Chapter 11.

The Third Excursion

Repassing through some of the localities of the last route; (the villages of Drumcondra and Cross-guns), the tourist, by a more frequented northern line of road, arrives at a hill which overhangs the village of

Finglas-Bridge.

Looking from this eminence, at right are seen the Botanic Gardens, and the demesne of the Bishop of’ Kildare; at left, a swelling hill with a tea-house and turret; in front the romantic Tolka, winding through the depth of the valley, beneath the bridge that gives name to the locality; beyond the river, old quarry holes and sand-hills fringed with the ever ornamental furze, the woods of Doctor Gregory’s Asylum, and the little village diffusing upwards its blue, cheerful wreaths of cur1ing smoke. On descending and passing the bridge, the Tolka is seen tumbling over a fall beside the ruins of a cotton-mill and Factory, that once gave employment to many of this vicinity, until consumed by an accidental fire some years since.

The river hereabouts affords a species of the lamprey, *lampetra fluviatilis minor, *accounted the best bait for cod, and which is also found in the Liffey, [370] likewise the white and yellow trout and the roach; and among the stones and in the banks the river crayfish is frequent; while to the botanist, the vicinity of Finglas-bridge presents *aichemilla arvensis, *parsley piert; *senebiera coronopus, *swine’s-cress. - In the ditches and hedges, *rosa canina, *dog-rose. - In the old quarries, *bromus asper, wood-brome; echium vulgare, *common viper’s bugloss, whose flowers are so grateful to bees; *pimpinella saxifraga, *common burnet saxifrage *arctium lappa, *common burdock; *myriophyllum verticillatum, *whorled milfoil; a variety of that elegant little plant, the *briza media, *common quaking grass with the panicle white. - In the adjacent waste grounds, *bromus sterilis, *barren bromegrass; *cochlearia armoracea, *horse-radish. - On the roofs of houses, *sempervivum tectorum, *house leek; *crepis tectorum, *smooth hawk’s-beard. - In the moist fields, *cnicus palustris, *marsh plume-thistle; and in the sand-pits, *cares hirta, *hair-sedge. Lands about this locality are let at from £5 to £10 per acre.

A road cut through sand-hills conducts hence to the picturesquely situated village of

Finglas,

popularly celebrated as the scene of the May games for the citizens of Dublin.

The parish church here is a plain, but neat structure, on an eminence commanding a fine prospect. It’ contains some interesting ancient memorials; a mural slab to Colonel Robert Bridges, who died in [371] 1675, and was here interred, details the deaths and places of interment of his eight sons and two daughters. Near it is a black marble slab to the family of Settle, and their descendants from 1650. On the opposite wall, a monument commemorates Doctor Richard Challoner Cobbe, Treasurer of St. Patrick’s, who died in 1767. Close to it is another to Captain William Flower, who died in 1681, having served in Ulster under the Earl of Granard, at the time that the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion was raging in Scotland. It also records some descendants or his name. Beside the communion-table, on the floor, is a flat flagstone to Sir Daniel Tresswell, Knight, who died in 1670, having served both the Kings Charles. This monument states that it was erected* *by Dame Herne, his relict, daughter of Sir Thomas P1owden of Plowden Hall in Shropsliire. At its foot is a yet older stone to Richard Plowden Tresswell, who died in 1612, while, under the communion-table, are flat tombstones of very ancient date to the families of Bagshaw and Ryves.

In the churchyard is the ruin of a stone cross of granite, being with its present pedestal about 10 feet high; Near it is an enclosed monument to John Pocklington, Esq., once second Baron of the Irish Exchequer, who died in 1731; also, an old monument of the Esdalls (Isdalls) from 1728, and a handsome sarcophagus to Mr. Long, formerly of Mary-street.

Near the church is a glebe-house, with 15a. 3r. 10p. of glebe-land adjoining for the vicar, and 20a. [372] for the rector. The latter endowment, however, does not appear to be enjoyed.

There is also a small, neat Roman Catholic church in the village. The parish charity-school is supported by the interest of money bequeathed to it at various times, and reported in 1812 as amounting to about £20 per annum. There are also two national schools here, to which the Board contributes £10 per annum Their number of pupils in 1834 was 121.

Here are likewise two lunatic asylums, with gardens and pleasure-grounds attached to each, - Dr. Harty’s, which in 1829 had 22 patients; and Dr. Duncan’s, reported at the same time as having 42. Near the village is a spa, formerly celebrated for its sanative virtues, and assimilated by Dr. Rutty, in his classification, to that of Malvern It Is now, however, wholly neglected. It was originally dedicated as a holy well to St. Patrick. Near this, it may be remarked, sulphate of magnesia occurs efflorescent in fine fibres.

The parish of Finglas comprises 4696a. 2r. 26p., and a population, returned in 1831 as 2,110 persons. The rectory appertains to the chancellorship of St. Patrick’s, and includes the chapelries of St. Margaret’s, Artane, and the Ward, the rectorial tithes of the whole producing £481 5s. 3d., while the vicarage, united with the curacy of Ballycoolane, is in the gift of the metropolitan. The Roman Catholic union comprises Finglas, St. Margaret’s, and the Ward. The principal proprietors of the fee in the parish are the Archbishop of Dublin, Sir Compton Domville, Mr. [373] Hamilton, Sir R. Gore, Messrs. Arthur, Segrave, White, &c. Rent varies from £3 to £5, while a cabin without land produces from £3 to £4 per annum.

An abbey was founded very early in this village, possibly by St. Patrick, who, having passed from Meath to Finglas, ascended a’ hill and, looking down upon the village of Dublin, is reported by his biographers to have blessed it and prophesied, that, although then but a snail village, is should one day be a city of wealth, and advanced to be the metropolis of the kingdom. The abbey, however, was dedicated to St. Canice, whose festival was kept here on the 11th of October, and a memoir of his life, as Prirmate Usher states, long preserved in this church. St. Canice was one of the disciples of the celebrated St. Finian at Clonard, was ultimately connected by holy friendship with St. Columbkille, whom he often visited in the island of Iona, and was himself the founder of many religious establishments. Finglas was long subsequently a rural bishopric, and its dignitary indifferently styled Bishop of Abbot. [Annals of the Four Masters.]

In 758 died Faolcha, Abbot of Finglas. [Ib.] In 786 died Concomrac, Bishop of Finglas. [Ib.] In 795 died Dhulliter its abbot. In 807 died Flan Mac Kelly an anacharite a scribe and Bishop of Finglas. In 814 died Fergus of Rathlurg, its abbot. In 823 died the Abbot Cuimneach. In 837 Bran died, Bishop of Finglas, as did Robert in 865. In 1011 died the Abbot Cian, and in 1038 the Abbot Cairbe O’Connellan, died at Rome. The Annals of the Four Masters record the deaths of various other abbots or bishops or Finglas.

In 1171 Finglas was the chief scene of action on the occasion of the ineffective siege which Roderic O’Conor laid to Dublin, an event more particularly detailed at that period in the “Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin.”

Soon afterwards a most wanton and impolitic violation, was perpetrated here, by a group of English archers, who had the temerity to cut down some of the beeches and yew trees, which St. Canice himself had planted in its long-revered and holy ground.

[374] So sacrilegious did the act appear, even to the invaders themselves, that Cambrensis, who relates the circumstance, attributes to it the visitation of a plague, which swept away not only the immediate offenders but many of the other English forces. There are still however, some of the descendants of these consecrated trees in the graveyard. The sombre appearance of its immortal foliage well adapted it for these hallowed enclosures, where likewise its baneful properties were not likely to be communicated to the browsing herd.

It is impossible to look upon this dark evergreen without reflecting, that it was once the great armoury of battle and death. It was by their bows of yew the English won Crescy, Poictiers, and Agincourt. It was by these the adventurers of Henry the Second’s time prevailed over the natives of our own country; and, although it proved fatal to three British kings, Harold, William Rufus, and Richard Coeur de Lion, its cultivation was earnestly enjoined and promoted. In Switzerland it is appropriately styled William Tell’s tree, in memory of their patriot archer.

In 1184 the land of Finglas was given by John Earl of Morton, afterwards king John, to Robert de St. Michael. It was subsequently granted to the see of Dublin, and that grant confirmed by Pope Clement the Third, by King Edward in 1387, and by King Richard in 1395.

In 1191 a Bull of Pope Celestine the Third enumerates the church of Finglas, amongst the possessions of the newly-erected College of St. Patrick, as it had been stated, in a previous Bull of 1179, to be one of the 13 prebends of Archbishop Comyn’s said establishment. To it were subservient the chapels of Dunsoghly, Ward, and Artane.

In 1202 Hugh Hussey granted to Christ Church a parcel of land, extending from the high road leading to Finglas up to Athudamas, and about the last place to Arduearnaid as far as the valley near Kilmolidoid and so to the Avon-Liffey and Cumcoynagal. [Regist. of Christ Church.]

In 1207 died Maolpeader O’Colman, comorb of Canice.

In 1216 Pope Innocent the Third confirmed to the see of Dublin, (inter alia)* *Finglas with its appurtenances, and, about the [375] year 1218, Archbishop Henry de Loundres assigned for the support of the Chancellor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the church of Finglas, at that time the prebend of Master Thomas de Castello, who was nominated by him the first chancellor of that establishment, from which period to the 17th century this church continued to be the chancellor’s prebend.

In 1225 the priory or rather cell of Castleknock, for such it was, dependant upon the priory of little Malvern, contested with the canons of St. Patrick; the tithes of the land lying between the river Tolka and the farm of Finglas, which, they alleged belonged to the parish of Castleknock. The matter was compromised on the interference of the Archbishop, and with the consent of the Prior of little Malvern. [Dign. Dec. f. 22, &c.] For a notice in 1227, see the “Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin.”

In 1240 Archbishop Luke confirmed to Christ Church 60a. of land near Finglas, and about the sane time granted to “the men of Finglas” 158a. and three stangs of land as surveyed, and stated to he held in freehold under the see, at the yearly rent of £4 14s. 7d. and certain dues of wax.

In 1271 Fulk de Sandford, Archbishop of Dublin, died in his manor of Finglas, and was buried in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

In 1326 an inquisition was taken as to the extent of the manor of Finglas. At the close of this century a branch of the Barrett family was settled here.

In 1389 John do Karlell, clerk, had leave to about himself from Ireland, and receive, notwithstanding, the full revenues of the chancellorship of St. Patrick’s, and the prebend of Finglas annexed, the prebend of Slievecolter in the cathedral of Ferns, the prebend of Offyn in the cathedral of Limerick, the wardship and marriage of Ralph the son of Maurice, Baron of Burnchurch, the farming of the deanery of Dublin, and of the prebend of Crospatrick, with the church of Rosclare and the chapelry of Ballymore annexed. [Rot. Pat. in Canc. Hib.] No small accumulation of church preferments. For a notice in 1403, see *ante *at “Portane.”

In 1416 the celebrated hero John Talbot, Lord Furnival, [376] Lord Justice of Ireland, had a residence here, where, in the same year, he “had a son born unto him, who, on the day of St. Lawrence the martyr, departed this life, and was buried in the choir of the Friars’ Preachers Church in Dublin?” [Marleburgh’s Chronicle.]

In 1511 Walter Fitzsimons, Archbishop of Dublin, afterwards Lord Chancellor and Deputy Lieutenant of Ireland, died here, [Borlase’s Reduction of Ireland, p. 92.] and was honourably interred in the nave of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Soon afterwards the Repertorium Viride of Arclibishop Allen states Finglas, to be a prebend annexed to the chancellorship of St. Patrick’s.

An inquisition of 1547 defines the extent and value of the rectory of Finglas, its demesne lands, fortress, &c.

In 1567 the Reverend Samuel Mason, a Roman Catholic clergyman, who had previously read his recantation in Christ Church before Sir Henry Sydney, was preferred to this living by Archbishop Loftus. He died in 1568, and was buried in this churchyard.

In 1577 Nicholas Dillon of Cappock died seised of 120a. in Fing1as. [Inquis. in Canc. Hib.] The rectory was subsequently held by Archbishop Loftus, in commendam, until in 1611 he conferred it on James Usher, with the chancellorship of St. Patrick’s, notwithstanding that the right of presentation to Finglas devolved upon the king, *jure devoluto *and by reason of his royal prerogative, on account of the vacancy occurring during the said commendam. [Rot.Pat. in Canc. Hib.] The regal visitation of 1615 also states this church to be of the corps of the chancellorship of St. Patrick’s, that James Usher was than its rector, and Matthew Lee curate, and that the church and chancel were in good repair.

In 1621 a vicar was endowed at Finglas by the celebrate James Usher, at that time chancellor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, who resigned the castle, the glebe, and an adequate portion of the tithes, to serve as a maintenance for him and his successors.

In 1622 the king presented Jenkin Mayes to the deanery of [377] St. Canice, with the chancellorship of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, and the rectory of Finglas.

In 1641 a party of the confederates of the Pale, stationed here, was attacked and beaten by Colonel Crawford.

In 1649, while the Marquis of Ormond was encamped here, previous to the fatal action at Rathmines, he received intelligence that Jones had detached most of his horse to Drogheda, a movement which, by cutting off his provisions, would have reduced his army to extreme distress. Lord Inchequin a was thereupon instantly sent in pursuit of them with a strong body of cavalry; he surprised and routed the party, laid siege to Drogheda, and soon compelled its surrender. Having further intelligence of a body of horse and foot employed to escort some ammunition to Owen O’Neill, he attacked and routed the horse, cut off the infantry, invested Dundalk, which Monk was forced by his own soldiers to surrender, and, having reduced some less considerable garrisons, returned triumphantly to the camp at Finglas. Hence it was, that, in the confidence generated by these successes, on the 18th of July, a fortnight before his utter defeat at Rathmines, he wrote to the king a letter, wherein, alluding to his projected attack on Dublin, he said, “that which only threatens any rub to our success is our wants, which have been and are such, that soldiers have actually starved by their arms, and many of less constancy have run home; many of the foot are weak, yet I despair not to be able to keep them together and strong enough to reduce Dublin, if good supplies of all sorts come not speedily to relieve it. I am confident I can persuade one-half of this army to starve outright, and I shall venture far upon it, rather than give up a game so fair on our side and so hard to be recovered if given over.” [Carte’s Orig. Pap. vol. ii. p. 389.] In the same year, when Cromwell’s army was proceeding to the siege of Drogheda, they passed through Finglas, and it is reported that, according to their iconoclast principle1 when they saw the ancient cross here, they overturned it and cast it into a pit, where it remained buried until a fortuitous circumstance brought it again to light in 1816.

A return of 1660 defines the extent of this parish and its [378] tithes. In 1666 John Arthur died seised of 24a. here, which he held of the king in free and common soccage. In the same year Sir Timothy Tyrrel had a grant of all the interest of William Hewlett, attainted, (which was saved to said Sir Timothy by the Act of Settlement,) in certain lands in the parish of Finglas, &c., bounded on the north by the town of Finglas; on the east by Dillon’s and Sir Robert Forth’s lands; on the south by the Wood of Finglas; and on the west by Solomon’s Field, Lord’s Leisure, and the 20 acres in Phillips’s holding, containing in all 79a., 2r., 20p., subject to a certain rent which has never been paid, while, on the expiration of Hewlett’s interest which was for years, the lands should have reverted to the original proprietors. Sir Timothy was also seised of 20 acres in the “Much Green” of Finglas, which he held under the See of Dublin. In the same year the Archbishop of Dublin had a grant of 10 acres plantation measure here, with various other townlands in augmentation of his see.

At Finglas Wood, near the Tolka, is a house now occupied by Mr. Savage, one of the many where tradition says King James slept on the night of his retreat from the Boyne. King William afterwards encamped here, and hence “On Sunday, the 6th of July,” says Story, “he made his triumphant entry into Dublin from his camp, and proceeded to St. Patrick’s Cathedral attended by the bishops, where he heard prayers and a sermon, preached by Dean King, on the power and wisdom of the providence or God in protecting his people and defeating their enemies; he afterwards returned to the camp to dinner?” On the 7th and 8th of July he reviewed his forces on horseback, “seeing each regiment march by him, inquiring the officers names, and what other things concerning them he thought fit; the commissaries taking an exact list of all the private men, both horse and foot, that appeared in the ranks, when the numbers were calculated as 22,579 foot, 7,751 horse, and 483 officers.”

In 1694 the king presented Dillon Ashe to the vicarage of Finglas. In 1697 the Reverend Bartholomew Scally was returned as Parish Priest of Finglas, St. Margaret’s, and the Ward. At out the same time Sir Daniel Bellingham, first Lord Mayor of the City of Dublin, granted lands in this parish, then of the value of about £60 per annum, and in 1764 considered worth £200 per [379] annum, for the relief of poor debtors in the city and four-courts marshalseas, and vested the sane in the clerk of the crown, and one of the six clerks in chancery as trustees for that purpose. This laudable object, however, was never enforced, and the heirs of the trustees have appropriated the property.

In 1710 the celebrated Joseph Addison, then Secretary of State in Ireland, wrote to Dean Swift: ” I am now just come from Finglas, where I have been drinking your health, and talking of you with one who loves and admires you better than any man in the world, except your humble servant?’ The passage is only cited to shew how firmly that good man, in his official Situation, refused to resign his acquaintainceship with the Dean, and continued to him his accustomed friendship throughout all the storms of political revolution.

In 1716 the celebrated Thomas Parnel was vicar of Finglas. “This preferment,” says Mr. Brewer, “should have been peculiarly desirable from its contiguity, as a place of residence, to Glasnevin, the favoured abode and resort of his literary friends; but Parnel removed to Finglas in the clouded evening of his brief life, and brooded in his retirement over the agonies of a breaking heart.”

In 1722 the king presented Robert Howard to this vicarage, with the precentorship of Christ Church pro *hac vice. *In 1726 James Stopford obtained this vicarage on the same presentation, and was himself succeeded in 1754 by Roberd Caulfield.

In 1769 Charles Davis bequeathed £6 per annum to the charity school here, and the residue of his property to the charter school corporation.

In 1810 Charles Frizell, Esq. of Holles-street, Dublin, bequeathed £200, in trust to apply the interest annually for the poor of this parish, towards buying bread to be distributed every Sunday by the minister and churchwardens. Lands were also left at a more remote period for charitable purposes here, but of which no account can now be attained.

[I’ve omitted a very long list of flowers and shrubs. KF.]

Proceeding up the hill on the Ashbourne road, out of Finglas, an interesting retrospective view exhibits the little village straggling down into the valley, the May-pole, round which so many happy groups have frolicked beyond it the metropolis, now invested with the completion of St Patrick’s prophecy, and, in the remote perspective, the mountains of Dublin and Wicklow. The present road thence is dreary into Ashbourne. A turn, however, at right leads by the legitimate old winding highway to the Red Lion, a locality, which from its name was, it may be presumed, the dernier resort in former times of perilous travel, for those who found themselves at even-fall too near the Santry woods. At right of Red Lion is the townland of

Ch. 12. Dunsoghly. Home.