Chapter 12.

Dubber,

Which in 1478 was discharged from all subsidies to the state, [384] on the petition of the abbot of St. Mary’s abbey, [King’s MSS, p. 378.] who appears by inquisition of 1550, to have been seised of a messuage with a dove-house, garden, haggard, 98 acres of land, and an ash-grove therein. The tithes of Dubber were subsequently farmed out by the Lords Lieutenant as part of the royal revenue.

For a notice in 1582, see “Dunsoghly.” In 1611 Sir Christopher Plunkett passed patent for the temporal land in Dubber, one castle, six messuages, and 80 acres, 10 acres near Finglas-Bridge in St. Canice’s parish, all the lands in Balrothery late in the tenure of John Savage, deceased, &c.” [Inquis. in Canc. Hib.]

A wide plain extends at left between this road and the Dublin mountains, and presently, before entering St. Margaret’s, appears at left, on a road which crosses the Ashbourne highway and leads to Mallaghiddart, the fine old castle of

Dunsoghly,

an extensive central square, with four projecting square, angular towers, one occupied by winding stairs, the others carved into small apartments, the windows being all square and spacious.

On entering the central part, a large vaulted kitchen presents itself, into which a comparatively modern entrance has been quarried, a flight of 23 steps leads thence to the drawing-room, a spacious wainscotted apartment, with some old family portraits surrounding the walls, powerfully reminding the spectator of the time, when the spirit of mirth presided in that baronial apartment, when the fire roared through the tunnel of its chimney, and the [385] strong ales and the Gascon wines were lavishly dispensed, while noble gentlemen, long since departed from the stage, and many, whose names have been transmitted with the associations of historic interest, sported with their ladies-loves, and the harper alternately won their willing ears to songs of bold achievement, or the lighter gaiety of dancing measures. A flight of 21 fine stone steps conducts thence to the second floor, and a third of 23 steps to where the third floor should be, but it has been removed, while, above it a further flight of 10 steps ascends to a watch-tower springing from the roof. The view thence. is inconceivably extensive. The church of Screen, the mill of Garristown, the bills of Mullahow, Hollywood, the Man of War, the castle of Baldungan, the shores and vicinity of Lough Shinny, Lambay, Ireland’s Eye, Howth, Bray-head, the Sugar Loafs, the Dublin mountains, the plains of Kildare succeed in the circuit of the extensive panorama, while, in the intermediate and inner scope, St. Margaret’s and its’ ruins, Santry and its woods, Dublin enveloped in haze, and other innumerable objects present themselves. The “dun” in this denomination evinces, by the undying memorial of a name, that a fortress existed here, in times of even more remote antiquity than the settlement of the Plunketts upon it. The present castle is the property of Mrs Kavanagh, one of the descendants and co-heiresses of Sir John Plunkett. Adjoining it is the old family chapel, a small edifice with an old arched doorway, over which a curious slab is inserted, representing [386] the Cross, ladder, nails, ropes, and other accompaniments of the Crucifixion, admirably carved in alto relievo, and below them the letters, “J. P. M. D. D. S. (i.e. Joannes Plunkett Miles de Dun-Soghly), 1573.”

In 1422 the King granted to Henry Stanyhurst, the custody of all the messuages &c., which had belonged to John Finglas of Dunsoghly, in the counties of Dublin or Meath, to hold during the minority of the heir of said John, rent free. [Rot. in Dom. Cap. Westm.]

In 1424 Roger Finglas was relieved from all arrears of crown rent, due by him out of the lands and tenements of Dunsoghly and Oughtermoy. [Ib] Soon afterwards, this place passed into the possession of Sir Rowland Plunkett, the youngest son of Sir Christopher Plunkett, Baron of Killeen, and Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1432.

In 1446 Sir Rowland Plunkett of Dunsoghly Castle, was appointed Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, and, at the commencement of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, his son Sir Thomas Plunkett was appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. In 1559 Sir John Plunkett of Dunsoghly, the grandson of this Sir Thomas, was Chief Justice of the Queen’s Bench, and died in 1582 seized of the manors of Dunsoghly and Oughtermoy, 120 acres; 80 acres in Harristown, Corbally, Donore, and Menygall; 80 acres in Dubber; 20 acres in Porterstown; 30 acres in Balrothery and Fowkestown, &c. [Ib.] He held the manors of Dunsoghly and Oughtermoy from the Archbishop of Dublin by fealty.

In 1641 Colonel Richard Plunkett of Dunsoghly, was an active adherent of the lords of the Pale, and one of those for whose head the Lords Justices and Council offered a reward of £400. In 1666 the House of Commons, taking into consideration “the great sufferings of Sir Henry Tichbourne by the late rebellion, and his many great services,” and considering that by the [387] act for taking away the Court of Wards and liveries, the said Sir Henry was deprived of the benefit of the wardship of Nicholas Plunkett of Dunsoghly, “which was given him by his late majesty, towards a compensation for his losses by and services against the said rebels, for which wardship he gave a considerable fine to his majesty, and underwent other expenses concerning the same;” the Commons, therefore, voted him a sum of £2,000 as a gift in lieu of the said wardship, &c., the same to be paid out or the revenue of hearth-money. This Nicholas (it is said) was the author of “A faithful History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in Ireland, from its beginning in the year 1641 to its conclusion, with an introductory account of the true state and condition of that kingdom before the year 1641, and the most material passages and actions which since that time hath contributed to the calamities it hath undergone,” a work which was long preserved in manuscript by his posterity. From him descended the last Nicholas Plunkett or Dunsoghly, whose estates, on failure of his male issue, were divided amongst his three daughters, Mrs. Grace of Gracefield, Mrs. Malone of Pallas Park, and Mrs. Dunne of Brittas.

Near the ruins of Dunsoghly the botanist will find, *fesluca loliacea, *spiked fescue grass, a grass which, it is to be remarked, rarely perfects its seed, and whose cultivation is consequently inconvenient and expensive; *silene inflada, *bladder catchfly. The natives of Zante cat the boiled leaves of this plant, which are said to partake of the flavour of green peas. - In an adjoining moor is found, *aenanthe phellandrium, fine-leaved water dropwort, *and, on the way sides, *silene nutans, *Nottingham catchfly.

St. Margaret’s

next invites attention, with the ruins of the old church, which was dedicated to the saint who gives name to [388] the village, and was anciently dependant on the church of Finglas. These ruins, enwrapt in ivy, are not uninteresting, while near them is a fine mausoleum, erected in 1746, for Andrew Morgan and his posterity. His armorials appear in front, in white marble, over the entrance, with the motto, “Regalis et fortis quamvis eradicata viresco,” under which is a slab charged with deaths’ heads and cross-bones, - angels, with the trumpet of resurrection, hour-glasses, deaths, with scythes, &c. Immediately attached to the church is a small chapel, now unroofed, built by Sir John Plunkett (before-mentioned at Dunsoghly), in the reign of Elizabeth, as a cemetery for his family. The architecture of this chapel is mean, though it presents a Gothic arched door, with a canopy supported by corbel heads, and a number of rude pinnacles and small crosses disposed like a battlement on the top of the wall. Over the doorway is a square tablet with the inscription, “Joannes Plunkett de Dunsoghlia Miles, Capitalis quondam Justiciarius Regii in Hibernia banci, hoc struxit sacellum.” There is a slab inside which records the time of his decease. From this little chapel grows out, like a transept, a smaller burial-place, now tenanted by a lonely elder tree.

These small chapels were more usually styled chantries, and were endowed for one or more priests, on condition of their saying mass and offering prayers for the soul of the founder, and such of his ancestors or descendants as he might have prescribed in the grant. All such gifts, however, and all possessions under them were rendered illegal in the time of King [389] Edward the Sixth. It may be remarked that Dugdale, in his History of St. Paul’s Cathedral, mentions no less than 47 chantries as belonging to that church.

The churchyard of St. Margaret’s has no monument worthy of note, unless perhaps one to the Hayden family from 1706, and another to that of Warren from 1722.

In the village, at the bead of a very small common, are situated a plain but commodious’ Roman Catholic chapel, and a school in connexion with the National Board, and receiving therefrom for its support £10 annually; near them is the tepid spring formerly of such repute. It was dedicated to St. Brigid, and enclosed by the above-named Sir John Plunkett with, a battlemented wall, so as to form a pleasant bath six yards long and three broad, still in good preservation; but fashion no longer acknowledges “the charms that sages had seen in its face;” and, although it is pleased to continue the sparkling ebullitions of its medical munificence, the *‘quantum sufficit’ *of mouths is no longer there to receive them. The temperature of this water is very low, being colder than the air in summer, but perceptibly warmer in winter, when it raises the thermometer to 51 degrees. It is said to contain lime, muriate of soda, nitrate of kali, and sulphur, but the latter in a much smaller proportion; a steam rises from it in the winter, and it has never been known to freeze.

The parish of St. Margaret’s extends over 2,4000a. 3r. 5p., and was returned in 1831 as containing a [390] population of 325 persons. In the Protestant establishment it is a chapelry in the corps of the Chancellor of St. Patrick’s; in the Catholic it is in the Union of Finglas. It was more anciently called the parish of Donaghnor or Dowanor. Rent here varies from £2 to £3 l0s. per acre.

In 1182 Pope Lucius confirmed to the Archbishop of Dublin the town of St. Margaret’s with its appurtenances, while the chapelry, according to Archbishop Allen, continued for a long time to be a subject of controversy between the successive prelates of Dublin and the Prior of the Hospital of St. John without Newgate.

At the close of the 14th century a branch of the Taylor family flourished here.

An inquisition of 1547 finds the extent and value of its tithes, and that there was also annexed to the rectory a chief rent of 13s. 4d. yearly, issuing out of 14a. of land in the tenure of John Punkett near the Church of Dowanor. A return of 1660 defines the extent of the parish and its tithes, and for a notice in 1697 see *ante *at “Finglas.”

About a mile and a half beyond St. Margaret’s is the village of

Chapel-Midway,

a chapelry in the Deanery of Swords, united with the vicarage of Killsallaghan, and in the gift of the king. Its population, according to the census of 1531, was 335 persons. Rent is here about £2 l0s. per annum, wages seven shillings per week.

The church yard crowns a commanding height over the village, having in its centre the crypted ruins of the old religious edifice thickly matted over [391] with ivy, and presenting at one corner broken traces of the steps, that once conducted to a chapel above it. The consecrated ground is bordered by ash trees, and thickly covered with white thorn, black thorn, and elder, that cast a deer dark shade on the human soil from which they spring, as if the garish eye of day should not intrude upon this lonely resting-place.

Chapel-Midway was from very ancient time a chapelry annexed church of Killsallaghan, and is so reported in the Regal Visitation of 1615 which adds that the church was then nearly in ruins.

For notices in 1540 and 1613, see at “Killsallaghan.” In 1673 the rectories of Chapel-Midway and Killsallaghan were granted to the Archbishop of Dublin and his successors, in trust for the incumbent, subject to the annual rent of £10 7s.

Ch. 13. Killsallaghan