Kill Local History Group

Programmes

A Short History of Kill

 

The area around Kill has been settled from the very earliest times.

Evidence of this can be found in the inscribed stones which have been found in the locality and whose rock art has been dated to the Neolithic or Stone Age period. The most famous of these (the Kilwarden Stone) is held in the National Museum.

The ancient (fragmentary) annals refer to the burial of nine kings of Leinster in "Cill Corbain" where their "war-like graves are made" and tradition locally has always held that this refers to Kill and specifically, to the moat area south east of the village.

The name of the village itself denotes that there must have been a church (cell or cill) here from the earliest Christian period and it is likely that the present St. John's church stands on the site. The original dedication of the church was to St. Brigid but this was changed when the area  was taken over by the Normans in the 12th century. Kill formed part of the 'cantred of Offelan' granted by Strongbow to Adam de Hereford in the sub-infeudation of Leinster. Adam granted it to his brother John who was, in turn, succeeded by his son Thomas. Thomas had no sons so the land passed to Milo de Rochford, who had married his daughter Eleanora.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1540s the manor was leased to Thomas Alen, brother of Sir John Alen, Lord Chancellor of Ireland. In 1551 it passed to Richard Aylmer and there is evidence of the existence of a borough at Kill in the 1600s.

Kill was the scene of much action in the Confederate or Cromwellian Wars and many men from the area were involved  in the fighting during the 1798 Rebellion, as well as the abortive 'Robert Emmet' Rising in 1803.

During the 19th century the local landlords were the Bourke family, based in Palmerstown, one of whom (Richard Southwell) became Chief Secretary for Ireland in the 1860s and, ultimately, Viceroy of India. Another famous Kill man was the Fenian John Devoy (1842-1928) who played a crucial role in advancing the Irish cause in America and, finally in achieving political independence for Ireland.