Parish of Clondalkin

Parish of Clondalkin

*(i.e., Dolcan’s ‘meadow). *

This Parish is returned in the seventeenth century as containing the townlands of Blundelstown, Ballybane, Ballymount, Ballycheevers, Ballygaddy, Clondalkin, Clutterland, Collinstown, Carrollstown, Corkagh, Clonburrows, Collcott, Coldwell, Deansrath, Fox and Geese, Nangor, Neillstown, Newland, Priestown, Ronanstown, and Rahan.

It now contains the townlands of Ashfield, Balgaddy *(i.e. *the town of the thief), Ballybane *(i.e., *the white town), Ballymanaggin, Ballymount Great and Little, Bawnoges *(i.e., *the little green field), Bedlesshill, Blundelstown, Brideswell Commons, Buck-and-hounds, Bushelloaf, Cappagh *(i.e., *the tillage land), Cheeverstown, Clonburris *(i.e., *the meadow of the borough) Great and Little, Clondalkin, Clutterland *(i.e., *shelter land), Coldcut, Collinstown, Commons, Corkagh *(i.e., *the marsh), Corkagh Demesne, Deansrath, Fairview, Fox-and-geese, Fox-and-geese Common, Gibraltar, Kingswood, Knockmitten *(i.e., *Mittan’s hill), Mooreenaruggan, Nangor *(i.e., *the place of nettles), Neillstown, Newlands, Newlands Demesne, Priest Town, Raheen *(i.e., *the little rath), Redcow, Ronanstown, and Yellowmeadows.

The objects of antiquarian interest are the round tower in Clondalkin village, two early crosses in the churchyard, and remains of the castles of Ballymount, Cheeverstown, Clondalkin, Deansrath, and Nangor.

There is a well in the parish known as St. Bridget’s Well. **

Clondalkin**

The parish of Clondalkin, which adjoins Ballyfermot on the east, possesses interest for the antiquary as the site of one of those remarkable buildings so often used to symbolize Irish archaeology, a round tower. In addition to this round tower, one of the few remaining in a perfect condition, many other relics of past ages have been discovered in the parish, which extends from the parish of Palmerston to that of Tallaght, and from the parish of Kilmactalway to that of Drimnagh, with an outlying portion containing the townland of Blundelstown, surrounded by lands in the parishes of Rathcoole and Kilmactalway. Within its limits at places known as Ballymount, Cheeverstown, Deansrath, and Nangor, as well as at Clondalkin itself, remains of fortified dwellings are still visible.

But notwithstanding these indications of stirring events in bygone days Clondalkin and the other places within the parish add little to the history of the county. Only the slightest information is available about Clondalkin in the period preceding the Anglo-Norman invasion, the period in which the place was perhaps most famous, and after the invasion, owing to the frequent changes in the residents and number of owners in the parish, continuous narration is even more than usually difficult.

Like Tallaght, Clondalkin was the site of a Celtic monastery. Of this monastery record only relates the name of its founder, St. Mochua, and the names of its chief inmates, which will be given in the ecclesiastical portion of the history of the parish. Clondalkin is also one of the few places in the county where there is known to have been a Scandinavian settlement. But there are only two references to the connection of the Norsemen with it. In 832 it is mentioned that the foreigners plundered Clondalkin, and in 865 it is stated that a fortress there, which the Scandinavians called Dun Amhlaeibh after their king, was burned by the son of Gaithen, chief of Leix, and Ciaren son of Ronan, who exhibited the heads of a hundred foreigners as the result of their prowess in the slaughter of its defenders. The only other reference to Clondalkin before the Anglo-Norman invasion is a statement that in 1071 it was again burned, but by whom is not recorded.

After the Anglo-Norman invasion, during which Roderic O’Conor with the Irish forces lay for a time near Clondalkin, the land belonging to the Celtic monastery passed into the possession of the Archbishop of Dublin, and Clondalkin became the centre of one of the largest manors belonging to the metropolitan see.

In the thirteenth century the town had many inhabitants and was ruled by a bailiff, an office held in 1276 by one Robert Beg. As has been mentioned in connection with Tallaght, Clondalkin could furnish a strong militia force, and its trade, as shown by the existence of an official weighmaster, was considerable.

A manor house there afforded then an occasional residence for the Archbishop, and in his absence it was left in charge of a constable, whom we find supplied by his lord with a robe in winter and a tunic in summer.

In the accounts of the manor revenue is included from fines and imprisonments as well as the usual profit of the manor court, and amongst the other items may be noted receipts indicating that the Archbishop had lands in his own hands at a place called Ballymacnagh, or the town of the parsnips, as well as at Clondalkin, and that the manor contained a mill and a bog.

The townlands of Nangor and Blundelstown were held directly from the Crown by service, and at that period Nangor was held with Kilbride by the Comyns of Balgriffin, and Blundelstown by Laurence Blundell.

The incursions of the Irish tribes during the early part of the fourteenth century were felt in Clondalkin, although perhaps not so severely as in the Archbishop’s more southern manors. In 1324 Archbishop de Bicknor is stated to have had some corn and live stock, including eighty head of cattle and two hundred sheep, on his Clondalkin lands, but the survey made two years later gives the impression of a country in a great measure denuded of live stock as well as of inhabitants, and only partially cultivated.

The Archbishop’s residence at Clondalkin, described as a chamber and a chapel badly roofed with shingles, together with a stone stable and two thatched cottages, are valued at nothing “because no one wished to use them.” The curtilage was also worthless, as well as the orchard “for want of apple trees,” and the dovecot was in ruins. Only a few betaghs remained on the lands and most of the tenants were English, many of them being burgesses of the town of Clondalkin.

The manor appears from this survey to have been of great extent, including a large tract which then lay “waste and uncultivated owing to the weakness of the the soil,” a wood which was without profit “except by making great destruction and waste,” a moor, and a warren The majority of the place names can no longer be identified, but amongst them we find Cappagh, which lay “amongst the Irish,” and Corkagh.

At the close of the fourteenth century Clondalkin contained no less than five streets, known as Mill Street, Steeple Street, Pope Lane, New Street, and Mahow Street. This appears from an inquisition about property assigned in 1393 to the church of Clondalkin by one John Shillingford, who gave to it not only houses in the town but also farms and a wood called the White Firs.

Amongst the inhabitants we find in 1345 John FitzSimons described as late guardian of trade in Ireland who in that year returned to the Exchequer sundry standard measures and weights, including an iron-bound bushel, a brass flagon and groat, an iron ell and brass and lead weights, together with seals used for stamping those tested and found correct.

The Neills, a family from whom a townland in the parish takes its name, were then prominent people in the Clondalkin neighbourhood. In 1305 two members of the family, Richard and Peter Neill, were granted liberty to use English laws, and later on, in 1355, Simon Neill, who had property in Dublin in New Street as well as at Clondalkin, claimed to be allied to the great Ulster family of his name. This claim was made in an action for trespass taken by Simon Neill, in which the defendant sheltered himself under the plea that Neill was mere Irish, and not of the free bloods. The jury found for Neill, but it is thought their finding is evidence of a desire to construe the law in favour of the natives rather than proof of noble descent in Neill.

At the beginning of the fifteenth century we find one Roger Bekeford dealing with Simon Neill’s property as his grandson and heir in the female line, but the male line of the family was not extinct, and many years afterwards, in 1471, one of the name William Neill died at Clondalkin in affluent circumstances. He was a tanner, and bequeathed his tan-house and implements to his son, “Sir John Neill, clerk,” although the latter was in holy orders. The residue of his goods he desires his executors, his wife Alson Cristore and his son, “having God before their eyes,” to arrange and dispose of to pious uses ”with all and singular which things he by these presents charges their consciences.”

Shortly after William Neill’s death the aid of parliament was invoked by the Vicars Choral of St. Patrick’s Cathedral with regard to a farm at Clondalkin, known as the Bay or Jesus farm, which the Archbishop of Dublin had granted to them in order that the mass of Jesus might be more honourably performed in the cathedral, and from which they had been ejected successively by John Galbarry and Simon Harold. Proclamation was ordered to be made for the intruders, and the Court of Common Pleas was directed to try the cause, or in the event of the intruders failing to appear to reinstate the Vicars Choral.

Of the occupants of the lands at that time something may be learned from the wills of two tillage farmers at Clondalkin, Nicholas Keating and John Browne, who mention crops of wheat, barley and oats, in the cultivation of which Keating employed six horses and Browne five.

In the surveys and inquisition of the sixteenth century other owners of lands in Clondalkin parish, either under the Archbishop or in fee, appear, amongst them being the Friars Minor, St. Mary’s Abbey, and the Dean and Economy Fund as well as the Vicars Choral of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Of these the most important was the Dean of St. Patrick’s, to whom the castle of Deansrath, a fragment of which remains, and a large extent of lands belonged.

Before the dissolution of the Cathedral in 1547 the Dean at that time, Edward Bassenet, “the scoundrel who surrendered the deanery to that beast Henry VIII.,” as Swift says, had leased Deansrath to one of his brothers, Ffinian Bassenet, and after the dissolution the Dean was living there himself. Dean Bassenet certainly did not neglect his own interests whatever he may have done with regard to those of his Cathedral. As we have seen, in addition to Deansrath he secured for himself the possessions of St. Mary’s Abbey at Kiltiernan, and he planted various members of his family on lands in the parishes of Clondalkin and Kilmactalway.

At the commencement of Queen Elizabeth’s reign in 1532 Alexander Craik, who held the deanery of St. Patrick’s together with the Bishopric of Kildare, dated more than one letter from “his poor house the Deansrath,” but Dean Bassenet had carefully secured the property for his descendants, and Craik’s successor, Dean Weston, was dispossessed by Dean Bassenet’s son.

The latter’s uncle, Ffinian Bassenet, was then stated to be residing at Nangor, and it was not until the beginning of the seventeenth century that the Bassenets, who had before then retired to Wales, the country of their birth, with their Irish spoils, finally parted with their interest in Deansrath, which then reverted to St. Patrick’s deanery.

In 1584 that castle was occupied by William Collier, who was afterwards appointed seneschal of the King’s County and knighted, and in 1596, when it is mentioned as one of the castles guarding the Pale, it was in possession of Nathaniel Smith.

The family of Browne is at that period frequently mentioned in connection with Clondalkin, then considered one of the chief villages in the metropolitan county. In 1538 Nicholas Browne was leased the Jesus farm, and in 1561 Margaret Browne of Clondalkin was robbed by a kern who gained a pardon by “raising a cry” and preventing the escape of some prisoners from Dublin Castle, where he was confined.

Later on Nicholas Browne, a husbandman, Christopher Browne, a chaplain, and William Browne of Rowlagh in Esker parish, are mentioned as holding lands in Clondalkin parish, and in 1632 Patrick Browne, “a great abettor and maintainer of friars and priests,” was resident on the lands of Neillstown.

Newlands, a seat of which some account has been given under Tallaght, and which as there stated lies partly in the parish of Clondalkin, became in the seventeenth century the principal residence in the vicinity of Clondalkin village. Before the arrival at Newlands, in the Commonwealth period, of Sir John Cole, who has been mentioned as the first resident there, a house had stood on the lands and had been for many years the country seat of two members of the illustrious Molyneux family, Samuel Molyneux and Daniel Molyneux, who were respectively appointed by Queen Elizabeth Clerk of the Works in Ireland and Ulster King of Arms.

They were sons of Thomas Molyneux, sometime Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland, who has been already referred to as the father-in-law of Sir Robert Newcomen of Ballyfermot. Thomas Molyneux’s career was a curious and interesting one. He was a native of Calais, which at the time of his birth in 1531 was an English possession, but on its being retaken by the French he migrated to Bruges in Flanders, where he married the daughter of a burgomaster of high repute and considerable wealth. Thence he came to England, and in 1581 we find him in Ireland, where one of his name, Edward Molyneux, had not long before filled the office of Clerk of the Council.

Thomas Molyneux was then described as keeper of the store in Dublin, and it was not until 1590 that he appears to have been appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. An attempt was made to deprive him of the latter office on the ground that he was a foreigner, but he was found to be a true and loyal subject “of Christian religion using sermons and other goodly exercises,” and remained head of the Exchequer until his death.

He is said to have been remarkable for his hospitality and splendid entertainments, and besides his town house in Thomas Court, rented the castle of Tallaght as a country residence from the Archbishop of Dublin, Adam Loftus, who was then residing at Rathfarnham.

It was not long after his death, which occurred in 1596, that his sons Samuel and Daniel Molyneux acquired Newlands and other adjacent property from a member of the Stanyhurst family, and their position in the neighbourhood was established by the appointment soon afterwards of Samuel Molyneux as seneschal of the Crown manors of Newcastle, Saggart, Esker and Crumlin. Samuel Molyneux is first mentioned in 1595 as “the victualler’s man,” and appears to have then acted as assistant to his brother-in-law, Sir Robert Newcomen, but in 1600 he was appointed Clerk of the Works, and was also sometime Marshal of the Star or Castle Chamber, an office to which it was said he was elected “without warrant and to no end.”

To his energy as Clerk of the Works his papers in the Library of Trinity College bear testimony, and his prominent position secured his return to the Irish parliament of 1613 as member for Mallow. He died unmarried, and it is from his brother, Daniel Molyneux, who married a daughter of Sir William Ussher of Donnybrook, that the famous philosopher, and the distinguished physician on whom a baronetcy was conferred, were descended.

Daniel Molyneux was educated at Cambridge University, and in the opinion of the great Primate Ussher was “for learning and parts a Daniel indeed.” His attainments fitted him for the office of Ulster King of Arms, to which he was appointed in 1597, and in which he gained much distinction.

As in the case of his brother, the Library of Trinity College contains a large collection of his papers, and also like his brother he occupied a seat in the parliament of 1613, but for a northern borough, that of Strabane. Before that parliament met we find him in London endeavouring in his official capacity to obtain parliament robes, cloth of estate, and other necessaries from the English Privy Council, who did summer vacation.

His relations with his brother-in-law, Sir Robert Newcomen, are said to have been far from cordial, and an account is preserved of an extraordinary assault committed on him by one of Newcomen ‘s sons-in-law. The alleged cause was a decision given by Daniel Molyneux in a question of precedency in which the assailant’s wife was concerned, but from a reference in Thomas Molyneux’s will to his daughter’s dissatisfaction with the fortune which he had given her, it is probable that the assault arose from family disputes. Daniel Molyneux died in 1632, and appears to have closed “his pilgrimage in this vale of tears ” at Newlands.

About the time that the Molyneux family settled near Clondalkin a statesman already frequently noticed in the history of this part of the metropolitan county, Sir William Parsons, who played so prominent a part in the government of Ireland during the rebellion of 1641, and founded in this country the family ennobled under the title of Rosse, became seated in the parish on the lands of Ballymount. The house at Ballymount was strongly fortified, and there still remain the ruins of a great gateway forming the entrance to what must have been a curtilage of** **considerable extent, as well as an underground passage, probably originally constructed for drainage purposes.

A mound, which stands near the house and from which the lands take their name, has been thought by some persons to be artificial and of very ancient construction; but this is still a matter of doubt, as is the origin of a ruined circular building by which the mound is surmounted. By Parsons the name of Ballymount was changed to Bellamont, and under the latter designation the place gave name to the manor of Bellamont, in which were included, under a grant from James I. made in 1622, not only the lands acquired by Parsons in the parish of Clondalkin, but also those belonging to him in the parishes of Saggart and Tallaght.

One of the few references to Ballymount at this time occurs in the diary of the great Earl of Cork, with whom Parsons was connected through the Fentons. From this entry it appears that in 1636 the Earl’s eldest son, Lord Dungarvan, sent his first child, when only a few months old, with her nurses to live there; and the Earl relates how in June of that year he rode to Ballymount with his daughter-in-law, and how they took the child away with them to Maynooth, whither they went, as he takes care to mention, by the road through Lucan.

Sir Williani Parsons came to Ireland, like his kinsman the Earl of Cork, with only a small amount of money, but “being plodding, assiduous, and indefatigable, greedy of office and eager to raise a fortune,” he quickly gained influence and wealth.

Originally assistant to his uncle Sir Geoffrey Fenton as Surveyor-General of Ireland he succeeded in 1602 to that office ; in 1613 he was returned, as already stated, to represent the borough of Newcastle Lyons in parliament ; and in 1620 he was knighted and created a baronet.

On his suggestion a court of wards was established in Ireland about the latter time, of which he became the master, and we find him urging that the guardianship of Viscount Thurles, afterwards first Duke of Ormonde, should be secured on the ground of the advantage of controlling the education of so great a person, and of the profit which would accrue to the Crown.

Of Parsons’ subsequent life, his prudent conduct under the Earl of Strafford, his administration of the affairs of State during the rebellion, and the differences which led to his being deprived of office and placed under arrest, the history of his time tells.

After his deprivation of office he retired to England and died in 1650 in London, where he is buried in St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster.

His eldest son, Richard Parsons, who married first a daughter of Sir Adam Loftus of Rathfarnham, and secondly a daughter of Sir Beverly Newcomen of Ballyfermot, died before him, and he was succeeded by Richard Parsons’ eldest son by his first wife, Sir William Parsons the younger. The latter, who only survived his grandfather eight years, was residing in Ireland before his death, and describes himself as of Bellamont in his will, but probably did not reside there, as the Castle is stated to have been burned in 1646 by the Irish army.

The rebellion of 1641 left its mark on Clondalkin parish, which for a time was at the mercy of the insurgents. In January, 1642, the village was burned by a troop of horse sent from Dublin, and in June of that year Sir William Parsons advised that the castle of Deansrath should be demolished “to ease the town and to help to free the country.” Most of the castles in the parish were doubtless destroyed at that time.

According to the Down Survey made in 1657 there stood then at Clondalkin only the stump of a castle, some thatched houses and the round tower, or a high watch tower as it is called, and at Neillstown the ruins of a castle with three or four cottages.

The owners and residents in the parish also underwent at that time great change. Before the Commonwealth the owners included, beside the Archbishop of Dublin, the Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Sir William Parsons, two local families the Brownes and the Mileses, the Eustaces of Confey, the Talbots of Belgard and Templeogue, the Nottinghams of Ballyowen in Esker parish, and the Dillons of Cappock; and amongst the residents we find at Blundelstown Nicholas Hart, at Newlands William Clinch, and at Nangor Margaret Lock, a widow.

During the Commonwealth the principal persons connected with the parish were John Foy at Clondalkin, and William Greene at Nangor, and after the Restoration we find besides Sir John Cole at Newlands, Anthony Wynne at Ballymount, John Lyons at Fox-and-Geese, John Harvey at Ballycheevers, and William Trundell at Corkagh.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century Newlands was occupied under a lease from Sir John Cole’s son, Sir Arthur Cole, afterwards created Lord Ranelagh, by Mr. Robert Smith, who appears to have been connected with the county of Cumberland and died in 1708, and Ballymount was occupied about the same time by Mr. John Butler, a son of the famous Sir Theobald Butler, Solicitor-General in Ireland to James II.

A house which stood in that century close to the ruined castle in Clondalkin village, and which bore the date 1714, and a heraldic device with a buck’s head as the crest, a displayed eagle as the arms, and “virtus omnia coronat” as the motto, was probably erected by the Browne family, who still owned property in the parish.

Some of the lands which were forfeited during the revolution were purchased by Mr. Joseph Budden, one of the Commissioners for the sale of forfeited estates, and by Mr. Lewis Chaigneau, one of the French settlers then engaged in trade in Dublin. Nangor Castle was portion of the property purchased by Mr. Joseph Budden, and this subsequently became the country residence of his son-in-law, Mr. John Falkiner, who has been already mentioned as owner of property at Terenure under the Deane family.

The existing house at Nangor, which is in the Queen Anne style, was built by Mr. Falkiner as an addition to the castle, and there he maintained a large establishment befitting one who had served as High Sheriff of his county. His only surviving son died at Nangor in 1742, and after his own death Nangor passed to his grandson, Mr. Daniel Rogers.

Mr. Lewis Chaigneau was succeeded at Clondalkin by his son, Mr. David Chaigneau, who with Mr. John Falkiner served frequently as churchwarden of the parish, and whose two daughters were married respectively in Clondalkin Church by his neighbour Archbishop Hoadly, to Mr. James Digges La Touche and Mr. Thomas Hassard.

Another resident in the parish was Mr. Edward Madden, a member of the Fermanagh family and brother of Premium Madden. Mr. Madden, who was deputy clerk of the Crown and Hanaper, resided at Whitehall, where in 1769 he died.

In 1763 Mr. Marinus James Kennedy died at Clondalkin in consequence, it was generally believed, of violence. He was a descendant of Alderman Walter Kennedy, who has been mentioned as a resident in Esker parish. His wife was a niece of the second Duke of Ormonde, and he was much connected with the Jacobite interest.

The parish was on more than one occasion selected as the site of gunpowder mills, and was the scene of two disastrous explosions. Early in the century, in the year 1733, it is stated that “the gunpowder mills near Clondalkin were blown up, by which several persons received much damage”.

Fifty years later, in 1782, the foundation stone of new mills was laid in what is now known as Moyle Park under most distinguished auspices. The construction of these mills had its origin in the volunteer movement and was undertaken by Mr. William Caldbeck, a well-known barrister of that time who had become a resident in the parish**. **He was colonel of the lawyers’ corps, and we are told had previously built at his own expense a foundry for casting brass cannon for the volunteers.

The foundation stone of the gunpowder mills was laid on a May day by the first Earl of Charlemont, who had the assistance of Lord Delvin and of Mr. Caldbeck’s neighbour at Fortfield House, Barry Yelverton, afterwards Lord Avonmore (The stone bore on one side the following texts: ” Thus, saith the Lord, ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbours.” -Jer 34. “Again shall be heard in this place the voice of joy and the voice of gladness; Behold the day is come when I will perform the good thing which I have promised.” - Jer. 33. “This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and ruined cities are become fenced and inhabited by men.” - Ezekiel 36. On the opposite side were the words, “This first done of the first volunteer powder mills in Ireland is now laid by the Right Honourable James, Earl of Charlemont, this 28th day of May, 1782.”)

The ceremony was attended by a number of the volunteers, who had marched to Clondalkin from the Phoenix Park, where they had been reviewed, and who, after the stone was laid, were entertained by Mr. Caldbeck in his garden on “every substantial dish fitting for soldiers, with abundance of wine, Irish porter and native whiskey.”

The mills inaugurated with so much splendour were blown up in their turn five years afterwards with an explosion of the most terrific character. Only two lives were lost, but it is said that pieces of the building several tons in weight were found six fields away, and that the concussion was felt so severely even in Dublin that it caused the fall of a stack of chimneys on Usher’s Quay.

The village of Clondalkin is described by Austin Cooper as being in 1780 a very small one, but it then contained more remains than at present of ancient buildings. Besides the round tower and the mediaeval church there stood, some distance to the north-west of these, a low castle used as a mill, and there were at the entrance of the town from Dublin the ruins of two castles as well as of the house which has been previously referred to as built in 1714.

During the eighteenth century the Finlay family settled at Corkagh, now the most important residence in the parish, and at the close of the eighteenth century Colonel John Finlay, who afterwards represented the metropolitan county in parliament, and Arthur Wolfe, Viscount Kilwarden, then residing at Newlands, were the most prominent parishioners.

As commander of the Uppercross Fusiliers Colonel Finlay was active in the volunteer movement, and during the rising under Robert Emmet in 1803 we find him applying to the Government for protection for powder mills which had been once again erected near Clondalkin. **

Ecclesiastical History**

The present church of Clondalkin is comparatively modern and uninteresting, but it occupies the site of what must have been one of the finest mediaeval churches in the County Dublin.* *That church adjoined the round tower, which is separated from the present church by the public road, and doubtless took the place of an early Celtic place of worship.

As has been already stated, a Celtic monastery was founded at Clondalkin by St. Mochua or Cronan, who is styled Bishop and Abbot of Clondalkin, and whose festival is celebrated on August 6th. Amongst his successors we find Aelbran Ua Lagudon who died in 781, Fearfughaill who died in 789, Feidhlimidh Ua Lugadon who died in 801, Tibraide son of Rechtabhar who died in 828, Cathal son of Cormac who died in 879, Ronan son of Cathal who died in 885, Maelinmhain Ua Glascon who died in 920, Duibhinnreacht son of Ronan who died in 938, and Fiachna Ua Ronain who died in 1086.

The last named is said to have assumed the abbacy in violation of the right of the son of Maeldalua, and in 1076 an army was led by the clergy of Leath Mhoga with the son of Maeldalua to expel him, with the result that a church and lands at Clondalkin were given to the Culdees, and that a fine of twelve score cows was paid to the son of Maeldalua.

The church of Clondalkin was held, as mentioned under Kilmahuddrick, in 1186 by Master Osbertus, and at the time of the establishment of the collegiate church of St. Patrick as a cathedral, formed a prebend in that church. It was then held by William FitzGuido, who was appointed the first dean, and became portion of the corps attached to that dignity, the churches of Rathcoole and Esker being subservient to it.

In 1324 Reginald of Clondalkin is mentioned as the chaplain, and in 1393 James Seman is described as rector.** **The mediceval church contained three altars dedicated respectively to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Bridget and St. Thomas, and was evidently a well-endowed foundation.

Of this some indication is given in the will of William Neill, which has been already quoted. He left legacies to two priests, described respectively as the chaplain of the parish and St. Mary’s chaplain, a chalice of sixteen ounces, which had cost five and a half marks, to the altar of St. Mary, and sums of money for the purpose of maintaining a priest for a year, of purchasing a service or lesson book, and of keeping lights on the altars of St. Bridget and St. Thomas. The other parishioners at that period also remembered the church in their wills.

At the time of the dissolution of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1547 the church of Clondalkin was stated to be in charge of a curate who was assigned the altarages and a messuage near the church as his salary, and Christopher Brown, who subsequently appears at Tallaght, is mentioned as the chaplain.

The regal visitation of 1615 states that the church was then in good repair, but the vicar, Richard Bathe, had been deprived on account of his not residing, and the vicarage was sequestrated. Some years later Archbishop Bulkeley found Mr. Joseph Ware, “a master of arts and preacher,” installed as vicar and diligently discharging the duty at a salary of £20 a year. The church, in the opinion of the Archbishop, was only “indifferently” repaired. Later on the Rev. Thomas Wilkinson succeeded Ware and was in possession when the Commonwealth was established.

The mediaeval church then fell into ruins, and at the close of the seventeenth century the parish was united to that of Tallaght. At the beginning of the eighteenth century a portion of the mediaeval church was however restored, as shown in the drawing by Archdeacon, and it was served during that century by the prebendaries of Kilmactalway; in 1701 the Rev. Hugh Wilson, in 1727 the Rev. Francis Wilson, in 1743 the Rev. Sir Philip Hoby, Bart., with as curate the Rev. Richard Bailey, in 1748 the Rev. William Ussher, in 1752 the Rev. William Pountney, in 1771 the Rev. John Drury with as curate the Rev. George Wogan, and in 1791 the Rev. Charles Mosse.

On his visit to Clondalkin in 1780 Austin Cooper describes the church as small and neat and says it contained twelve seats. Opposite the entrance there stood the communion table, and in the centre of the church, on the left-hand side, the reading desk and pulpit. Under the communion table there was a tombstone to the memory of the “Rev. Dr. Francis Wilson,” and on the wall opposite the pulpit a mural tablet, which is in the present church, to the memory of Sir Simon Bradstreet, Bart. (Cooper describes it as “a small white marble monument, ornamented with pillars,” and says there is inscribed on it a coat of arms and the following inscription:-” In the aisle near this marble is the burial-place of Sir Simon Bradstreet of Kilmainham, in the County of Dublin, Baronet, counsellor-at-law. A.D. MDCCLXI.”). The church was surrounded by walls, and Cooper saw in the churchyard the two crosses and a stone font which are still there, as well as two tombstones with inscriptions (One to Richard Mathews, who died 18th Oct., 1779, aged 75; and the other to Michael Connor, of Dublin, shoemaker, who died 18th Aug., 1673.).

According to a parliamentary paper the Roman Catholic Church had in 1731 a chapel in Clondalkin village as well as three chapels in private houses in the parish, and these are stated to have been served by three priests. This statement was, however, probably not well founded, and as we have seen under Lucan, Clondalkin parish under the Roman Catholic arrangement was then united to Lucan and has since so remained except for a brief period from 1770 to 1800.

With the exception of the names of the parish priests in charge during that period, from 1770 to 1778 the Rev. C. Coleman, and from 1778 to 1800 the Rev. Thomas Maguire, the names of the parish priests will be found under Lucan.

The church of Clondalkin is stated in 1777 to have been in good repair, although of great antiquity, and it is mentioned that land belonging to it had then been leased to a tenant on condition that he performed all necessary painting, whitewashing, and glazing. The explosion of the gunpowder mills shook, however, the ancient building, and the present church was then erected, at first taking the form depicted in the accompanying picture, and causing much comment on account of its orientation not being correct.

The succession of vicars since the Rev. Charles Mosse has been, in 1797 the Rev. John Grant, in 1815 the Rev. John Reade, in 1848 the Rev. David John Reade, in 1873 the Rev. William Winslow Berry, in 1890 the Rev. Ronald MacDonnell, in 1892 the Rev. Charles James Ferguson, and in 1904 the Rev. James Berkeley Bristow.

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