Parish of Killiney

Parish of Killiney.

The Parish of Killiney is shown on the Down Survey Maps of 1657, as consisting of the Townlands of Killeney, Hackettsland, and Loughnanstowne.

Killeney is now represented by the Townland of Killiney; Hackettsland is represented by Hackettsland; Loughnanstowne is represented by Loughlinstown *(i.e. *Baile-an-Lochain, the town of the little lake), Ballybrack *(i.e. *speckled town), part of Kilbogget, and Cherrywood.

There are the following objects of archaeological interest in the parish - Cromlech near Shanganagh, “Druid’s Judgment Seat” at Killiney, and ruined Church of Killiney.

Killiney

Cromlech1.jpg (15084 bytes)Cromlech2.jpg (12268 bytes)Two monuments of the primeval age are to be found on the lands of Killiney. One of these is a Cromlech, which stands near the road leading front Ballybrack to Shanganagh (pictured on left and right). It is, as compared with others in the County Dublin, a small specimen, and, owing to some of the supporting stones being broken, the roof rock, which weighs about twelve tons, has fallen somewhat from its original position.** **The other monument of the rock age is near the Martello Tower, at Killiney, and is known as “the Druids’ judgment seat.” In its present form it is a modern antique, but the stones of which it is composed formed part of a sepulchral memorial, dating from very early times. The latter consisted of three small Cromlechs, surrounded by a circle of upright stones, about 135 feet in circumference, and, at the time of its first attracting attention, in the 18th century, when everything pre-historic was attributed either to the Druids or the Danes, it was assumed to be a Pagan temple - a designation under which it is marked on the Ordnance Survey Map. Near the circle was discovered at the same time an ancient burying-place, and some stones with curious markings, which are still to be seen. The burying-place was of considerable extent, the bodies, which were enclosed in coffins made of flags, having been laid in a number of rows of ten each.

Before the English invasion the lands of Killiney had been given to the Priory of the Holy Trinity, and subsequently they were confirmed to it with those of Kill-of-the-Grange, by the ecclesiastical and lay authorities. They were included in the Manor of Kill-of-the-Grange, and, in spite of their rocky and sterile character, they were inhabited, in the 14th century, by John Milis, and many cottagers, who were bound to do “divers works” on the home farm of the Priory, and who contributed fifteen reapers at harvest time.

After the dissolution of the Priory the lands were held successively, under the Cathedral, by William Walsh, *alias *McHowell; James Garvey, doubtless a relative of the Primate of that name, who had been Dean of Christ Church; and the owners of Loughlinstown, the Goodman family. After the Rebellion of 1641, the property of the Goodmans was confiscated and seized by the Parliament.

On the Restoration the lands of Killiney were recovered for the Cathedral by Dr. Lightburne, and were afterwards held by Gilbert Wye, of Belfast, an officer in the Earl of Donegal’s regiment the Mossoms, already mentioned as owners of Tipperstown, the Fawcetts, who were owners of Brenanstown, and the Pocklingtons and Domviles, of whom we shall see under Loughlinstown.

Towards the close of the 18th century, “a neat lodge” was built near the ruined church by Mr. Peter Wilson, who removed there from Dalkey, on retiring from business, and it was in his grounds, in 1785, that the stone remains and burying-place, which, on his invitation, were inspected by General Vallancey, were discovered.

Later on a Mr. Fetherston was residing at Killiney, and, in 1800, the Rev. James Dunn, then curate, and afterwards vicar, of Monkstown, was lodging in “a small cottage, delightfully situated over the seashore.” In the year 1788-a remarkable one in the annals of Killiney - a coal brig, which had gone ashore on the strand, and whose recovery had been given up as hopeless by English engineers, was floated by a Dublin firm; and a prodigious boy, who at seven years of age was 5 feet 2 inches high and 4 feet 5 inches round his waist, was to be seen at Ballybrack.

During the first part of the 19th century Killiney was still open country, as the fatal accident in 1815, to the Duke of Dorset - the stepson of Lord Whitworth, the Viceroy of the time - while hunting on its lands, indicates, but its beauty later on became more appreciated, and a great speculative building scheme, with “views perspective as well as prospective,” of which Victoria Castle was the outcome, was laid before the public**. **(A monument on the hill bears the following inscription, “This pile was raised to mark the fatal spot where, at the age of 21, George John Frederick, the fourth Duke of Dorset, accidentally lost his life 14th February, 1815.”)

Loughlinstown

A portion of Loughlinstown House, the residence of Major Herbert W. Domvile, D.D., at present High Sheriff of the County Dublin, dates from the Restoration period of the 17th century. The front of the house, which is approached by a winding drive of modern construction, is a comparatively recent erection, but the back, which forms three sides of a square, and which was approached more directly from the road by an avenue now disused, is evidently a much older structure.

The lands of Loughlinstown, which, as their name and formation indicate, formerly contained a small lake, belonged, in the middle ages, to the Talbots, the owners of Rochestown, and were held under them by the Goodmans, who were also early English settlers. The Goodmans were, doubtless, originally placed there as hardy warders of the Pale-men capable of guarding its barrier, which ran not far off, and of offering effective resistance to the incursions of the Irish tribes; but in the 16th century they had become men of note, and filled the offices of Sheriff and of Commissioner for the Muster of the Militia.

As cattle afforded too tempting plunder to the marauders, the lands were devoted to tillage and, in addition to a castle for themselves, the Goodmans erected a large and strong barn for the storage of their corn, which was ground in a mill upon the river.

In the first half of the 16th century, Loughlinstown was held by James Goodman, who, in 1547, was given a grant of land in the County Wicklow, which the Government then desired to colonise, and he was succeeded by his son, of the same name, already mentioned as tenant of the lands of Rochestown and Cornelscourt. The latter, whom we find in the same year rescuing a prisoner from the sub-sheriff, and given a commission to execute martial law, held also the lands of Danestown, at Castleknock, and, as a large tillage farmer and loyal subject agreed, in 1572, to supply the garrison with corn, at a price to be fixed by the Council, and to forgive the Crown all money due to him for provisioning the army from “the beginning of the world” to that time.

After his death, in 1575, when, notwithstanding his being a Roman Catholic, he was buried, as were all his family, in the parish church of Killiney, Loughlinstown passed successively to his son, Richard, who died in 1589; to his son, William, who signed the assurance of loyalty from the Roman Catholics of the Pale, on the accession of James I., and who died in 1622; and to his grandson, James, whose father, Gilbert, had died in 1615.

James Goodman was in possession of the lands when the Rebellion of 1641 broke out, and the English Government found in him a most active and determined enemy. In all the depositions made by his neighbours, he is mentioned as foremost in deeds of cruelty and rapine, and he was guilty of at least one murder, for which, under the Commonwealth, he was executed. His victim was a tenant of his own, called William Boatson, and the murder was committed in cold blood in a camp which the rebels had at Bray. On the rebel stronghold at Carrickmines being taken in the following March, a company of a regiment, commanded by the well-known General Monk, who was created, after the Restoration, Duke of Albemarie, was stationed at Loughlinstown, and Goodman, who served subsequently as Provost-Marshal in the army of the Confederates, was forced to, flee.

Loughlinstown then became forfeited property, and was set forth in the surveys, made by direction of the Parliament) as a most desirable estate, with “a fair pleasant river” running through it, and with a substantial residence and offices, surrounded by a garden and orchard, in good repair. It was subsequently designated, in addition to Monkstown, for Edmund Ludlow, but as his sister wrote to him, one had “to labour for resigned hearts” in those changing times, and “the rich mercy” of its settlement on him, for which she prayed, was not vouchsafed.

During the Commonwealth a colony of its adherents settled in the neighbourhood, and had at times the advantage of the ministrations of the Provost of Trinity College, Dr. Samuel Winter, an active opponent of the doctrine of the Anabaptists, who records the names of several children baptised by him at Loughlinstown. On its lands there were then eight inhabitants of English and sixty-eight of Irish extraction, of whom the principal was Mr. John Lambert, who occupied Goodman’s house, and who was subsequently evicted.

With the Restoration, the Domvile family came to Loughlinstown, in the person of Sir William Domvile, Attorney-General for Ireland during the reign of Charles II., who was granted the lands by his Royal master, and whose descendants have held them uninterruptedly to the present time. Domvile, owing to his great ability, occupied a prominent position in the Ireland of his day, and his family has ever since taken a first place in the metropolitan county.

He was descended from an ancient Cheshire family, and was the eldest son of Gilbert Domvile, an Irish legal official, who married a daughter of Dr. Thomas Jones, Archbishop of Dublin, and Chancellor of Ireland, and became M.P. for the borough of Donegal. After completing his education at Oxford, Domvile was called to the English Bar, where he continued to practise until the Restoration, and where he displayed such legal attainments as resulted in his election as a Bencher of his Inn. While a student he married a daughter of Sir Thomas Lake, one of the Secretaries of State of James I., and, though for a time the eccentricities of Lady Lake, who had brought about her husband’s ruin, caused him annoyance, the alliance resulted in much happiness.

Through his wife Domvile had made many influential connections amongst the Royalists, and his own family, both on the side of the Domviles and of the Joneses, elevated under the tile of Ranelagh to the peerage, had shown unswerving devotion to the throne. To his interest, combined with his learning as a lawyer, his appointment on the Restoration as “the King’s Attorney” in Ireland was due, and his conduct during the twenty-six years he occupied that office showed that his promotion was deserved.

Before he left London Domvile received from the King the honour of knighthood, and on his arrival in this country, was elected Knight of the Shire for the County Dublin. The Government were desirous that he should be elected Speaker of the House of Commons, but his sympathies were known to lie on the side of the early English settlers, and the interest of their opponents, the adventurers, and the soldiers, was too strong in the House to permit of his candidature being pressed with success.

The business of the settlement fell to his office, and Domvile, although he tried to steer an even course, incurred in its discharge much public obloquy, and failed to please either party - the later settlers speaking of him as an enemy to their interests, and the early settlers. as indifferent and lukewarm to their claims. His services in that arduous work, and as Chief Prosecutor, were however, fully recognised by the Crown, and so great were the emoluments and perquisites of his office that on two occasions he refused the Chief Justiceship of the Court of Common Pleas, stating that if his promotion were pressed he would consider it a mark of disfavour.

On the lands of Loughlinstown Domvile erected, in place of the mediaeval castle, a modern house, where he delighted to retire from the cares of business. The house was not a large one, and can have afforded little accommodation beyond the principal rooms the hall, the great parlour, and the little parlour, and the great bed-chamber, which were hung, after the manner of the time, with tapestry hangings and embroidered curtains. The accommodation was sufficient, however, to allow Domvile to indulge his wide literary tastes, and to enjoy the companionship of his children, whose welfare was ever his main object.

At Loughlinstown also he amused himself, with the help of faithful and attached retainers who found in him the best of masters, in breeding black cattle, and sheep, and saddle coach, and draught horses, of which his draught nag, “Scully Bote,” and his grey nag, “Fisher,” had first place in his affections.

Domvile, who had been removed from the Attorney-Generalship not long after the accession of James II., died in 1689, while Ireland was in the turmoil caused by that monarch’s occupation.

Loughlinstown passed then to his eldest son, who bore the same name as himself, and who had been knighted by the Duke or Ormonde-a staunch friend of his father’s - before his resignation of the sword.

Sir William Domvile, the second, had represented the Borough of Antrim in Parliament during his father’s lifetime, but owing to ill-health he did not subsequently take any part in public affairs. During his ownership of Loughlinstown, James II. and his army, according to tradition, encamped there and an ancient tree near the house is said to have been planted by James with his own hands.

After this Sir William’s death, which took place in 1698, Loughlinstown came into the possession of his eldest son, another William Domvile, who was pronounced by Swift “to be perfectly as fine a gentleman as he knew.” With the exception of a few years, during which he was elected, in 1717, as Knight of the Shire for the County Dublin, he was a permanent absentee from Ireland, spending his time in London and abroad, where he cultivated literary society and lived the life of a man of fashion.

During his time Loughlinstown House was uninhabited, and Mrs. Delaney, who observed that it was ingeniously situated to avoid one of the sweetest prospects imaginable, speaks of it, in 1752, as old and ruinous.

Loughlinstown was then the centre of the Kilruddery hunt district and was best known as the site of an inn the favourite resort of hunting-men, which stood opposite the gate of Loughlinstown House, and is now converted into a villa, called Beechgrove.

There the sound of the cheery horn was often to be heard, and the hunt in full cry to be seen. The inn was kept by the sporting landlord, the bold Owen Bray, whose exploits on his blind horse have been commemorated by the actor, Thomas Mozeen, in his lines on the Kilruddery Hunt, and right royally did he entertain his guests. In “An Invitation to Owen Bray’s,” Mozeen, who often was one of them, advises all travellers sick of the seas to repair there, and to drain to the eighty-fourth bumper the quick moving bottles of Bray’s famous claret. Bray did not confine his trade to that of an innkeeper, but was ever willing to send to his neighbours’ houses joints of venison and mutton, and bottles of claret and Lisbon, and even a loan of money when necessary.

On Mr. Domvile’s death, which occurred in 1763, his property passed to his cousin, Sir Compton Domvile, the only son of the Attorney-General’s second son Thomas, who had been created a baronet. Sir Compton, who was a Privy Councillor, represented the County Dublin in Parliament for many years, and held the Clerkship of the Crown and Hanaper, which had been in the family from the Attorney-General’s time. In addition to his seat at Templeogue, which had belonged to his father, he had succeeded to Santry Court, on the death of his nephew, the last Lord Santry, and, as a residence, he made no use of Loughlinstown House. His death took place five years later, in 1768, and as he died without issue, he left his property to his nephew, Charles Pocklington, his second sister’s son by her marriage to Admiral Christopher Pocklington. Loughlinstown, however, had been entailed by Mr. William Domvile, and, on Sir Compton’s death, went to Mr. Domvile’s own nephew, the Rev. Benjamin Barrington, who took, as did Pocklington, the name of Domvile. Dr. Barrington was Dean of Armagh at the time of his succession to Loughlinstown, but he came then to Dublin, exchanged that dignity for Dublin preferment, and though well advanced in life, took unto himself a wife in the person of his cousin, a sister of Charles Pocklington. He first held the vicarage of St. Ann’s, in Dublin, but shortly before his death, in 1774, he was appointed to the rectory of Bray and prebend of Rathmichael.

Dr. Barrington Domvile, who was distinguished for his charit able disposition, and had a high reputation as a preacher (A mural tablet in Monkstown Church bears the following inscription, “Sacred to the memory of Benjamin Domvile, D.D. who was born May 19th, 1711, and died October 18th, 1774. He entertained the deepest sense of the importance, and exerted the most conscientious diligence, in the discharge of his sacred office; his discourses, addressed to the understanding and the heart, were so powerfully enforced by animated language and strength of reasoning, that he was justly admired as the most persuasive preacher of his time. Equally respected in private life -his filial piety, conjugal affection, and tender regard to all his family, were most exemplary. Invariable in friendship, unbounded iii benevolence, the great object of his constant endeavours was to promote the honour of God and the happiness of mankind. This humble monument was erected by his grateful and afflicted widow.”)** **did not reside at Loughlinstown, but after his death the house was enlarged, and the grounds newly laid out by a nephew of his wife’s, Mr. Francis Savage - a young man of much promise as an eloquent speaker - and subsequently the house became the residence of Mrs. Barrington Domvile.

During the last century, until of very recent years, it has been let by the owners, and, for the greater half of that century, it was the residence of the Honourable Robert Day, one of the judges of the King’s Bench, who was in early life one of Grattan’s most intimate friends, and who has been described as an eloquent advocate, an able lawyer, and a just and merciful judge (The folio wing inscription appears on a mural tablet in Monkstown Church, “Sacred to the memory of Robert Day, Esquire, late second Justice of the Court of King’s Bench in Ireland. He was third son of the Rev. John Day, of Lohercannon, in the County of Kerry, and of Lucy, his wife, daughter of Maurice FitzGerald, Knight of Kerry. He died 8th February, 1841, in the 85th year of is age. He was an eloquent advocate, an able lawyer, and a just and merciful judge. His affectionate widow erected this monument as a slight tribute to his marry virtues, and in the hope of his resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” He was buried in Monkstown graveyard, where there is a tombstone to his memory.).

Hackettsland

These lands, doubtless, derive their name from the Hackets, who were, in the 14th century, one of the principal families in the southern part of the County Dublin, and, probably, in 1344, Thomas Hacket whose servingman was employed by the Priory of the Holy Trinity to watch the tithes of Killiney and Loughlinstown, was the owner. In the 17th century the lands were owned by the Wolverstons, of Stillorgan, and, in the following century, a family called Towson was resident on them.

Kilbogget

The tithes of these lands, part of which formerly lay within the parish of Kill-of-the-Grange and on which a primitive church stood, belonged to the Priory of the Holy Trinity, and, at the close of the 16th century, were leased by the Cathedral of Christ Church to Alderman Gerald Young, of Dublin. The lands were then owned by the Rochfort family, who were subsequently dispossessed for the part which they took in the Rebellion, and, after the Restoration, the lands were granted to Sir William Domvile, together with those of Loughlinstown.

Ecclesiastical History

The ruined church of Killiney has been pronounced by Dr. Petrie to be coeval with the oldest of the buildings at Glendalough, and to date from the 6th century. The original structure consisted of the nave and chancel, and to these were added, many centuries later, an aisle on the northern side. The primitive doorway in the western end, which bears on the soffit of its lintel a cross, the choir arch, and the east window are all very characteristic of early Irish church architecture.

The name of Cill-inghen-Leinin, the early form of Killiney, indicates that the church was founded by Leinin’s daughters, five holy women, whose names, according to the Martyrology of Donegal, were, Druigen, Luigen, Luicell, Macha, and Riomhtach, and who are supposed to have flourished about the 6th century. Together with the lands, the church came into the possession of the Priory of the Holy Trinity before the English Conquest, and was subsequently confirmed to it by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Pope.

After the dissolution of the Priory it became portion of the dignity of the Dean of Christ Church, and appears to have been served, in the 16th century, by the chaplains of Dalkey. At the beginning of the 17th century, in 1615, it was in charge of the vicar of Bray, the Rev. Morris Burne, but was subsequently held by the same curates as Dalkey - the Rev. William Morris Lloyd, the Rev. John Wilson, and the Rev. James Bishop. The tithes which the Dean enjoyed amounted to £24, and the curate’s stipend was only £6 per annum.

The church was then roofless, as it has since remained, and there was not a Protestant in the parish. The Roman Catholics, who, at the close of the preceding century, had made an effort to build themselves a chapel, had service constantly performed in the house of the owner of Loughlinstown, and had a school for their children, in which they were taught by one of their faith.

At the beginning of the 18th century there was a parish priest of Killiney, the Rev. William Dardis, who lived at Kill-of-the-Grange. Towards the close of that century, owing to the lethargic condition of the Established Church, the Methodists held revival meetings in the neighbourhood, and, in 1782, the Rev. Edward Smyth, one of their clergymen, came to reside at Killiney, and there was, his wife writes, “a noise and a shaking among the dry bones.”

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