July 1782, £5 13s 9d" [TCD MSS, 3947]. St Mary's graveyard headstone records the death of Bruce's wife, Jane, on 7/1/1781. The General Post Office was established in 1784by Act of Parliament [Wilson’s Dublin Directory, 1818].
On the outgoings side of Conolly's accounts is an entry for 13/2/1783: "By one year's subscription to Mr Bruce for Leixlip Post office, due 23 July 1782, £5 13s 9d" [TCD MSS, 3947]. St Mary's graveyard headstone records the death of Bruce's wife, Jane, on 7/1/1781. The General Post Office was established in 1784by Act of Parliament [Wilson’s Dublin Directory, 1818].
1783: John King wrote from Clondalkin, 9/4/1783, to Tom Conolly or his land agent pleading about his hardship in paying the rent on the corn mill at Leixlip, owing to his last undertenant not paying him. The letter noted TC's threat of ejection and his infirmities and wife's old age [Ref. item 803, MSS 3974-84 TCD]. In fact the Rentbook for Castletown's estates for the period, 1787 to 1792 - most likely the formal one in the Conolly's custody - records, on p79, that "Mr King was ejected out of those mills in March 1788 and John McDaniel to the 29th September following at Mr King's rent, he having not redeemed them (the arrears) ... A lease of 41 years to commence 29/4/1788 at £100 p.a. on the Corn Mills of Leixlip, Co. Kildare" [Castletown Papers, box 60 IAA].
A John McDaniel and a Jane Vaughan obtained a marriage licence in 1810 [Deputy Keeper's 30th Report], but the above John McDaniel is more likely to be the McDaniel who erected a headstone in St Mary's in remembrance of his son, Alexander McDaniel, who d. 5/1/1774, aged 5.
1783: Robert Law, foreman of the Grand Jury of the Court Leet, wrote an obsequious letter to Tom Conolly seeking his assistance in erecting a market house on the plot adjoining the church yard, marked out by Lady Louisa, and under lease to Mr Cowen. In the course of his letter he noted the thriving progress of the town, including buildings and persons and the need for the market house for the sale of corn and other commodities. [Ref. 812, MSS 3974-84 TCD] Robert Law(e) and his wife, Martha, lived to be 78 years and are buried, along with their son, Alexander, Esq., who d.8/1/1850 aged 78, in St Mary's graveyard. A Robert Law, born Derry, boarded at TCD from Nov. 7, 1747 at the age of 17 and was awarded a BA in 1752, made a Fellow in 1754 and award an MA in 1755, BD in 1762 and DD in 1767. He was rector of Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh and subsequently of St. Mary's, Leixlip. He was treasurer of Cloyne (diocese). He died June 11, 1789. This Robert may be the father of the earlier one mentioned above [Alumni, TCD]
A court leet was established in nearby Edenderry [formerly Colleystown], Co Offaly, which regulated its affairs, meeting twice yearly. The court leet was a substitute for borough status, which would have given it resident magistrates. 400 were said to have participated in its deliberations in 1725. [TC Barnard, ‘The world of goods and County Offaly in the early 18th century’, in Nolan & O’Neill (eds), Offaly History & Society, Dublin, 1996, p374.] The tolls of the market and fairs were leased to third parties for an annual rent. [Ibid, p375.] See Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the state of the fairs and markets of Ireland, Parliamentary Papers, xli, Dublin, 1853.
1783: I have yet to detect other leases involving Peter Tannam (see 1789), or where he came from. However, there was one Tannam - Matthew - of Monalvy, Kilmore, Co Meath, farmer, who transferred lands of 26 acres +, being part of Monaley, to Arthur Bryan and other Bryans, the executors of the last will and testament of Arthur Dennis, late of Spring Valley, Co Meath, for the sum of £41 1s 4d, in a lease dated 27/7/1783. Perhaps Matthew and Peter were related? [Reg. of Deeds Memo No: 363-306-244574]. A Richard Bryan was described as a perukemaker [=wigmaker] at Copper Alley, Dublin and a Samuel Bryan, a cloth merchant, of Old Bridge, Church St., in the Directory of Dublin, 1738 [Dublin Corporation, 2000]. A Samuel Bryan purchased Newtown around this time.
1783: Vol 11 of the HoCJ for the period, 1783/5, lists among its members: Richard Townsend Herbert, Clothworthy Rowley, George Sandford (rep. Roscommon), Thos. Nesbitt, Travers Hartley, Arthur French, Rogerson and Sir James Cotter, Henry Cope, Thomas Conolly, Nicholas Colthurst, Henry Clements, Arthur Caldwell and Richard Townsend.
1783: Joseph Smyth of Balbriggan applied for grant aid for a cotton & calico factory at Balbriggan to the Irish House of Commons. Smyth, or his son James Smyth, United Irishman delegate of Leixlip in 1798, may have later moved to Leixlip. The proposed building was to be c100 feet long, 34 ft wide and five storeys high, capable of containing 2500 spindles. [HoCJ, Vol XI, 1/11/1783, p52-3.] Smyth was given £2,000 in 1785[HoCJ, Vol IX, p227]. [See Stephanie Bourke, The Hamilton Family & the Making of Balbriggan, Balbriggan, 2004, p39-48.]
1783: A John Swan had a distillery at No 52 Smithfield, Dublin [Adrian MacLoughlin, Historic Dublin, 1979, p116].
1783: Andrew Ennis was PP of Maynooth from 1777 in a list of parish priests compiled by the RC archbishop of Dublin. There is no mention of Leixlip or Lucan, the former because it seems to have been merged with Maynooth since 1771, probably in 1777, and Lucan appears to be part of Palmerstown parish. [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.]
1784: In 1784 the original Jameson came to Dublin from Alloa near Stirling, in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, and one son, John, married the daughter of a distiller called John Stein, of Bow St, and succeeded Stein as John Jameson & Sons in 1802. There was also a brewery, Jameson & Pim [Adrian MacLoughlin, Historic Dublin, 1979, p100, 117]. Pims lived in Kilmacreddock in recent times and a Jameson and Pim occupied Leixlip House at the one time.
1784: Correspondence from James Glascock, with an address in York Street, Dublin, to Tom Conolly in London, Leixlip and Castletown, during this period [Ref. TCD MSS, 804, 843, 893, Conolly Papers] confirm that James Glascock was a solicitor/attorney in the firm Glascock and Black, to Conolly, as well as being his tenant; it seems [from item 843] that rent was payable to a Mr Simmons [sic].
A Samuel Black and Margaret Noble obtained a marriage licence in 1788 [Deputy Keeper's 26th Report].
1784: John King, miller died in May, 1784, leaving his Leixlip corn mills to his eldest son, Edward, who also carried out distilling in Leixlip (whiskey at 4 ½ d per pint). John is buried in Clondalkin churchyard. Probate of his will granted to his wife in 1785. [Lena Boylan, ‘The Mills of Kildrought’, JKAS, Vol XV, No 2, 1972, p141-155.]
1784: A letter from John Simmonds, dated Feby. 23rd 1784, from a Castletown address, to Edward Bulkeley Esq (No address on cover but may be Dublin City; Edward Bulkeley occupied land in Buckley’s Lane, Leixlip, at this time) wrote of the arrears in rent (due to the Conolly estate). Simmonds was a rent collector for Conolly [Box 36, Castletown Papers, IAA]. An Edward Bulkeley and a Mary Butler obtained a marriage licence in 1769 [Deputy Keeper's 26th Report] An Adrian Bulkeley lived at the corner of Werburgh St and Skinner's row, Dublin, in 1738 [Directory of Dublin, 1738, ibid] See 1635.
1784: An Act was passed by parliament which gave Ireland its own postal service with two Postmasters’ General, John and Edward Lees, two Scotsmen, father and son, part of the Lord Lieutenant Townshend’s entourage. The Act provided for special mail coaches instead of post-boys. [David Broderick, The First Toll-Roads, Cork, 2002, p121.] See 1783, for Leixlip Post Office.
c.1785: Arthur Guinness hired John Purser, of London, as a brewer; the Purser family remained identified with James' Gate for nearly 100 years; to them is attributed the success of the company [PRONI: D/3031/3/1].
1785: Two members of the Irish House of Commons, the Hon. W John Skeffington, with town residence at Earl St, and the Hon Henry Skeffington, ditto, at Ann St, Dublin, both had their country residence at Leixlip Castle. [Watson’s Directory, 1785]. They were family of the countess of Massereene, known to have stayed at the Castle at that time.
1785: An Act, effective from 1/8/1785, enabled seneschals and stewards of manors (except those in Dublin city and county) to adjudicate on civil disputes involving debts of not more than £10 or actions for trespass of not more than £5 within the manor court. [Seneschal = steward or major-domo of medieval great house; cf. marshal, an officer of a (royal) household with judicial functions]
1785: Richard Crosbie made the first ever assent in a balloon in Ireland from the Leinster lawn (Kildare House). Was he a Crosbie from Leixlip or Lucan? [A Peter, Dublin Fragments, Dublin, 1926, p88]
1785/6: A list of carriage makers etc. who made and sold carriages in the City and Liberties of Dublin does not cite any Tannam amongst them. [HoCJ, Vol 12, Appendix, pdvi, 1786/8]
1786: The Ryevale linen printing works was put up for auction this year, all to let for £80 a year. [Dublin Evening Post, 8/7/1786.]
1786: The House of Commons Journal recorded, on 26/1/1786, a petition by Morley Saunders, Esq., who alleged an undue election and return of a James Somerville Esq., for the Borough of Baltinglass. It was determined that neither the sitting member nor the petitioner was duly elected and a new writ was ordered. There had been a similar petition by Morley Saunders on 13/4/1784 against the election of Sir John Allen Johnston, Bart, but the petition was withdrawn.
1786: James Glascock demised unto Richard McLoughlin, in a deed dated 20 November 1786, in consideration for £120 paid to J Glascock and the sum of £700 laid out on the premises by Richard's deceased father, William McLaughlin, all that and those the houses and garden now in R. McL's possession and his undertenants, bounded on the east by a stone wall separating it from a garden formerly in the possession of Laurence Conolly, on the west by a stone wall which divides it from a field formerly in the possession of Chas. Fellows; on the north by part of the street of Leixlip and the road leading to Marshfield; on the south by the mill race to the Iron Mills, for a yearly rent of £18 pounds payable on 25th March and 29th September, plus a fine of £9 on each life renewal [Registry of Deeds Memo No: 370-463-253912].
The Richard McLaughlin is likely to be he, an attorney who moved to the Exchequer, July 1778, from King's Bench [King's Inns Admission Papers], or he that died, intestate, a gentleman, at Dublin in 1789 [Deputy Keeper's 26th Report].
Rentbook, Castletown Estates, 1787 to 1792 [Box 60, Castletown Papers, IAA]:
p.83: James Glascock, Esq., holding at Tyan's land at Leixlip at a half yearly rent of £4 2s. This parcel is called Tyands Land, Upper Division, and the rent is said to be 4s 2d p.a. on 0a 2r 30p, rented to an [undertenant] John Johnson, with Mr Glascock as tenant, according to a record no. 3 in a Leases Book of 1751 or later from Castletown [Castletown Papers, box 59, IAA]. Johnson's brother, Ben, his sister, Eliz. and himself are required "to grind his corn at the mill of Leixlip".
Elizabeth Johnson was born in Leixlip on 30/11/1758; her father was Walter Johnson [St Mary's baptismal records]. Thomas and Bessie Johnson were living in Cooldrinagh until their deaths in 1874 and 1865, respectively, according to their gravestone at St Mary's, Leixlip. The Johnsons were related to the Goodshaws. Hestor Johnson was the name of Jonathan Swift's "Stella": was she related? Stella was a benefactor of Dr Steeven's Hospital, leaving £1,000 to support a chaplain there [Adrian MacLoughlin, Historic Dublin, 1979, p194]
p.84: Ditto..for Ingham's holding at a half-yearly rent of £8 0s 3d.
p.85: Eleanor Tankard for the [Rye] Bridge tenement holding at Leixlip, with half year's rent at £1 3s 10.5d (going on, like the others, 'til about November 1792). She paid cash payments on all dates except once in November 1790, when Bart. Regan paid them. Simon Tankard, spouse or father of Eleanor, died 9/9/1736 and is buried in St Mary's, Leixlip.
p.94: Wm Bruce of Salmon Leap holding, Co. Kildare, at £9 13s 10½d
William Bruce and Jane Walker obtained a marriage licence in 1775 [Deputy Keeper's 26th Report]. She died 7/1/1781 and is buried in St Mary's with her father, George, and mother, Celia.
p.96: Daniel Marstin for the Iron Mills, half yearly rent of £16. Several entries offset his rent against bills for iron supplied; ditto for his other rental, Dowan's holding, on which he paid a rent of 5s. Daniel Marston [sic] is buried in St Mary's graveyard, Leixlip; the details are indecipherable. [C O Brien says he lived at St Catherine's Park].
p.99: Chas Fellows was renting Shingle [sic] house. Thos Atkinson was renting Marshfield paying rent of £2 10s half yearly.
p.116: Reps of George Warner were paying £7 per half year for the Salmon Leap Inn; Wm Bruce, Mrs Warner and Ms Spring paid some of the rents due on this lease.
p.120: Chris McGowan's tenancy, rental £2 2s half yearly.
1786: Mary, the daughter of Christopher Magowan of Leixlip was baptised on 22/5/1786 at St Mary's.
1787/8: Marianne, the daughter of Christopher Magowan of Leixlip was baptised on 21/581787 or 8 at St Mary's.
1787: John, the son of Elizabeth and Thomas Goodshaw II of Leixlip was baptised on 30/12/1787 at St Mary's; he died on 26/4/1839, aged 51 years and is buried in St Mary's graveyard [baptism and burial records].
1787: Captain Napier, in a letter dated 24/9/1787, wrote to James Glascock of York St., Dublin, asking him to expedite the drawing up by him of a lease. Wm Glascock is mentioned at that address in another letter of the same date [Castletown Papers, Box 1, IAA].
1787: The Castletown Estate Rentbook for 1787 to 1792 has the representatives of George Warner paying £7 per half-year rent for the Salmon Leap Inn. The book records Wm Bruce, Mrs Warner and Ms Spring paying some of the rents due in that period [Castletown Papers, Box 60, p.116, IAA]. Warner is probably an error on the part of the rent collector; the name was probably Walker.
1787: Mr Begnall, who had earlier had a school in Leixlip, opened his Academy [school] in Kildrought House, Celbridge, this year to educate young, Catholic gentlemen. Those attending were mainly the sons of Dublin merchants and better local farmers. They were instructed in reading, writing, Greek, Latin, history, geography, chronology and rhetoric. Proper attention was given to heir morals and health [Tony Doohan, A History of Celbridge, Celbridge, c1984, p63-4.]
1787: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Marriage Announcement: Morley Saunders, Grove, Co Wicklow, married Miss Glascock, daughter of James of York Street, July 1787 [p391].
1788: John La Touche spent upwards of £1,000 in constructing a four arch stone bridge over the Liffey at Harrisontown, dated this year. It is similar to Leixlip's. [Text and picture in JKAS, Vol VII, No.1, 1912, p37 & 41.]
1788: A Robert Bagley [Bayley] of Ballilow?, Co Wicklow, in a deed dated 1/5/1788, transferred the lands of Parsonstown, Leixlip, (20a 1r 6p) to James Glascock of Dublin city. He, in turn, assigned them to Nathaniel Warren, an alderman of Dublin City, by deed dated 2/4/1795 [Registry of Deeds Memo No: 500-477-314283].
1788: Edward King was ejected from Leixlip corn mills by Thos Conolly's agent [See entry for 1783].
1788: Lease of 2/10/1788 from Thos Conolly to John McDaniel, Leixlip, Miller, who was required to share the cost of scouring, cleaning and repairing the mill water course with the iron mills proprietor - a rent of £100 for the corn mills in Mill Lane. A map is attached to the lease shows the land area to cover a strip of land contained by Silleachán Lane [then the road to Confey] and the Silleachán valley (6a 0r 20p) and a small parcel of land, the 'dwelling house, gardens and mills' (0a 2r 24p) with map attached, showing mill wheel immediately adjacent the river Liffey [Sketch made], at the eastern extremity of the overall mills' plot, that is east of the sluice gate waste into the Liffey. [Box 27, Castletown Papers, IAA].
1788: On 18/3/1788 the HoC agreed to consider a clause in a Bill for the preservation of watering slips. [HoCJ, Vol 12, p.408]
1788: On the 17/6/1788 Michael Ryan was appointed PP of Lucan, replacing Andrew Toole; it is unclear when Lucan became a separate parish. [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.]
1789: An Act for better supplying of certain cities and towns with water (Dublin, Cork and Limerick excluded): The Act established commissioners comprising the chief magistrate et al who were empowered to make watercourses through lands and to lay pipes for carrying water and related matters. The same powers were given to grand juries outside of towns. [Irish Statutes,Vol 14, 29 Geo 3, c42, p.113+].
1789: A cotton hosiery factory at Balbriggan, belonging to Joseph Smyth, received a visit from Rev William and Mrs Bruce in August, 1789. The factory was then constructing a new mill wheel, 27 feet (dia) by 8 feet (width). [Bruce Papers, MSS 20886 NLI; ‘Journal of Tours’ by Rev W Bruce, 1789, 1794.] See 1783; Was Wm Bruce of Leixlip? This Rev Wm Bruce (1757-1841) was born in Dublin, educated at TCD, a Presbyterian minister and principal of Belfast Academy, 1790-1822. He was a frequent contributor to the Dublin University Magazine. [Hickey & Doherty, A New Dictionary of Irish History from 1800, Dublin, 2003, p44.]
1789: James Glascock, Esq. Dublin City, to Peter Tannam of Leixlip, Blacksmith; dated 3/4/1789. Glascock demised unto Tannam, his heirs and assigns for a term of 99 years from 25/3/1789, "All that the house and garden in the town of Leixlip in the county of Kildare bounded towards the west by the bridge of Leixlip and on the north, south and east by the River Liffey and Mill Race.." subject to a yearly rent of £12 10s 3d. The memorial was witnessed by Daniel Sullivan and Thomas Saunders and the deed by Daniel Sullivan and Wm. Read, gents, of Dublin City. [Registry of Deeds Memo No: 1791-445-217-286593; it contains Peter Tannam’s signature in a clear hand.] Glascock was then aged about 40 years. A Daniel Sullivan was a powerful papermaker in Dublin, fl 1796.
Peter Tannam's family descendants are still extant in Dublin city. The earliest record of the family suggests its local origins in Cabinteely or Cornel's Court (the latter dates to the 14th century at least) and there were many Peter Tannams. The family line shows several blacksmiths and car men, perhaps also in the parish of Kill O'Grange.(Frances) May Ennis, b. 2/4/1923, Rathmines), nee Murphy, and formerly of 1 Highfield Park, Leixlip, is most likely a direct descendant of the Peter Tannam of 1789. Her grandfather was Peter Joseph Tannam, a clerk in Hely's stationers, late of Dame Street, Dublin, who was b.1/2/1865 at 18 Little Britain Street, [the extension of Parnell St westwards] Dublin; his grandfather or grand uncle was likely to be the Peter Tannam of 1789. [The Tannam family tree is to hand, supplied by Michael Tannam, Bayside, Co Dublin, and compiled by his father the late John (Jack) Tannam, Raheny, Co Dublin].
1789: Rent Book Commencing June 8th 1789 [Ref. TCD MSS 3947] has Christopher McGowan paying half yearly rent of £2 2s 0d on the Shoemaker's Tenement, Leixlip (adjoining Mill Lane/Dublin Road?) and James Glascock paying rent on the Island farm, and Ingham's holding, the latter due 29/9/89. Also Eleanor Tankard is continuing to pay £1 3s 10½d on the Bridge tenement, Leixlip; likewise, Daniel Marston on the Iron Mills and John Mc Daniel on the corn mills - continuing through to May, 1792 and due back to 25 March 1789 and perhaps further?
1789: Elizabeth, the daughter of Elizabeth and Thomas Goodshaw II of Leixlip was baptised on 13/8/1789 at St Mary's. A son, Walter James, was born to them on 30/9/1799 and baptised at St Mary's.
1789: On 15/4/1789 a petition dated 13/3/1789 lodged by the High Sheriff, Grand Jury, Gentlemen, Clergy and some Freeholders of Kildare was presented to the HoC, and read, setting forth their "concern at the alarming progress of crimes in their County".. "due to the indiscriminate permission to vend malt and spirituous liquors granted to obscure and disorderly Houses - an opportunity to Vagabonds and Rogues of every description - to assemble at unreasonable hours to indulge in drunkenness without restraint and to debauch the morals" etc. The petitioners asked the House to consider their views [HoCJ, Vol 13, p74].
1790: Con Costello, Kildare Saints, Soldiers & Horses, Naas, 1991, p115-120: Horse racing is described. Squire Tom Conolly was a patron of the Curragh races, maintaining stables there, 1758-1772. In 1790, the Irish Racing calendar was published. List of subscribers included “Mr Martin Hannen [Hallion?], Inn Keeper, Leixlip”. See The Racing Calendar, 1790. Other horse racing info [?]: JKAS, Vols 2, 3 and 14. John Welcome, Irish Horseracing, 1982.
1790: John Coyne (of Leixlip?) opened his boarding school for young Protestant men in St Wolstan’s; it rivalled Begnall’s. [Doohan, opus cit, p64.]
1790: 19/2/1790: Leave was granted by the HoC for a Bill to build an Apothecaries Hall and for regulating the business in Dublin and suburbs (p.174, HoCJ, Vol 13, this date). It was approved by the House of Lords c7/4/1791.
1791: An Act - The Apothecaries Act - was made to erect a hall and to regulate entry to the profession, with effect from 24/6/1791.The directors (named, small number; none identified) had to power to say who shall be properly qualified to become an apprentice etc. From the same date no person could open a shop or act as an apothecary until he shall be examined by the profession. There was a right of appeal to the College of Physicians. The apprenticeship was to last 7 years. The Act also introduced restrictions on the sale of arsenic. [Irish Statutes, Vol 15, 31 Geo 3, c34, p724-741].
1791: The French consul to Ireland toured Ireland and reported on same, including some references to Leixlip. The traveller, Frenchman, Coquerbert left only his notes, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, (Nouv. Acq. XXIII). [Síle Ní Chinnéide, An 18th-Century French Traveller in Kildare, JKAS Vol XV, No 4, 1974-75, p376-386.] There is more on Castletown etc. Some references to tolls charged en route.
1791: The foundations of Sarah Bridge were laid on 22 June. The first steam engine was erected in Dublin by Henry Jackson. [Wilson's Dublin Street Directory].
1791: An Act was made to prohibit horse racing within nine miles of Dublin Castle; any twelve or more persons found present in this area at a race meeting will constitute an unlawful assembly. Power was given to spill any 'spiritous liquours' found at such races. [Irish Statutes, 35Geo3, c43, p784+ ].
1791: Lord Cloncurry (first lord, alias, Robert Lawless), bought Mornington House, ie 24 Upr Merrion St, for £8K. His eldest son and heir, the Hon Valentine Lawless, shared the dangerous opinions of his friend, Lord Edward FitzGerald, and was imprisoned in the tower of London on that account. On Valentine's return to Ireland in 1811 he settled down quietly at Lyons, the family seat, and occupied himself in writing his personal reminiscences [Frances Gerard, Picturesque Dublin, London, 1898, p224].
Robert Lawless is called Sir Nicholas Lawless [by Hone, Craig & Fewer, The New Neighbourhood of Dublin, Dublin, 2002, p216-8.]; he amassed a great fortune as a draper and banker at the end of this century. He died in 1799 just before the Union, for which he voted. His son, Valentine Browne Lawless, the 2nd Lord Cloncurry, was sworn a United Irishman in early life and lay a prisoner in the Tower of London. He later became one of the most distinguished figures in Irish public life, as a leader of Liberal peers and patron of the arts. [Hone et al, opus cit, p218.]
1792: Indenture dated 17/9/1792 between Anne Shelly, widow, and Thomas Goodshaw, carpenter, both of Leixlip and Richard Bergin of Leixlip, builder, whereby the first two named leased to Bergin an area of land of 1a 3r 2p [plantation measure?], bounded by Leixlip Rd on the north and on the west by Cooldrina Lane; on the south by Mr Bailey’s estate in the possession of Anne Shelly, and on the east by the land of Anne Shelly and Thomas Goodshaw, which said premises were described in the said deed. Rent of £11 7s 6d. [Registry of Deeds Memo No 505-77-3230.]
1792: James W. Glascock was among those attending a meeting of the board of trustees of the turnpike road on 25/9/1792 at Lynch's Tavern, Lucan. The meeting had received a letter from Robert Lawe, of Leixlip, claiming that his gravel-pit near Leixlip had been used by the board of trustees for 40 years for the repair of the road, but he had received no compensation. A map of the period shows a gravel pit near where Lawe is marked on the map, i.e. Knockmouder, by Louisa Bridge.
1793: Elizabeth, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Law [sic], Leixlip, was baptised on 27/9/1793 at St Mary's. She was followed by two Lawe sons, George Aldborough and William, born 29/4/1797 and 2/7/1798 respectively, and baptised at St Mary's.
1793: A five-acre ‘Part of the Race Course let by Rt Hon T Conolly to Bart Kelly’ adjoining Green lane is sketched on a map of Leixlip Demesne, surveyed in October, 1793, probably for Conolly or the Castle’s occupier then. The surveyor is not identified by may have been John Longfield or John Brownrigg, who was working on the Royal Canal line about this time. [Longfield Maps, 21 F 37 no.156, ‘Leixlip Demesne’, 1793, NLI].
John [?] Brownrigg’s house and garden are shown on a map of Celbridge Main Street on the east site, leading to the Liffey, located about ten houses north of the Liffey Bridge. Date not noticed, if present. [Longfield Maps, 21 F 37 no.171, ‘Main St, Celbridge’, NLI]. There is a possibility that this may have been the house of William Brownrigg, of Leixlip flock mills (see St Mary’s Graveyard headstones file), who died 1820.
1793: Map of Leixlip Demesne of Oct, 1793, illustrates nature of usage of demesne lands and occupiers. Included were: Wheat Field, Oak Field, Pond Field, Wood (2), Lawn, Rape Field, Scrubayhane, Ash Grove, Glenmore; Coane’s Field, Coogan’s Garden (with house), Murray’s Garden (with house to Celbridge rd) and Neal’s Field. Widow Cassidy and Capt Doughlop [sic; probably Doughlas] had property or land immediately to the rear of the Glebe House. Widow Cassidy owned the land approximately taken up by Leixlip Park estate and John Dalton had several holdings, including land approximately where Colaiste Chiarain is now located. A gazebo or temple (as it is referred to on some maps) is shown on the south bank of the Liffey facing the actual Salmon Leap falls, midway between the pair of falls. The miniature sketch of the temple is similar to the temple in front of Castletown House, by the Liffey, which still stands. Another house, possibly that of Mr Croker, is shown on Cooldrinagh lands east of the temple, and quite near to the river. The buildings around the Castle are much more extensive than those in the map for Cavendish of c1829, which see. [Longfield Maps, 21 F 37 no.156, ‘Leixlip Demesne’, 1793, NLI].
1793: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Birth Announcement: a son to Lady Morley Saunders, 10/5/1793 [p401]. She is related to Glascock of Leixlip.
1794: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Death Announcement: Daniel Marston, [iron] merchant, in Abbey St., 22/3/1793 [p243].
1794: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Death Announcement: George Chapman, a magistrate for co. Kildare & Queen’s co., nr. Portarlington, 6/1/1794 [p77]. May have tenuous connections with Newtown House.
1794: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Death Announcement: Eliza Spring, only daughter of the late William, near Leixlip, 10/2/1794 [p157]. See rent payments for Salmon Leap Inn; probably from Springfield [hotel].
1794: The earliest RC baptism recorded, on the inside of the cover of the Baptismal Register, St Mary’s, Maynooth RC chapel (Leixlip & Maynooth parishes), is that of James Rooney, said to have been born, 5/1/1794, and christened with John McDaniel and Eleanor Chamberlaine as sponsors. [Register of Baptisms, 1814-27, St Mary’s, RC, Maynooth.]
1794: County Militias were introduced to supersede voluntary forces of infantry, cavalry and artillery ['Ballads and Poems of the County Kildare', in JKAS, Vol 6, No 4, 1910, p349].
1794: An explanatory and amending Act to 29Geo.3 regarding the supply of piped water to houses was made. The commissioners appointed under the earlier Act can enter into agreements with householders to pay water rent for water supplied. The houses must have a stopcock and a cistern. The Act additionally requires occupiers to sweep, clean and scrape the footway along their houses before 10 am twice a week, or pay a fine of 1s to the inspector. [Irish Statutes,Vol 17, 34Geo3 c9, p141].
1794: Freeman's Journal of 25/10/1794 reports a 'miraculous productions' relating to the new Spa at Leixlip being exhibited on the Canal Bridge by a country fellow of a lizard in a bottle etc [JKAS, Vol XIV, No 2, 1966/67, p282].
1794: A newspaper advertisement of this year [date and title n/a] is thus: St Catherine’s Park Leixlip: - to be let, the House and Demesne of St Catherine’s park, containing 50 acres, completely enclosed with a stone and lime wall. Or, the House will be let furnished with the Gardens, and with or without any quantity of the land. Proposals to Isaac Corry Esq., Merrion Square. [RD Walshe, Cuttings and Notes, Lucan and Leixlip, 20th c, MS 11658 NLI.] NB: Year is doubtful: see 1798.
1794: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Marriage Announcement: Rev. Hosea Guinness, of Bray is engaged to Miss Hart, 2nd daughter of the late Colonel Hart, 23.1.1794 [p77].
1794: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Death Announcement: Israel Read, later senior surgeon of Dublin Infirmary, at Dublin, July 1794 [p79].
1795: Walker’s Hibernian Magazine had the following Marriage Announcement: William F Pigott [possibly of Ryevale House] married Miss Houghton [of Celbridge mill family?],
1795 [p96]. See St Mary’s graveyard headstone data.
1795: Nathaniel Clements, earl of Leitrim, of Killadoon, Celbridge, was a trustee of the linen manufacture. He was made earl in this year. [Watson’s Almanack, 1818].
1795: Morley Saunders (the second) married Ellen Katherine Glascock, daughter of James Glascock of the Music Hall, Leixlip, this year. [source mislaid; possibly marriage settlement deed. Burke's Landed Gentry of 1847 gives no date for the marriage.] T.U. Sadleir, writing on "The family of Saunders of Saunders' Grove, Co Wicklow" in the JKAS, Vol. 9, 1918-1921, p. 125+ give the marriage at June, 1787, and date of death as 25/3/1825 (another source puts d. at 20/9/1839). Burkes " A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the landed gentry of Great Britain and Ireland" (1858) puts the wedding at July, 1787. July,1787is the wedding month according to an announcement in Walker’s Hibernian Magazine [p391].
1795: Rev Edward Berwick was Vicar of Leixlip Union, from 1795 to 1820. He was son of Duke of Berwick, and was born in Co. Down in 1750. He married twice, first to Anne Birmingham of Monkstown, Co. Dublin, who died in her 24th year. An Anne Berwick of Confey died 20 July, 1800, probably on the birth of their son, Walter, (who was born in 1800). Walter became a judge of the Irish bankruptcy Court. Edward’s second marriage was to Rebecca Shuldam of Leixlip in 1802. Their son, Edward, born in 1804, afterwards became President of Queen's College, Galway. Rev Berwick died aged 64 on 3/6/1820. He is buried in the medieval church ruin in Confey graveyard. [Leslie, ibid, Confey tombstones survey and St Mary’s deaths’ records.] Rev Edward Berwick was a pamphleteer and chaplain to the Earl of Moira. He wrote a “Treatise on the government of the Church” in 1811. [FE Ball, The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 ?]
1795: Elinor [sic] Tankard, Dublin, widow, died intestate, 1795 [Deputy Keeper's 26th Report].
1795: Wilson's Dublin Street Directory lists, for the first time, James Hilles, Iron-merchant, 180 Abbey Street, Dublin. There has been no mention of any Tannam in Wilson's to date. By 1796, Hilles is a 'wholesale Iron-merchant'. By 1805 he is at nos. 158 & 159 Abbey Street. By 1807 he was at nos. 151 and 152; then at no. 96, no. 19 (1814). In Wilson's for 1815, he is an "Iron-merchant and Iron and Tin-plate-manufacturer, Hilles Place, 98 Abbey Street and Leixlip Iron Works" - the first reference to Leixlip works.
The Genealogical Office has a draft pedigree of the Hilles family of Co Sligo, 1718 - 1791, in MS804, p.8, NLI.
1795: On 11/2/1795 a petition of the Catholics of Co Kildare was presented to the HoC and read - noting that in 1793 the King, George III, removed many of the "disabilities, pains and penalties" under which Catholics laboured. They "suggest to the Wisdom of the House that the most effectual Mode to unite in Sentiment all his Majesty's Subjects of Ireland in support of our most excellent Constitution, ... will be to extend to them its Blessings, by the abolition of those Incapacities and Disqualifications of which" they complain. It was ordered that their petition lie on the Table of the House [p.50, Vol 16, 11/2/1795]. The address was drawn up by Ambrose O’Ferrall, Charles Aylmer, John Esmonde and Christopher Nangle. Fourteen RCs and others presented the petition to the Lord Lieutenant within a few days. The RCs were Dominic Wm O’Reilly, Patrick Latten, Daniel Caulfield, Gerald Aylmer, Charles Aylmer, John Cassidy (Secretary), James Hussey, Thomas Ryan, Walter Dowdall, Richard Dease, Captain Hussey, John Esmonde, Thos Dillon and Thos Fitzgerald (chairman).
See Turtle Bunbury and Art Kavanagh, The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy of County Kildare, Dublin, 2004, ‘Aylmer of Donadea’, p1-12, for the Aylmer family of this period.
1795: James Glascock Esq., Arthur Guinness and others were appointed turnpike commissioners in an Act consolidating and modernising the several Mullingar turnpike Acts [Irish Statutes, Vol 17, 35 Geo 3, c 43, p.680+].
1796: A survey (and map) of Newtown, Leixlip, for Miss Eliz. Bryan, was done this year. [M.518, NA, Dublin.] She lived at Newtown Hill House, Captain’s Hill, Leixlip.
1796: "An Act to explain and amend several Acts heretofore passed for the lighting, cleansing and watching of ... market towns". Every July, Ministers, church-wardens and parishioners are to meet to appoint watchmen, the times of watch and their wages, and to provide articles for watch-houses. It was made lawful for watchmen to apprehend all idle and disorderly persons in the night-time, making any affray or committing any breach of the peace at late and unseasonable hours of the night, and to detain prisoners in the watch houses and take them before magistrates in the morning.. [Irish Statutes,Vol 17, 36Geo 3, c51, 1796].
1796: Among the named pensioners of the Civil Establishment on 21/1/1796 were: Arthur Wolfe in trust for George Walker Bruce, £40 p.a; Mary Johnston, widow of Wm Johnston, £50 p.a.; and John White, Esq., £200 p.a. [HoCJ, Vol 16, Appendix, p.ccclxxxii+, 1795-96].
1796: Andrew Ennis remained listed as PP at Maynooth (for there and Leixlip). [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.]
1796: The Lord Lieutenant [Lord Camden?], accompanied by the Lord Chancellor [Pelham?], and other chief judges etc, came today for the laying of the first stone of the new Roman Catholic seminary at Maynooth. He was received by the President, professors, students at the gate; the Duke of Leinster and the principal nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood [inc Tom Conolly] - cited in Freeman’s Journal of c 20th and 21st April, 1796, and Walker’s Hibernian Magazine of May, 1796. A band of the Londonderry Militia greeted them. [See Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p32-3.] Con Costello [A Most Delightful Station.., p10] writes that they were likely to have come from quarters in Dublin; they were, however, quartered in Leixlip.
1797: James Hilles and Winifrede Coyne obtained a marriage licence [Deputy Keeper's 26th Report].
1797: Justices of the Peace for Co Kildare this year included: Thos Croker, Chas Croker, Laurence Steele, Wm Brady, Thos Atkinson, Richard Cane, Thomas Ashe, Major General Richard Whyte, Wm Donnellan, David LaTouche, Junr., Thomas Ryan and Rev. T F Knipe. The Duke of Leinster was the governor of Co Kildare. George Sandford was Barrack Master for Dublin; as none was listed for Co Kildare, Kildare may be presumed to be within his ambit [Watson’s Almanack, 1797].
1797: Members of the Irish Commons with Leixlip postal addresses this year were: Sir Michael Cromie, Bt, member for the borough of Donegal; country residence at Stacumnie; Rt Hon Sir H Cavendish, member for the borough of Lifford, of Marshfield; David LaTouche, member for the borough of Swords, residing at St Catherine’s (note another Rt Hon David LaTouche was also a member, probably the father of the former; John Metge, Esq, member for the borough of Philipstown; Wm Sankey, Esq; the Hon. Nathaniel Clements, commonly called Lord Viscount Clements, Killadoon; Rt Hon Thomas Conolly, member for the borough of Coleraine, of Castlwon, Celbridge; and the Rt Hon James Fitzgerald, of Hermitage (Lucan). [Watson’s Almanack, 1797].
1797: Leixlip and Celbridge Cavalry existed with officers James Tisdall, Wm. Donnellan, J Simmons. [JKAS, p47, Vol XV No.1] The J. Simmons is most likely to be John Eston Simmonds, who was married to Catherine Cooper (dead by 1799), and who probably lived at Collinstown. Their youngest son, Edward, was accepted into the King's Inns as a student/apprentice in 1813, aged about 17 years. He had been educated at St Wolstan's, Co Kildare before then [King's Inns, ibid] A James Tisdall, of Coleraine St, and Charles Tisdall of Dublin were Fellows of TCD and a Richard T. was Register of the Court of Chancery, Darby Square in the Directory of Dublin, 1738.
The Cooper family lived in Leixlip at Barnhall and Collinstown until the 20th century, and several generations are buried in St Mary's graveyard. See separate note on the Coopers.
The Maynooth Corps, Rangers or Volunteers seem to have been the same as the Carton Union, ie infantry and cavalry under Col Hugh Cane of Dowdstown. F McManus was Captain/Lieutenant, and Richard Cane, chaplain. [Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p50.] Another reference, dating to 26th January 1797 [List of District Corps Ireland, Dublin Castle, (in NLI)] has for the Maynooth Cavalry: Captain, His Grace, the Duke of Leinster; first Lieutenant, Thomas Long; 2nd Lieutenant, Richard Cane - all confirmed, 31st October, 1796.
1797: An Act was made to provide an annuity to Alicia, widow of the Rev. George Knipe, rector of the parish of Castlerichard, Co Meath, a magistrate massacred on that account - and for their children, John, George, Frances and Anne. The annuity was given to Thomas Knipe, clerk, of Church-hill, Co Meath, and others in trust. The total amount was £300 p.a. [Irish Statutes, Vol 18, 37Geo3, c63, p615]. Rev. T. F Knipe is listed as a magistrate for Co Kildare for 1797; he was one of ~83 in all [Watson’s Almanack, 1797].
A Miss Knipe was the occupier of 43 acres at St. Catherine's Park in 1825 and paid tithes to the Leixlip Union Cof I.
1797: In May 1797 martial law was extended to the Carbury barony (but not North Salt) of Co Kildare as a result of arms raiding and assassinations by the Kildare insurgents of the north-west, and in the face of alleged supineness of the magistrates and the suspected disaffection of the FitzGerald family. [Ruan O’Donnell, ‘King’s County in 1798’, in Nolan & O’Neill, (eds), Offaly History & Society, Dublin, 1996, p487.]
1797: In 1797 there were attacks on Protestant houses to seize arms and a man named Begley was murdered at Edenderry. May have been an ancestor of the Pegley family of Leixlip? [Begley = little hero] [WA Maguire, ‘Missing Persons: Edenderry under the Blundells and the Downshires, 1707-1922’, in Nolan and O’Neill, (eds), Offaly History & Society, Dublin, 1996, p525].
1797: St Mary's burial records for this year had 17 entries (including Mrs Mary Colgan of Dublin); two of them, on 6th and 23rd October, were soldiers. There were only three deaths recorded in 1798 and 7 in 1799, of which two were soldiers: Sergeants Downing, 30th November, and Pollock, December 1st, both of Leixlip and the 'L.D. Militia'.
1797: In July a bandit entered the country residence of the Prime Sergeant at Hermitage near Lucan and robbed it of a blunderbuss, two pistols and a fowling piece. [See Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p49.] The Rt Hon James Fitzgerald, MP, Irish Commons, had a country residence at Hermitage; the postal address was Leixlip [Watson’s Almanack, 1797].
1797-99: Archibald Hamilton Rowan, of the Society of United Irishmen, was a calico printer and dyer in America at this period (to July, 1799). [Details in AK Longfield, ‘Archibald Hamilton Rowan, Calico Printer in America, 1797-1799’, JKAS, Vol XV, no 2, 1972, p178-185.]
1798: In an unattributed newspaper report (published 9/8/1902), entitled ‘On the Kildare Frontier’, and related to a visit of the Old Guard Union to Confey to commemorate the Yeoman, Nicholas Dempsey, buried there, the writer refers to Newtown House thus: “Newtown was either in the occupation or under the control of Hamilton Rowan in or around 1798. At all events, it seems to have been one of the places where the munitions of war were provided for the rebels”. “A man still resident in Leixlip relates that while engaged in some alterations that were being made to the house some years ago, some old parchments and documents relating to the Ninety-Eight movement were found, amongst them a direction from Lord Edward Fitzgerald addressed to Hamilton Rowan, directing that certain stands of arms be served out to Reilly, of Maynooth, for the United men under his command. The papers were at the time of their discovery brought by Kelly, foreman carpenter of the work, to the “Irishman” Office, Dublin.” [RD Walshe, Cuttings and Notes, Lucan and Leixlip, 20th c, MS 11658 NLI.]
1798: May 23/24, 1798, the Athlone mail coach was intercepted by the rebels at Lucan, robbed and burned. A regiment of Highlanders were called from Maynooth to the scene. The Duke of Leinster’s daughters had to go to Leixlip to get passes from the officers in command there to travel to Dublin. On their way home they saw the hanging body of a man, decorated with green ribands [on Old Hill?]. On 19th May Lord Edward Fitzgerald received his uniform in Dublin - a green military outfit, edged with red with a cap of conical form. [See Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p52-9; p60.]
1798: Report on Co. Kildare Gaol(s) [HoCJ, Vol 17, Appendix, 1796-98, p.dcxxxv].
"Naas Gaol is new and very strongly built; nevertheless the Gaoler (James Dillon) continues the use of his monstrous bar bolts, which did not prevent a man from making his escape the night before he was to be hanged; a certain proof of negligence or corruption in the Gaoler. The Gaol of Athy is secondary to Naas; it is an old and ruinous castle, consisting of four apartments for prisoners, without flues or windows, nor is there necessaries or a yard; the prisoners are allowed straw and bread, but neither bed covering nor fuel".
1798: Report on Co. Kildare Gaol(s) [HoCJ, Vol 17, Appendix, 1796-98, p.dcxxxv].
"Naas Gaol is new and very strongly built; nevertheless the Gaoler (James Dillon) continues the use of his monstrous bar bolts, which did not prevent a man from making his escape the night before he was to be hanged; a certain proof of negligence or corruption in the Gaoler. The Gaol of Athy is secondary to Naas; it is an old and ruinous castle, consisting of four apartments for prisoners, without flues or windows, nor is there necessaries or a yard; the prisoners are allowed straw and bread, but neither bed covering nor fuel".
89 Crown prisoners in custody 1st January 1798; eight of whom were sentenced to death but respited, and four for transportation. Three debtors were also in confinement and one obtained the benefit of the Insolvent Act. Included were:
Name Crime with which Charged Verdict Sentence & Observations
Martin McHugh Murder Manslaughter Burned in the hand
Charles Brazill Administering Oaths Guilty Death, but respited
Thomas Deegan Administering Oaths Guilty Transportation for Life
Thos. Deegan Burglary & Robbery Guilty Death, respited
Richard Lynagh & Ml. Casey
Martin McHugh Murder Manslaughter Burned in the hand
Charles Brazill Administering Oaths Guilty Death, but respited
Thomas Deegan Administering Oaths Guilty Transportation for Life
Thos. Deegan Burglary & Robbery Guilty Death, respited
Richard Lynagh & Ml. Casey
Prisoners not Tried Included:
John Bryan United Irishman
John Dempsey Burglary & Felony
Francis Cormick High Treason
& John McHugh
Patrick Colgan & Burglary & Robbery
John Murphy
John Bryan United Irishman
John Dempsey Burglary & Felony
Francis Cormick High Treason
& John McHugh
Patrick Colgan & Burglary & Robbery
John Murphy
1798: Leave was given on the 12/3/1798 by the HoC to introduce a Bill to regulate post travelling though the Kingdom [HoCJ, Vol 17, this date, p298]. The Bill was passed and sent to the House of Lords on 4/5/1798. However, a little earlier the House ordered that the Committee preparing the Bill on the postal system provide free post for members and members of the forces etc. (p.264, ibid)
1798: Watson's Directory lists (on p. 91) John Finlay, George Vesey and Walter & George Nugent among the justices of the peace for Kildare.
1798: St Catherine’s Park residence, now Liffey Valley House Hotel, was designed by Francis Johnston [Killanin & Duignan, ‘Leixlip’ in Shell Guide to Ireland, London, 1962].
1798: On 14/2/1798, the HoC ordered that Daniel Beere, Deputy Pursuivant [= follower, attendant] of the court of the Exchequer, do attend at the Bar of this House forthwith. He was taken into custody, examined at the Bar and then discharged. Families called Beere lived in Maynooth and at the Black Castle, Leixlip; he may be related.
1798: Major William Swan, Deputy Town Major, who resided at Nth Great George's St, assisted in the capture of Lord Ed FitzGerald. He wrestled with FitzGerald to remove a dagger the latter held at the time of his capture. [Frances Gerard, Picturesque Dublin, London, 1898, p184/6] Was he related to the Swans of Confey? John Swan says no military connection he knows of.
1798: 27/7/1798: Leave was given by the HoC to bring in a Bill for the Attainder of Lord Edward Fitz-Gerald, Cornelius Grogan (of Wexford) and another, deceased, of Treason.
1798: 22/8/1798: leave was granted by the HoC to bring in a Bill for appointing Commissioners to enquire into the losses of persons to their property during the Rebellion [HoCJ, Vol 17, same date, p366]; the King's assent was given to the Bill on 6/10/1798.
1798: On 30/8/1798 a Bill from the House of Lords was received in the HoC seeking their concurrence; it was to prevent persons who had been transported, banished or exiled from returning [HoCJ, Vol 17, same date, p.372]. Royal assent was given on 6/10/1798.
1798: Mr William Cope, member of Dublin city commons since 1784 and director of the Royal Canal Company, had been instrumental in inducing the United Irishman, Thomas Reynolds, to turn informer, for which Cope received a pension of £1000 for his wife and children. By 1804 his business had failed and he petitioned the government to do something for him and his son. [Dickson, Keogh & Whelan (eds), The United Irishmen – Republicanism, Radicalism and Rebellion, Dublin, 1993, p328, note 42.]
1798: Thomas Conolly of Castletown succeeded in averting rebellion in Celbridge; he pleaded with his tenants not to get involved. His sister-in-law, Lady Sarah Lennox Napier, was a committed rebel. [Tony Doohan, A History of Celbridge, Celbridge, undated, p21].
1799: On 21/12/1799, Catherine, daughter of John & Jane Ferguson, Lieutenant, Angus Fencibles, was born [St Mary's, Leixlip christenings]. Perhaps Mr Ferguson was related to the earlier and later doctors?
1799: Jane Glascock had will administered this year. If she was the wife of James Glascock, the younger, she would have been about 80 years old. See 1774.
1799: D[aniel?] Simmonds, was listed as an attorney Exchequer rolls in 1799 [King's Inns, ibid]. Daniel Simmonds lived at Collinstown, Leixlip and had offices in Clare St., Dublin.
A Daniel Simmonds and a Sarah Cooper got a marriage licence in 1804 [Deputy Keeper's 30th report].
1799: Charles Farran had in 1799 obtained a judgement against Molyneux Marstin for £500 stg and Marstin [aka Marsdon] P115-120being in possession of several freeholds; Law had agreed to purchase them. Farran agreed to the purchase; lands included Levys holding (1r 9p), plot of ground formerly with John Downes (2a 20p), also Furry Hill, lately in Chris. McGowan's possession; also that part lately with Widow Barry (total of 6a), deceased; also the Tuck Mill or paper holding [Registry of Deeds Memo No: 545-57-355620].
1799: On 16/4/1799 the Attorney General informed the House that the King had directed him to recommend annuities of not more than £3K p.a. altogether to persons who helped discover Conspirators and saved inhabitants from massacre. The message was referred to the Committee on Supply [HoCJ, Vol 18, same date, p112].
1799: On 26/3/1799 the HoC set up a Committee of the whole house to give further consideration for certain Rates & Duties on inhabited dwelling-houses, according to the number of windows and lights therein respectively.
[HoCJ, Vol 18, same date, p84]. [See 1800 for amounts paid in that year].
[HoCJ, Vol 18, same date, p84]. [See 1800 for amounts paid in that year].
The Act for Windows or Lights rates and duties in the year 25/3/1799 to 1800 was made, [Irish Statutes, Vol. 19, 39Geo3, c15, 1799]. All windows in every room, all sky-lights, lights in stair-cases, cellars etc. were chargeable under the Act. When two or more panes exist, if they were separated by 12 inches or more of a partition, they were treated as separate windows. Windows which were used for lighting looms, placed nearby, were exceptions to the window count. Also exempt were hospitals, poor-houses, and boarding-schools. The taxes applied to windows or lights present at 1/1/1799. For houses with 6 windows, the occupier was charged 6s 6d; for 8 windows, 11s 11d; for 15, £2 6s 7d; for 14, £1 19s 6 1/2d. For houses with five or fewer windows, there was no charge.
1799: On 28/3/1799 the HoC agreed a Bill to continue the previous provisions for duties on fire hearths in dwelling houses and sent it to the House of Lords for their concurrence. [HoCJ, Vol 18, same date, p88.]
1799: The Appendix to the HoCJ for this year provides, on p.ccxcii +, a Report of the State of the Gaol in Co. Kildare (at Naas) by Rev. Sleater, the Local Inspector:
"...the Gaoler .. keeps his Prisoners heavily bolted with bar-bolts; whenever this custom prevails it is generally done for the Prisoners to pay for their being taken off, as bar-bolts are a cruel and dangerous Ligature. This Gaol is very badly supplied with water. I have always found the bedding to be very bad."
99 persons were tried in this County the last year; 25 were convicted; 13 suffered death and seven were respited. 61 criminals were in custody on 1/1/1799.
Name Crime with which Charged Verdict Sentence & Observations
Patrick Connolly Tendering an unlawful oath Guilty Transportation for Life
Philip Keogh ditto ditto Hanged
Laurence Bolger ditto Not Guilty Discharged
James Mooney ditto Not Guilty Discharged
Francis Mitchell Shooting with intent to murder Guilty Hanged
John Connor Murder Guilty Hanged
Jas. Casey, John Attacking a dwelling house Not Guilty Discharged
Dempsey & 12 Others
Patrick Connolly Tendering an unlawful oath Guilty Transportation for Life
Philip Keogh ditto ditto Hanged
Laurence Bolger ditto Not Guilty Discharged
James Mooney ditto Not Guilty Discharged
Francis Mitchell Shooting with intent to murder Guilty Hanged
John Connor Murder Guilty Hanged
Jas. Casey, John Attacking a dwelling house Not Guilty Discharged
Dempsey & 12 Others
Note that John Dempsey is referred to in Pat Power, People of Wicklow 1798 The Rebellion, Dun Laoghaire, 1999, p33, as amongst those transported to New south Wales, Australia. Saunders [Judith Saunders, ‘John Dempsey, Patriot, Prisoner and Pioneer’, Irish Family History, Vol 18, 2002, p17-20] writes that he was born in Co Kildare c1776, but nothing is know of his family or life before June 1801 when he was tried by Court Martial at Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, and sentenced to transportation to NS Wales for life. From Baltinglass he was sent to Naas gaol and there described as aged 20, native of Kildare, farm labourer, Catholic; 5’7” swarthy complexion, dark brown hair and hazel eyes. On 30th May 1802 he board the Atlas II ship at Waterford with 190 fellow Irishmen, of whom an estimated 75 were United Irishmen and 112 others were classified as ‘political offenders, and four as criminally convicted. The ship arrived in Sydney on 30/10/1802, with all landing in good health, due to the kindness and attention of the Captain. He partnered Ann Roberts of London and had children. On 9/5/1845 he died, aged 69 and is buried at St Mathew’s Catholic Cemetery, Windsor, where his grave is graced with a fine sandstone gravestone, inscribed a second time at the bicentenary year of 1798 by his descendants. Ann lived to be 100 years.
The following were tried on 14/10/1798:
Name Crime with which Charged Verdict Sentence & Observations
Edward McLoughlin Murder Guilty Hanged
John Courtney ditto ditto ditto
James Rice ditto ditto ditto
Thomas Harte ditto ditto ditto
John Loughlin ditto ditto ditto
- together with 7 others tried for murder, found guilty and hanged.
Edward McLoughlin Murder Guilty Hanged
John Courtney ditto ditto ditto
James Rice ditto ditto ditto
Thomas Harte ditto ditto ditto
John Loughlin ditto ditto ditto
- together with 7 others tried for murder, found guilty and hanged.
1799: HoCJ, Vol 18, Appendix on p.clxx+ provides "A List of Names of those persons who have subscribed to the Voluntary Contributions, and the sums paid by each" (towards the War effort, 1798). Amongst the names are the following:
| George Sanford £200 | The Primate £500 | Archbishop of Cashel £500 | Major Cane £100 |
| Bank of Ireland £20000 | Dublin Corporation £1000 | Society of Kings' Inns £4754 3s 11d | James Gandon £25 |
| E. FitzGerald Esq £100 | James Daniel £5 | T H Ennis £5 | A Bell £23 9s 6d |
| Colleystown Cavalry £68 5s | Rev. Dr Stone £50 | Thos. FitzGerald Esq £100 | G Law Esq £11 7s 6d |
| Charles Colgan £20 | Bishop of Meath £125 | Henry Sandford £100 | James Cotter £1 2s 9d |
| Wm. Petty £50 | R.C inhabitants of Aghaboe, Co. Fermanagh £15 10s 10d |
Total amount said to be raised - including much double counting of persons! - £121,816. dated :26/2/1799
1799: HoCJ, Vol 19, Appendix p.dccxxvii reports that 3,456 carriages paid duty for 1799 and 270 persons paid duty for 2 or more carriages.
1799: HoCJ, Vol 19, 1800, Appendix, p.dccxciii, provides a Report on the State of the Gaol of the County of Kildare - Naas. It is short and similar to others, complaining of the harshness of the regime (iron bars in menacles and poor bedding).
There were 70 persons tried in 1799, of whom 22 were convicted, of whom 18 were sentenced to death and executed. The offences of those executed included: horse stealing, burglary, sheep felony, receiving, murder, and highway robbery. Among those convicted that year Edward Hart and Michael Canavan (same case), were given transportation for 7 years for larceny; and Patrick Farrell was sentenced to death for murder.
Among those in custody were Michael Swords, for high treason; Denis Nowlan for robbery; and Laurence Dempsey for robbery; all of these were committed to prison in December, 1799.
c1799: Luttrelstown House was renamed as Woodlands by Luke White, who bought the place from Lord Carhampton’s estate about this time. Carhampton was the last of the Luttrells who held it, and ‘its name was at once changed because of the evil reputation it had acquired in connection with the Luttrells’ [Lucan and its neighbourhood, Weston St John Joyce, Dublin, 1901, p8]. Luke White was a Dublin bookseller (fl1797).