Parish of Chapelizod

Parish of Chapelizod.

This parish contains the townland of Chapelizod, and portion of the Phoenix Park. The only object of antiquarian interest is the tower of the parish church.

Chapelizod

The village of Chapelizod, which lies between Island Bridge and Palmerston, and is picturesquely situated on the northern bank of the river Liffey, contains now a flour mill and distillery, and is mainly occupied by persons employed in them. Although here and there one sees an old time house that has seen better days, the thought would never suggest itself that Chapelizod had once been the site of a great mansion. Yet such was the case, and in a field sloping down to the Liffey on the south of the road from Dublin stood what was known as the King’s House in which William III. held his court for some days.

An ancient tradition connects Chapelizod with La belle Isoude, the heroine of the poets, and traces the origin of the place-name to her. According to the “Book of Howth” she was the daughter of Anguisshe, King of Ireland, who flourished in the days of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. To King Anguisshe, a King of Cornwall called Mark had been wont to pay tribute, but he disputed his obligation to do so, and it was determined that the question should be decided by combat between two knights.

The knights, Sir Marlyn, a brother of the Queen of Ireland, representing King Anguisshe, and Sir Tristram representing King Mark, met in Cornwall with the result that both were wounded in the conflict. Although able to return to Ireland Sir Marlyn soon died, and after his death Sir Tristram, whose wound had been caused by a poisoned spear, came to this country, as he was told none except La belle Isoude could cure the hurt.

The Queen of Ireland had taken out of her brother’s wound a piece of iron, which she had kept, and observing one day a gap in Sir Tristram’s sword she was prompted to try whether this piece of iron fitted it, She found that they agreed, and forthwith caused her brother’s adversary to be banished from the Irish court, but meantime he had won the heart of La belle Isoude, who followed him to England.

Whether this tale has any foundation in fact, or whether, if so, La Belle Isoude had any connection with Chapelizod must remain a matter of doubt, but a spring called Isoude’s font, which lay between Kilmainham and the Phoenix Park, as well as a building called Isoude’s tower in the walls of old Dublin, tend to indicate that at some period a celebrated person of the name of Isoude was resident in Dublin or its neighbourhood.

The lands of Chapelizod appear to have been reserved under the Anglo-Norman settlement as Crown property. By King John they were leased, together with the lands of Killsallaghan, to Richard de la Felde.

Later on the Justiciary of Ireland took the lands of both these places, which he had extended, into the King’s hands, but in 1220 the King, tempted by a higher rent than the former tenant had given, leased the lands to Thomas FitzAdam.

A few years later, in 1224, Nicholas, son of Richard de la Felde, offered four times as much for the lands as his father had given, but the lands were then divided, and those of Chapelizod were, in 1225, leased to Richard de Burgh, then Justiciary of Ireland. His tenure was short, and in 1235 his successor was seeking for a new tenant and increased rent for Chapelizod.

The manor, as it was then called, appears to have been for a time in the King’s hands. There is mention in the accounts of the Exchequer of seven oxen bought for the plough of Chapelizod, and a weir there is referred to as the property of the Crown.

But the Chapelizod lands were soon leased again, and amongst the farmers or middlemen in the later part of the thirteenth century were William de Lindesay, the Bishop of Meath, Henry de Gorham and his wife Annora, and Nigel le Brun the King’s valet, while William de Estdene held for some years the demesne lands.

The town of Chapelizod was surrounded with walls, and it was probably with a view to its improvement that in 1290 the King’s mills and houses there were leased to William Pren, the King’s carpenter, who is afterwards described as a felon. Amongst those mentioned in connection with Chapelizod at that time we find Richard of Ballyfermot, and Thomas Cantock, the Chancellor of Ireland, referred to under that place.

The Priory of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem at Kilmainham appears to have been also connected with Chapelizod, and early in the next century was granted the manor on the death of Richard de Wodehose, who then held it, together with the King’s fishery and a mill.

Subsequently, in 1380, the King regranted to the Priory the fishery at Chapelizod together with a weir and a sluice. At that time a small holding there still belonged to the de la Feldes, and was then granted to the parish church by a member of that family.

The Kilmainham Priory continued to hold the manor of Chapelizod for the next hundred years, as appears from numerous charges on the issues of that place made by the Crown, but in 1476 the manor was taken from that establishment and granted to Sir Thomas Daniel. To him succeeded in the sixteenth century Sir William Wyse of Waterford.

The principal resident at that time was Richard Savage, who, in 1536, was described as a yeoman of the Crown, and was granted the office of chief sergeant of all the baronies of the County Dublin, and of the cantred of Newcastle Lyons. Savage was married to Anson Warburton, but had no children, and on his death in 1580 his possessions at Chapelizod passed to his sister, who had married one of the Meys of Kilmactalway.

The Burnells of Balgriffin had become possessed of lands at Chapelizod which, during the sixteenth century, passed to the Bathe family, and John White of Dufferin was also owner of property in the town at the close of that century.

Some information as to the town of Chapelizod at the beginning of the seventeenth century is to be obtained from a grant of three messuages, and some land there made to James the First’s celebrated Irish Attorney-General, Sir John Davies. The walls were apparently then still standing as the east gate of the town is mentioned, and amongst the buildings then well known was the mill and “the common bakehouse,” which stood close to a path called the blind way. The church stile, and “the old wood called the stucking” are also referred to, and amongst the lands named in the grant are the north park, the cherry park, the stang, the scrubby park, the meadow park, the oaten park, the farm park, the ash park, and the orchard park.

At that time there appears at Chapelizod one of the most distinguished soldiers in the Irish wars at the close of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, Sir Henry Power, who was afterwards created Viscount Valentia. Power, who became not only the owner of, but a resident, at Chapelizod, acquired first the property there belonging to the Whites, and afterwards was granted, as the assignee of one Edward Medhop, the entire manor, excepting such portion as belonged to Sir John Davies and to the parish church.

It was in the year 1598 that Power came to Ireland. He had previously seen much service, which had gained for him the honour of knighthood, not only on land but also on sea. A few years before he had accompanied Sir Francis Drake on his last expedition to the West Indies, and he was with the English army in Picardy when the order reached him to come to this country.

He sailed from Dieppe in February with over six hundred men, and after “a very chargeable voyage” landed safely at Waterford He was at once placed in the fighting line, and for the next few years was continuously in the field.

According to the Earl of Ormonde, who was Lord Deputy when he arrived, Power acquitted himself most valiantly, and the Earl of Ormonde’s successor, the Earl of Essex, who possibly had previous knowledge of Power, and considered him capable of high military authority, sent him to Munster as commander of the forces in that province.

He was more than once wounded, and the company under his immediate control was said to be the best trained and provided in Ireland. At first he had reason to complain of the consideration shown him, and says that no man had struck so many blows to gain a reputation with so small return, and that few would be willing to spend so much time, money, and blood as he had done for so small a reward. But he was not overlooked as he supposed, and soon afterwards was appointed to the governorship of Leix, which appears to have been a remunerative position.

Under the rule of Sir Arthur Chichester Power was appointed a privy councillor,, and he sat in the Parliament of 1613 as member for the Queen’s County. It was doubtless mainly to his ability as a statesman that he owed his elevation in 1621 to the peerage as Viscount Valentia; but three years later military ardour again possessed him, and he crossed to England with the object of obtaining fresh employment in the army.

The command of a troop of horse in Ireland, which he was soon given, did not satisfy him, and in the following year he joined in the expedition then undertaken against Cadiz as Master of the Ordnance. The conduct of this campaign did not meet with his approval, and in a letter written after his return to Ireland he expresses his unwillingness to serve again under similar circumstances, but submits himself to the King’s pleasure.

In this letter, which was written in January, 1627, he gives a terrible account of his voyage to Ireland, whence he had come by long sea from London in a transport laden with stores and ordnance, and tells how, near the Scilly Islands, they lost all their masts and sails, and were driven “hither and thither.”

With this expedition Viscount Valentia’s active service seems to have ended, and on his succeeding in 1634 to the reversion of the office of marshal of the Irish army he seems to have been considered unequal to discharge the duties, and resigned the office before his death, which took place in 1642.

The King’s House at Chapelizod was erected by Lord Valentia. It was a brick building, constructed evidently in the fashion of that time with a courtyard and entrance gateway, and was of great extent, being rated as containing no less than fifteen chimneys.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the green meadows sloping down from the village of Chapelizod to the river Liffey contained some traces of the foundation of the house, and even now, as a recent writer remarks, they still reveal some indication of former stateliness.

Lord Valentia, who is described in his patent as of Bersham in Denbighshire, married a Welsh lady, a sister of Lancelot Bulkeley, Archbishop of Dublin, who with his family enters so largely into the history of Tallaght parish. She died a year before her husband and was buried with great pomp in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

By her Lord Valentia had no children, and his title, as had been arranged when it was conferred on him, passed on his death to Sir Francis Annesley, then Lord Mountnorris, to whom he was related.

A niece of Lady Valentia appears to have been adopted by her and her husband as their child. This niece married Sir Henry Spottiswood, son of James Spottiswood, Bishop of Clogher, and nephew of the better-known John Spottiswood, Archbishop of St. Andrews, the Scotch historian.

It would appear from an extraordinary account of “the labyrinth of troubles” into which the Bishop of Clogher fell in this country that the marriage was promoted by other people and was not altogether such as he would have desired; but Sir Henry and his wife appear to have lived very happily with their uncle and aunt at Chapelizod, and the latter certainly appear to have been very true friends of the Bishop on an occasion when he seems to have been strangely forgetful of his office.

At Chapelizod there resided in Lord Valentia’s time an artificer of great renown, Edmond Tingham, who is described as a stonecutter, but who seems to have been no less skilled in design than in execution, and capable of working in wood as well as in stone.

Of his work an enduring memorial exists in the Earl of Cork’s tomb in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. As appears from the diary of the Earl of Cork the construction of the monument was entrusted entirely to Tingham, and although one may not altogether agree with a contemporary traveller in speaking of it as “the very famous, sumptuous, and glorious tomb of the Earl Cork” it must be admitted that Tingham was not unworthy of the trust reposed in him. The tomb is made of marble, which is said to have been raised within two miles of the city of Dublin, and was erected at a cost of £400, a vast sum in the money of that time. It was more than two years before the tomb was finished, and meantime we find the Earl of Cork employing Tingham in other work. To Tingham’s “judgment, honesty, and care” the Earl confided the completion of his new gallery and study in his Dublin residence, and apparently the chimney-pieces, wainscotting, and great nest of boxes for his papers were ” as well and gracefully disposed, ordered and finished” as the Earl could desire.

Then at Maynooth the Earl made use of Tingham in a larger undertaking, the pulling down of an old house, and building of a new one for his son-in-law, the Earl of Kildare, and although care was necessary in financing Tingham, the workmanship completely satisfied the experienced eye of his vigilant employer.

When the Commonwealth came the village of Chapelizod contained a cloth-mill, as well as a flour-mill, and comprised ten slated houses, besides thatched or chaff-houses as they are called. There was a quarry for good building stone in the vicinity, and the salmon fishery on the Liffey was a large one.

“The fair mansion house,” as Lord Valentia’s residence is described in the Survey, was surrounded with extensive offices, and the same value was placed on it as on the castle of Luttrellstown. To it were attached gardens, orchards and plantations, and these, with the house and other buildings, seem to have been in excellent order, and to have come through the troublous times without damage.

During the earlier part of the Commonwealth period the great house seems to have been in possession of Sir Theophilus Jones, then also the owner of Lucan, but at the time of the Restoration the principal persons connected with Chapelizod were David Edwards, John Mason, and Rouse Davis.

After the Restoration the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Sir Maurice Eustace, as mentioned in the notice of that statesman under Palmerston, became possessed of Chapelizod, and used Lord Valentia’s house from time to time as a country residence.

When the Duke of Ormonde was coming to Ireland as viceroy in 1662 Eustace advised him to stay at the Phoenix, then the viceregal rural retreat, the site of which is now occupied by the Magazine in the Phoenix Park, and, after giving his reasons, expresses his hope that Ormonde will stay there, as he will then have “the happiness of being his Grace’s near neighbour at Chapelizod.”

Before he had been many weeks in Ireland Ormonde conceived the design of making the Phoenix Park, in which is comprised the greater portion of the original lands of Chapelizod, and Eustace’s possessions became to Ormonde a Naboth’s vineyard. But they did not long remain so, as Eustace was not unwilling to sell, and within three months arbitrators were appointed to value some four hundred and fifty acres which Eustace had undertaken to surrender for the King’s convenience and accommodation. In the following year the scheme was further extended, and it was resolved to buy the whole manor of Chapelizod with the town and the great house.

This decision was doubtless in a measure due to a desire to secure the great house, which was more commodious than the Phoenix, as a viceregal residence, and as soon as the purchase had been completed Ormonde moved into it.

In order to fit it for its new occupant the house was placed in the hands of the Government contractor, one William Dodson. His dealings with the State are an extraordinary illustration of the lax Treasury administration in the seventeenth century.

At Chapelizod, however, he proceeded warily. He furnished first in 1666 only a small account for the cost of new flooring two of the rooms and erecting a chimney piece, but he sent in two years later an enormous account, made out in the most approved style of a modern dishonest tradesman, for a few shillings under a thousand pounds.

This account, with many others from Dodson, was referred to a commission, and the commissioners reported that the expense of the repairs to the house were not proportional to the sum “pretended to be laid out by Dodson,” and that “the house had not been left by him staunch or likely to continue long habitable with safety.”

At the same time Dodson furnished an account for building a bridge across the Liffey at Chapelizod, and this was the only case in which the commissioners found that the work had been well done, and was worth the money charged.

During Ormonde’s viceroyalty much use was made of the house at Chapelizod. In the winter of 1665 the Duchess went there, as Dublin did not agree with her, and while Ormonde was in London in 1668, one of his retinue wrote to tell him that the Duchess was busy nailing and grafting with the gardener at Chapelizod.

At that time Ormonde’s son, Lord Arran, who was acting as his Deputy, lost there his first wife. When in the following year Ormonde was called on to surrender the sword to Lord Robartes, the grounds had evidently been brought to high perfection under the care of the Duchess, and we find her writing from London to desire that they should not be allowed to suffer in the interregnum.

The Duke of Ormonde directed his attention largely during his tenure of office. at. that time to the encouragement of manufactures in Ireland, and formed a council of trade for the purpose of promoting them.

Amongst the factories started as a result of the deliberations of this council was one for the manufacture of linen at Chapelizod. This factory was placed by Ormonde under the direction of Colonel Richard Lawrence, who appears to have carried on then the business of an upholsterer in Dublin, but who had occupied a prominent position under the Commonwealth as Governor of Wexford, and enjoyed the confidence or Henry Cromwell.

The factory was not long started before Ormonde was called to England, and in the autumn of 1,668, as appears from a report sent to him by Lawrence, the necessary buildings were only approaching completion. Some houses for the artizans had been finished that summer, and a thatched barn, which stood on the side of the hill facing the great house, had been converted into a work house for twenty looms. But fourteen houses for the artizans were still unfinished. These were being built of brick, two stories in height, and were intended for foreign artists from Holland, and for some eight or ten families from Rochelle and the Isle of Rhe.

Lawrence had accepted the supervision of the factory with reluctance, and found the difficulties which he had anticipated greatly increased by Ormonde’s absence, but was sanguine that he could lay “such a foundation not only of linen, but of woollen and worsted manufacture, at Chapelizod” as would benefit posterity. Already he had made as good linen cloth and diaper of Irish yarn as was made in any country in Europe, had begun the manufacture of blankets and friezes, and of carpets and coverings for chairs, and had set up the trade of combing wool.

The report was accompanied by sundry proposals on the part of Colonel Lawrence for the development of the Chapelizod industries, and contemplated the employment of two or three hundred workpeople there, and a multitude throughout the country. In addition the necessity of subsidiary factories “where as a beehive Chapelizod should pour out its swarms” was touched upon.

Lawrence had given up his own business in Dublin where he tells Ormonde he was settled “in as plentiful a way of trade as most of his quality,” and his scheme included a suggestion for his own, aggrandizement to the position of a justice of: the peace, which he represented as requisite ” owing to the disposition to disorder of the workpeople and their aptness to deceive.”

Ormonde appears to have been alarmed for the moment by the extent of the undertaking to which he was being committed, but was reassured by his advisers, and did all he could to help Lawrence, who went over to London to see him. As a result of Ormonde’s recommendations the linen board decided to place the bleaching yard for Leinster at Chapelizod, and the contract for the supply of linen to the army was given to the factory there.

In the succeeding years Lawrence retained Ormonde’s confidence, although there are indications that the Duchess and Ormonde’s agent were not always sympathetic, and not only gave Ormonde advice with regard to the establishment of various industries on; his property, but also unsolicited suggestions as to finance on which Lawrence considered himself a great authority.

But his work at Chapelizod came to an end in eleven years owing, as he alleged, to the withdrawal of a contract for the supply of woollen goods to the army, and the last we see of him is in London in 1683, a year before his death, with Sir William Petty “tumbling the argument of coin up and down with little edification to their hearers”.

Chapelizod must have been at that period a lively place, for in addition to the viceregal residence and the factory, it possessed, like Templeogue at a later date, a mineral spa. This spa, which seems to have been much resorted to, is eulogised in what is now a scarce pamphlet by one Dr. Bellon, who dedicates his *brochure *to the Duke of Ormonde, “through whose courteous invitation the author had left his native soil to end the remainder of bis days in this country”.

The Earl of Essex, who came over as viceroy in 1672, and considered Dublin Castle unwholesome, frequently stayed in the great house at Chapelizod. During his tenure of office the report on Dodson’s work proved to be only too well founded, and large sums, although apparently less than were necessary, were spent upon the fabric.

It was in Essex’s time that Colonel Lawrence surrendered the linen factory at Chapelizod, and the Duke of Ormonde, when he returned in 1677 to take up the sword, found the factory leased to Alderman Christopher Lovett. Although the Duchess of Ormonde some times grew weary of the surroundings, the Duke of Ormonde and his son Lord Arran found the house a pleasant retreat until, on the accession of James II., the Earl of Clarendon replaced them in the government.

Clarendon and his Countess, who delighted in country life, intended to make it their principal abode, but the improvements, which they made, were destined to be of more advantage to Tyrconnel, who was in occupation of the great house in 1690 before the Battle of the Boyne, than to themselves.

The event, from which the viceregal residence gained the name of the King’s House, next took place upon the arrival there of William III. at the close of the month that had opened with his victory at the Boyne. The King was doubtless delighted to find himself once more in the midst of a Dutch garden, for in this style the Countess of Clarendon says the Chapelizod grounds were laid out, and he found the house, which had been not only improved but enlarged by Lord Clarendon, sufficiently capacious to admit of his holding a more or less formal court.

In the succeeding years the Chief Governors continued to make use of the house. In 1693 Viscount Sydney speaks of the need of repairs, in 1696 Lord Capel died while residing there, in 1711 the second Duke of Ormonde is said “to have kept much at Chapelizod not concerning himself with the proceedings of the Irish Parliament in Chichester House,” and in 1714 during the viceroyalty of the Earl of Shrewsbury a pigeon house was erected and other improvements made.

A favourite house of entertainment appears to have stood at the close of the seventeenth century in Chapelizod and to have been the meeting place of a Dublin club. In a somewhat obscure passage John Dunton tells us that he was wont to ramble out to Chapelizod to visit the Lord Clonuff, “who as President of the illustrious house of Cabinteele” conferred honours like a prince and created as many as four noblemen in one day.

The linen factory was still carried on there by the Lovett family although they had been displaced for a time under James II. in favour of a Quaker called Bromfield, and twenty looms for linen were still working, besides others used in making tapestry.

In the beginning of the eighteenth century the King’s gardens attained a great celebrity and brought to Chapelizod rural artists of good position, such as Robert Wadeley, a native of Wales, who died there in 1711, and Charles Carter who describes himself in 1728 as ” His Majesty’s gardener”.

The King’s House was then seldom occupied by the Viceroys, who became more and more absentees, and on his arrival in 1726 as primate Archbishop Boulter was allowed the use of it as a country residence.

His successor Archbishop Stone secured it for a time for his brother-in-law William Barnard, Bishop of Derry, who subsequently settled at Ranelagh, and in 1750 Mrs. Delany often dined with the Bishop, whose collection of pictures she much admired, at “that sweet pretty place” as she calls Chapelizod. Afterwards we find John Garnett, Bishop of Ferns, in occupation.

But a few years later, in 1758, it was decided to retain no longer the house for its original purpose, and to convert it into a barrack for the Irish artillery, then a separate corps from the English, on the Irish establishment.

During the viceroyalty of the Earl of Hertford, in 1765, we read that the Royal Regiment of Artillery was reviewed at Chapelizod by his son and chief secretary, Lord Beauchamp, who was so satisfied with the performance that he gave the men ten guineas to drink the King’s health.

Towards the close of the eighteenth century, when the regiment was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Richard Bettesworth who was long connected with it, the Chapelizod barrack is mentioned as a handsome building well adapted for its purpose, and the King’s garden is stated to have been given to the Hibernian School in the Phoenix Park which had shortly before been established.

The village was, throughout the eighteenth century, as Mrs. Delany tells us, ” a famous place for entertainment.” When the meeting of Parliament in 1729 drew near and “the candidates began to do more than distribute printed bills,” the *Dublin Intelligence *informs us that Mr. Summerville treated about a hundred freemen at Chapelizod at a cost of. two hundred pounds, with the result that “a report passed current in discourse that only a native like him should represent the city.”

Amongst the well-known houses of entertainment were, in 1741 the “Ship Tavern,” and in 1760 the “Three Tuns and Grapes,” and the hosts included in 1741 John Dawson, who acquired in his business a large fortune and a fair char-acter; in 1760 John Ryan, whose entertainment, and not pompous advertisement, was his recommendation; and in 1787 Thomas Morris, who besides good cheer, advertises stabling for sixty horses.

The walk along the river Liffey from Island Bridge was then much valued, and about the year 1761 an attempt to close it was the subject of prolonged litigation which only ended in the English House of Lords.

About that time an attempt was made to introduce silk weaving by planting mulberry trees, and William Conolly of Castletown planted also golden oziers along the Liffey bank. Wells of petrifying waters at Chapelizod were amongst the discoveries made by the diligent John Rutty, but there is no mention by him of the spa found by Dr. Bellon.

The village then attracted many private residents, and there in 1747 died Richard White, then Mayor of Dublin; in 1754 the Rev. Walter Chamberlain, in 1761 Captain Richard Aylmer, a centenarian of a hundred and five, who had served under Charles the Second and James the Second; and in 1776 Dr. Richard Reddy. **

Ecclesiastical History**

The present church at Chapelizod is a modern structure, but is attached to a tower of considerable antiquity, and there are two mural tablets within the building (The tablets bear the following inscriptions :-” I.H.S. Heaven hath ye souls and here lie ye bodies of Henry and Elizabeth Dr. James Hierom’s virs and religs. wives, ye 1st born in Fra. died Dec.29, 1670; ye 2nd in Irl. Oct.23; 1675, and was Bp. Spotwood’s daughter.” “Here lyeth the body of Gyles Curwen who departed this life May ye 6th 1688 in ye 77th year of his age. Also Luci his wife who dept. July ye 10th 1689 and 2 of their Grandchildren who died in their infancy.”) and a large tomb in the churchyard (The tomb bears a coat of arms and the following inscription:-” This tomb was erected by John Low, gent. who was born at Bewdly in Worcestershire, and departed this life the 24 of April, 1638, and was here interred. Here also lie the bodies of Joan, wife of Major William Low, his son, who died the 30 of Septem. 1677 ; Elizabeth, wife of Ebenezer Low, Esq. son of the sd William Low, who died ye 2 of January, 1677; Major William Low departed this life ye 2 of May, 1678 ; Joan his daughter departed this life ye 20th of March, 1678; Lieu. George Low, second soil of John Low, died ye 8 of July, 1681 ; Catherin, second wife of Ebenezer Low, died ye 8 of July, 1687; Ebenezer Low, Esq. repaired and enlarged this tomb, and departed this life ye 2nd of July, 1690. Here lie also the bodies of William, William, Elizabeth, Joan Low, Catherine Low, Ebenezer, John, Joseph son of [-]tin Cuppaidge, gent. by Mary his wife, daughter of Major William Low.”) dating from the seventeenth century.

The first reference to the Church of Chapelizod after the Anglo-Norman invasion states that the advowson was in possession of the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem at Kilmainham. But subsequently, in 1228, when Richard de Burgh the justiciary was tenant of the Chapelizod lands the King presented the justiciary’s clerk, William de Rupe, to the church, which was then vacant, and in the following year a formal grant of the advowson to the Priory appears.

Again in 1305 the Crown dealt with the manor and its mills and fisheries, which were then leased to one John de Selsby. After the dissolution of the Priory, the tithes and altarages, as well as the other possessions of the church, were leased to lay owners, including in 1574 one Jasper Horsey, and in 1579 the newly-founded College of the Holy Trinity held some houses and lands which belonged to it.

There is no information about the structure in the visitation of the early part of the seventeenth century, but the Commonwealth surveys mention a chapel in good repair, and towards the close of the eighteenth century the church which then existed is said to have been built about two hundred years*.*

If not erected before, it was doubtless built by Lord Valentia, who appears to have been a good churchman, and possibly it was served by his chaplains the Rev. Robert Boyle and the Rev. George Cottingham, who became beneficed clergymen in Bishop Spottiswood’s diocese.

In 1639 the Rev. Richard Matherson is returned as in charge of Chapelizod parish; in 1644 the Rev. Anthony Proctor, who was a prebendary of St. Patrick’s Cathedral; and in 1646 the Rev. Richard Powell, who held a like dignity.

After the Restoration in 1668 the Rev. James Hierome was presented by the King to the vicarage of Chapelizod. Hierome, who was a Huguenot, had previously been chaplain of the Savoy Chapel in London, and it is stated that the vicarage of Chapelizod was given to him in consideration of his having induced that congregation to conform to the Church of England, as well as of his learning, piety, and being a stranger.

As part of his revenue he was given liberty to graze horses and cattle in the Phoenix Park, and he held in addition to Chapelizod dignities in St. Patrick’s Cathedral and in the dioceses of Waterford and Lismore. His coming to Chapelizod may have had some connection with the arrival of the French workpeople, and in subsequent years we find him accompanying Colonel Lawrence to the Duke of Ormonde’s estates to advise about settlements there. He was twice married, his first wife being a Frenchwoman and his second a daughter of Bishop Spottiswood and half-sister of Sir Henry Spottiswood.

The vicarage of Chapelizod was afterwards united to Castleknock, and held during the eighteenth century by the prebendaries of that place. Amongst those in charge of the church, where in 1740 the famous Archbishop Stone was consecrated, were, in 1703, the Rev. John Twigg, with the Rev. Paul Twigg as curate; in 1735 the Rev. Jonathan Rogers; in 1741 the Rev. John Jourdan, with the Rev. James Hawkins, afterwards Bishop of Raphoe, as curate; in 1757, the Rev. Peter Sterne, with the Rev. Nathaniel Smith as curate; in 1764 the Rev. Kene Percival; in 1774 the Rev. William Warren, with the Rev. Hugh O’Neill as curate; in 1812 the Rev. Hosea Guinness; in 1835 the Rev. William Wilcocks; in 1870 Rev. Albert Irwin M’Donagh; and in 1889 Rev. Amyrald Dancer Purefoy.

The Roman Catholic Church has also long possessed a place or worship in Chapelizod parish, which under the arrangement of that Church forms part of the union of Castleknock. In the parliamentary return of 1731 the existence of a “mass house” is mentioned, and in the return of 1766 two Roman Catholic clergymen, Mr. Callaghan and Mr. Fair, are included amongst the residents.

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