LEIXLIP CHRONOLOGY 1870 – 1899
by
JOHN COLGAN
1870: Slater’s Directory, 1870 writes that “Leixlip is a small market town and parish.. The market day is Saturday, and the fairs May 4th and October 9th. The population of the parish in 1851 was 1,698, of which number 832 were returned for the town. In 1851 the parish numbered 1,412 persons, and the town 788 of that number.” Marian McGettigan and Martin Connolly were National School mistress and master respectively. Anna Maria Bacon, the postmistress. Mrs MG Dennis resided at Cooldrinagh House [Slater’s Directory, 1870, p54]. The Cancellation Books (Valuation Office) have Colonel Dennis there from c1859 and then Mrs Dennis from1864, the whole belonging to Montgomery Caulfield. The house was then valued at £26 10s.
1870: Wm Daniell, gas maker, of Dublin city, obtained a lien on the lands of Tom Conolly in Cos. Donegal and Kildare for debts of over £1K [Registry of Deeds Memo No 1870-34-1].
1870: Rev Charles Omeara [sic] was made curate of Leixlip Union on the recommendation of Rev. Henry Stewart, Esker Glebe, Lucan.
1870: Oliver Mills, of Abbeyleix, Queen’s County, at the request of Richard William Steele of New York, by agreement dated 28/12/1870, granted to R.W.Steele and Steele granted to Samuel R. Roe, of Newbridge Mills, Celbridge, miller, his heirs and assigns, for the perpetual yearly rent of £17.0s 2d, the fee farm grant created by an indenture bearing the date 30/7/1855 [Registry of Deeds Memo No 1855-25-30] and made between Rev. James Thomas Conolly Saunders, his wife, Augusta Sophia Saunders, and John Young, Lucan, for the houses and garden in the town of Leixlip then lately in the possession of Wm McLoughlin, bounded on the east by a stone wall which divided the garden from a garden of Laurence Conolly, miller; on the west by a stone wall which divided the said garden from a field formerly in the possession of Charles Fellows; on the north by part of the street of Leixlip and the road leading to Marshfield, and on the south by the mill race leading to the Iron Mills, TO HOLD the same unto S. R. Roe for ever subject to the clauses and conditions in the indenture of 30/7/1855 and also to a yearly rent of £3.8s created by a condition in the lease of 16/2/1854 between Thos. Conolly and the Rev JTC Saunders and his wife, .. the houses, garden, orchard and park called the Tenter park together with the park called the Furry Hill formerly in the possession of Robert Ingham and also the island next adjoining the said orchard between the same and the river Liffey formerly in the possession of Wm Conolly, all of which lands and premises were formerly in the possession of Christopher Glascock and are part of the manor of Leixlip, TO HOLD forever at the yearly rent of £12.2s (SR Roe) created by the indenture of 16/2/1854 and also subject to the last mentioned premises in the tenancy of George Ferguson under a lease dated 8/12/1752 (renewable forever) made by Chris. Glascock to Wm McGowan at a yearly rent of £5.1s 6d [Registry of Deeds Memo No 1870-37-160].
Richard William Steele, son of John Steele, gent., was born in Queen’s county and boarded as a student at TCD on October 17, 1834, when aged 18 years. He received his elementary education from a Mr Lyons. [Alumni, ibid]
George Fergusson was a physician from Leixlip, the nephew of William Fergusson, of Leixlip. George obtained an LRCS in 1835, following a Licenciate in Midwifery from Dublin’s Lying-In Hospital in 1830. His service prior to 1852 was in Mullingar. He may have died about 1869, as his name disappeared from the medical directories about then. Another Fergusson, Dr John, had been in the Mullingar area – was he the father of the younger George?
Roe’s occupation of the Bridge House was confirmed by the rate collector when he called in 1872, the house being vacant at his last recorded call about 1869. (Note that several Roe births were recorded at Leixlip from 1869 to 1879). According to the rates collector’s records, Roe remained in occupation until the rate collector called in 1879 (then Wm A Noble). However, the Sustentation Fund accounts book list SR Roe as being at ‘Newbridge Mills’ in 1870 and 1871, through to 1876. Nonetheless, Suzanne Pegley says that the Valuation Books list the residence at Newbridge Mills as being vacant during this time; she feels whoever recorded his residence may have simply preferred the Mills one to the Bridge House. (See 1879 entry). The collector noted that the house had "improved (in) ’79" and increased the buildings valuation from £10 to £12, one pound short of their original valuation. Noble’s lessor was Roe and Noble was gone by the next recorded collector’s visit in 1882, as Noble had died in June, 1879. Roe took a lease on no.1 Dublin Road Street – directly facing the Bridge House – in 1874, and had a Michael Ennis as occupant of that house until 1878.
1870-1889: Richard Pigott was proprietor of The Irishman newspaper; aspects relating to Fenianism are included in Ms7699 and 7700, Larcom Papers, NLI. Press and other correspondence by him in relation to his business activities, together with other documents of his affairs, incl. Land league funds are in Ms8580, NLI. Was he related to the Pigotts of Ryevale?
1871: George Hynes, writing from Cooldrina, [sic], on 3 March 1871, to MA Hamilton Esq [St Mary’s C of I] asking for a copy of his baptismal certificate to be made for him [Loose papers, Leixlip, RCBL]. Was he the father or grandfather of George Hynes of Leixlip GAA fame?
1871: The Rev. John Lombard was nominated as curate of Leixlip Union on 22/7/1871.
1871: In a Survey of Landowners of one acre and upwards for Co Galway, 1871, the following persons of Leixlip connection were mentioned: Thomas Berry, Blackcastle [sic], Leixlip, had 294 acres in Galway. Arthur, Emily, Frederick, George and Reginald Courtney, of Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, had 398, 17, 17, 589, 589, acres each respectively (ironmonger family). Countess De Nesbitt [sic], Leixlip, had 1529 acres in Galway. The source list is incomplete (A to D only).
1871: Thomas Berry, Secretary of the Glendalough [diocese] Finance Committee, was writing from Ivy House in this year and in 1872, when, on 23rd November, he wrote about Rev. Henry Stewart’s "declining health" and his interest in buying Leixlip Glebe for his life time and then gifting it to the parish. Mr Stewart died 26/3/1874, aged 88.
The original lease on Leixlip Glebe was dated 10/7/1752.
1872: Wm Mitchell was buried at St Mary’s, CofI, Leixlip about 21/3/1872 [Church burial records]. The Irish Times death notice of 21/3/1872 states: "Mitchell – on the 19th inst, of paralysis of the brain, William S Mitchell, eldest son of the late John Mitchell Esq., of Leixlip, aged 41 years. The funeral will leave 75 Leinster Road for Leixlip this (Thursday) morning at half-past 11 o’clock". His death notice states that he died in Jervis St. Hospital, and had a residence at Newbridge Mills. He was married, aged 40 last birthday and a miller by occupation. He died of “effusion on the brain” and was 40 days ill [Death cert.].
1873: Mary Drury, of Dublin city, widow and administratrix of the late Wm. Barret Drury, of Co Wicklow, agreed, in an indenture of assignment dated 29/5/1873, to sell to Wm Whitton, Dublin city, solicitor, sums of about £198 due out of lands of Black Castle, Leixlip [Registry of Deeds Memo No 1873-19-296].
1873: The 3rd annual report of the Diocesan Council of the Diocese of Glendalough, 1873, provided details of parishes:
Stipend Sub. Church School
Parish Incumbent paid by Parish Members Attendees
Leixlip John Lombard £300 200 16
Celbridge Robert Pakenham 250 549 35
Maynooth R W Whelan 300 120 9
Lucan C W Benson 200 250 24
1873: Rev. Henry Stewart resigned as rector from 1/1/1873 after 50 years (apart from some months) service as rector of Leixlip Union. Rev John Lombard replaced him from February, 1873. His declaration of assent was witnessed by Samuel R. Roe and J W G Johnson, church-wardens. By 15/5/1876 Henry Stewart had died.
1874: On a lease dated 3/3/1874, John Figgis of Fownes Street, Dublin, demised to S. R.Roe all that the house, garden and premises in Leixlip town now or lately occupied by Henry Bradley, bounded on the north by the mill stream, on the south west by the Liffey, on the east by the road leading from Leixlip to Dublin TO HOLD from 1/2/1874 for 61 years and a yearly rent of £5, payable every 1st February and 1st August, subject to the several convenants between landlord and tenant therein contained. The Memorial was signed by Thomas Gill Figgis [Registry of Deeds Memo No 1874-8-272]. This is No 1 Dublin Road Street, Leixlip; Michael Ennis was the occupier. The Ennis family had run another corn mill on an island in the Rye River to the rear of Buckley’s Lane, Leixlip.
There is no record of any deed of lease on the Toll/ Bridge House at the Registry of Deeds from Roe to Noble, which deed could only be registered there if it was for a term of 21 years or longer. Noble may have been related to Roe (see 1879).
Roe evidently had more success than his predecessor, Patrick Farrell, at running the corn mills he had taken over, for in 1871 the collector made a note that "5 pairs of burr stones 4 ft 4 inches diameter work 24 hours daily. Full supply of water (from the mill race) the whole year. Difters, screens and elevators in perfect order. Diameter of wheel, 21 feet; Breadth, 12 feet". In another reference to this note the collector states "See new mills". And elsewhere: "No additional buildings in 1873 to Mr Roe’s Mill". When examined in 1873 the collector judged their valuation fair at £64. They were, in fact, set at £61 in the next review at about 1879 and increased the following year to £80 as they were deemed low valuation.
1874: Samuel Robison Roe, Newbridge Mills, bought 53a 2r 33p statute measure at Cooldrinagh (eventually he built Cooldrinagh House) from Rev Richard Eyre, Galway, Rev Henry O’Rorke, Shropshire, and Wm Fry, Dublin City, solicitor, and Eliz. Dennis of Blackrock, Co Dublin, widow, for a consideration of £3,500 in an indenture of agreement dated 9/10/1874, for ever, subject to a rent and covenants in a fee farm grant of 22/8/1786 [Registry of Deeds Memo NO 1874-42-242]. In an indenture of release of the same date, Rev Henry West, Upr Gardiner St, Dublin, and Augustus Geo West of Blackrock, Co Dublin, and Sarah West nee Eyre of the same address, his wife, did release the said lands from an annuity of £100 for a consideration, devised by the will of Maurice Griffin Dennis of 30/7/1867 [Reg. of Deeds Memo No 1874-42-241]. However, Roe mortgaged the premises for the sum of £2,000 to the Eyres, O’Rorke and Fry at the same time [Registry of Deeds Memo No: 1874-42-243].
The Eyres are those of Eyre Square, Galway. Several were educated at TCD.
1874: Horace Webb Townsend was nominated incumbent of Leixlip Union, 2/9/1874. Within a month he had obtained the archbishop’s permission to reside at Esker Glebe in Lucan parish; he wrote from Leixlip Castle. His father was Secretary to the Bombay Government and the Rev. Townsend was born in Bombay in 1838. Townsend served as Leixlip’s rector form 1874 to 1879; he died on 10/1/1915 aged 76.
1875: A General Election took place this year. Again the RC clergy, priests and bishops, were the power brokers. They were involved in the selection process and sought total control. Unwelcome candidates were attacked and defamed at Sunday Mass by them. On this occasion the ballot was secret, provided for under an Act of 1872 [Gerard Moran, ‘Political Developments in King’s County, 1868-1885’, in Nolan & O’Neill (eds), Offaly History & Society, Dublin, 1996, p767-98].
1875: Henry Knox Courtney died in 1875, aged 70, in the Dublin south district.
1875: The Sustentation Fund accounts book now list SR Roe and Mrs Roe as residing at ‘Cooldrina‘ or ‘Cooldrina House’ from 1877 until 1885, with Mrs Roe still there until 1887.
1875: Wm A Noble was first listed in the Sustentation Fund accounts book, paying his usual £2 per annum, at Cooldrina Cottage. He continued to pay from that address for the next two years before moving to ‘Leixlip’ (most likely the Bridge House, where he appears in the Valuation Books at that address at the 1879). A William Alexander Noble got a marriage licence to marry Anne Robinson in 1835, according to the Appendix to the 30th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records – Wills and Grant books, Dublin Diocese, 1800-1858. See 1879.
1875: A reproduction of the Irish Poor Law map by counties made for the Lord Lieutenant, 1875, showing boundaries of poor law unions in each county; each county is on a separate sheet [OS111 No. 71, NA].
1876: Tom Conolly died and was succeeded by his son, also Thomas Conolly, then aged 17 years.
1876: Reciting a fee farm grant of 1859 between John Young, Lucan, Architect, and Edwin Chesney Seal of Black Castle, Leixlip, bounded on the north by the street of Leixlip, on the east by the flour mill garden, towards the south by the mill stream and towards the west by Hilles’s field, Seal conveyed unto Roe the house lands and garden called the Black Castle, containing 2a 2r 6 p Irish, or 4a 17p 19yds statute measure [Registry of Deeds Memo No 1876-49-11]. The deed was witnessed by Wm. Whitton, Solicitor.
1876: See Mallet, p.89, for reference to Courtney, Stephens & Bailey.
1876: Persons owning one acre upwards this year included, for Co Kildare: Hugh L Barton, of Straffan House, 5,045 acres; Wm Bobbett (Cooldrinagh connections), Westland row, Dublin, 272 acres; Eliza Brangan, Old Carton, Maynooth, 1 acre; George Bryan, Jenkinstown, co Kilkenny, 1,627 acres; Edward Cane, St Wolstan’s, 294 acres; Maurice Cane, Parsonstown, Celbridge [sic], 16 acres; Lord Concurry, Lyons, Hazelhatch, 6, 121 acres; Edward Colgan, Clonsast, Kilcock, 133 acres; Francis Colgan, Cappagh, Enfield, 553 acres; Mrs M Colgan, Dublin, 116 acres; Mary Colligan, Lockanure, Clane, 2 acres; Thomas Conolly, Castletown, Celbridge, 2,605 acres; Robert Cooper, Collinstown, Leixlip, 164 acres; Matthew Ennis, Confey Castle, Leixlip, 196 acres; Charles S Eustace, England, 1,407 acres; Rev Wm Eustace, Kilbride, Bray, 142 acres; John Ferguson, Summerhill, co Meath, 168 acres; Cuthbert Fetherston, 20 Clare St, Dublin, 99 acres; Reps. John Fetherston, Griffinstown, Kinnegad, 182 acres; Patrick Fields, Kilcock, 34 acres; Rebecca Hackett, Mount Norris villa, Strand, Bray, 157 acres; Gowen W Rowan Hamilton, Killyleagh Castle, Co Down, 225 acres; Barth H Hartley, Colagan House, Carbury, 1,058 acres; Richard W Hartley, Beech-park, Clonsilla, 416 acres; Anna Hone, 35 Lr Leeson St, Dublin, 381 acres; F Hone, Gapton, Monkstown, 717 acres; Robert Jebb, 84 Middle Abbey St, Dublin, 6 acres; Alex Kirkpatrick, Donaghcomper, Celbridge, 630 acres; John la Touche, Harristown, Brannockstown, 11,282 acres; Alexander Law, 8 Colville Gdns, Bayswater, London, 48 acres; Robert Law, Ballysan, 646 acres; Duke of Leinster, Carton, 67,227 acres; Countess Lusi, Newtown, Leixlip, 411 acres; John Maunsell, Oakley Pk, Celbridge, 1,309 acres; John D Molloy, Fortfield ho, Rathmines, Upr, Dublin, 324 acres; Sir Capel Molyneux, Castledillon, Armagh, 2,426 acres; Bridget Moore, Leixlip, 21 acres; Catherine D(owning) Nesbitt, Newtown, Leixlip, 37 acres; Jane Newcomen, 15 Stanley villa, Chelsea, London, 14 acres; Jane Peppard, Naas, 57 acres; Wm Pigott, Ryevale, Leixlip, 33 acres; Fred Pilkington, Carbury, Enfield, 589 acres; Hannah Pim, –, 295 acres; Frances Robinson, Kilcock, 26 acres; Rev Henry Stewart, Esker Glebe, Lucan, 1 acre; John Alfred Trench, 14 Leeson st, Dublin, 129 acres; Rev Richard Trench, Dublin, 395 acres; Thos Cooke Trench, Millicent, Naas, 667 acres; Jas Twigg, Dublin, 597 acres; Chas C Vesey, Lucan House, 2,778 acres; John T Vesey, 15 Sth Frederick St, Dublin, 1,332 acres; Mrs G W West, England, 510 acres.
For Co Dublin: Patrick Bobbett, Hansfield, Clonsilla, 521 acres; Wm Bobbett, Crickstown, Ashbourne, co Meath, 133 acres; Lord Cloncurry, Lyons house, Hazelhatch, 920 acres; Thos Conolly, Castletown, Celbridge, 1,512 acres; Mrs Henry Courtney [iron mills, Leixlip], 24 Fitzwilliam Pl, Sth, Dublin, 17 acres; Henry K[nox] Courtney, 38-41 Bridgefoot St, Dublin, 5 acres; Meade C Dennis [Cooldrinagh?], Fortgranite, Baltinglass, 216 acres; Edward Ennis, Kimmage Mills, Dublin, 11 acres; Richard W Hartley, Beechpark, Clonsilla, 330 acres; Robert W Hillas, Rathfarnham, 327 acres; Nathaniel Hone, St Doulough’s Pk, 1,058 acres; Thos Hone, Yapton, Monkstown, 159 acres; James Johnston, Cooldrinagh, Leixlip, 39 acres; Joseph F Shackleton, Anna Liffey Mills, Lucan, 27 acres; Peter R Skerrot, Athgoe Pk, Rathcoole, 970 acres; John J Twigg, 9 Upr Fitzwilliam St, Dublin, 149 acres; Chas C Vesey, Lucan House, 1,524 acres; James Warren, Astagob, Lucan, 27 acres; Mrs White, Killakee, Whitechurch, 3,422 acres; John Wills, Willsbrook, Lucan, 950 acres. [Land Owners in Ireland, 1876, Balltimore, 1988.]
For Co Offaly, with Leixlip connections: Digby, 30,627 acres; Alexander, 2,266 acres; Atkinson (1), 4,414 acres; Atkinson (2), 1,001 acres; Cassidy, 2,582 acres; Grogan, 3,585 acres; Harte, 3,481 acres; Johnston, 2,329 acres; Nesbitt (1), 2,808 acres; Nesbitt (2), 4,351 acres; Greene (1), 1,472 acres; Greene (2), 1,670 acres; Hackett, 1,097 acres. [Gráinne C Breen, ‘Landlordism in King’s County in the mid-nineteenth century’, in Nolan & O’Neill, (eds), Offaly History & Society, p635.] Among the Offaly Huguenot families is that of Persse (present in Confey).
1877: A list of graves in the CofI Parish Church of Conwal, Letterkenny (adjoining the RC Cathedral) included four entries (nos. 86, 87, 333 and 334) of Starret graves, of whom Samuel Starret, died 1877, was one. Starret was an agent of Tom Conolly in Leixlip, c 1752. The name Love also appears there, the name of the Cof I rector in Leixlip in modern times.
1877: A branch line on the MGW Railway line opened this year between Enfield and Edenderry, King’s County [Offaly]. The branch had been done largely through the generosity of Miss Catherine Downing Nesbitt, who gave the railway company free passage (through her lands) and subscribed £10,000 towards the cost. [Information provided by Dr DB McNeill to WA Maguire, ‘Missing Persons: Edenderry under the Blundells and the Downshires, 1707-1922, in Nolan & O’Neill, (eds), Offaly History & Society, Dublin, 1996, p537.]
1878: Thom’s Dublin Directory, 1878, lists Henry Courtenay, esq., at 17 Mountjoy Square and 44 Belvedere Place (same person)
1878: "The Landowners of Ireland", by Hussey de Burgh (1878) lists the owners (defined as those with leases of 99 years or more) of 500 or more acres or valuations of £500 or more in aggregate in Ireland. The data was supplied by the owners themselves. The home addresses of the landowners were cited. Those living in Co. Kildare with the largest holdings included Miss Catherine Jamison Downing Newsbit [sic; Nesbitt] who lived at Leixlip (Newtown House); Lord Cloncurry, John La Touche and Hugh Barton (Straffan).
Miss Nesbitt’s property was made up as follows: County Acres £ Valuation
Antrim 321 294
Galway 1329 692
Kildare 36 90
King’s 2555 1642
Limerick 620 673
Londonderry 5638 2221
Roscommon 3641 1627
Total 14340 7239
Her Kildare property would have been her house and lands at Leixlip and no other.
Other landowners of local interest included Rev. Robert Noble, Co. Fermanagh, 824 acres, valuation, £421;
Captain William Noble, Holly House, Plumstead, Kent, Co. Fermanagh, 876 acres, valuation, £293;
Reps. of Wm. Noble Belturbet, Co. Cavan Co. Monaghan, 560 acres, valuation, £450;
Robert Law, Ballysan [sic], Co. Kildare Co. Kildare, 646 acres, valuation £422
4th Duke of Leinster, Chas. Wm. Fitzgerald, Carton Co. Kildare, 67,227 acres, valuation £46,571
Co. Meath, 1,044 acres, valuation £1,075
The Late Tom Conolly, MP, Castletown Co. Donegal, 22,736 acres, valuation £6,283
Co. Dublin, 1,512 acres, valuation £2,982
Co. Kildare, 2,605 acres, valuation £3,346
Co. Wicklow, 64 acres, valuation £36
1878: Wm. A Noble, was residing at ‘Leixlip’, according to the SustentationFund accounts book, contributing (£2).
1879: Wm. A Noble, was residing at ‘Leixlip’, according to the SustentationFund accounts book, in this the last year he is listed as contributing (£2). Only one William Alexander Noble, esq., died within this period and none other than he was found; he died on 16/6/1879 at Forphy House, Lisnaskea, Co. Fermanagh, which was his former residence. In his will, he left less than £1,500. Probate was granted on 18th October 1879 to Samuel Black Noble of 260 Cornwall Road, Nottinghill, London, late Captain 41st Regiment, the residual legatee, at the Dublin Registry [Wills and Administrations books, NA]. His death certificate states that he was a gentleman by occupation, aged 71 years, a widower, and he died of valvular heart disease which he had for one year. Samuel Black Noble was his eldest son; another son, William survived childhood and married Jane, dau. of Rev. Hamilton Haire in 1874.
William Alexander was the son of Major Samuel Noble and Prudential Noble, the major’s second cousin. The Major was the son of Wm. Noble of Donagh, Co. Fermanagh and grandson of the famous Major Arthur Noble. The Black connection came through William Alexander’s mother’s sister, Margaret, who married a Col. Black. He may also be related by marriage to his landlord, Samuel Robinson Roe, as his only sister, Eliza, married George Roe, MD, of Ballyconnell House, Co. Cavan [Burke’s History of the Landed Gentry in Ireland, 1899]. Given his age, he may therefore be the son of an attorney, his namesake, who qualified as such (solicitor) in June 1801, who was the son of Wm. Noble and Catherine Black (marriage licence, 1803) of Donough, near Maguire’s Bridge, Co. Fermanagh, and educated at Portora School [King’s Inns, ibid]. William Alexander married Anne Robinson in the Dublin diocese in 1835, having obtained a marriage licence then. Was she one of the Leixlip Robinsons?
Was Col. Black a relation of Black, the attorney in partnership with Jas. Glascock at York Street? Several Nobles, with wills, [William, 1877; John, 1880 and his brother William, 1881] from Co Fermanagh were all farmers. Another, Rev. William, died with will in 1838, also from Fermanagh. Maguire’s Bridge is about 3 miles from Lisnaskea.
William Henry, in his Upper Lough Erne in 1739 (1892), p.25, notes that Eliza, the daughter of Major Samuel Noble, HEICS, had married a George Roe, MD, of Ballyconnell. They had a son, Samuel Black Roe, Esq., CB, who was Deputy Surgeon General in the army in 1876 [See Walford’s County Families, 1889.].
Forphy House is in the townland now called Forfey. JC took pictures of the house in April, 2001. It was derelict, but just about capable of restoration. The garden was overgrown. An immediate neighbour said that the house was jointly owned by Dr Andrew Maguire of the Blackrock Clinic and his brother, a dentist practising nearby.
1879: A Marriage Notice in the Irish Times of c.17/6/1879 states: "Belas and Bastic: George Henry Belas Junior of Newbridge cottage, Celbridge, Co Kildare, second surviving son of George Henry Belas, of Leinster Road, Rathmines, Co Dublin, Solicitor, to Eliza Conchita, daughter of the late Arthur Bastic, of Riversdale, Co Dublin" – This confirms that SR Roe was not living – but merely working – at Newbridge Mills at that time.
1879: SR Roe, of Newbridge Mills, Leixlip, purchased, at public auction for the sum of £70 [Ganlys?], brought about by the direction of the high sheriff, the tenement formerly called Levey’s holding in Leixlip town, a plot of ground formerly in the possession Christopher McGowan and the widow Barry (c.6 acres) for the unexpired term of such premises, formerly held by Michael Murphy. Registry of Deeds memorial No. 19-191-269 refers to the sale and 1879-10-191 refers to the court order on the sheriff to levy the goods of Murphy. Note that memorials nos. 1867-15-51 & 52 refer to a Thos. Browne having a lease on Levy’s holding (possibly Ivy House site and other lots) from Co. Alex. Lawe. Browne owed money to Jas. Ganly, salesmaster, and the sheriff, Lawless, transferred the lands, via Michael Murphy, to Ganly. Ganly Walters, the auctioneers, were established in 1847.
1879: Rev. Horace Webb Townsend resigned as rector of St Mary’s from 10/3/1879. Rev. Francis Edward Knowles Bird MA made his declaration as rector on Sunday 25th May 1879. The witnesses were Samuel R. Roe and John Crampton, two Church Wardens.
1879: Edward Stuart Cole wrote from St. Catherine’s Park, 26/4/1879; he was a church-warden.
1879: This year the Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary visited Maynooth college in the course of a stag hunt. She received a warm welcome and later returned to attend mass. [Padraic O’Farrell, A History of County Kildare, Dublin, 2003, p88.]
c1880: Artist RT Moynan, (1856-1906) painted the well known picture of the soldier, urchins and tennis players on Main St, Leixlip was a student of the RHA in 1883. He won a prize for the best picture by a student. Several versions or drafts of his Leixlip painting are in the archives of the National Gallery, Merrion St.
1880: A General Election was held this year. On the Sunday before the contest, which focussed on Parnell and Home Rule, the election was the sermon topic in nearly all RC churches and the electors were told to support the Home Rule candidates. [Gerard Moran, ‘Political Developments in King’s County, 1868-1885’, in Nolan & O’Neill (eds), Offaly History & Society, Dublin, 1996, p767-98.]
1881: Slator’s Directory – Towns in the Province of Leinster, 1881, lists Leixlip parish population as being 1,412 in 1861 and 1,357 in 1871, of which the town contained 817 in the latter year. Celbridge’s populations for these years were 1,592 and 1391, respectively.
A Mary Ann McGettigan was listed as [school] mistress, Leixlip National School(s). Listed as Millers were: George Bealas, Newbridge Mill, Celbridge; Thomas Ennis, Leixlip [Buckley’s Lane?] and Samuel R. Roe, Leixlip. Benjamin Chapman (gentry) was at Newtown House. George Shackleton & Sons were millers at the Anna Liffey mills, Lucan.
1882: Letters of administration were taken out for the estate of Henry Classon Courtney, BL, of Victoria, British Columbia. [Ref T 4881 P.R. Original 1B=56=85, NA.]
1882: During the decade up to 1892, a Catherine Duggan had leased several properties in the Main Street area; so did a Reverend Duggan. Reverend Wm Duggan was the Catholic Curate at Leixlip from 18/10/1885 until 4/12/1892, according to the baptismal register of Leixlip RC parish church.
1882: Darrell Figgis (1882-1925), nationalist, politician and writer, was born in Rathmines, Dublin this year: was he the son of the Figgises of Leixlip, who married into the Leixlip Goodshaws and occupied 1 Dublin Road Street, Leixlip? See 1874. He supported the Treaty and helped draft the Constitution of 1922.
1883: Cancellation Books [Valuation Office] note that “New offices and house and much improved” for Cooldrinagh House. It was then valued at £32 10s. Montgomery Caulfield remains as the ground landlord.
1883: About 1878 Nicholas McGettigan was first listed as occupier of No 42 Main Street (now Leixlip Blinds and then with valuation, £8-10s) until about 1883 when he moved to the Bridge House. A Mrs. Gettigan (sic) was listed next door, at no. 41 (now Barry’s shop with house) from 1875 until about 1878. [Note Mary Ann McGettigan, Leixlip schoolteacher and niece of bishop Daniel McGettigan of Donegal. Daniel McGettigan was born in November 1815 in the townland of Drumdutton, parish of Mevagh, Co. Donegal. He trained as a priest at Navan and Maynooth for the diocese of Raphoe, where he was ordained bishop on May 18, 1856. He was translated as Archbishop of Armagh on March 11, 1870 and died Dec. 3, 1887. His painted portrait hangs in Maynooth College immediately alongside several Irish Cardinals.
1884: An agreement made 19/2/1884 between Samuel Robinson Roe of Celbridge, flour merchant, being indebted to Frances Robinson of 20 Great Strand St, Dublin, widow, on 18/2/1873 for the sum of £1052.10s due on the 17/1/1873 and also for an additional £2000 advanced to him on the 28/1/1873, left a lease dated 9/11/1869 from Thos Conolly to SR Roe with Frances Robinson as security; these premises included lands in Leixlip Parish, with dwelling house, 3a 1r 28p. The debts and 5% interest shall stand against this property. Roe agreed to execute a legal mortgage of said premises whenever called to do so. Roe’s signature is on the memorial. [Registry of Deeds Memo No 1884-11-296.]
1884: Will of Ellen Mitchell, 18 Kenilworth Square, Dublin, dated 20/3/1884 [Ref: T12540 or T12590, P.R.20, NA].
1884: Alexander Lawe transferred property to the Irish Land Commissioners [Reg of Deeds Memo No: 1884-39-202].
1884: The Irish Builder, issue of 15/11/1884, p39 makes reference to Leixlip, according to a manuscript note in RD Walshe, Cuttings and Notes, Lucan and Leixlip, 20th c, MS 11658 NLI. The reference may be to a reference on Leixlip spa of August 1793.
1885: Thom’s Dublin Directory, 1885, lists the following:
Courtney & Co., iron merchants, 2 Usher’s Island.
1885: The future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, then Prince and Princess of Wales, visited Carton during their Irish visit of 1885. [Elizabeth, Countess Fingall, Seventy Years Young, London, 1937, p182, quoted by Terence Dooley, The Decline of the Big House in Ireland, Dublin, 2001, p55]
1885: John Canon O’Rourke wrote on ‘Leixlip Castle and the Valley of the Liffey’, The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, January 1885, p22-29. [In RD Walshe, Cuttings and Notes, Lucan and Leixlip, 20th c, MS 11658 NLI.] Among the references he cited were Rob in Turr. Lond. See ‘Leixlip Castle’ by a Kildare Archaeologist, p6. Harris’s Hibernica, p42; Annals of Ireland, p174 re Bruces at Leixlip; Moore’s History of Ireland, Vol iii, p63.
He defined a carucate as: as much land as could be ploughed in one year by one plough [with 8 oxen], i.e, 60 to 120 acres.
1885: The JKAS published, in Vol II, 1896 – 1899, p392+, under the pen of Lord Frederick FitzGerald, notes taken from a pamphlet called Leixlip Castle which was written by Very Rev James Canon O’Rourke, PP, Maynooth, in 1885 (inc. illustrations). The author states that Sir N Whyte was granted the Manor of Leixlip, two castles, a water-mill, a salmon-weir, two fishing places, called the Salmon Leap, on the river Annaliffey, [= Liffey] Priorstown Meade, and other demesne lands of the manor.. in 1570.These notes provide a good resume of the history of Leixlip; it is not clear where the location of the single mill was in 1570…
1885: Stephen Grant, of 2 The Mall, Leixlip, was appointed process officer (in the service of civil bills) for Celbridge District by Judge William Frederick Darley on 7/4/1885 (A printed public notice is on the source file). On the 25/4/1885, a Mr M? Yeats wrote from an address at Tenterfield, Celbridge, that the poor Grant was dead from a cold got from standing in the hall of the Court House, Naas. Dr. White had been attending him. Yeats was returning Grant’s papers, given to him by Grant’s daughters [Records of the Clerks of the Crown etc, Co. Kildare, 1C 26 83, NA]. Tenterfield was the name of the glebe or rectory at Celbridge.
1885: A General Election was held this year. Like that of 1880, the RC clergy were invited to take part in selection conventions. This was the first year the party ‘pledge’ was introduced and the centralisation of national politics. [Gerard Moran, ‘Political Developments in King’s County, 1868-1885’, in Nolan & O’Neill (eds), Offaly History & Society, Dublin, 1996, p767-98.] For more information on this period, see KT Hoppen, Elections, politics and society in Ireland, 1832-85, Oxford, 1984.
1885: J L Carew, Nationalist, and Baron de Robeck (= JH Fock), Conservative, were elected to represent North Kildare in the general election held this year; the population was 30,630 (nth) and 35, 997 (sth). [BM Walker, ed, Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922, Dublin, 1978.] De Robeck was drowned in the Liffey while living temporarily at Leixlip Castle.
1886: J L Carew was elected to represent Kildare North. [BM Walker, ed, Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922, Dublin, 1978.]
1886: Samuel Robinson Roe died in Cooldrinagh House, Leixlip, on 14th October 1886, aged 54 years .He had acquired this house in 1874 [Registry of Deeds Memo No1874-42-243]. No less than three death notices appeared in the Irish Times; the first, on 15/10/1886, simply said "Roe – October 14, Samuel R. Roe, Leixlip Mills"; the second, the following day, gave his age, and death at his home; the third, on October 19th, stated that he would be buried tomorrow (Tuesday), the 19th at 2 o’clock in Leixlip. Roe’s headstone in St Mary’s cites his age as 53 years. His wife, Anne, [nee Belas] d.18/3/1923, aged, 83, and is buried with him.
By 1889 the flour-mills had been vacated, and the representatives of Samuel Robinson Roe described as the lessor; only the caretaker’s house was in use. Roe’s representatives were listed as lessor until 1896 and the flour-mill ceased to be used as a mill by 1902, according to the Valuation Books.
1887: In an article entitled ‘Rambles around Dublin’, dated in m/s 13/8/1887, newspaper unknown, Weston St John Joyce wrote of the Salmon leap: “Beware of guides. On any days visitors are expected loquacious and imaginative guides lie in ambush..” “Dublin people… will learn with regret that the scenery of the Salmon Leap is almost irreparably spoiled. A hideous shoddy mill rears its ungainly proportions above the beautiful falls… A mill stood on this spot for many years past, but about two years ago it was burnt, and now having been rebuilt with extensive additions it falls much more obtrusively on the view than hithertofore”… [more] He notes that from Leixlip House one could see the Salmon Leap, which may account for the earlier name, ‘Gazebo Park’ [RD Walshe, Cuttings and Notes, Lucan and Leixlip, 19th & 20thc, MS 11658 NLI].
1890: Wm Richardson, merchant, of Tara St, Dublin, assigned unto Alexander Ward of 1 Berkeley Sq, London W, civil engineer, ALL THAT the mills of Leixlip with the dwelling house offices garden land and several workmens’ houses belonging and formerly in the occupation of Patrick Farrell, containing 3a 1r 26 p Statute.. [Registry of Deeds Memo No 1890-61-50].
1890-1897: Leixlip was served by a steam tram-line, extended from Lucan, and operating from Dublin. The footpath on Leixlip Bridge was erected after the tram coming to Leixlip; it was replaced by a wider one in 2006.
1891: The Grand Jury Presentments, under the caption, Contracts at Spring Assizes, 1891, for 3 years, – North Salt: Moieties of Existing Contracts: (No.15): "To John Danford, Leixlip, 426 perches, road and footpath, from Leixlip Bridge to Mr Roe’s mill, and to the milestone at Leixlip Station, 4s 0d p.p. – – £42 12s 0d". [See m/s notes for further references].
1891: Thomas Conolly of Castletown came of age in September, 1891, at whose celebrations Prince Albert Victor, heir to Edward VII, joined the nobility and gentry of the county in the celebrations. Albert died of the flu in January 1892. [Con Costello, A Most Delightful Station…, Cork, 1999, p193.]
1891: On 11/11/1891, Mary McGettigan, the Leixlip schoolteacher and principal of the Leixlip national school, was married to Michael O’Sullivan, another teacher, of 27 Goldsmith Street, Dublin, in Maynooth RC Chapel by James J Hunt P.P. The witnesses included Mary’s sister, E[mily] M McGettigan. Mary’s father was Neal McGettigan, teacher; Michael’s father of the same name, a boot and shoe maker. Fr. Hunt would later be the defendant in a successful court case taken by Mary Ann McGettigan. A death cert for a Neil McGettigan, married, shoemaker, of Meenacross, nr Dungloe, Glenties, of 2/9/1900, is to hand. He was aged 70 at death and cause: "probably from malignant disease of liver".
c1891: At the rate collector’s call in 1888, the Bridge House was again vacant and remained so until Anna Maria Courtney was present at his 1891 visitation, when the collector noted that Ms Courtney was paying "Rent of £16 (per annum) with taxes and to keep in repair". The valuation was reduced from £12 to £10-10s at that time. St Mary’s Church of Ireland, Leixlip, Sustentation Fund accounts book has a Mrs(?) Courtney present and paying ten shillings on 27th December, 1891. Ms Courtney may have remained there until 1896; we can only surmise this because there is no evidence of others being there for that period. This Anna Maria Courtney was most likely the daughter – perhaps widowed or divorced – rather than the spinster, sister of Henry Courtney, iron founder of Leixlip and Dublin. Henry died in 1868.
1891: John French Pigott of Togher House, Maryborough, Queen’s County, and Joseph Cassan of Ballyknockane, same county, were trustees of the will of SR Roe and executors of the will of John Roe, late of 27 Upper Sackville Street, Dublin, and Tralee. George Robinson of Kenilworth Square, Rathmines, Dublin, was executor of the will of Frances Robinson, deceased, of 20 Gt. Strand St, Dublin. Perrin sued John Roe, and his executors, aforementioned, were the defendants. In consideration of the sum of £250 paid by William Richardson of Tara Street, merchant, to John French Pigott and Joseph Cassan, they the said executors, conveyed unto William Richardson all John Roe’s estates and interest as such executors of the personal estate of SR Roe ALL That the Corn Mills of Leixlip with the dwelling house, garden, land and several workmen’s houses formerly in the occupation of Patrick Farrell, 3a 1r 26p statute, and in pursuance of the order of the Master of the Rolls, made 25/4/1887, George Robinson released to Wm Robinson all the premises subject to payment of rent and performance of covenants in the deed of 9/11/1869, free from all encumbrances affecting the said SR Roe. [Registry of Deeds Memorial No 1891-29-263].
At least two generations of Piggotts [sic] are buried close by Samuel Robinson Roe in St Mary’s graveyard – Jean Sophia, (d.12/10/1882); Wm. Wellesley Pole, (d.25/6/1886), Lucy Martha, (d. 11/6/1894, aged35 or 36) and Lucie Henrietta (d.17/6/1894, aged 80). Perhaps they are related? The last two lived at 27 Raglan Rd, Dublin, at their time of death.
1892: A Maria Courtney, spinster, aged 68 years, and of no occupation, died of chronic bronchitis, at 144 Abbey St., Dublin, on 1/2/1892. Was she, she of the Bridge/Toll House in 1891?
1892: Ethel Harriet Mabel Faloone, School house, [Classified as ‘Abode’ in Pro forma Register] Leixlip, died February 24, 1891, aged 4 – Parish Register, St Mary’s, Leixlip. The Faloone family lived at two adjoining houses in The Mall, Main Street, one after the other. Perhaps one was used as a school? Alternatively, the young Miss Faloone died in a school which was not her home address elsewhere in Leixlip.
1892: PJ Kennedy, Anti-Parnellite Nationalist, and JL Carew, Parnellite Nationalist, were elected to represent North Kildare in the London Parliament. The population of the constituency of North Kildare was 32,925 in 1891 [BM Walker, ed, Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922, Dublin, 1978].
1893: The Kildare County Surveyor, Edward Glover, reported to the Spring Assizes of the Grand Jury (p.12) as follows: "I had to spend £6.10s 0d in doing work at Leixlip bridge, which the Tramway Company would not do for me, and more requires to be done. I am seeking to get back this expenditure from the Company, and I request that you will allow your solicitor to act for me in any action I might take".
Owen Feighery of Sureweld International has pictures of Fonthill Power Station [trams].
John Danford, of Leixlip, was contracted to repair 426 perches of road and footpath from Leixlip bridge to Mr Roe’s mill, and to the milestone at Leixlip Station at 4 shillings per perch; the transaction was recorded at the Spring Assizes of the Grand Jury (p.39), 1893. Thomas Campbell of Leixlip, won a similar contract a decade earlier.
1894: Thom’s Dublin Directory, 1894: lists as follows:
Courtney & Co, iron merchants, 2 Usher’s Island; also John R. and Andrew C., at this address with residences as follows: John R Courtney, 47 Northumberland Road
Andrew Courtney, 49 Northumberland Road
Courtney, William M., and Mrs., surgeon-major, Bengal army, 82 Kenilworth Square.
1894: Evie Hone, brother of Captain Hone of Leixlip House, born this year; she died, 1955. [Details of her works in JKAS Vol XIV, No 2, 1966/67, p247+]
1895 or 6: ER McClintock Dix and James Mills, rapporteurs for a visit to Lucan and Leixlip by members of the RSAI in 1895 or 6, observed that “There are remains of a weir, and perhaps a bridge, connecting [the parish church of St Mary’s] and castle”. They asserted that the church stands on the site of a priory, but this is unsubstantiated. “The principal parts of the castle consist of two blocks at right angles, facing east and south. The east face and NE circular tower, though pierced by modern windows, kept in repair and occupied, are probably part of the original castle. This portion contains a room said to have been occupied by King John. The SE square tower and south front, though of considerable age, are of much less ancient date”. [Proceedings: ‘Lucan and Leixlip’, JRSAI, Vol 26, 1896, p419-25]
1895: CJ Engledow, Anti-Parnellite Nationalist, and JL Carew, Parnellite nationalist, were elected to represent North Kildare in Parliament. [BM Walker, ed, Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922, Dublin, 1978.]
1896: Probate was granted on the estate of Isaac Jacob, Leixlip, general merchant [Ref. No. O.C.737, Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland, 57th report].
1896: Rev. F.E. Knowles Bird resigned as rector of St Mary’s from 30/4/1896. Thomas L. Palmer was nominated in his place by a board of selection which included Frederick Wookey, Jon Danford W.J. Irwin, Henry Galbraith, H.W.Gagen[?] and Archbishop Plunkett on 8/6/1896. He must have declined the invitation, as on 22/6/1896 they nominated the Rev. Richard Neville Somerville, MA. He made his declaration on taking office on Sunday, 19/7/1896; it was witnessed by Church Wardens, T Forbes Wills and John H Atkinson.
1897: Mrs Stewart, with a residence at Bridge House, contributed 5 shillings to the Leixlip Sustentation Fund on 14/10/1897; one year before she had resided at Cooldrinagh Terrace, according to the same source. There are no further records of Mrs Stewart to hand. She was not Eliza, the widow of Dr Henry Hutchison Stewart, who had died on 22/2/1880, aged 73 years. [Nessa O’Connor, Palmerstown – An Ancient Place, Dublin, 2003, p108.]
1897: Queen Victoria over-nighted in Carton House. [Padraic O’Farrell, A History of County Kildare, Dublin, 2003, p90.]
1898: Local Government reform replaced the Grand Juries which were landlord-controlled by county councils elected on a wide franchise, including women. [Joseph Robins, Custom House People, Dublin, 1993, p71.]
1898: John H Atkinson resided at 3 Cooldrinagh Terrace, Leixlip, and, in a letter of 18/2/1898 wrote that Edward Smith, formerly of Newtown, Leixlip now resided at 144 Rathgar Road and was not entitled to be a vestryman; he sent a similar letter in respect of S.B. Smith, also formerly of Newtown. A long row ensued within the select vestry with several members seeking a sworn enquiry, alleging irregularities in the financial affairs of the parish by the incumbent, Somerville. These persons included J Tuthill, Frederick Wookey, W J .Irwin, John Smith and R Claude Cane. Allegations about persons not entitled to vote on residency grounds and decisions made by previous select vestries were deemed by the challengers not to be binding on succeeding vestries. Somerville was charged with putting his own men on the vestry etc.
1898: The Valuation Books [incorrectly] record Roe as lessor of Bridge House until about 1898, when they were said to revert to Thomas Conolly.
1898: Thom’s Dublin Directory, 1898: lists as follows:
Courtney & Co., iron merchants, 2 Usher’s Island; also John R. at this address with residence at 47 Northumberland Road
Henry Courtenay, esq., Hughenden, 67 Grosvenor Road, Rathmines
1898: By March 1898 a Miss Duggan was in occupation of Bridge House, Roe remaining as lessor. Duggan didn’t stay long: within a year or two she was gone, to be replaced by a David Barbor (sic), whereupon the house may have become vacant once more until 1922. In 1915 Rebecca Louisa Bobbett, nee Nelson, of Cooldrinagh House was listed as the lessor, presumably having acquired it from the estate of Roe who had previously owned that house.
1899: J Whiteside Dane, clerk of the Petty Sessions, Naas, sent a list of magistrates for the Petty Sessions District of Celbridge & Donadea to the Leinster Leader on 29/4/1899 in the context of a vacancy as a clerk. The magistrates included: Lord Cloncurry, Lyons Hazelhatch; Francis Colgan, Cappagh, Enfield; Sir Gerald Dease, Celbridge Abbey; Lord F. Fitzgerald, Carton; WF Kirkpatrick, Donacumper; and William Mooney, Leixlip Castle. [Co Kildare Records of the Clerks of the Crown & Peace, 1C 26 83, NA].
1899: Elections to the first Kildare Co Council took place this year. Included were Wm Ronaldson, ex-officio, Chairman of Celbridge RDC, and Francis Colgan of Timahoe. Election details are in Leinster Leader and Kildare Observer. [Liam Kenny, ‘Documents and Sources: Kildare’s First County Council, 1899’, JKAS, Vol XVIII (Part IV), 1998-99, p631-3.] The chairman was Stephen J Brown, a solicitor, [check] of Naas. Until recently, the firm of Brown & McCann, solicitors, of Naas has enjoyed a virtual monopoly over legal services provided to KCC since its inception. The firm ceased trading under that name in recent years; some of its component solicitors trade as W A Osborne and Company. The inaugural meeting of KCC took place on 22nd August 1899 in Naas Court House. [Padraic O’Farrell, A History of County Kildare, Dublin, 2003, p111.]
1899: An issue of the Irish Builder of this year has an article on the history of St Wolstan’s; cited in RD Walshe, Cuttings and Notes, Lucan and Leixlip, 20th c, MS 11658 NLI in an article by C L Adams on Leixlip Castle (paper and date n/a).
1899: Mrs Ferguson was residing at Bridge House, according to the Leixlip Sustentation Fund accounts book on 23/9/1899, when she contributed £2 from that address. Was she the widow of one of the Dr Ferguson’s, or that of George Ferguson II (see 1870)?
1899: The average life expectancy was little beyond fifty: 32,000 people emigrated this year. [Diarmaid Ferriter, The Transformation of Ireland 1900-2000, London, 2004, p30.]
1899: Soldiers pay was one shilling per day this year; from this monthly equivalent of £1 11s deductions of 2s 2½d were made. Sergeants were paid 2s 4d per day and corporals 1s 8d.
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