LEIXLIP CHRONOLOGY 1836-1849
COMPILED BY
JOHN COLGAN
1836: Henry Colgan, who received his early education from Mr Fitzpatrick, entered TCD as a boarding student on Nov. 7, 1836, aged 18 years. He was an RC, born in Dublin and son of Arthur Colgan, a medical doctor. This may be Henry Colgan of Cappagh who wrote to the Turnpike Commissioners etc. [Alumni, ibid]
1836: Edward Conolly granted a lease to Thos. Kearney of Chapelizod of the corn mills. The area, shown on the attached map, is similar to Thos Conolly’s lease of 1788 to John McDaniel and is over 6 acres in area [Castletown Papers, Box 27, IAA].
1836: Wriothesley Noel, Notes of a Short Tour through the Midland Counties of Ireland in the Summer of 1836, included a call to Maynooth. Perhaps Leixlip? [See Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p251-2.]
1836-7: OS Map of West Dublin, Sheet 17, shows Cooldrinagh Lodge; Springfield; remains of canal by river; Gate Lodge to [Wookey’s] mill in Backweston Park.
1837: Samuel Lewis’s, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, London, 1837 was published, based on several years’ study by Lewis. The list of subscribers includes 135 persons from Co Kildare. From Leixlip were: Daniel Ryan, Esq., Rye Vale, Leixlip; Rev Henry Stewart, Rector of Leixlip; the Hon George Cavendish, JP, Leixlip Castle; Mr John Macnaughton, Leixlip; also Mr John Colgan, Esq., Kilcock. Lewis noted that within Kildare ‘the English language is everywhere spoken’.
Of Confey (called Confoy) [Vol II, p391] he notes that its population was 165, had formerly had a town and a castle of some importance, which were noticed by Camden. Of the tower’s remains were a massive five storey structure with turrets at the north and west angles; that at the north angle containing a winding staircase opening through pointed arches into each storey. The principal entrance was under a semicircular archway. In the war of 1688 the castle is said to have been strongly garrisoned, and to have sustained an attack.
Of Leixlip Lewis notes [Vol II, p256-7] that the town’s population was 1159 persons, with the parish having 1624 inhabitants and an applotment of 7974 statute acres under the tithe act. According to tradition the castle was the occasional residence of John, Earl of Morton, while governor of Ireland in the reign of his father, Henry II. It was afterwards granted to the abbey of St Thomas’s court, Dublin and by an inquisition in 1604 it appears that Thomas Cottrel, the last abbot of the house, was seized of the manor of Leixlip and the right to a flagon of ale out of every brewery in the town. The venerable mansion (castle) was the favourite retreat of several of the viceroys, of whom Lord Townsend usually spent the summer here; it is at present the residence of the Hon. George Cavendish, by whom it has been modernised and greatly improved. Daniel P Ryan lived at Rye Vale House, John D Nesbitt Esq at Leixlip House, Captain Hackett, RN, at Music Hall. The town consisted on only one street of irregularly built houses, and with the exception of a few of handsome appearance, have generally an aspect of negligence and decay. The inhabitants are amply supplied with water from springs. Six persons work in woollen manufacture. On the banks of the Liffey are rolling-mills for the manufacture of bar and sheet iron; and near them is a flour-mill; a mill race 40ft wide has been constructed in the castle demesne, for the purpose of turning another mill, or for applying water power to some manufactory [flock mill?]. On the Rye Water is the Rye Vale distillery, which produces more than 20,000 gallons of whiskey annually. The market is on Saturday, and fairs are held annually on May 4th and October 9th. There is a constabulary police station in the town. A considerable portion of the land is in pasture for fattening stock for Dublin, Liverpool and Bristol markets, and the remainder is under tillage. There is neither waste land nor bog, and the peasantry are dependent on such precarious supplies as they can find in the roads and hedges. Limestone is very abundant, and is quarried to a considerable extent, for building and for burning into lime for manure. The rectory and vicarage were united to Esker and Lucan prior to 1662, together with the curacies of Confey and Stacumny, and the denominations of Aderg, Westmanstown and St Catherine’s. The tithes amount to £600. The glebe house was built by a loan of £562 from the late Board of First Fruits in 1822; the glebe has 28 acres of profitable land. The church has recently been repaired by a grant of £291 from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The RC parish forms part of the union of Maynooth and Leixlip. The chapel is a small edifice, situated on the banks of the Rye Water and is about to be replaced by a handsome structure of larger dimensions. [This dates this survey to around 1833..] About 70 children are taught in an infants’ school and there are three private schools in which are about 170 children. The Rt Hon Thomas Conolly intended to build a pump-room and an hotel by the Spa, but dying before they were commenced, the design was abandoned for the more fashionable spa of Lucan, which is nearer to Dublin.
Of Lucan [p321-322] it is noted that it appears to have been granted to Richard de Peche after the English [sic] settlement, one of the earliest English adventurers, and in 1220 it was the property of Waryn de Peche, who founded the monastery of St Catherine near Leixlip. The monastery, though subsequently endowed by other benefactors, was on account of its poverty, assigned in 1323 to the abbey of St Thomas, Dublin. There are no remains. The single arch stone bridge over the Liffey, with cast iron balustrade, was built in 1794. The Glebe house on the north-eastern bank, was occupied by Rev H E Prior [now demolished]. Many of the [187] houses are fitted up as lodging-houses for the reception of visitors who, during the summer season, resort to this place to drink the waters. A handsome Spa-house has been erected, including an assembly room 62 ft long by 22 ft wide, in which concerts and balls are given. Its short distance from the metropolis renders the town a place of fashionable resort and of pleasant occasional residence. Residents include Mrs Vesey, in her embellished demesne of nearly 500 acres; J Hamilton Reid at Weston park, Major Gen. Sir HS Scott, Woodville; J Gandon, at Canon Brook or Lucan Abbey. An inquest was taken in the reign of Edw. II to ascertain to whom the right to the fish taken at the Salmon Leap belonged, and another to enquire into the erection of certain weirs or “obstructions to the boats passing to our good city of Dublin with fish and timber”. The latter is supposed to refer to a canal which at some very remote period must have been carried along the bank of the Liffey. In excavating the foundation for a mill, recently constructed at the salmon leap by Messrs. Reid and co., the masonry which formed part of the lock of a canal was discovered; the sill of the lock is still to be seen and more masonry for the same purpose has been found further down the river. At a later period a canal appear to have been formed along this line, as far as Castletown, two miles above the salmon leap, by which, according to tradition, coal was conveyed from Dublin to that place, and of which some remains are still to be seen. The flour mills erected by Messrs Reid and Co. are capable of producing from 700 to 800 barrels weekly; the water wheel is 28 feet in diameter and in turning a pair of stones act with a power equivalent to that of 60 or 70 horses.
There are also notes on Maynooth or Laraghbryan [sic] [SEE PAGE 349-350].
1837: T. O’Conor, an officer of the Ordnance Survey, wrote in a letter dated 20th October, 1837, that "We traversed on yesterday the parishes of Kildrought, Donycomper and Stacumney and obtained all the information we could about them and the local English pronunciation of the names; there is no possibility of getting them pronounced in Irish, for the language has become entirely extinct in this part of the country". [Ordnance Survey Letters, 1837, Co Kildare]
1837: OS 103 Common Plots is one of the reference works of the OS officers; Leixlip and Confey are contained in document Nos. 22/37 and 22/43, NAI. Supporting documentation includes: OS 104 a & e Plots and OS 105 a & e Fair Plans, Ref. Nos: OS 104A/58 & 59 K; OS 104E/262.1; OS 105A/58 & 59; OS 105E/262; also OS Parish Lists, Ref. Nos: E 262 & A 59 K, also at NAI.
1837: Pettigrew & Oulton – Dublin Almanack, 1837 has the following entries:
Street Index: Henry K(nox) Courtney, 1 Usher’s Island
James Duggan Esq, 4 Usher’s Island
Alphabetical Index: Henry Courtenay, 1 Usher’s Island
Henry K(nox) Courtney 1 Usher’s Island
Henry Courtney, SC, was educated part time and entered TCD on November 2, 1818, aged 18. A younger brother, John, aged 17, entered the same day as a boarder. Both were born in Dublin, the sons of David Courtney. There is no record of either graduating. An older son, Andrew, entered on November 2, 1812, aged 15 years. His father, David, was alive and described as ‘generosus” (= gentleman). Andrew was awarded a BA in 1817. [Alumni, TCD] Henry is unlikely to be the iron founder of Leixlip.
William Courtney and Hestor Classon obtained a marriage licence in 1794 [Deputy Keeper’s 26th Report].
Henry Knox Courtney and Sarah Stokes were granted a marriage licence in the Dublin Diocese in 1831, according to the 30th report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records. James Duggan, Usher’s Island, merchant died with will in 1850; same source.
Note that James Hilles is not listed as such, only Hilles & Co.
1837: About this year Henry Classon Courtney, son of Henry Knox Courtney, merchant, was born. At about aged 16 (Hilary term, 1854) he was admitted as a student to the King’s Inns, Dublin [King’s Inns Admission Papers,1607-1867, Keane et al]. He died in Victoria, British Columbia; see will details…
1837: Winifrede Hilles, widow and administratrix of James Hilles, late of Hilles Place, in Abbey Street, Dublin, deceased Iron-founder, in a deed of assignment dated 27/12/1837, in consideration of Grace Hilles, of the same Place, spinster, paying off and indemnifying her (Winifrede H.) from the large arrears of rent due and owing out of the premises by the said deceased, did grant etc. and transfer to Grace Hilles and her assigns, all that and those the "House know by the name of the Bridge House and Garden thereunto belonging situate in the town of Leixlip".. bounded on the west by the bridge of Leixlip and on the north, south, and east by the Liffey and mill race, for the remainder of the term of 99 years from 3/4/1789 for a rent of £11 11s sterling. The deed was received by the assistant registrar, Walter Glascock and witnessed by Paul Edward O’Kelly, Abbey St, solicitor. [Registry of Deeds Memo No 1837- 23 – 63.] She signed it Winifreda Hilles.
1837: Victoria becomes queen at 18 years old. She always stayed at the Viceregal Lodge, Phoenix Park.
1838: The Poor Law Act, 1838, created poor law unions. Leixlip was put into the Celbridge Union, along with Lucan and Celbridge etc. [See listing of townlands in poor law unions.] The hospital and work-house were at Celbridge.
1838: Tithes payable by every occupier of land above a certain area were reduced in 1838 by 25% and made payable by the landlord who tended to pass them on in rent increases to his tenants. [Liz Curtis, The Cause of Ireland, Belfast, 1994, p32-3.]
1838: The Second Report of the Commissioners appointed to consider and recommend a general system of Railways for Ireland was published in 1838; it refers to the state of various towns which might be serviced by railways.
1838: Voters’ Register for Co Kildare, published 1/2/1837 includes the following entries which cite a Leixlip address or address of interest nearby:
Voter’s Name Abode Site of Franchise Landlord Value Place & Date of Registering
B A R O N Y O F N O R T H S A L T
James Clinton Leixlip Leixlip Rev Wm Hamilton £10 Maynooth 20/10/1832
John Canavan Collinstown Collinstown Cuthbert Fetherston Esq 20 ditto 22/10/32
John Dalton Leixlip Leixlip Col Conolly 10 ditto 22/10/32
Henry Grattan Dublin City Celbridge & Simonstown Duke of Leinster 50 Naas 12/10/32
John Gaffney Confy [Confey] Leixlip Thomas Whitsitt Esq 10 Maynooth 20/10/32
John Goucher Grangewilliam Grangewilliam Duke of Leinster 10 ditto 5/1/1836
John Hackett Musichall Musichall [sic] ——— 50 ditto 20/10/32
Chas Wm Hamilton Hamwood, co Meath Knockmulrooney ——— 20 ditto 5/1/36
Jas Smyth Law[e] Leixlip Leixlip ——— 50 ditto 20/10/32
Patrick McGuinness Leixlip Leixlip Mrs Warner 10 ditto 23/10/32
Michael Moore Leixlip Leixlip Col Conolly 10 ditto 23/10/32
*Bartholomew Meab Newtown Newtown Duke of Leinster 10 Naas 11/4/1836
Edward Murtagh Kellystown Kellystown Duke of Leinster 10 Naas 11/4/36
Sylvester Reilly Leixlip Leixlip Rev Wm Hamilton 10 Maynooth 22/10/32
Rev Henry Stewart Esker, co Dublin Leixlip ———- 50 Maynooth 30/6/1835
Thomas Timmons Leixlip Leixlip Rev Wm Hamilton 10 ditto 22/10/32
John Van Homrigh Upr Mount St, Dublin Stacumnie [sic] ———- 50 Naas 11/4/36
Thos Walsh Blakestown Blakestown Duke of Leinster 10 ditto 12/11/32
John Wilson Rusk, co Meath Allenswood ———- 50 ditto 11/4/36
Voter’s Name Abode Site of Franchise Landlord Value Place & Date of Registering
B A R O N Y O F N O R T H S A L T
John Henry Browne St Wolstan’s St Wolstan’s Wm Browne 10
Robert Clayton Browne View Mt., co Carlow Donacomper Wm Browne 20
Jas Caulfield Benowen, co Westmeath Weston Park ———- 50
Richard Cane Dawson St, Dublin St Wolstan’s ———- 50
Alex John Humfrey Gardiner St, Dublin St Wolstan’s & Newbridge —— 50
B A R O N Y O F N O R T H C A R B U R Y
Richard Grattan Collinstown Drummin ———- 50
B A R O N Y O F I K E A T H Y
Thomas Herbert Leixlip Graiglaurence ———- 50
* May be in north west Kildare, not Leixlip’s Newtown.
[Alphabetical List of Registered Voters, NLI Ms 1398]
Dr Henry Hutchinson Stewart (b 1797), son of Rev Henry Stewart, had been from about this time involved in dispensing medicine to the ‘distressed poor of the parish’ (of Leixlip and Lucan) through the Lucan Temporary Relief Fund, whose treasurer was his father. [Nessa O’Connor, Palmerstown – An Ancient Place, Dublin, 2003, p107-8.] See 1857.
1838: A memorial of a deed dated the 21/11/1838, on the marriage of Henry Courtney Esq, Lurgan St, Dublin, and Grace Hilles, Spinster (daughter of James Hilles, Snr?), of Abbey Street, Dublin, following the death of James Hilles of Abbey St. His widow, Winifrede Hilles, had obtained administration of his estate in the Prerogative court (he died intestate) about 24/11/1835. The memorial and deed recited the fact that James Hilles had leased, from 1/5/`829, from Daniel Farrell of Beechwood, Co Roscommon, several parcels of land and premises about Abbey Street for the residue of a term of 99 years at a rent of £132 16s. He had them at his death. In an indenture dated 9/2/1836, Winifred Hilles of Abbey St did for the considerations mentioned assign and make over to Grace Hilles, her execs etc, the premises contained in the deed of 1/5/1829 for the remainder of the term, with the consent of Malcolm Wm Hilles. And noting the indenture dated /12/1837 between Winifred Hilles and Grace Hilles, Winifred, for the considerations mentioned, assigned the Bridge House to Grace Hilles for the remainder of the term, subject tot he rent. Now mindful of the intended marriage of Henry Courtney and Grace Hilles, she, Grace, with the consent of Henry Courtney, did sell and transfer the Bridge House and garden at Leixlip and the various Dublin properties as aforementioned to James Hilles (Jnr), Esq., of Newport, Co. Mayo and Edward John Irwin, Esq of Dublin, and to their executors, heirs and assigns. Henry Courtney’s and Edward J Irwin’s signatures attached. [Registry of Deeds Memo No1838-21-169.]
1838: Wm Goodshaw died on 22/4/1838 and was buried at Leixlip [St Mary’s CofI burial records]. Headstone has 1828 – most probably an error.
1838: Henry D Inglis, Journey through Ireland, 1838, includes reference to “breakfast at Mrs Collin’s inn at Leixlip” a half mile beyond Leixlip (at Collinstown?). [See Jeremiah Newman, Maynooth and Georgian Ireland, Galway, 1979, p252.]
1839: On 7/1/1839 an awful hurricane occurred in Dublin between 12 noon and 5pm, with several lives lost, many churches damaged, an immense number of houses and trees destroyed. [Catholic Directory 1840, p342.]
1839: John Goodshaw, "formerly of Leixlip," died on 26/4/1839 and was buried at Leixlip (St Mary’s CofI burial records). Headstone has 1829 – most probably an error.
1839: Jane Caroline Tuton, of Rockbrook, Co. Dublin, had her estate, will attached, administered by the Prerogative Court [57th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland]. She may be a relative of Richard Tuton, Leixlip. In an 1841 deed of release, Richard Tuton is described as formerly of Dublin City and then Liverpool, which deed concerned a 1 acre plot on the south and west side of the Newbridge, near the Castletown entrance lane [Registry of Deeds Memo No: 1841-19-32].
1839: Ellen Catherine Saunders, daughter of James Glascock, of the Music Hall, died on 21/9/1839; it is likely that she had a daughter, also Ellen, Saunders, of Fortgranite, Co Wicklow [Deed, ref. 1840-4-15]. Her husband, Morley Saunders, Doctor of Laws, of Saunders Grove, nr. Baltinglass, had died with will, 4/4/1737[?] [Wills Summaries: Prerogative Court, 1737, T.12753, NA].
1839: A list of parish priests prepared by the RC Archbishop of Dublin includes [John] Cainen at Maynooth (incl Leixlip). The bishop had forgotten his first name, on this and at least one other occasion! [O’Riordan, opus cit]
1840: An indenture made 3/2/1840 between Ellen Saunders, spinster, of Fort Granite, Co Wicklow, and The Rev JTC Saunders, of Liverpool, and Augusta Sophia Saunders, his wife, and Robert Francis Saunders of Saunder’s Grove, Co Wicklow, Esq. About 10/6/1749 the Rt Hon Wm Conolly demised to Chris Glascock the Black Castle holding, then in Glascock’s possession; also on same date Conolly demised to Glascock the houses etc on the Tenter Pk, the Furry Hill and the island between the orchards of the Tenter Park and the Liffey; and on 19/11/1750 John Johnston of Dublin City demised to Glascock Tyands land, Upper division, about 8 ½ acres in the manor of Leixlip, and another indenture dated c1/9/1788 Conolly demised to Glascock the Island Farm, c 60 acres; also several fields in Collinstown of c12 acres; also Hamilton’s Farm in the same manor, c6 acres, plantation measure. Now James Glascock made a will dated 4/5/1800 leaving to Francis Wm Greene and Owen Saunders all his real and freehold estates etc from the trusts therein mentioned. And another indenture dated 1/6/1813 between Rev George Stakely [?] of Eccles St, executor of John Everard, Dublin City, Esq, deceased, demised plots of ground in Stonybatter, given to Greene & Saunders to hold from 29/9/1808 for 39 years upon trusts and to and for the uses in Jas Glascock’s will etc [and more lands not in Leixlip]. Ellen Katherine Saunders, by virtue of the power of attorney given her in the will of James Glascock, hereby appoint that al the real and leasehold estates for lives or years of which her late father, except the Music Hall, should stand charged with the sum of £923 1s 6d Stg to be paid to her daughter Ellen Saunders, her execs and assigns, and as Ellen Katherine Saunders died 21/9/1839 and the said Augusta Sophia Saunders in possession of £1,000 Stg in her own right and with the consent of Jams T C Saunders agreed with Ellen Saunders for the absolute sale of the said sum of £923 odd charged on the lands etc and at the same time required Ellen Saunders to execute a proper deed of assignment and Robert Francis Saunders was paid the £923 odd. [Registry of Deeds Memo No 1840-4-5.]
1840: The Irish Penny Journal, no.15, October 10, 1840, Vol I, contains a leading article extolling the merits of the views from Leixlip Bridge, and describes the town centre as rundown.
1840: John Young of Lucan, surveyor to the turnpike commissioners, reported on several occasions about the need to repair a wall opposite the RC Chapel at Leixlip, which he found dangerous to passengers [of stage coaches] [Turnpike Minutes, Feb. and March, 1840].
1840: St Mary’s Cof I Register of Births, records an entry on 31/5/1840:"Ellen daughter of John & Ellen Mitchell of the Mill. Baptised the 31st of May 1840"
1840: By this year there were 8,500 members of the RIC, located in 1,400 new barracks which were mostly in villages. [Liz Curtis, The Cause of Ireland, Belfast, 1994, p20.]
1840-44: During the years 1840 to 1844 nearly a quarter of a million persons emigrated from Ireland to North America. [Liz Curtis, The Cause of Ireland, Belfast, 1994, p40.]
1841: Both the footpath and battlements of the Salmon Leap Bridge at Leixlip were in need of repair, having several breaches in them, according to the surveyor’s report to the turnpike commissioners. The surveyor, Young, was given £10 to do the job under supervision… [Turnpike Minutes, October 1840 – April 1841]. At that time there was a retaining wall on the west side of the bridge, where the railings now is. By 1843 part, near the Salmon Leap entrance, required buttressing and £20 was allocated for this purpose.
1841: Slator’s Directory, 1846, states that Leixlip’s population was 1,086 in 1841; Celbridge’s 1,289. Henry Courtney, Leixlip, was listed as an Iron Founder – the only one in the town; George Arthur was one at Lucan, and there were four millers listed: (all) John – Mitchell, Hopkins, Nixon, and Read. John Dewan had been replaced by Mrs Ann Dewan. St Mary’s graveyard has a headstone in memory of John Dwen [sic], who died 19/1/1838; his wife, Anne, died 5/8/1847, aged 86 years, according to the headstone. Eight Reads are listed in Wilson’s Dublin Directory, 1818, including I. Read, Sheriff’s peer, knife and sword cutler and surgical instrument maker, College Green; another T. Read & Co of 4 Parliament St has the same occupation.
1841: Report of the commissioners appointed to take the census of Ireland for the year 1841, HoCJ, 1843.
1842: George Fergusson (the earlier, and MD, likely father of Wm.?) died with will, administered by the Prerogative Court. [Deputy Keeper’s 55th Report]. This may possibly be the will of the first George Fergusson of Leixlip, who died in 1821. Difficult to reconcile with Medical Directory for Ireland for 1862, which had (the second) George Ferguson, MD, still listed in 1862 but gone by 1870. George, LRCSI, the MD was resident at Waltham Tce., Merrion Ave., Blackrock, Co. Dublin in Crolly’s Directory for 1843.
1842: In a deed of trust dated 28/12/1842 between Rev Caesar Otway’s heir and administrator, his son, Hastings Otway, of Leeson St, and Mary Wellington Stevenson, Co Cavan, and Richard Bobbington, Co Derry, for 10 shillings paid by John Stephenson and others transferred to JL [=James Lawe?] part of the lands of Newtown in the possession of the late Caesar Otway [c22 acres], mentioned in a lease dated 1/9/1817 bounded by the Royal Canal, the road from Leixlip to the Canal on the west, partly by a lane and other parts of Newtown.
1842: In the House Book for Leixlip Parish [Ref: O.L.5.3934, NA], compiled January, 1842, John Mitchell is the occupier of no.6, the flour mill and residence. The (caretaker’s) house had a valuation of £4 .17.11. There were also a kiln, a paper and packing room, clerk’s office, a flour mill measuring 49ft 6" x 22ft x 17ft high; another flour mill 25ft long by 22 ft wide by 22ft high; a screening room 22ft long by 16ft wide by 21ft 6" high; a third flour mill, 19ft by 12ft by 21ft 6" high; a kiln, 15ft 6" by 15ft by 19ft high; a wheat store, 40ft by 21ft by 18ft 6" high; another, ditto, 25ft 6" by 18ft by 18ft 6" and a tiled stable, 25ft by 12ft 6" by 6ft high.
The valuer reported: "There are 2 water wheels to this mill, 1 wheel was good and 1 wheel old, each 16ft diameter and 2′ 6" wide .. are 28 places [?] to each wheel … stones for grinding, 4ft 8in each; 2 pair of stones for shelling, 5ft diameter and old; ..7 months of the year at 20 hours in the 24…The mill grinds and shells at the same time ; 4… of elevators to the mill [wheel], which turns around 12 times in a minute. Dublin market is 8 Irish miles off. 1 chaffing machine to the mill.. they have to contend with back water in the River sometimes and the adjoining [iron mills] makes use of the water occasionally".
To ‘chase’ is to emboss; chassing may refer to the shaping of shovels, believed to be made at the iron mills. [Probably chaffing of wheat etc]
1842: In the House Book for Leixlip Parish [Ref: O.L.5.3934, NA], compiled January, 1842:
In the same reference, Mr Henry Courtney is the occupier of no. 9 in 1842 [Written in red ink, Mrs Frances Law]. His premises consist of:
House, Iron Works, 22ft 6" by 20ft 6in by 15ft high; house over store under, 28ft 6in by 16ft 6in by 16ft 6 in high; two stables, stone floored, now waste; old smelting house, 40ft by 28ft by 8ft; blowing machine office, 21ft by 17ft by 8ft; hammer mills, not floored, 61ft by 18ft 6in by 8ft high; rolling mill, not floored, 27ft by 19ft 6in by 8ft high; ditto, 25ft by 24ft by 8ft high; mill for forging shovels, 25ft by 16ft by 8ft; finishing shovels shop, 22ft 6in by 20ft by 8ft; ditto, 62ft by 15ft 6in by 8ft.
"There are 3 water wheels in the Iron Works, 2 of them 18ft diameter and the other 12ft diameter. The larger wheels have 32 floats(?) each and the small one 24. Breadth of floats on large wheels, 2ft 9in and on small, 14 inches. They can work the 3 wheels at one time – fall of water 8ft. Has plenty of water for the work for 9 months in the year. The usual time of working the mills is 12 hours daily but they occasionally work at night".
By 5th March 1850, the visiting valuer, J. Power, wrote: "all now in ruins except the old dwelling and a few offices. See new House
book". [Probably made by him in 1850, which see..] This was reflected in a reduction in the valuation from £81.0.0 to £54.0.0.
1842: The Dublin Journal of temperance, science and literature, No VII, Saturday 11/6/1842, reported on a visit of Fr Theo Matthew of Cork at noon the previous Saturday to Lucan, with many bands present, including the Leixlip band. Around 20,000 persons were reported to have gathered to hear his oration. [RD Walshe, Cuttings and Notes, Lucan and Leixlip, 19th & 20thc, MS 11658 NLI.]
1843: James Goodshaw of Leixlip, Co Kildare, was a licensed apothecary practising at Leixlip and Dunboyne this year and for the next three years [Crolly’s The Irish Medical Directory, for 1843 and 1846].
1843: A George Fergusson and a Sarah Mahon obtained a marriage licence in the Dublin diocese in 1843: Is this our Dr Fergusson (George 2nd)? Was it his widow, Sarah Fergusson who handed over their Leixlip property to Lawe’s executors? [Deputy Keeper, 30th Report] A George Fergusson, son of John Fergusson, merchant, boarded at TCD from October 14, 1836, aged 18 years; there is no record of him graduating. Perhaps he’s the same as the above groom? [Alumni, TCD].
1843: There is no evidence that Bianconi’s (1786-1875) stage-coaches travelled through Leixlip. However, Hartley’s and other coach companies did. Charles Bianconi made a verbatim speech, at short notice, to the British Association, meeting in Cork on 19/8/1843. He began by stating that up to 1815, the business was confined to a few mail and day coaches. In July 1815 he started what is now a fleet of 100 vehicles, including mail coaches and different sized cars, with from 4 to 20 passengers each, travelling at 8 or 9 mph on average, including stoppages at stations for changes of horses, and each passenger paying an average of 1¼ d per mile; doing 3,800 miles daily through 140 stations for changes of horses; consuming 3 to 4 thousand tons of hay p.a. and between 30 and 40 thousand barrels of oats p.a. Each station employs from 1 to 8 grooms; there are about 100 drivers and about 1300 horses. He provided no Sunday work (because this was a religious country) except for Post and canal work. They now travel day and night without interruption. Each employee is paid superannuated full wages in old age and under accident, and he employed pay plus fee incentive schemes. He observed that his example was followed by others. There was no report, however, of his mentioning the threat of the railways, already upon him… [The Examiner newspaper? : Duke of Leinster’s press clippings, PRONI D/3078/6/7; MIC 541/25].
Bianconi’s Dublin HQ were at Clondalkin, where he had 60 to 200 horses; his coaches, painted yellow and crimson. Each coach held 25 passengers along with the mail. [John Cowell, Dublin’s Famous People, Dublin, 1980, p24-5.]
See 1832 entry.
1844: Parish records commence this year for RC Parish of Leixlip. As Leixlip and Maynooth were the one parish until c1980, earlier data for baptisms, marriages and deaths will be contained in the records of St Patrick’s Parish Church, Maynooth. [See Karel Kiely, ‘Reports on Projects’, JKAS, Vol XVIII, Part II, 1994-95, p258-262.]
1844: Con Costello, Kildare Saints, Soldiers & Horses, Naas, 1991,p156-9: Peat industry is discussed. About 1844 at Cappagh, CW Williams started a factory to compress peat which, after drying in the open air, was sent to Dublin on the Royal Canal barges. He also made charcoal there, but after five years the factory failed. See JKAS, Vols 10 and 14[?]. A compressed peat factory was started some time in this century or early 20th century at Pound St, Leixlip, where Leixlip DIY premises are now located.
1844: St Mary’s, ibid., for 25/1/1844: "Daniel Molloy = son of John & Ellen Mitchell of the Mill Leixlip – aged 1 year", which suggests his birth in 1843. However, Daniel Molloy appears to have died a short time later, because on the 21/3/1845 the Mitchell couple had another Daniel baptised at St Mary’s.
1844: Edward Conolly demised, in a lease dated 17/4/1844 to John Figgis, a trustee in the will of Thomas Goodshaw, formerly of Leixlip and since deceased, the house called Thunder’s tenement in the possession of Thos. Goodshaw and Anne Shelly and their undertenants. [Castletown Papers, Box 27, IAA]. Although no map was attached, there is a map on a renewal lease dated 23/2/1856; this shows the area, 27 perches, to be L-shaped extending from the corner of Mill Lane and Dublin Road – approximately the area now occupied by the EBS – towards the vehicular entrance in the Lane and thence eastwards along that entrance about twice that depth. A sketch has been made in m/s notes.
Thomas Thunder, of Leixlip, had two daughters baptised at St Mary’s: Mary, 11 December,1744 and Bridget, 1 February, 1748 (parish data for 1745 to 1747 is missing). On 19 April 1762 is recorded a baptism of a son to Patrick Thunder of Leixlip, at St Mary’s..
Note that two Figgis women married two Goodshaws in 1811 and 1823, respectively. Wm Goodshaw had a lease on no.1 Dublin Road Street which passed to John Figgis between 1840 and 1859, according to the Rates books for the area.
1845: In January the Duke of Leinster came from Carton to Adamstown, Lucan, to dig the first sod for the railway line from Dublin to Kildare. Within 6 months the line had been taken from Hazelhatch to Sallins. [Padraic O’Ferrall, A History of County Kildare, Dublin, 2003, p86.]
1845: In the Appendix to minutes of evidence taken before her majesty’s commissioners of inquiry into the state of the law and practice in respect of the occupation of land (Devon Commission), 1845, xix-xxii, are listed the following witnesses and their occupations: John Molloy (farmer); Samuel Robinson miller/farmer, and Robert Stoney, attorney/agent. Is Samuel Robinson the father of Samuel Robison Roe, later of Leixlip? The Molloy surname appears as a second name in the Mitchell (milling) family, who were related to the Robinsons. See c 1876.
1845: Pettigrew & Oulton – Dublin Almanack, 1845, has the following entries:
Courtney & Stephens, agricultural implement factory and iron works, 1 Blackhall Place
Courtney, Henry esq., 24 Fitzwilliam Place [This was the home address of Henry the iron founder; see wills summaries.]
Courtney, Henry K. esq., 1 Usher’s Island
Courtney, Wm esq., Blackhall Place
Courtney, Wm, hot and cold calandars, 7 Lurgan Street
1845: The turnpike commissioners provided an estimated £3 odd to cut down the hill on the road between Leixlip Bridge and Cooltrina [sic] lane and underpinning Mr Vesey’s demesne wall. A committee of Rev. Stewart, Dr Ferguson and I French were to arrange for its execution. Without the initial, this sounds like Dr William Fergusson. [Turnpike Minutes, 3/4/1845]
1845-50: A busy time for railway contracts here and in the UK for iron founders [Mallet, p.126]
At their meeting of the 2/4/1846, the turnpike commissioners were concerned as to whether the bridge "now about to be erected by the Midland & Great Western Railway Company under the Turnpike road near Leixlip, be conformable with the Act of Parliament regulating the construction of bridges over said railway and if not, then said Committee are hereby empowered to take such steps as they may deem necessary…"
1846: John D’Alton wrote "Notes on the History of Co. Kildare", [JKAS, Vol X, 1922-1928, p.20+], with references to the commercial opportunities of the Leixlip area and the names of English settlers in the time of Queen Elizabeth [MSS TCD, F.i.21]. These include Fyan and Brannagh [really Walsh of Wales] of Leixlip and Pippard of Luetston?
1846: Slator’s (aka Pigot’s) Directory for 1846 lists a Henry Courtney, Leixlip, under the heading ‘Iron Founders’. There is none other in this category at Leixlip. The same directory listed John Mitchell, Leixlip, as ‘Millers’. Walter Glascock is described as "assistant registrar of deeds, Henrietta Street and 47 Lr. Sackville St, home at Rathmines."
Additionally it records for Dublin:
Courtney & Stephens, as in 1845.
Courtney, Henry, hot and cold calenderer, 7 Lurgan Street,
Courtney, Henry, iron, steel and shovel manufacturer, 50 Middle Abbey Street
Courtney, Henry Knox, merchant [Duggan & Classon], house, 1 Usher’s Island
Courtney, Wm, iron founder [Courtney & Stephens], 1 Blackhall Place
Hilles & Co. were listed as Iron, etc…. works at Leixlip, but no residence for any Hilles (James being dead since c.1837).
1846: Courtney & Stephens won a very large contract with the Midland Great Western Railway Company [Mallet, p.86]
1846: The Mitchell couple had a daughter, Susan, privately baptised by the Rev RL Tynan(?) of St Mary’s.
c.1846: Rates Books have John Mitchell, miller, occupier of the Bridge/Toll House. In March, 1847 Mitchell wrote to the Turnpike Commissioners complaining of the poor state of the road, the bridge having been reported the previous month as having a major fault requiring the construction of a supporting buttress. Mitchell was the tenant of the Corn and Flour Mill in Mill Lane. The particulars in the House Book for the Town of Leixlip (compiled, March, 1850 by James Montgomery as part of Griffith’s valuation) state that a lease of 61 years at a rent of £16 was taken in 1846.
1846: Abstract of Police Report on the state of the potato crop in Leixlip, County Kildare, dated 30/7/1846. [Relief Commission papers, RLFC3/1, No. 4863, NAI.]
1846: Two daily schools were operating in the parish of Leixlip, “having on their books 92 males and 53 females; and two infant schools in the parish – the one for the children of the poor, the other for the children of the middle and upper classes, and the former supported by subscription – were attended on the average by 9 boys and 57 girls.” [Leixlip in the Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, 1846, p616.] At the same time the parish of Lucan had 6 daily schools within the parish. “One of the schools was parochial, and was supported by £45 or £50 from a charity sermon, and by other contributions; one was an infant school, in connection with the former, and was supported out of weekly collection at church; and one was a National school, and was salaried with £14 from the Board, and £20 from a collection at a sermon in the Roman Catholic chapel.” [opus cit, p705-6.] The Spa Hotel, Lucan, [now the County Bar] was no more in use as such, but was at this time a School for the Sons of Clergy. [p705.]
c1847: Walter Berwick, surviving son of Rev Edward Berwick of Leixlip, was made President of the Queen’s University of Galway. For more particulars see NUI –Galway website. A photograph of a memorial to him is in Peter Pearson, Decorative Dublin, Dublin, 2002, p155. It was erected at Berwick House, later Scotch Rath, Dalkey, Co Dublin, by his wife Harriette Berwick, (died before 1895), in his memory and that of their only child, Harriette Mary Berwick, 1895.
c1847: A table (p cvlii) provides the number of emigrants per county to Great Britain. The average proportion of emigrants to population was 1 to 142 persons nationwide, with 1 per 222 in Kildare, which ranked 18th starting with Mayo, 1 in 37 persons. 57,651 in total emigrated to GB, compared to an estimated 55K to foreign countries. [Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, Vol 1, A-C, Dublin, 1849, p cxliii.]
1847: Burke’s Landed Gentry, 1847, describes (p. 1190 and 1191) the pedigree of the Saunders’ family in detail. There were two Irish branches, those at Saunders Grove, Co. Wicklow, headed by Robert Francis Saunders, and the other of Largay, Co. Cavan, whose head was Richard Saunders (in 1847). The family’s roots derive from the Lords of Innsbruck, in Germany. The Irish family derived from Robert Saunders who came to Ireland with Cromwell, holding a regiment under him. Robert had three sons, Richard (of Saunders Court, Co Wexford); Anderson, who established the Cavan branch of the family; and Robert, his namesake. This Robert was grandfather of Morley Saunders, Prime Sergeant to Queen Anne. The latter’s eldest son, also Morley Saunders, was established at Saunders Grove, Co Wicklow. He married Ellen Katherine Glascock, daughter and heiress of James Glascock, of the Music Hall, Leixlip [She died on 20/9/1839, according to the memorial of deed, ref no 1840-4-15]. They in turn had six children. By 1847, all but their sons, Robert Francis Saunders (their heir to Saunders’ Grove) and Rev James Thomas Conolly Saunders had died. The latter married Augusta Sophia, daughter of John Lloyd Williams, Esq, of Alderbrook Hall in Camarthenshire; they had children. Morley Saunders of Saunders Grove died in 1825 and was succeeded by his son, Robert Francis Saunders.
In 1847, Robert Francis Saunders was a magistrate for Cos. Wicklow, Kildare & Carlow.
1847: The Ladies’ [Famine] Relief Association of the Quakers gave very little money to Co Kildare, suggesting that the county was one of the least affected by the famine. Their expenditure nationwide in 1847 was over £12, 855, of which Leinster received £1,607 and of which Co Kildare received £60. The following year Kildare got £58 16s 4d, while Queen’s County [Laois] got £359. [Con Costello, Kildare, Donaghmee, Co Down, 2005, p83].
1848: Lease dated 26/4/1848, from Edward Conolly to James Thos Conolly Saunders, of Middlesex, and his wife Augusta Sophia Saunders, of the 2nd part and Rev. Thos F Greene and Augustus Lloyd Williams, Jersey Island, of the 3rd part – the Black Castle holding. In the lease it was agreed to nominate Morley Benjamin Saunders, eldest son of the Saunders couple, in place of King George IV who had died, as the third life. Morley Benjamin Saunders was born in Co. Carlow and received his early education at Cheltenham College .He entered TCD as a boarder in July 2, 1849, aged 19 and was awarded BA and MA in 1854 and 1858, respectively, by TCD [Alumni, ibid.] See 1816 for details of James Thos. Conolly Saunders, SC, born c. 1795, Dublin.
Lease dated 26/4/1848 from Edward Michael Conolly to Rev JTC Saunders of Dorcester Place, Co. Middlesex, (and his wife?) – the Tenther Park etc., Leixlip. The lease was last renewed on the 1/x/1826 for the lives of King George IV, Robert F Saunders, and JTC Saunders; an addition (George IV being dead) of the Rev. James Saunders, of Athy, was agreed.
1848: Col. Edward Michael Conolly died and was succeeded by Tom Conolly.
1849: Queen Victoria visited Carton on the Friday previous to 10/8/1849, travelling in a party of four open carriages, each drawn by four horses, in the first of which travelled the Queen, Prince Albert and Lord and Lady Clarendon. They left the Phoenix Park at noon, travelling through White’s Gate and along the woodlands to Carton. There were triumphal arches, flags, laurels and wreaths along the way and the part arrived at Carton at 1.10pm. Carton’s grounds were open to the public and many ladies and gents were present in addition to "many of the poorer classes". The Queen was loudly cheered and remained for one hour before returning to the Phoenix Park [Duke of Leinster’s collection of press cuttings, 1784-1884; PRONI D/3078/6/7 MIC 541/25]. She arrived aboard her yacht, the Victoria and Albert, at Kingstown. She enjoyed her visit and sympathised with Irish Catholics on the grounds that, as a majority, they could not be called dissenters. A quotation attributed to her (during that day) is in JKAS, Vol XVIII, 1998-99, p582; the source is quoted.
1849: Lt. Col. Samuel White granted a fee farm grant of the land now on folio No 1885 [i.e. north of the lower millrace, Toll House] to Thomas Conolly by indenture dated 5/12/1849, mineral and sporting rights excepted. [Folio 1885, Co. Kildare, Land Registry]
1849: A notice served by Patrick Farrell on Edward Conolly indicated his intention to surrender his tenancy. The notice was prepared by Daniel Simmonds, Edward Conolly’s agent. Farrell, who signed with an X mark, when surrendering his house and premises in the town of Leixlip, which house was formerly held by Jas Garland, dated 30/4/1849. He is unlikely to be Patrick Farrell, who tenanted the flour-mills in 1862 and who was literate, but was most likely one of the other Farrell families then in the town. [Castletown Papers, Box 23, IAA].
1849: Eliza Goodshaw, daughter of William, and now aged 20 and a half, living at Leinster Terrace, Rathmines, married William Matheson, a gentleman of Castlewood Terrace, Rathmines, and son of William Mullens? Matheson, Gentleman, on 20/3/1849 in York Street Independent Meeting House by a state ceremony. John Figgis was one witness. [Marriage Cert available].
1849: Sarah Figgis Goodshaw, older daughter of William Goodshaw (deceased since 1838), now aged 21 and a half, and living at 4 Tivoli Terrace, Kingstown, married Robert Richardson, a merchant, of 17 Upper George’s Street, Kingstown, and son of Richard Richardson, gentleman. William was described as a gentleman. The marriage was conducted in the Wesleyan [Methodist] Chapel, Kingstown, by Andrew Brownlee. Thomas Figgis was one witness [Marriage Cert available].
A continuation of a chronology of Leixlip from 1836-1849 by John Colgan. Our thanks to John
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