Luttrellstown

XV. Luttrellstown.

Is another of the Lucan boundaries. It is now called Woodlands, and is the property of Lord Annally. It is one of the most beautiful demesnes in the County Dublin. It has been described as “indeed the most delightful in its kind that can be imagined. Scenery, by nature most beautiful, is improved by art to the highest degree of its capability, and, without destroying its free and wild character, a variety and richness of vegetation is produced which enchants the eye. Gay shrubs and wild flowers, the softest turf and giant trees, festooned with creeping plants, fill the narrow glen through which the path winds, by the side of the clear, dancing brook, which, falling in little cataracts, flows on, sometimes hidden in the thickets, sometimes resting, like liquid silver, in an emerald cup, or rushing under overhanging arches of rock, which nature seems to have hung there as triumphal gates for the beneficent Naiad of the valley to pass through. [Prince Muskain.]

Here and there in its undulations through the wood, around the lake, in the valleys and the heights, there are sights simply grand and fascinating. And the matchless view on the Low Road, the “sylvan splendours” dipping down into the Liffey their varied and verdant branches, as if refreshing themselves from the heat of the burning sun, or in one sweet embrace of woodland and water is captivating.

Since the time of King John this estate was the property of the Luttrells till it was sold by Lord Carhampton. King John donated it to Sir Geoffrey Luttrell.

In 1531 Sir Thomas Luttrell, of Luttrellstown, lawyer, received an annuity of 20 shillings with power of distraining, for his services to the prior of the Croisers, a monastic body founded in honour of the finding of the True Cross. In 1535 he was made sergeant-at-law and solicitor-general. The Croisers, or as they were called the Crutched Friars, had several foundations in England and Ireland. At the time of their dissolution they had 13 houses. One was in Luttrellstown, another in Lucan, both of which, with others in different counties, Queen Elizabeth confiscated to Richard Netterville.

A remarkable man lived here in 1654. First a shoemaker, then a captain, then a colonel, he rose to some of the highest positions in the State. In this year he represented the County in Cromwell’s parliament. Thus is he described in a political pamphlet of his time. “Colonel Hewson,* *sometime an honest shoemaker or cobbler in London, went out a captain on account of the cause, fought on, and in time became a colonel; did good service in England and Scotland, was made governor of Dublin, became one of the little parliament, and of all the parliaments since, a knight also of the new stamp, the world being so well *mended *with him, *and the sole so well stitched to the upper leather, *having gotten so considerable an interest and means, he may well be counted fit to be taken out of the house to be a lord, and to have a negative voice in the other house over all of the gentle craft and cordwainers’ company in London, if they please. But though he be so considerable and of such merit in the Protector’s, as also in his own esteem, not only to be a knight, but also to be a lord, yet it will hardly pass for current with the good people of these lands, it being so far beyond the *last.” *He was one of the judges present at the death sentence of Charles I. Such was Colonel Hewson, the owner of Luttrellstown, the quondam London cobbler. His own turn came, for he was attainted in 1660, and his estate was confiscated. When Simon Luttrell was attainted in 1672 his widow received her jointure out of the estate, and an estate tail was granted to Colonel Henry Luttrell.

During the siege of Limerick Sarsfield discovered the treachery and treason of Colonel Henry Luttrell. He carried on, while in the city, secret negotiations with Ginkell outside. He was liberated from the Castle of Limerick on the capitulation of the city. He was returning in 1717 from Lucas’ coffee-house which stood where the Royal Exchange now stands on Cork-hill, Dublin. He was seated in a, Sedan chair, and was going to his city residence in Stafford-street. It was on the night of the 1st of November. An assassin fell upon and murdered him and escaped. Several of his descendants were, according to O’Callaghan, a bad depraved lot. In the death of his grandson, John Luttrell Olmires, the male branch became extinct. He was Earl of Carhampton, and in his 88th year died in 1829. His elder brother, the second Earl of Carhampton, sold Luttrellstown. The name of Luttrell is now expunged, Woodlands having been substituted by its present proprietor, Lord Annally.

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