Chapter 21.

Rogerstown,

an estate of Lord Howth, having an ancient seaport, the channel of which affords good shelter and is of easy access. To go over the bar; according to the nautical instructions, bring the steeple of Lusk into a valley of the two northernmost hills, bearing N.W. half N. which is the course to steer. There is 10 feet water on the bar when Lampsoon head is just [426] covered. It flows in spring tides about 15 feet, and there is about five feet difference in high water springs and neap tides.

Here is a pretty residence of Mr. Seaver, situated amidst ornamental plantations and well-enclosed parks, and having a choice and well-walled garden attached. The creek that runs up to Lissen-Hall, when the tide is in, gives a beautiful fore-view, while the eminences of Coolock barony on the opposite shore, and the clear chart of the whole district of Fingal at the nearer side, complete the panorama.

In 117a Archbishop O’Toole granted to Christ Church 31a. in Rogerstown.

In 1356 John, Archbishop of Dublin, recovered, in a suit against John Hollywood of Rogerstown, the harbour of Rogerstown otherwise called Rogershaven, being parcel of the Archbishop’s manor of Swords, whereupon said Hollywood executed a solemn release of his claim thereto for ever. [Rot. Pat. in Canc. Hib.] For a notice in 1397, see “Swords.”

In 1606 Nicholas Lord Howth died, seised of ten messuages and l20a. in Rogerstown, three messuages, and 15a. in Parnelstown, &c., which, as the record states, he held of the Archbishop of Dublin, as of his manor of Swords, by fealty.

A well shaded road leads from Rogerstown through New Haggard to the Dublin road, which it joins near Turvey. The sandy shores between this and the before-mentioned creek, abound with the *hordeum maritimum, *sea barley; and the *raphanus raphanistrum, *wild radish.

Returning to the Rush road the tourist reaches the secluded hamlet of

Whitestown,

as corruptly called from its more ancient name of Knightstown, also the ancient estate of Lord Howth. It was formerly a chapelry subservient to Lusk; and the site of the old church is still traced in the centre of a burial ground, thickly set with obscure tombstones and bristly with nettles. A tasteless arch rises amidst those, erected in honour of some individual whom, even in tradition, it has now ceased to commemorate. Near it, on the day of visit, was a freshly sodded grave, rustically adorned with the emblems of innocence and chastity - garlands of white paper fantastically cut out and wreathed over laths and osiers, a simple tribute of surviving affection. In the adjoining valley are the remains of a mill, long since deserted even by the babbling, unimpeded stream, that once turned its vigorous wheels.

A short distance beyond Whitestown is

Rush,

enumerated by Hollinshed as one of the chief haven towns of Ireland, and once celebrated for the curing of ling, and the extensive pursuit of other fisheries. The harbour having, however, become more difficult of access, the bounty having been withdrawn, and the inhabitants being less adventurous than their neighbours of Skerries, the fisheries here have wholly [428] declined, a fact which was strikingly evidenced by the boats that lay rotting on the shore.

The village consists of one long avenue of cabins nearly parallel with the beach, and literally built upon the sands. It has a neat cruciform chapel erected in 1760, and dedicated to St. Maurus the disciple of St. Benedict. On Sundays there is much edification in witnessing the groups of children and sailors, who devoutly attend here to catechism and moral exhortations. In the town is also a school, to which the National Board allows £10 per annum, and Sir William Palmer £20. It was attended by 233 pupils in 1834. There are also a dispensary and a flour mill here.

Near the village is Rush House, a handsome antique structure, containing some valuable paintings by the first masters. The demesne, more properly called Kinure Park, from the old chapel of Kinure which it surrounds, is prettily undulated and wooded, but not with any trees of age or size. A spring, called St. Catherine’s well, is seen issuing from a rock on the avenue from the house to the old church, whose ruins are situated in a Solemn sequestered situation, and are thickly over-arched with festoons of ivy. It was dedicated to St. Damnan, and measures about 16 yards in length by five and a half in breadth. Within it are some old tombs, one to a member of the Walsh family, another raised monument to “The affable, obliging, exemplary, wise, devout, most charitable, most virtuous, and religious, the Right Hon. [429] George Lord Hamilton, Baron of Strabane,” who had resided at Kinure and died in 1668. It was erected by his, widow Elizabeth, who was the daughter of Christopher Fagan, of Feltrim. There is also a black mural slab in a corner of this deserted temple of the Deity, at whose foot several of the parish priests have been interred. It especially commemorates the Rev. Barnaby Farran, who died in 1756; the Rev. Thomas Murphy who died in 1785; and the Rev. William Murray who died in 1795. In the outer grave-yard is the tomb of the celebrated smuggler Jack Connor, well known as Jack the Bachelor, who died in 1772. At the very foot of this churchyard, in a sombre and ill chosen site, is a wood house, which, if designed for the ordinary purposes of rural meals and merriment, must have demanded guests of no ordinary class, and feelings of Egyptian temperament to recreate in such a presence. Near the ruined church are the yet more mutilated remains of the arched baronial kitchen of a castle.

In the Protestant arrangement Rush is a portion of the parish of Lusk; in the Catholic it now constitutes a separate parish. Its population was in 1821 returned as only 1,004 persons, increased on the census of 1831 to 2,144. , The Poor Inquiry Report of 1836 states 250 labourers in this parish, (treating it as a distinct one,) of whom but 100 have constant employment, the remainder occasional. The lands about this village are the fee of Sir William Palmer, and are let, the sandy parts, at about £1 per acre; the clayey at £2 10s. The former can only produce the rent [430] by the facility of sea weed from Lambay, Ireland’s Eye, &c. A cabin without land is let for £2 annually. There is a portion of Rush, however, called Drummanagh, deemed particularly rich by Rutty, the richest in the whole county, and which accordingly is let at four guineas per acre. On this subdenomination, formerly the property of the Barnewall family, [Rot. in Canc. Hib.] are some curious earthworks.

The sea here affords a plentiful supply of the *raiae asperae, *thornbacks, commonly called maiden ray, which are dried and saved by the inhabitants, and an oil extracted from them. A large rock oyster is also found here, but so full of salt that it is more particularly used in sauces. The fishery here has, as before suggested, greatly declined. In 1820 there were 23 boats of from 25 to 55 tons burthen, and each employed on board eight men; at present only eight of these boats are engaged in the fisheries, and each of them employs eight men. The harbour is dry, and wherries cannot get round the pier-head until half flood; they are liable to be wrecked should the wind blow hard from the eastward, in which case they are obliged to haul up close to the ground, and frequently get scraped in consequence. The wear and tear of ropes is thus very great, and, unless some assistance towards erecting a new harbour is obtained, the fishing vessels will be destroyed in a few years, already more than half have been lost since the abolition of the bounties.

Rush was an ancient manor extending Over the lands of Balcony, Heathtown, Whitestown, Balscadden, Kinure, Ardlaw, &c. The fee was vested in the house of Ormond from the time of Edward the First until the year 1641.

For notices of this manor in 1385, 1461, and 1515, see “Turvey,” and for other notices of its chapel and tithes in 1530 and 1547 see “Lusk.” At the time of Archbishop Allen, its chapel was stated to be subservient to Lusk, and surrounded by the lands of the Earl of Ormond.

In the Act of Absentees of 1537, there is a special clause that nothing therein contained shall be prejudicial or hurtful to Sir John Barnewall, Knight, Lord of Trimlestown, and Patrick Barnewall of Fieldstown, their executors, &c. in, of, or for the office of steward, seneschal, surveyor, and receiver of the manors and lord ships of Rush, Balscadden and the moiety of the manor of Portrane, or of sundry other manors therein enumerated. In 1616 Nicholas Lord Howth died seised of two messuages and 85 acres here, which he held of the Earl of Ormond as of his manor of Rush.

Maurice Connell forfeited in 1641, 84 acres of Irishtown, situated within the manor of Rush. Soon after which (in 1666) the Duke of Ormond had a grant, or rather a confirmation patent of Kinure 594 acres, and, on his attainder, the family of Echlin obtained a title in this manor, which descended to the Sir Robert Echlin mentioned at “Lusk” as having died in 1767. The fee has latterly vested in the family of Palmer.

“In this small seaport was born Luke Ryan, much celebrated in the American war as commander of the Black Prince Privateer, under commission of the French government. This bold adventurer, whose actions at the time attracted much conversation, was tried as a pirate at the Old Bailey, and four different times ordered for execution, but reprieved. On the conclusion of peace he obtained his liberty through the mediation of the Court of Versailles, and expected to enjoy the fruits of his exploits, a fortune of £70,000, which he had lodged in a mercantile house at Roscoff in Britanny; but his wary bankers, taking advantage, as is said, of his legal incapacity to sue, applied that large sum to their own [432] use. The wild career of this daring seaman terminated in the King’s Bench prison, where he died in 1789 being detained for a debt of £200.” [Brewer’s Beauties of Ireland, vol. i., p. 257.]

The botany of Rush exhibits on its sandy fields and shores, *hordeum maritimum, *sea barley; *salsola kali, *prickly saltwort; *arenaria peploides, *sea sandwort; *glaucum luteum, *yellow-horned poppy; *gentiana campestris, *field gentian; *agrostema githago, *corn cockle; *cerastium semidecandrum, *little mouse-ear chickweed; *cerastium arvense, *field mouse-ear chickweed; *spergula arvensis, *corn spurrey; *reseda lutea, *base rocket; *papaver hybridum, *round rough-headed poppy; *nepeta cataria, *cat mint; *lemurus cardiaca, *motherwort; *cakile maritima, *sea rocket; *sinapis alba, *white mustard; *erodium cicutarium, hemlock stork’s bill; anthyllis vulneraria, *kidney vetch; *sonchus arvensis, *corn sow thistle; *carduus marianus, *milk thistle; *carex arenaria, *sea sedge; *trifolium arvense, *hare’s-foot trefoil; *fucus ciliatus, *ciliated fucus; *fucus aculeatus, prickly fucus; fucus plicatus, matted fucus; fucus corneus, *horny fucus. - On the rocks, *conferva setacea, *bristly conferva; *statice armeria, *sea pink, &c. - In the marshes, *apium graveolens, *wild celery. - In the hedges, *trifolium officinale, *melilot. - In the corn fields, *centaurea cyanus, *blue bottle: and, on the ditches, *lichen sylvaticus, *wood lichen.

From Rush, a pleasant sail of, about three miles will bring the visiter to [433]

Ch. 22. Lambay.