The Fitzwilliams and their Merrion Seat

Chapter IV.

The Fitzwilliams and their Merrion Seat.

In the 18th century the most prominent object on the coast to the south of Dublin was the castle of Merrion, the site of which is now occupied by the Asylum for the Blind, opposite the level crossing over the Dublin and South-Eastern Railway. Cooper the antiquary, at the close of that century, has recorded his surprise on finding one day that the castle had been reduced to “one mass of ruins.” Its demolition had only been effected in the preceding fortnight, and the enormous size of the pieces of masonry which lay round its site bore testimony not only to “the excellence of old Irish building,” but also to the strength and importance of this mediaeval house. Cooper had gone to Merrion a few months before with the intention of making a drawing of the castle, but had been prevented by “the surly threats of two large mastiffs,” and on his second visit could do no more than record his recollections of the structure. Although before he saw the castle the basement had been converted to the uses of a cow-house, and the upper storey had become “an open waste,” the ruins indicated, he says, that the castle had been “a piece of patchwork,” portion of it being very old and portion of it more modern. The walls were of enormous thickness, exceeding in some cases four feet, but their security had been to some extent relieved by battlements and gothic windows fitted into casements of limestone.

It was to this castle that, in the 16th century, the Earl of Pembroke’s ancestors, the Fitzwilliams, had moved their seat on leaving Baggotrath. The more modern portion of the castle dated from their time, but the older portion had a much earlier origin. After the last Walter de Rideleford’s death the first reference to the part of the Donnybrook lands in which those of Merrion lay is in connection with the lands nearer Blackrock, then known as the lands of Thorncastle, and also part of Walter de Rideleford’s property. The lands of Thorncastle had passed from him to the only child of his second daughter, Christiana de Marisco, whose father was brother to one of the early viceroys; but after a time this lady, who had migrated to England, and become known to Eleanor of Provence, the mother of Edward the First, gave Thorncastle, together with her other Irish property, to the Crown.

At the beginning of the 14th century the tenant of Thorncastle under the Crown, William le Deveneis, then described as the King’s clerk, and afterwards one of the Irish judiciary, sought permission to construct a weir by which the waters of the sea might come in and go out between the lands of Thorncastle and his other lands of Donnybrook, in which those of Merrion were doubtless comprised. The question was referred to a jury, who found that the weir might be constructed without injury to anyone, provided that it was not on “the channel called lak deep.” But William le Deveneis had at the same time asked for the rights of the foreshore on his Thorncastle lands, and a visionary prospect of a wreck worth £40, which the jury said might at any moment be cast up, although the value of wreckage in the preceding 20 years had not amounted to forty pence, caused the King to stay his hand. Some years later William le Deveneis was still unsatisfied, and renewed his application in the form of a petition for a grant of the pools near the sea coast, and of the rights of the foreshore, as Christiana de Marisco and her ancestors had enjoyed them. This resulted in further enquiry, and it was found that, by grant from King John, Christiana de Marisco and her ancestors owned the foreshore “from the rivulet called Glaslower running to the sea near the boundaries of the land of Carrickbrennan towards the east, to the rivulet called Clarade running to the sea near the boundaries of the land of the city of Dublin towards the west to the lake called the south lake, and thence towards the sea as the poles or posts stand there fixed in the sands towards the east,” and that the foreshore rights could not be given to anyone without licence from Christiana de Marisco. As regarded pools the jury gave the diplomatic answer that Christiana de Marisco and her ancestors might have had pools, but that the members of the jury had as yet been unable to see them.

Before the 14th century had far advanced Merrion appears as the site of a manorial residence. A messuage and land at Merrion are mentioned as part of the property of Master Walter de Islip, who succeeded William le Deveneis as tenant of Thorncastle. About the same time Merrion is described as a manor, and a deed relating to lands in the neighbourhood was signed there. Master Walter de Islip was an ecclesiastic; but, besides much church preferment, he had held at one time, like William le Deveneis, the office of a judge, from which he had been promoted to be Treasurer of Ireland. Towards the close of his career his dealings with public moneys were called in question, and Merrion is included amongst property belonging to him which was seized by the Crown. But before that time under a lease from him Merrion, together with Thorncastle, had come into the possession of Robert de Nottingham, the most powerful Dublin citizen of that day, who filled the mayoral chair seven times, and saved the city from destruction during the Scottish invasion under Edward Bruce. After Robert de Nottingham’s death Merrion was for a time occupied by his widow and her second husband Thomas Bagod, a member of the Baggotrath family, and subsequently passed to his daughter and her husband John de Bathe.

The necessity for a strong castle, such as Merrion was in the fourteenth century, is shown by the effect of the raids of the hillmen on the adjoining lands of Thorncastle, which were then unprotected by any fortified dwelling. In the latter part of that century those lands were frequently burned by the O’Byrnes to the utter ruin of their occupants, and in consequence arrears of rent for them, covering a period of no less than 30 years, were forgiven by the Crown. At that time one of the military statesmen whom the circumstances of the age required, Sir John Cruise, was owner of both Merrion and Thorncastle which had been conveyed to him by John de Bathe or his son. He was no less distinguished in the field than in the councils of this country, on one occasion being severely wounded while waging war against the enemies of the King, and as he used Merrion castle as one of his residences might have been expected to protect his own property. But he was often obliged to leave home on business of State, and for at least one of their raids on Thorncastle the hillmen selected a time when he was in England in attendance on Maurice FitzGerald, fourth Earl of Kildare, who had shortly before held the chief governorship of this country.

The connection of the Fitzwilliams with Merrion dated from the time of Sir John Cruise’s death at the beginning of the 15th century, and arose through the marriage of his daughter to James son of Hugh Fitzwilliam, a near relation of William Fitzwilliam of Baggotrath. During that century Merrion, together with Thorncastle, remained in possession of James Fitzwilliam’s descendants. His son Philip Fitzwilliam, who combined the practice of law with arms, was a follower of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, and is said to have rendered good service against English rebels as well as Irish enemies. For the protection of his Thorncastle lands a small castle was built by him at Booterstown, which had been shortly before “destroyed, burned, and devastated,” and in consideration of its erection long arrears of rent to the Crown, which had again accumulated, were forgiven. Later on in the century Philip Fitzwilliam’s son Stephen and his grandson James were successively established at Merrion.

But before the 16th century James Fitzwilliam’s branch became extinct, and the Merrion and Thorncastle property passed to the main line of the Fitzwilliam family, then seated at Baggotrath. The owner of Baggotrath at that time was Thomas Fitzwilliam, who has been mentioned amongst its occupants, and during his life and that of his son Richard Fitzwilliam, Baggotrath continued, as has been stated, to be the chief residence of the family. Richard Fitzwilliam paid several prolonged visits to England, and during his absence on one occasion his messuages and lands at Merrion were leased to a physician called Owen Albanagh, subject to a rent of 12 marks, and “the custom of herrings and other fish when they happen upon the sea and strand of Merrion yearly.”

He was a man of much piety, and in his will in addition to the direction that he should be buried “under a great marble stone, with images of a man and his wife and as many children as he had, graven in copper and gilt after the custom of England,” there were several curious bequests to religious establishments. Amongst these is a legacy to the church of Merrion, the site of which is marked by the disused graveyard near Dornden, of a gown of camlet and a doublet of satin to make vestments.

It was under Richard Fitzwilliam’s son, Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam, that Merrion became one of the great residences of the metropolitan county, and the seat of the Fitzwilliam family. For “his readiness to all services” Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam was conspicuous in Elizabethan Ireland, and held numerous employs involving administrative as well as military ability. While representing the metropolitan county in that Queen’s Irish parliament he held the office of Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, and was one of those on whom special powers were conferred to secure “the quiet and surety of the English Pale,” which swarmed at that time with “idle men daily doing harm, robberies, and spoil on the Queen’s Majesty’s good subjects.” As owner of Merrion Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam was bound to serve in person, as well as to furnish two archers on horseback, when the county levies were called out, and it was on one of these occasions, in an expedition against Shane O’Neill, that the honour of knighthood was conferred on him at Drogheda by Sir Henry Sidney, then Lord Deputy of Ireland.

Early in that year Sir Henry Sidney had made his solemn entry into Dublin from Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam’s “house of Merrion,” to which he had come from Dalkey where he had landed, but it is now impossible to give a description of the building from which this ceremony took place. The only drawing of the castle of Merrion known to exist is the sketch of its ruins which has been reproduced, and owing to defective perspective the original connection of the imposing staircase and of the two fortified buildings, which the drawing depicts, cannot be determined with certainty. But the castle was then doubtless a stately dwelling2 and all the more imposing on account of its surroundings. Between its site and Simmonscourt there lay what were known as the rabbit warren of Merrion, the blind rabbit warren, and the Murragh or salt marsh; and the sea border from Merrion to Ringsend was covered with nets employed in a herring fishery, then the great industry in the neighbourhood. The lands round the castle were laid out in gardens and orchards, and those more inland were covered with fields of corn. On the one side Monkstown Castle, on the other Simmonscourt Castle were the nearest dwellings of importance; and with the exception of the castles of Simmonscourt and Baggotrath no building of great size intervened between Merrion and Dublin Castle.

After Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam’s well beloved son and heir, Richard Fitzwilliam, had for a brief space reigned there, Merrion came into the possession of his grandson Thomas Fitzwilliam, who was created, by Charles the First, Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion and Baron Fitzwilliam of Thorncastle. The times in which he lived were troublous, but the first Viscount Fitzwilliam was a man of singular perspicacity, and devoted loyalty, who notwithstanding some critical passages never forfeited the confidence of his Sovereign and the chief governors of Ireland. At the very opening of his career he was involved in difficulty owing to his relationship to Sir Cahir O’Dogherty, then in conflict with the government; and the Lord Deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester, wrote to Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam, knight, a title which he had shortly before conferred on him, requiring him, on the condition of his recognizances, to bring in the body of Sir Cahir O’Dogherty. Of the safe delivery of the letter “the ordinary messenger to the Lord Deputy for the carriage of letters” gave proof in the following words:- “That about the midst of April last past he carried a letter of the Lord Deputy’s to Merrion directed to Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam, which letter he delivered to Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam’s brother at the hall door of Merrion, and in his return from Merrion he did meet Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam riding towards Merrion at the cross upon Stephen’s Green accompanied with his wife and about eight horsemen, and told Sir Thomas he had delivered a letter at Merrion to his brother directed from the Lord Deputy to him.” But in spite of these alarming formalities no more serious consequence than the payment of a fine befell the lord of Merrion.

A record of the riding of the franchises and liberties of the city of Dublin, which extend as far as Blackrock, gives an interesting account of the Merrion neighbourhood at the beginning of the seventeenth century. It relates how “in the name of God” the mayor, sheriffs, recorder, and aldermen, accompanied by more than 300 citizens on horseback, rode out of Dublin by Dame’s Gate, along the side of the Liffey to Ringsend, and thence, being low water, across the strand to “the Poole Begge and Bar Foote” where, on a trumpet sounding, the company came together, and one of the water-bailiffs cast a spear as far as he was able into the sea to mark the limits of the city’s jurisdiction in that direction. Then “they bent their course,” as directly as they could, across the sand to Blackrock, and then turned back, and rode along the highway to the “chapel of Merrion.” At the chapel, after much sounding of the trumpet, the company came together and consulted of their right passage, and agreed that they should turn off the road a little to the south of the chapel, leaving an acre “said to be of the land of Raboe “between them and it. Then they proceeded round by the south-west corner of the orchard ditch of Merrion, through which corner “the elder fathers of the city said that of old time they did ride.” But, now for that the same was so strongly fenced with trees and thorns which in favour of the gentleman of the house of Merrion being the city tenant they would loathly break down,” they rode a little outside it. Thence they passed by our Lady’s well,” where they stood a space and the trumpet again sounded, and came to the gate of Simmonscourt, and then riding on by the green of Simmonscourt by “the red shard,” and by the boundary of the land of Roebuck arrived at Donnybrook. [See “Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin,” edited by Sir John Gilbert, vol. I., pp. 190-192]

The castle of Merrion was, early in the 17th century, considered fitting, both as regards accommodation and appointments, to afford for a time a residence for Sir Arthur Chichester while chief governor of this country, and gave proof of its strength, which alone saved it from destruction, during the war which succeeded the great rebellion. After that event it was garrisoned by a company of 40 soldiers, but a few months later “by treachery of some of the house and some of the soldiers” 300 of the enemy were admitted into the castle by a window before they were discovered, and the soldiers were obliged to flee. The intruders, owing to their being “destitute of powder,” were unable to prevent the escape of the soldiers by sea to Dublin, but “the house of Merrion” was left at their mercy, and is said to have been burned by them so far as was possible. The castle was again garrisoned some years later when Dublin was in possession of the Parliament, and to a force of over 50 men, under the command of three officers, the duty of guarding it was then assigned.

During the Commonwealth, on the death of the first Viscount Fitzwilliam, the titles which had been conferred on him by Charles the First passed to his eldest surviving son, Oliver, who was created, after the Restoration by Charles the Second, Earl of Tyrconnel. On the side of the royal cause the Earl of Tyrconnel had been one of the foremost actors in the events preceding the establishment of the Commonwealth in Ireland. Afterwards, owing to his marriage to a daughter of the house of Holles, a family identified with the Parliament interests, he was not expatriated, and was able to give material assistance in the restoration of his sovereign to the throne. For these services his earldom, and after protracted delay the recovery of his estates, seem rewards none too great. His enjoyment of them was only brief, and on his death, as he had no issue, his earldom became extinct, and the titles which he had inherited passed first to his brother and then to his nephew, who became an ardent follower of James the Second.

Although it had been reduced to a state of decay during the military occupation, Merrion Castle became once again, under the Earl of Tyrconnel’s restoring hand, “a fair stone house,” assessed as containing the exceptionally large number of 16 hearths, The Fitzwilliam arms engraved in stone above the entrance bespoke the owner, and the interior, with its tapestry-covered walls and handsome furniture, indicated the taste of his Countess. To her Irish home the Countess of Tyrconnel appears to have become much attached, and Denzille Street and Clare Street, as well as Holles Street, owe their names to her connection with the Fitzwilliam estate. In its management she seems to have taken part, and it was to her that the Duke of Ormonde while Lord Lieutenant wrote when sods were required from Merrion for a public bowling place which the mayor and sheriffs were about to make on Oxmantown Green. He tells her that the mayor informs him that the sods on Oxmantown or Stephen’s Green are not fit for the purpose, but that suitable sods are to be found at Merrion, and begs her to consent to the removal from those lands, “where they may be best spared,” of as many sods as may be necessary.

The opening years of the 18th century saw the erection of Mount Merrion House by Richard fifth Viscount Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Tyrconnel’s grand-nephew, and Merrion Castle left to be the abode of “a parcel of those outlandish marmots called mountain rats,” ‘which are said to have nearly eaten up a woman and child in the neighbourhood. Probably the ruins of the castle afterwards became a hiding place for highwaymen and footpads, as did the ruins of Baggotrath Castle, and to this cause was due the final demolition of the structure.

Pembroke Index.

Home.