Esker.

VI. - Esker

Esker, “a ridge of hills,” is so called from being part of the Great Causeway which, in the third century, was constituted between Dublin and Galway. This Causeway divided Leath Conn from Leath Mogha. In Moore’s “History of Ireland,” we read:- “If the conjecture of Whitaker, too, be adopted that the great road, called the Watling-street, extending from Dover through London as far as Anglesey in Wales, was originally denominated by the ancient Britons the way of the Irish, it is equally probable that this causeway from Galway to Dublin formed a part of the same line of conveyance, and that articles of commerce from the western and central parts of Ireland may have been, by this route, transmitted through Britain and into Gaul.”

There were four manors in the County Dublin called “the King’s Land.” They belonged to the Crown. They were Esker, Newcastle, Saggart, and Crumlin.

To the manor of Esker were attached Ballydowd, Finnstown, Ballyowen, and Lishoke (Geshogue?). It was dedicated to the great St. Finian.

A Commission was appointed by King John in 1207 to find out what lands belonged to the Churches of Esker and Saggart, and which were to be given them “according to the custom of Ireland.” In 1229 King Henry II., gave to William Fitz-Guido, Dean of St. Patrick’s, and to his successors, called the Canons of Esker, two acres near the church, “as more convenient for building on than two acres given in exchange for the same.” In 1427 the manor of Esker was granted to the Archbishop of Dublin during the term of his life - but in 1430 its revenues were appropriated by the Lord Lieutenant and Council to oppose the King’s “Irish enemies and “English rebels” who invaded the Pale.

A Royal Commission was ordered in 1537 to let this and all manor lands “to such Englishmen and others, the King’s subjects there.” Twenty-one years’ leases were granted. Each lease held certain clauses by which the tenants were bound to put in force the English tongue and the English habit, and forbidding alliances, familiarity, or intelligence with the “Irish rebels.” Violation of these clauses incurred forfeiture of the lease and the current penal enactments of the Statute. A messuage in Esker, and two in Ballydowd were, in 1612, appropriated to the guild of St. Anne in St. Audeon’s parish, Dublin. There were many guilds in Ireland and England at this time corresponding to “Friendly Societies.” They, with all religious benefices, were swept away or confiscated by that Royal Robber and avaricious plunderer, Henry VIII.

Esker was once a thriving village. There was here a high school very near the Cemetery. The main building still stands. There was also near it a cotton factory. But, alas! the decayed houses, the roofless cabins, where once “health and plenty cheered the labouring swain,” tell us in other parts of Ireland, the sad story of extermination and emigration, the fruitful offspring of the most tyrannical land laws that ever crushed the national life of a people. The remains of the old Church look picturesquely over the village. It is grand in its ruins. It belongs to the 12th century. The ruins measure 27 yards by six. It is the resting-place of many priests, particularly of Father John Kyan, “Shepherd of Leixlip,” who died in 1750; and of Father MacCarthy, who was murdered on Lucan Hill. Over his grave is a slab, with the following inscription:-

The United Parishes of Lucan and Palmerstown erected this tombstone over the Mortal Remains of the Reverend James MacCartan, R. C. Curate of said Parishes. As a grateful tribute of their Respect for, and as a fitting monument of their sincere regret of the loss of that Worthy Clergyman, by whose death Society was deprived of a Valuable Member, and Religion one of Her most zealous Ministers. Lamentable to add he fell a Victim to the Sacrilegious Lands of a Sanguinary Banditti, by whom he was Robbed and Murdered on the Hill of Lucan on the 3rd day of June, A.D. 1807, And in the 42nd year of his Age.

Requiscat in Pace.

Amen.

The remains of another martyr to duty lie in the old Cemetery of Lucan.

Father Harty, of Clondalkin, having returned from the bedside of a patient dying of cholera, was instantly struck down by that malignant plague. His grave is covered by a flat stone on which are inscribed

Sacred to the Memory of

Revd. RODGER HARTY, C.C.

Born November, 1823.

Died November, 1866.

R.I.P.

Stern daughter of the Voice of God,

O Duty! If that name thou love,

Who art a light to guide, a rod

To check the erring, and reprove;

Thou, who art victory and law

When empty terrors overawe;

From vain temptation dost set free;

And calm’st tli~ weary strife of frail humanity.

Stern law-giver I yet thou dost wear

The Godhead’s most benignant grace;

Nor know we anything so fair

As is the smile upon thy face.

Flowers laugh before thee on their beds,

And fragrance in thy footing treads;

Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong,

And the most ancient heavens, through thee, are fresh and strong.

To humbler functions awful Power,

I call thee! I, myself, commend

Unto thy guidance from this hour;

0 let my weakness have an end!

Give unto me, made lowly wise,

The spirit of self-sacrifice;

The confidence of reason give,

And in the light of truth thy bondman let me live.

-Wordsworth.

Man only mars kind nature’s plan,

And turns the fierce pursuit on man;

Flying war’s desolutory trade -

Incursion, flight, and ambuscade;

Since Nimrod, Cush’s mighty son,

At first the bloody game begun.

-Scott.

There was once a cotton and linen factory on the site now occupied by one of the most respected parishioners of the district, Mr. David Bellaney. His brother, Father Bellaney, a distinguished convert, preached a memorable sermon on devotion to the Mother of God in St. Mary’s, Lucan, over 20 years ago. On the death of this distinguished priest the following notice appeared in a contemporary paper

“Father Robert Bellaney, the oldest priest in the Archdiocese of Westminster*, *whose death, in his 96th year, has occurred at Kensington, although comparatively little known to the present generation, was, 25 years ago, one of the most popular and distinguished preachers in the Catholic Church, and was likewise an able contributor for many years in contemporary journalism, and to many of the leading reviews. A cultured scholar and a man of wide intellectual attainments, Father Bellaney was possessed of a wonderfully retentive memory, and so great was his mental vigour that he continued his literary pursuits till a few years ago. He was at one time an Anglican clergyman, and had a brilliant university career at Oxford.”

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