The ancient
kingdom of Leinster comprised the present counties of
Wexford, Wicklow, Carlow, and Queen's County, the greater
part of Kildare, of King's County, Kilkenny, and that
part of Dublin south of the river Liffey. Parts of
Kilkenny bordering on Tipperary, and the southern parts
of the King's County, belonged to ancient Munster; and
some of the northern part of the King's County belonged
to the province of Meath. The above named territories
continued to be the limits of Leinster down to the reign
of Queen Elizabeth; but in after times the old kingdom of
Meath was added to Leinster, and also the county Louth,
which was a part of the ancient kingdom of Ulster.
The territories now forming the
counties of Dublin and Klldare are connected with some of
the earliest events in Irish history: Partholan or
Bartholinus, the Scythian, who planted the first colony
in Ireland, had his residencie at Binn Eadair, now the
Hill of Howth. At this place Bartholinus was cut off by a
plague, together with his entire colony; all of whom were
buried, according to some authors, at Moy-nEalta or the
Plain of Birds, afterwards called Clontarf; but according
to O'Brien these people were buried at a place called
Tamlachta Muntir Partholain (signifying the burial cairns
of the people of Bartholinus), which is now the Hill of
Tallaght, near Dublin. Crimthann Niadh-Nar, Monarch of
Ireland when Christ was born, had his chief residence and
fortress, called Dun Crimthann or Crimthann's Fort, on
the Hill of Howth; and so had Conary the great, the 97th
Monarch of Ireland. Crimthann Niadh-Nar was a famous
warrior, celebrated for his military expeditions to Gaul
and Britain; and brought to Ireland from foreign
countries many valuable spoils,; amongst other things a
gilded war-chariot, two hounds coupled together with a
silver chain, and valued at three hundred cows; according
to the Glossary of King Cormac MacCullenan of Cashel,
this was the first introduction of greyhounds into
Ireland. The ancient Irish kings and chieftains (like
their Celtic or Scythian ancestors), as well as those of
Gaul and Britain, fought in war-chariots, in the same
manner as did Maud (elsewhere mentioned), the famous
heroine and Queen of Connaught; and as did the British
Queen Boadicea, etc. Numerous memorials of the most
remote ages still exist in the counties of Dublin and
Kildare, as in all other parts of Ireland; of which full
accounts may be found in D'Alton's History of the County,
and of the Archbishops of Dublin; Ware's and Grose's
Antiquities; Vallancey's Collectanea, etc. --
CONNELLAN
THE following accounts of the ancient
chiefs of the territories now forming the counties of
Dublin and Kildare, together with some of the princes and
chiefs of Meath have been collected from the Topographies
of O'Dugan, O'Heerin, the Annals of the Four Masters,
O'Brien, O'Halloran, MacGeoghegan, Ware, O'Flaherty,
Charles O'Connor, Seward, and various other sources:
O'Connor, princes of Offaley;
O'Moore, princes of Leix;
O'Dempsey, lords of Clanmaliere,
all possessed parts of Kildare.
The O'Tooles, princes of Imaile,
in Wicklow, also possessed some of the southern
parts of Kildare;
and the O'Tooles, together with
the O'Byrnes, extended their power over the
southern parts of Dublin, comprising the
districts in the Dublin mountains...
MacFogarty, lords of South
Bregia, are mentioned by the Four Masters in the
tenth century.
O'Clardha or O'Carey, chiefs of
Cairbre O'Ciardha, now the barony of
"Carbery" in the county Kildare.
O'Murcain or O'Murcan.
O'Bracain or O'Bracken, chiefs of
Moy Liffey. The O'Murcans and O'Brackens appear
to have possessed the districts along the Liffey,
near Dublin.
O'Gealbhroin, chiefs of Clar
Liffé, or the Plain of the Liffey, a territory
on the borders of Dublin and Kildare.
O'Fiachra, chiefs of
Hy-Ineachruis at Almhuin [Allen]; and O'Haodha or
O'Hea, chiefs of Hy-Deadhaidh: territories
comprised in the county Kildare.
O'Muirthe or O'Murtha, chiefs of
Cineal Flaitheamhuin (or Clan Fleming); and
O'Fintighearan, chiefs of Hy-Mealla: territories
also situated in the county Kildare, it would
appear in the baronies of East and West Ophaley
or Offaley.
O'Cullin or O'Cullen, chiefs of
Coille Culluin (or the Woods of Cullen), now the
barony of "Kilcullen" in the county
Kildare.
O'Colgan, MacDonnell, O'Dempsey,
and O'Dunn, were all chiefs of note in Kildare.
O'Dubthaigh or O'Duffy, one of
the Leinster clans of the race of the Monarch
Cahir Mór; and of the same descent as
MacMorough, kings of Leinster, and O'Toole and
O'Byrne, chiefs of Wicklow. Originally located in
Kildare and Carlow, and afterwards in Dublin and
Meath, the O'Duffys migrated in modern times to
Louth, Monaghan, Cavan, Galway, and Roscommon.
O'Fagan or MacFagan are
considered by some to be of English descent.
D'Alton, in his "History of the County
Dublin," mentions some of this family who,
in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
centuries were high sheriffs, in Meath and
Dublin. In former times the Fagans of Feltrim,
near Dublin, and other parts of that county, were
highly respectable, and held extensive
possessions.
O'Murphy, chiefs in Wexford, were
also numerous in the counties of Dublin and
Meath.
O'Mullen, numerous in Meath,
Dublin, and Kildare.
MacGiolla-mocholmog or Gilcolm,
and O'Dunchada or O'Donoghoe, are mentioned by
O'Dugan as lords of Fingal, near Dublin: and, as
mentioned in the chapter on
"Hy-Kinsellagh," there was another
MacGiollamocholmog, lord of a territory on the
borders of Wicklow.
O'Muircheartaigh, O'Moriarty, or
O'Murtagh, chiefs of the tribe of O'Maine; and
O'Modarn, chiefs of Cineal Eochain, are mentioned
by O'Dugan as chiefs of the Britons or Welsh; and
appear to have been located near Dublin.
MacMuireagain, lords of East
Liffey, in the tenth century.
DUBLIN The modern city was established in the 9th
century, c. 831, by marauding Scandinavians, who
thereafter set up a ramshackle Kingdom. This state
endured for more than 300 years, although after the
Viking defeat at Clontarf in 1014 they were reduced to
vassals of the High Kings or of the Kings of Leinster, as
Jarls of Dublin.
- Ivar III (in Waterford 961-1000) -- ( 994-995 d.
1000 )
- Sihtric III (restored) (Waterford 1014-22 ?) -- (
995-1035 ).
- Margad -- ( 1035-1038 d. 1052 ).
- Ivar IV -- ( 1038-1046 ).
- Margad (restored) -- ( 1046-1052 ).
- To Leinster -- ( 1052-1072 ).
- Gudred -- ( 1072-1075 ).
- To Leinster -- ( 1075-1119 ).
- Thorfinn -- ( 1119-1124 ).
- To Ireland (the High Kings) -- ( 1124-1136 ).
- Ragnald -- ( 1136-1146 ).
- Ottar -- ( 1146-1148 ).
- Brodar -- ( 1148-1160 ).
- Astell -- ( 1160-1170 ).
- To England -- ( 1170-1539 )
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The grant of the
Kingdom of Meath to Hugh de Lacy by King Henry the
Second, De Lacy and his barons became possessed of the
greater portion of the present county Dublin; Hugh
Tyrrell got the territory about Caatleknock, which was
long held by his descendants, as barons of Castleknock;
the Phepoes got Santry and Clontarf, and, according to
MaeGeoghegan, Vivian de Cursun got the district of
Raheny, near Dublin, which belonged to Giollamocholmog.
THE following have been denoted as
MAJOR LANDOWNERS in Dublin since the reign of King John:
The De Lacys were lords of Meath
and of a great part of Dublin;
In the year 1384, Robert de Vere,
Earl of Oxford, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,
was created Marquis of Dublin and Duke of
Ireland;
In the present Royal Family of
Great Britain and Ireland, some of the dukes of
Cumberland were earls of Dublin;
Talbot, a branch of the Talbots,
earls of Shrewsbury, Waterford, and Wexford, have
been celebrated families in Dublin and Meath,
chiefly at Malahide and Belgard in the county
Dublin; and were created barons of Malahide, and
barons of Furnival: of these was Richard Talbot,
the celebrated duke of Tyrconnell, Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, under King James the
Second;
The Plunkets, great families in
Dublin, Meath, and Louth, were created barons of
Killeen and earls of Fingal; and branches of
them, barons of Dunsany in Meath, and barons of
Louth; William Conyngham Plunket, formerly Lord
Chancellor of Ireland, was created "Baron
Plunket;"
Preston, viscounts Gormanstown,
and some of them viscounts of Tara;
St. Lawrence, earls of Howth.
Barnwall, vicounts of Kingsland, and barons of
Turvey; and also barons of Trimblestown in Meath;
De Courcey, barons of Kilbarrock;
Fitzwilliam, vicounts of Merrion.
Rawson, viscounts of Clontarf;
Beaumont, viscounts of Swords;
The Molesworths, viscounts of
Swords;
Temple, vicounts Palmerstown or
Palmerston.
Treacy, viscounts of Rathcoole;
Patrick Sarsfield, the celebrated
commander of the Irish forces under King James
the Second, was created "Earl of
Lucan;"
The Binghams are now earls of
Lucan;
The Marquis of Wharton, Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, was created earl of
Rathfarnham;
The family of Loftus, viscounts
of Ely, were also earls of Rathfarnham;
Luttrell, earls of Carhampton;
Leeson, earls of Miltown;
Harman, viscounts of Oxmantown
(the name of an ancient district in the vicinity
of Dublin);
The family of Parsons, earls of
Rosse, in the King's County, are barons of
Oxmantown;
Wenman, barons of Kilmainham.
Barry, barons of Santry;
Caulfield, earls of Charlemont,
resided, until lately at Marino, Clontarf;
Brabazon, earls of Meath, have
extensive possessions in Wicklow and Dublin;
Thomas O'Hagan, of Dublin, Lord
Chancellor of Ireland under the Gladstone
Administration, was A.D. 1870, in the peerage of
the United Kingdom, created "Baron
O'Hagan."
In the county and city of Dublin, the
following have been the principal families, from the
twelfth to the eighteenth century, but some of whom, it
will be seen, are of Irish descent:
Talbot, Tyrrell, Plunket, Preston,
Barnwall, St. Lawrence, Taylor, Cruise, Cusack,
Cogan, White, Walsh, Wall, Warren, Wogan, Woodlock,
Darcy, Netterville, Marward, Phepo, Fitzwilliam,
Fleming, Fitzsimons, Archbold, Archer, Allen, Aylmer,
Ball, Bagot, De Bathe, Butler, Barry, Barret,
Benningham, Brett, Bellew, Blake, Brabazon, Finglas,
Sweetman, Hollywood, Howth, Hussey, Burnell, Dowdall,
Dillon, Segrave, Sarsfield, Stanihurst, Lawless,
Cadell, Evans, Drake, Grace, Palmer, Eustace, Fyan or
Fynes, Foster, Gough, Berrill, Bennet, Brown, Duff,
Nangle, Woder, Tuite, Tew, Trant, Peppard, Luttrell,
Rawson, Vernon, Delahoyde, Usher, Garnet, Hamilton,
Domville, Coghill, Cobb, Grattan, Molesworth,
Latouche, Putland, Beresford, Shaw, Smith, etc.
( For accounts of all those families
and others, see D'Alton's Histories of Dublin and
Drogheda. ).
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