New Settlers in Dublin and Kildare

As explained in the account of the grant of the Kingdom of Meath to Hugh de Lacy by King Henry the Second, De Lacy and his barons became possessed of the greater portion of the present county Dublin; Hugh Tyrrell got the territory about Castleknock, which was long held by his descendants, as barons of Castleknock; the Phepoes got Santry and Clontarf, and, according to MacGeoghegan, Vivian de Cursun got the district of Raheny, near Dublin, which belonged to Giollamocholmog.

In Dublin:—In the county and city of Dublin, the following have been the principal families, from the twelfth to the eighteenth century, but some of whom, it will be seen, are of Irish descent:—Talbot, Tyrrell, Plunket, Preston, Barnwall, St. Lawrence, Taylor, Cruise, Cusack, Cogan, White, Walsh, Wall, Warren, Wogan, Woodlock, Darcy, Netterville, Marward, Phepo, Fitzwilliam, Fleming, Fitzsimons, Archbold, Archer, Allen, Aylmer, Ball, Bagot, De Bathe, Butler, Barry, Barret, Bermingham, Brett, Bellew, Blake, Brabazon, Finglas, Sweetman, Hollywood, Howth, Hussey, Burnell, Dowdall, Dillon, Segrave, Sarsfield, Stanihurst, Lawless, Cadell, Evans, Drake, Grace, Palmer, Eustace, Fyan or Fynes, Foster, Gough, Berrill, Bennet, Brown, Duff, Nangle, Woder, Tuite, Tew, Trant, Peppard, Luttrell, Rawson, Vernon, Delahoyde, Usher, Garnet, Hamilton, Domville, Coghill, Cobb, Grattan, Molesworth, Latouche, Putland, Beresford, Shaw, Smith, etc. For accounts of all those families and others, see D'Alton's Histories of Dublin and Drogheda.

In Kildare:—In the county Kildare, the following have been the chief families of Anglo-Norman and English descent:—Earl Strongbow (a quo, probably the names "Strong" and "Stronge") having become heir to the kingdom of Leinster, as son-in-law of Dermod MacMurrough, king of that province, as already mentioned, gave grants of various parts of Leinster to his followers. Amongst other grants, Strongbow gave in Kildare to Maurice Fitzgerald, Naas and Offelan, which had been part of "O'Kelly's Country;" to Myler Fitzhenry he gave Carbery; to Robert de Bermingham, Offaley, part of "O'Connor's Country;" to Adam and Richard de Hereford, a large territory about Leixlip, and the district called De Saltu Salmonis or the Salmon Leap (on the banks of the river Liffey, between Leixlip and Celbridge), from which the baronies of North and South "Salt" derive their name; and to Robert FitzRichard he gave the barony of Narragh. The family of De Riddlesford, in the reign of King John, got the district of Castledermot, which was part of the territory of O'Toole, prince of Imaile, in Wicklow; and Richard de St. Michael got from King John the district of Rheban, near Athy, part of "O'Moore's Country;" and from the St. Michaels, lords of Rheban, the manors of Rheban and Woodstock in Kildare, with Dunamase in the Queen's County, passed to the Fitzgeralds, barons of Offaley, A.D. 1424, by the marriage of Thomas Fitzgerald with Dorothea, daughter of Anthony O'Moore, prince of Leix.

As already mentioned, the county Kildare, in the thirteenth century, became the inheritance of Sibilla, one of the daughters of William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, by Isabella, daughter of Strongbow, and grand-daughter of Dermod MacMurrough, King of Leinster; and Sibilla having married William Ferrars, Earl of Derby, he became in right of his wife lord of Kildare; which title passed (by intermarriage of his daughter Agnes) to William de Vesey, a nobleman of the De Veseys, barons of Knapton in Yorkshire; and this William de Vesey was appointed by King Edward the First lord justice of Ireland, and was lord of Kildare and Rathangan. But having some contests with John FitzThomas Fitzgerald, baron of Offaley, who charged him with high treason, it was awarded to decide their disputes by single combat. De Vesey, having declined the combat and fled to France, was attainted, and his possessions and titles were conferred on Fitzgerald, who, A.D. 1316, was, by King Edward the Second, created earl of Kildare; and his descendants were, in modern times, created dukes of Leinster (see the "FitzGerald" pedigree).

The other chief families in Kildare have been those of Aylmer, Archbold, Bagot, Burgh or Bourke, Butler, Brereton, Burrough, Boyce, Dungan or Dongan, Keating, Eustace or FitzEustace, Preston, Lawless, Wogan, Warren, White, Woulfe, Ponsonby, Nangle, Hort, etc. Some of the Aylmers of Kildare became barons of Balrath in Meath; and Arthur Woulfe, chief justice of the Queen's Bench, who was created "Viscount Kilwarden," was of the Wolfes or Woulfes of Kildare.

SEARCH IRISH PEDIGREES »