Chapter 14.

Fieldstown,

where is a sweet seat of Mr. Bourne, intersected by a pretty rivulet, and on every side surrounded by the shadiest hedged roads. In this demesne is a burial ground and some traces of the ancient chapel.

This edifice was, at a very early age, dedicated to St. Catherine, the Virgin and Martyr, and was subservient to the church of Clonmethan.

The history of St. Catherine states that she was born at Alexandria, and endowed with such a capacity, that in the year 305 she disputed with 50 heathen philosophers, all of whom she converted to the true faith. For this offence the Emperor Maxentius caused her to be cast into prison; but, being visited there by the empress and one of the principal generals of Maxentius, she converted them also, whereupon the emperor was so enraged, that he ordered her to be tortured with four cutting wheels, in which were saws of iron, sharp nails, and sharp knives; the wheels turned one against another, and thus the saws, knives, and nails met. She was so tied to one of the wheels, that the other being [395] turned the contrary way, her body might be torn in different places with the sharp instruments; she was afterwards beheaded. The Catherine wheel used for artificial fire works, derived its name from the instrument of her martyrdom, beside which she is usually represented as standing. St. Catherine being esteemed the patroness of learned men, her image is frequently to be seen in the libraries of the ancients. Her festival is observed on the 25th of November.

In the year 1200 and subsequently, this locality was the estate of the family of de la Field, from whom it derives its name.

In 1321 Nicholas Dowdall, prebendary of Clonmethan, in a petition preferred by him to parliament, stated, “that divers persons, aliens, strangers, and denizens, did frequent in considerable numbers, by way of pilgrimage, the chapel of St. Catherine the Virgin and Martyr of Fieldstown, which was appropriated and annexed to the prebend of Clonmethan, being for the health and safety of their souls, and accomplishment of their petitions and prayers: and those persons he complained had been repeatedly vexed and molested on divers pretences, by reason of which they were obliged to lay aside said devotions and pilgrimages.” Parliament accordingly ordained that the persons and properties’ of all such pilgrims should, during their pilgrimage, he under the protection of the king, and that no such person should be arrested on any writ or authority whatever, for debt, treason, felony, or trespass, until said pilgrimage should be accomplished; provided that during their going thither, dwelling there, and returning, they did behave peaceably to the king’s liege subjects. It was also ordained, that any officer who should vex or arrest the persons, or molest the houses of such pilgrims contrary to the statute, should forfeit for every such offence the sum of £20. [Statute Rolls, 14 Edw. IV.] These patrons, however, subsequently rather inducing superstition than religion, and leading in licentiousness and riot were very commendably suppressed.

In 1479 this property passed from the old proprietors, the de la Fields, to Sir Richard Barnewall, ancestor of the Viscounts Kingsland, on his marriage with Catherine do la Field. To his [396] son Patrick Barnewall of Fieldstown, the Prior of the Abbey of Louth granted a pension in 1539 of 13s. 4d. during his life for his good services; while the Prior of Great Connal in the county of Kildare, gave him an annuity of 40s. for his good counsel given and to be given. A considerable portion of this townland remained in the Barnewall family to a very recent date.

In 1535 Patrick Barnewall of Fieldstown had a grant of the office of sergeant-at-law and solicitor general; and, in the Act of Absentees passed in 1537, there is a special clause that nothing therein should be hurtful or prejudicial to Patrick Barnewall of Fieldstown, his heirs, &c. in respect to certain lands, which he held of “the monastery of the Blessed Lady of Carmel.”

An inquisition of 1546 states the tithes of Fieldstown chapelry as payable to the prebendary of Clonmethan, out of the townland of Fieldstown, being of the yearly value of £4 0s. 4d. besides altarages, and £3 6s. 8d. annually arising out of the chapel, assigned to the curate there for his stipend.

The regal visitation of 1615 reports the church of Fieldstown impropriate, and the curacy annexed to the church of Clonmethan, For a notice of Lord Howth’s possessions here in 1619, see at “Howth,” and of the Barnewalls in 1685, see at “Turvey.” Of the canal projected from Malahide hither, see ante, “Malahide,” at 1788.