May 2nd, 1642

Historical Context is a section on this website involving extracts from a book, currently in progress and yet to be published or titled, by the present author. The book includes historical information on several families who held lands in Leinster.

May 2nd, 1642

MS 812 fol 126r-126v

“Whearas proofes haue beene made before me that one William Stone a nue Conuertite is a spy and hath of late resorted to doe acccion, and that he said he would be a guide to the Enemy to distroy the Country & the inhabitants theerof, these are requiring yow to aprehend the boddy of the said William Stone and hauing so aprehended him to hang him for which this shalbe your warrant dated at Tinnihinch the 2d of May 1642.”

Walter Bagenall
To Pierce Forstall
and Richard Codie

Collonell Bagenalls
Warrant for
Hanging William Stone

Historical Context

Col. Walter Bagenal (1614-1642) was the son of George Bagenal of Dunlecky and Joan Butler, daughter of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond (d. 1633). Col. Bagenal’s grandfather, Dudley, had previously purchased large tracts of land in the Barony of Idrone, Co. Carlow, in 1585 from George Carew, who had inherited the estate from his cousin of Sir Peter Carew (1514-1575). Sir Peter Carew had acquired these lands in the sixteenth century due to a tenuous, but sufficient, centuries-old inheritance claim. A large portion of these lands, prior to Sir Peter’s acquisition, were held by the Kavanagh lineages of Garryhill and Ballyloughan, the descendents of Murchadh Ballach Kavanagh (d. 1511), king of Leinster, great-grandson of Art Óg MacMurrough Kavanagh (d. 1417), king of Leinster.   

At the start of the 1641 rebellion in Ireland, Col. Walter Bagenal held the position of governor of Carlow Castle. However, by April of 1642, Col. Bagenal had joined the Catholic confederates, where he served in a leading role with Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Clonmullen and Castlekirke (d. 1643) at the Battle of Kilrush on April 15th, 1642, under the command of Col. Bagenal’s great-uncle Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret. The Battle of Kilrush resulted in a disastrous defeat of the confederates at the hands of the Royalist army commanded by James Butler, 12th Earl of Ormond (In 1661, James was made Duke of Ormond), grandson of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, and cousin to both Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret (viv 1651), and Col. Walter Bagenal. Among notable confederates slain at the battle were Col. Darby Kavanagh, brother-in-law of Sir Morgan Kavanagh (Col. Darby’s head being brought to the Royalist commander, Lord Ormonde, after the battle); and Captain Gerald Grace of Legan and Ballylinch Castle, son of Oliver Grace (d. 1626) and Margaret Butler. Gerald Grace was the nephew of Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret, and James Butler of Tinnahinch Castle (viv 1650). Previously, James Butler of Tinnahinch had served as executor of the will of Oliver Grace, Gerald’s Grace’s father, showing an undoubtedly close relationship amongst these families. Emotions ran wild after the battle of Kilrush, and it wasn’t long before members of the Catholic confederates stormed back into Kilkenny, hunting down English persons in the county. Among their targets was William Stone, a new Confederate whom the rebels suspected of being an informant.

Portrait of James Butler, 12th Earl of Ormond, the Royalist commander who defeated his cousins Col. Walter Bagenal and Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret, at the Battle of Kilrush on April 15th, 1642. James would be made Duke of Ormond in 1661.

The order to hang William Stone, which was given by Col. Walter Bagenal to Pierce Forstall and Richard McCody on May 2nd of 1642, was reported to have subsequently been carried out by Gibbon Forstall, Garrett Forstall, and John FitzGerald (the son of Richard Baron alias FitzGerald); these men being servants to James Butler of Tinnahinch Castle. Pierce Forstall and Richard McCody were sergeants under the command of Sir Edward Butler, 1st Viscount Galmoy, who was married to Anne Butler, sister of Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret, and James Butler of Tinnahinch Castle. 

The kinship network among families holding leadership roles in the Catholic Confederacy and engaging in subversive activities in Co. Kilkenny after the Battle of Kilrush in 1642, which ultimately led to the murder and imprisonment of several English inhabitants, was intricately intertwined. To wit, Col. Walter Bagenal’s mother, Joan Butler, by her mother Ellen Butler, was the niece of Richard Butler (3rd Viscount Mountgarret), James Butler of Tinnahinch Castle (the man Gibbon Forstall, Garret Forstall, and John FitzGerald were in the service of), and Anne Butler (wife of Sir Edward Butler, whose sergeants Pierce Forstall and Richard McCody were given the order by Col. Walter Bagenal to hang William Stone). Joan Butler, daughter of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, and Ellen, was also the niece of Joan Butler of Kilcash (Walter’s sister), who married Nicholas Shortall of Clara Castle. Nicholas and Joan Butler’s daughter, Mary Shortall was wed to Patrick Denn of Grenan, who held a share of the lands of Forstallstown and Ballygurrim, Co. Kilkenny, with the Forstalls. Ellen Denn, daughter of Patrick Denn and Mary Shortall, married James Butler of Danginspidogue. James’s sister, Elizabeth Butler was wed to Edmond Forstall of Mullennahone Castle (d. 1677), son of Pierce Forstall. 

Elizabeth Butler and her brother James Butler of Danginspidogue were the children of Pierce Butler and his wife Joan FitzGerald, daughter of Rowland FitzGerald, alias Baron, of Burnchurch Castle. Catherine Shortall, sister of the aforementioned Mary Shortall (both first cousins to Joan Butler of Kilcash, mother of Col. Walter Bagenal), was married to Richard McCody of Bawnballinlogh. Catherine McCody, their daughter, married Peter FitzGerald of Burnchurch.

Richard FitzGerald of Burnchurch Castle, son of Rowland and brother to Joan FitzGerald, was thus, an uncle to Elizabeth Butler of Danginspidogue, who was the daughter-in-law of Pierce Forstall. In befitting fashion, Richard was the husband of Joan Forstall, daughter of Robert Forstall of Kilfera, who was the son of James Forstall of Kilfera Castle and Alice Shortall. An inquisition from August, 16th, 1623, reveals that Rowland Fitzgerald of Burnchurch (father of Richard), Pierce Butler of Danginspidogue (father of James Butler and Elizabeth Butler), and Robert Forstall of Kilfera (son of James Forstall and Alice Shortall) had joint interests in the lands of Burnchurch and Danginspidogue, at that time. Additionally, Robert Forstall’s will, proved in 1645, mentions his son-in-law Fulk Denn (likely the son of the aforementioned Patrick Denn of Grenan and Mary Shortall, and thus brother to Ellen, who was married to James Butler of Danginspidogue) as holding lands at Ballyfrunk of Robert.

Tinnahinch Castle, Co. Carlow, situated just across the River Barrow from Graiguenamanagh, Co. Kilkenny. James Butler resided at Tinnahinch Castle and was the man Garret Forstall, Gibbon Forstall, and John FitzGerald (who were accused of hanging William Stone) were in the service of in 1642.

Furthermore, Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Clonmullen, who served with Col. Bagenal in a leadership role over the Catholic Confederates, was the son of Dónal Spáinneach Kavanagh (d. 1632) and Eleanor Kavanagh of Polmonty Castle, and a nephew to Morgan Kavanagh of Polmonty Castle and Borris. Morgan Kavanagh of Polmonty Castle and Borris, uncle to Sir Morgan of Clonmullen, was husband to Eleanor Butler, the sister of Anne Butler (wife of Sir Edward Butler); James Butler of Tinnahinch; Ellen Butler (wife to Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond and grandmother of Col. Bagenal); Margaret Grace (mother of Gerald Grace who was slain at the battle of Kilrush); and Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Moungarret.

Following The Eleven Years’ War (1641-1652) and the Cromwellian Act of Settlement in 1652, Sir Morgan Kavanagh’s surviving son, Major Charles Kavanagh of Clonmullen and Carrigduff Castle, desirous to avoid transplantation to Connacht, accepted a position given to him by the Cromwellian administration to hunt Tories in Co. Carlow, and for this purpose, formed an all-star military unit. One of the chief military officers in Major Charles’s regiment was Robert Forstall of Kilfera (viv 1661), son of Patrick of Kilfera and Ballyfrunk, and grandson of Robert Forstall of Kilfera (d. 1645).

Arms of the MacMurrough Kavanagh, kings of Leinster

Despite the aftermath of the The Eleven Years’ War and Williamite War which followed from 1689-1691, this kinship network remained steadily fused. Major Charles Kavanagh (d. 1690), son of Sir Morgan, joined the Jacobite cause during the Williamite War and formed his own regiment in support of King James II. Edmond Dubh Forstall of Gurteens and Kellymount (1671-1733), grandson of Edmond Forstall of Mullennahone, and great-great-grandson of the aforementioned Pierce Forstall, served as a Jacobite captain and commanded the Irish at the Siege of Limerick in 1690-1691. Subsequently, Edmond Dubh resided in Co. Carlow, before establishing his residence at Kellymount, Co. Kilkenny. Major Charles Kavanagh’s son, Ignatius, served as a captain in his father Charles’s regiment during the Williamite War and later served as an officer in France, akin to Nicholas Forstall, Richard Forstall, and James Forstall, the younger brothers of Edmond Dubh Forstall, who likewise, served as officers in France. Edmond Dubh Forstall’s son, Nicholas Forstall of Martinique (the namesake of his uncle Nicholas Forstall, who served as an officer in France), was sent to Nantes as a boy, where Nicholas Kavanagh, son of captain Ignatius Kavanagh, had been sent. Nicholas Kavanagh, established business in the West Indies at Santo Domingo, while Nicholas Forstall, son of Edmond Dubh Forstall, akin to Nicholas Kavanagh, also established business in the West Indies, where he operated as a merchant involved in the sugar trade at the port of Saint-Pierre in Martinique. Nicholas Forstall, uncle to Nicholas Forstall of Nantes and afterwards Martinique, settled in New Ross upon returning from serving as an officer in France, where his nephew, Pierce Forstall of New Ross, eldest son and heir of Edmond Dubh Forstall of Gurteens and Kellymount, and brother to Nicholas of Martinique, established his residence after returning from service as a captain in the Hibernia Regiment. Nicholas Forstall of New Ross’s son James Forstall of New Ross and Bahana, Co. Carlow, was afterwards wed to Elizabeth Lawlor, granddaughter of Simon Kavanagh of Inch, Co. Carlow; the great-grandson of Simon Kavanagh of Seskin, Co. Carlow, who akin to Edmond Dubh Forstall, served as a Jacobite captain; notably, Simon served in Major Charles Kavanagh’s regiment alongside Charles’s son Ignatius Kavanagh, father of Nicholas Kavanagh of Nantes. Major Charles Kavanagh, through his grandmother Eleanor Kavanagh of Borris, was a second cousin to Simon Kavanagh of Seskin; Major Charles was also wed to his own second cousin, Mary Kavanagh of Borris, great-granddaughter of Brian mac Cahir MacMurrough Kavanagh and mother of Charles’s son Ignatius Kavanagh..

Portrait of Dónal Spáinneach Kavanagh of Clonmullen Castle (d. 1632), the last MacMurrough Kavanagh leader to be styled ‘King of Leinster.’ Dónal was the husband of Eleanor Kavanagh, daughter of Brian mac Cahir MacMurrough Kavanagh of Polmonty Castle (d. 1578). Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Clonmullen (d. 1643), son of Dónal Spáinneach and Eleanor, was the father of Major Charles Kavanagh of Clonmullen and Carrigduff Castle (d. 1690).

Edmond Forstall of Mullennahone (d. 1677) and Elizabeth Butler of Danginspidogue were the parents of Pierce Forstall of Carrickcloney Castle (d. 1683), who, in turn, was the father of the aforementioned, Edmond Dubh Forstall of Kellymount and his brothers Nicholas, Richard, and James Forstall. Pierce Forstall of Carrickcloney had at least one brother, James Forstall of Mullennahone, who married Helena Denn. Their son, Sir Mark Forstall, was a ship captain who served in France before eventually residing in Cadiz. Sir Mark was knighted by King James VIII and III in 1734. By 1746, Sir Mark was serving in Havana as captain of the Spanish Man-of-War named the “Royal Family.” Edmond Dubh Forstall, was wed to Elizabeth Meade, sister to John Meade of Ballyhale, Co. Kilkenny. John’s daughter, Mary Meade, was wed to Hervey Kavanagh of Borris (d. 1741), the son of Morgan Kavanagh of Borris (great-grandson of Morgan Kavanagh and Eleanor Butler of the Mountgarret Butler lineage) and Margaret Morres of Castlemorres, Co. Kilkenny. Accordingly, Elizabeth Meade and John Meade’s sister was married to Redmond Purcell of Grove or Garrantibbot, Co. Kilkenny; the grandson of Redmond Purcell of Garryduff, Co. Kilkenny, whose sister Johan Purcell of Garryduff, was wed to Patrick Forstall of Kilfera and Ballyfrunk, father to Robert Forstall (viv 1661), who, as aforementioned, had served in Major Charles Kavanagh’s military unit in Co. Carlow following the Eleven Years’ War.

The ancestry of Brian mac Cahir MacMurrough Kavanagh, chief of Slíocht Diarmuid Lámbhdearg. Brian was the ancestor of the Kavanagh lineages of Borris, Ballybrannagh, Rocksavage, and Inch. Brian’s daughter Eleanor was wed to Dónal Spáinneach Kavanagh and was the mother of Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Clonmullen (d. 1643).

Hervey Kavanagh of Borris, husband to Mary Meade, was the great-nephew of Mary Kavanagh, who was wed to Major Charles Kavanagh, and was the mother of Ignatius Kavanagh, father of the aforementioned Nicholas Kavanagh of Nantes. Hervey Kavanagh and Mary Meade’s marriage settlement in 1732 included her father John Meade, John’s brother-in-law Redmond Purcell of Grove, and was witnessed by James Kelly, father-in-law of Ignatius Rosseter who held a sugarhouse at New Ross. Involvement in the sugar trade, of course, required important contacts in the West Indies, where Nicholas Forstall of Martinique, and Nicholas Kavanagh of Nantes, operated. Ignatius Rossiter was also a brewer at Graiguenamanagh and served as a head middleman for Hervey Kavanagh’s family (the Borris Kavanaghs). In 1788, Edmond Bán Forstall or Forrestal, Esq, of Ringville (1742-1797), the son and heir of Pierce Forstall of New Ross (viv 1743), conferred his residence at Ringville to Nicholas Devereux, a former merchant of Cadiz, whose grandmother Letitia Morres of Castlemorres (the mother of Nicholas Devereux’s father Richard Devereux of Croan, Co. Kilkenny) was sister to Margaret Morres, the mother of Hervey Kavanagh of Borris.

RD Memorial 261057 from 1788 outlining the sale of Ringville, including the mansion house, from Edmond Forrestal, Esq, of Ringville to Nicholas Devereux, former merchant of Cadiz.

In 1737, Hervey Kavanagh served as a witness to a deed with James Kavanagh of Inch, concerning the transfer of lands at Clonleigh, Co. Carlow, from Brian Kavanagh of Borris (Hervey’s eldest brother) to James FitzPatrick and Edmond FitzPatrick of Clonleigh, Co. Wexford. James Kavanagh of Inch, was the grandson of the aforementioned Simon Kavanagh of Seskin, and father to Simon Kavanagh of Inch, who was wed to Helena Grace of Gracefield; the great-great-granddaughter of Gerald Grace of Ballylinch Castle, who (as mentioned earlier) was slain in the Battle of Kilrush in 1642. James Kavanagh of Inch shared a common ancestor with Hervey Kavanagh and Brian Kavanagh in their fifth great-grandfather Brian mac Cahir MacMurrough Kavanagh (d. 1578), chief of Slíocht Diarmada Laimhdeirg. Brian mac Cahir’s son and heir, Morgan Kavanagh of Polmonty Castle and Borris (d. 1631), was the ancestor of Hervey Kavanagh of Borris and Ballyhale (d. 1741) and Brian Kavanagh of Borris (d. 1741); while Morgan’s brother Gerald Kavanagh of Ballybrannagh, was grandfather to Simon Kavanagh of Seskin (grandfather of James Kavanagh of Inch), and Thomas mac Turlough Kavanagh (ancestor of the Rocksavage Kavanagh lineage). As previously mentioned, Morgan Kavanagh of Polmonty and Borris (d. 1631) was married to Eleanor Butler of the Mountgarret Butler lineage; and Eleanor Kavanagh (sister to Morgan Kavanagh of Polmonty and Borris, and Gerald Kavanagh of Ballybrannagh) was wed to Dónal Spainneach Kavanagh of Clonmullen Castle, and was the mother of Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Clonmullen (d. 1643).

Portait of Brian Kavanagh of Borris (d. 1741), fifth-generation agnatic descendant of Brian mac Cahir MacMurrough Kavanagh of Polmonty Castle (d. 1578), and brother of Hervey Kavanagh. Brian Kavanagh of Borris (d. 1741), was wed to Mary Butler of Kilcash Castle.

Brian Kavanagh of Borris (d. 1741), brother of Hervey, was wed to Mary Butler of Kilcash whose father Thomas Butler of Kilcash Castle, was the great-great-grandson of the aforementioned Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond (grandfather of Col. Walter Bagenal). Brian Kavanagh’s son and heir Thomas Kavanagh of Borris (d. 1782), would be wed to Susanna Butler, the daughter of Walter Butler of Garryricken who was nephew to the aforementioned Thomas Butler of Kilcash Castle. Hervey Kavanagh, uncle to Thomas Kavanagh of Borris, and husband of Mary Meade, was the father of Morgan Kavanagh of Ballyhale, Co. Kilkenny. Morgan, who was wed to Frances Butler of Garryricken, the sister of Susanna Butler. Susanna Butler and Frances Butler, daughters of Walter Butler of Garryricken, were sisters of John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormond; the heir of Walter Butler of Garryricken. John Butler re-established an active Butler residence at Kilkenny Castle where he received the sobriquet ‘Jack of the Castle.’ John leased the lands and castle at Ballinlaw, Co. Kilkenny, to Edmond Bán Forstall of Ringville, who, as previously mentioned, leased his residence at Ringville to Nicholas Devereux, great-nephew of Hervey Kavanagh of Borris, in 1788.

Portrait of John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormond (d. 1795). John resided at Kilkenny Castle which earned him the sobriquet “Jack of the Castle.” John, was the uncle of Walter Kavanagh of Borris House, and leased Ballinlaw Castle and lands to Edmond Bán Forstall of Ringville, in the late eighteenth century.

After the death of Thomas Kavanagh of Borris in 1782, Thomas’s son Walter Kavanagh of Borris (the namesake of his maternal grandfather Walter Butler) inherited his estates which included nearly the entire Parish of St. Mullins in Co. Carlow, in addition to other lands in Idrone, Co. Carlow and Co. Wexford. Walter Kavanagh formed his own yeomanry corps and maintained close relations with James Rossiter of Rosemount, New Ross, son of the aforementioned Ignatius Rossiter who had been a principal middleman for Walter’s father, Thomas Kavanagh of Borris. James Rossiter inherited his father Ignatius Rossiter’s leases on the townlands of Inch and Bahana, which he held from Walter Kavanagh. By the late eighteenth century, Laurence Corcoran, a Freeman of Enniscorthy, took up the mantle serving as principal middleman for Walter Kavanagh, and leased the lands of Inch from James Rossiter. In 1773, Corcoran had served as a witness to the Will of Helena Grace (the wife of Simon Kavanagh of Inch), thereby demonstrating his close relationship with the Kavanagh family. Corcoran was wed to Bridget Jordan, and was the brother-in-law of Francis Jordan, who was wed to Mary Kavanagh (the cousin of Helena Grace’s husband Simon Kavanagh of Inch) at the Inch family home on October 30th, 1788. Charles Corcoran and John Corcoran, sons of Laurence Corcoran and Bridget Jordan, both served in Walters Kavanagh’s yeomanry corps. They were also actively engaged in their father’s land dealings in Co. Carlow and Co. Wexford. Notably, Laurence Corcoran served as a godparent to Walter Kavanaghs’ illegitimate daughter Frances born in 1794 to Walter and Elizabeth Dalton.

Portait of Walter Kavanagh of Borris House (d. 1818), son of Thomas Kavanagh, and nephew to John Butler of Kilkenny Castle, 17th Earl of Ormond.

The Jordan family, into which Laurence Corcoran had married, held lands in the barony of Forth at Clonmullen or Barnahask, and in the Barony of Idrone, Co. Carlow. The lands they held in Idrone were leased from Beauchamp Bagenal (great-grandson of Col. Walter Bagenal). In the early seventeenth century this Jordan lineage held several patrimonial lands near Enniscorthy, including portions of Clonjordan, Co. Wexford which they forfeit due to their participation in the Eleven Years’ War in the service of Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Clonmullen and his son Col. Daniel Kavanagh.

The usage of the surname ‘Jordan’ by this lineage first appears in the early seventeenth century. Prior to that period individuals of this family were not using a hereditary surname; instead, they were simply referred to in records by a patronym typically stemming only one to two generations in length. The lands they held near Enniscorthy, in addition to Clonmullen, combined with their military allegiance to Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Clonmullen and his father Dónal Spáinneach points to a plausible reality wherein the Jordans shared kinship with the Kavanagh lineage of Slíocht Art Buidhe. The ancestor of this sept, Art Buidhe MacMurrough Kavanagh, king of Leinster, inherited two martlands in Enniscorthy, in addition to the lands contained within the Lordship of Clonmullen, consisting of Carrigduff, Reylan (part of which was Castlekirke), Clonmullen (part of which is now called Barnahask), Kilbrannish, and Bunclody (or Newtownbarry).

Art Buidhe MacMurrough Kavanagh, was great-great-grandfather of Dónal Spáinneach, the last MacMurrough leader to be styled ‘King of Leinster.’ Names such as Art mac Murtagh Jordan, Murtagh mac Cahir Jordan, George mac Murrough Jordan, and Donogh mac Tiege Jordan, used by members of this Jordan lineage in the mid-seventeenth century especially indicate that the Jordans of north Wexford and Co. Carlow, were not of agnatic Norman extraction, as their chosen surname might lead one to assume. Indeed, the first names Cahir (or Charles), Art, Murtagh, and Murrough (or Morgan), were standard first names in usage by Slíocht Art Buidhe. It would appear that the Jordans chose their surname from the townland of Clonjordan, Co. Wexford (Jordan’s meadow also called ‘Jordanstowne’ in an inquisition from 1634), where the lineage held a joint share of land during the sixteenth century. The name Jordan, possibly derived from the first name of one of their ancestors, had historical use by the Ó Brion or O’Byrne dynasty of Leinster. This dynasty were heavily intermarried with the Kavanaghs for centuries and were the maternal ancestral lineage of Art Óg MacMurrough Kavanagh (d. 1417), king of Leinster. Art Óg was a first cousin to Jordan mac Simon O’Byrne (viv 1374), establishing a familial connection that may explain the usage of the name Jordan as surname by this lineage (for a plausible correlative occurrence regarding the usage of the first name of an ancestor as a surname by a Gaelic lineage, see K.W. Nicholls Gaelic and Gaelicized Ireland in the Middle Ages, page 202, 2nd edition, were Nicholls mentions that the Mac David Mór MacMurrough lineage took the surname Redmond during the early seventeenth century which was derived from their fourteenth century ancestor Redmond MacMurrough). Additionally, the usage of the first name Simon by the Ballybrannagh Kavanagh lineage was undoubtedly inherited by the Ballybrannagh Kavanagh lineage through their maternal line O’Byrne ancestors descended from the Gabhal tSíomón Ó Brion or O’Byrne sept (Simon O’Byrne’s branch) who held lands in the northern region of Co. Carlow 

Art Óg MacMurrough Kavanagh’s son, Gerald Kavanagh of Ferns Castle, was the ancestor of the Clonmullen, Borris, Ballybrannagh, Ferns, and Ballyleigh Kavanagh lineages; while Gerald’s brother, Donogh mac Art MacMurrough Kavanagh, king of Leinster, was ancestor of the Garryhill and Ballyloughan Kavanagh lineages, whose lands, as previously mentioned, were purchased by Col. Walter Bagenal’s grandfather, Dudley Bagenal, from George Carew in 1585. It is worth noting that a branch of the Ó Broin family held large tracts of lands in the Duffry, Co. Wexford and akin to the Jordans formed part of the military entourage assembled by Sir Morgan Kavanagh and his father Dónal Spáinneach Kavanagh. It can be expected that the landholding families in the Duffry, were of course, intermarried with one another.

Enniscorthy Castle, Co. Wexford, former residence of Art Buidhe MacMurrough Kavanagh (d. 1517), the great-great-grandfather of Dónal Spáinneach Kavanagh. Art Buidhe MacMurrough Kavanagh, king of Leinster, was the son of Dónal Reagh MacMurrough Kavanagh, king of Leinster, and brother to Sabh Kavanagh who was wed to Sir James Butler of Poletown, and was the mother of Pierce Ruadh Butler, 8th Earl Ormond. Through her son Pierce Ruadh Butler, Sabh Kavanagh was ancestress to the subsequent Butler lineages who were Earls of Ormond, in addition to the lineage who were Viscounts Mountgarret, descended from Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Moutgarret, son of Pierce Ruadh Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, and brother to James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond.

A significant parlay to the above regarding the Jordans’ relationship to Slíocht Art Buidhe, shows that a share of the lands of Tommacmorish (now called Pullinstown) located less than three miles from Enniscorthy, were held by Teige mac Donagh Jordan, Art mac Murtagh Jordan, Murtagh mac Cahir Jordan and William Jordan, at the start of the rebellion in 1640, and that a portion of these lands had been previously held by Dónal Spáinneach Kavanagh, until his death in 1632. Additionally, a share of the lands of Shraghmore, which were held by George mac Murrough Jordan in 1640, had also been previously held by Dónal Spáinneach Kavanagh, while part of the lands of Bolamore which were held by Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Clonmullen (Dónal Spáinneach’s son), were previously held by Garrett mac Edmond Jordan who died in 1617; Garrett’s son and heir was named as Francis in his obituary. At the time of his death Garrett mac Edmond Jordan also held one fourth of the lands of Clonjordan, Ballysallagh, and Monalee, and an inquisition from 1604 shows that previously a man named William mac Dónal mac Donagh was seized of one eighth of the lands of Tommacmorish, Clonjordan, and Ballysallagh, while a man named Diarmuid mac Teige was seized of one half of the lands of Monalee; both men were killed warring against the Elizabethan administration during their service under Dónal Spáinneach Kavanagh of Clonmullen. A previous pardon during the reign of James I shows that a man named Murrough mac Art was living at Shraghmore (lands which George mac Murrough Jordan, presumably Murrough’s son, held in 1640) when he was pardoned with Art mac Murtagh who was living at Ballysallagh. By 1640, one fourth of the lands of Clonjordan and Monalee were in the possession of William Jordan who held a share of the lands of Carranballidonagh with Daniel Jordan, in addition to Teige mac Donagh Jordan, and Art mac Murtagh Jordan, who, as aforesaid, also held a share of Tommacmorish with Murtagh mac Cahir Jordan; lands which Dónal Spainneach Kavanagh had previously held a share of. Significantly, Dónal Spáinneach Kavananagh was the son of a man named Donagh mac Cahir mic Murtagh mic Art Kavanagh of Clonmullen who was the nephew of Art mac Murtagh Kavanagh of Clonmullen; and Art mac Murtagh Kavanagh of Clonmullen’s son was named Murtagh mac Art. Thus, first names in usage by the Clonmullen Kavanaghs and the Jordans were strikingly similar. Notably, the Jordans managed to maintain a leaseholding on a sizeable relic of the Kavanagh lands of Clonmullen at Barnahask of which Alexander Jordan held 165 statute acres of, with his wife Ann Freeman. In 1759. Alexander Jordan and his wife Anne Freeman leased this property to Richard Langford who, by 1765, also held 121 statute acres of Major Charles Kavanagh’s former lands of Carrigduff; additionally, by 1795 Langford was in possession 16 acres of lands at Reylan (the location of a former residence of Major Charles’s father Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Clonmullen, located near Bunclody). Richard Langford’s brother Simon Langford, resided at Ballinaberna, Co. Wexford.

A portion of the mid-seventeenth century Down Survey Map for the Barony of Forth, Co. Carlow, depicting the lands of Clonmullen which were held by descendants of the Slíocht Art Buidhe Kavanaghs. A portion of Clonmullen is now known as Barnahask where Alexander Jordan held 165 statute acres in 1759. Just across the river from Clonmullen, in Co. Wexford, is where Bunclody (formerly Newtownbarry), is located.

In a deposition from March 3rd, 1654, it was reported that Donogh mac Tiege Jordan had stormed Dublin Castle on October 23rd, 1641, with Sir Morgan Kavanagh and his eldest son Col. Daniel Kavanagh. Donagh mac Tiege Jordan was afterwards imprisoned, but escaped back to Clonmullen, where he dwelt with Sir Morgan Kavanagh. On February 28th, 1654, based on the testimony of Owen Breen, Gent, of Enniscorthy, it was reported that William Jordan of Clonjordan, Gent, then deceased, contributed financially to the 1641 rebellion, and that his son John Jordan had taken up arms, serving as a private in the service of Sir Morgan Kavanagh’s son, Colonel Daniel Kavanagh. An earlier deposition regarding William Jordan was given on January 1st, 1654, by James Jordan, Gent, of Enniscorthy, who stated that he was a near kinsman of William Jordan of Clonjordan and that William’s son John Jordan was in arms with the Irish. James Jordan also testified that during the time of the rebellion, he resided with Edward Masterson at Borres, Co. Wexford. According to James’s testimony, Edward Masterson was actively involved with Sir Morgan Kavanagh in the rebellion.

As previously mentioned, the lands of Clonmullen, which were held by Dónal Spáinneach Kavanagh, and later his grandson Major Charles Kavanagh, included Bunclody (formerly Newtownbarry). Bunclody is situated at the edge of the townland of Carrigduff where Major Charles Kavanagh, son of Sir Morgan, dwelt in a castle residence. Just south of Carrigduff is Clonmullen, of which Barnahask was formerly a part; situated alongside the land where Clonmullen Castle (the former residence of descendants of Slíocht Art Buidhe) was located.  In 1787, Michael Jordan, Gent, of Newtownbarry, witnessed a deed involving Thomas Butler of Newtownbarry, who demised part of a house or apartment at Newtownbarry, situated above Lady Devereux’s residence, to his youngest son Henry Butler. Previously, in 1765, Lady Farhnam had demised a small part of the former Kavanagh lands of Newtownbarry (or Bunclody) and Carrigduff to said Thomas Butler of Newtownbarry, who held the lands for the lives of his sons Pierce and Henry Butler. In April of 1795, Alexander Jordan of Scartreen, Co. Carlow, son of Alexander Jordan of Barnahask, demised part of the lands of Clonagoose, Co. Carlow, to James Jordan of Tomduff, Co. Carlow, for the life of himself (Alexander Jordan), his brother, George Jordan of Newtownbarry (1762-1803), and George’s young son Alexander Jordan of Newtownbarry. The deed was witnessed by Charles Jordan, heir of James Jordan and Matthew Keating, merchant, who resided at Borris, Co. Carlow in addition to Ballynabanoge, Ballyanne, Co. Wexford. Keating also held a portion of lands at Kilcoltrim, Co. Carlow, which would later be conferred to Edmond Hegarty of Kilcoltrim who held lands at Scartreen near Borris, Co. Carlow and Kilcoltrim.

Edmond Hegarty, was a second cousin to John Devereux of Newtownbarry, whose wife Lady Devereux’s house adjoined that of the aforementioned Thomas Butler (whose lease was witnessed by Michael Jordan, Gent, of Newtownbarry, in 1787). John Devereux’s parents were Nicholas Devereux of Bunclody (or Newtownberry) and Mary Kavanagh of Rocksavage, who was a niece to Edmond Hegarty’s grandmother; the daughter of Thomas mac Turlough Kavanagh of Ballybrannagh, ancestor of the Rocksavage Kavanagh lineage. Thomas mac Turlough’s brother was the aforementioned captain Simon Kavanagh of Seskin, who served as a captain in Major Charles Kavanagh of Carrigduff’s regiment; Thomas mac Turlough’s grandson, the son of Gerald Kavanagh, was Simon Kavanagh of Rocksavage, Esq. John Devereux of Newtownberry (the son of Nicholas Devereux and Mary Kavanagh), was the grandson of John Devereux, Esq, of Ballinaberna, who held lands at Ballyrankin and Ballinberna, Co. Wexford; townlands which were formerly held by Edward Masterson of Borres, Co. Wexford; who, as aforesaid, was involved with Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Clonmullen in the 1641 rebellion. Edward Masterson resided at Borres, Co. Wexford (adjacent to Ballinaberna), with James Jordan, Gent, of Enniscorthy (kinsman to William Jordan of Clonjordan, as is stated in James Jordan’s deposition from 1652). As mentioned above, Simon Langford, brother of Richard Langford of Carrigduff and Barnahask, held a residence at Ballinaberna, and Alexander Jordan had conferred 165 statute acres of Barnahask to Richard Langford in 1759. In unifying fashion, Major John Devereux of Ballyrankin and Newtownbarry, Esq, son of John Devereux of Newtownbarry, and grandson of Nicholas Devereux and Mary Kavanagh of Rocksavage, held his lease on the Devereux house at Newtownbarry for the life of his son Nicholas Devereux and Richard Langford’s son William Langford of Carrigduff, in addition to William’s second son John Langford of Carrigduff (as is shown in RD Memorial 404607 from 1806); suggesting kinship in some capacity amongst the Langford and Devereux families who both had held residences at Ballinaberna. Of special note, of course, is the fact that the Devereuxs’ of Newtownbarry were descendants in the maternal line (through their ancestor Mary Kavanagh of Rocksavage) of Brian mac Cahir Kavanagh, whose daughter Eleanor married Dónal Spáínneach Kavanagh and was the great-grandmother of Major Charles Kavanagh of Clonmullen and Carrigduff Castle. Thus, descendants of the chief line of the Polmonty Kavanagh lineage which shared kinship with the Slíocht Art Buidhe Kavanaghs’ of Clonmullen, held a residence in the Lordship of Clonmullen at Newtownbarry in the early nineteenth century, with their holding intrinsically tied to the Langfords, whose holdings were a part of Major Charles Kavanagh’s former lands of Carrigduff..

Mary Devereux, sister to John Devereux of Newtownbarry (John and Mary being the children of Nicholas Devereux and Mary Kavanagh of Rocksavage), was wed to James FitzPatrick of Clonleigh, whose lease on lands at Clonleigh recorded in 1737, let from Brian Kavanagh of Borris (as previously mentioned) was witnessed by Hervey Kavanagh and James Kavanagh of Inch (grandson to Simon Kavanagh of Seskin). Hervey Kavanagh’s son Morgan Kavanagh of Ballyhale (second cousin to Edmond Bán Forstall of Ringville, the great-grandson of Edmond Dubh Forstall and Elizabeth Meade whose niece Mary Meade married Harvey Kavanagh of Borris), was the father of Margaret Kavanagh who was given a rent charge on the lands of Scarteen which were formerly held by Edmond Hegarty of Kilcoltrim and Alexander Jordan of Scartreen. In 1796, Edmond Hegarty’s daughter Margaret was wed to Charles Corcoran, son of the aforementioned Laurence Corcoran and Bridget Jordan, sister to Francis Jordan, whose wife Mary Kavanagh of Inch, was daughter to Terence Kavanagh of Inch and Gowling (brother to James Kavanagh of Inch, and second cousin to Simon Kavanagh of Rocksavage, whose sister Mary Kavanagh of Rocksavage, as aforementioned, was wed to Nicholas Devereux of Newtownbarry; Simon and Mary Kavanagh of Rocksavage being cousins to Edmond Hegarty of Kilcoltrim). Francis Jordan and Mary Kavanagh of Inch’s daughter Bridget Jordan, married her own second cousin, James Forrestal of Bahana. Previously, in 1795, John Corcoran (brother of Charles Corcoran and son of Bridget Jordan and Laurence Corcoran), witnessed a deed where Alexander Jordan of Scartreen let lands at Clonagoose to John Love of Borris. John Corcoran, would later be involved with his brother Charles Corcoran and their mother Bridget Jordan, regarding the lands of Seskin which were formerly held by captain Simon Kavanagh of Seskin (ancestor of the Inch Kavanaghs); the right and title to the lands of Seskin being conferred to Bridget Jordan after the death of her husband Laurence Corcoran as stipulated in Laurence’s will.

Registered deeds from 1777 and 1779 show that the Lands of Clonleigh, which were let to Edmond and James FitzPatrick by Brian Kavanagh of Borris in 1737, were encompassed as part of the Kavanagh of estate of Ballyanne, Co. Wexford which included the lands Ballynabanoge, Ballyanne, Co. Wexford; notably, the lease from 1737 involving Clonleigh was witnessed by William Edwards of Ballynabanoge. By 1794, Edward Jordan, was residing at Ballynabanoge, when he witnessed a lease from his relative Alexander Jordan of Scarteen, to James Jordan of Tomduff Co. Carlow. Edward Jordan, held a lease of 113 statute acres of Ballynabanoge, Ballyanne, Co. Wexford for the life of the aforementioned Matthew Keating’s sons (Patrick, John, and Matthew). This same lease would afterwards be held by Laurence Fogarty of Drummin, Co. Carlow, who was wed to Mary Bolger, the niece of Margaret Bolger of Ballynabanoge. Margaret Bolger of Ballynabanoge, married William Cantwell, and was mother to Ann Cantwell who was the wife of Nicholas Forrestal of New Ross (1820-1877), son of the aforementioned Bridget Jordan (daughter of Francis Jordan and Mary Kavanagh of Inch) and James Forrestal of Bahana (son of James Forstall and Elizabeth Lawlor, granddaughter of Simon Kavanagh of Inch and Helena Grace). Edward Jordan of Ballynabanoge, served as deputy receiver of rents for Beauchamp Bagenal (d. 1802), great-grandson of Col. Walter Bagenal,  Edward, would posthumously gain notoriety as a pirate after he emigrated from Ireland to Nova Scotia and was eventually tried and executed for piracy. His testimony given at his own trial is illuminative, offering a glimpse of the life he lived in Ireland, including his relationship with the Bagenal and Kavanagh families. According to this deposition given on November 15th, 1809, Jordan’s life took a drastic turn in 1797 when he was taken into custody by a party of the 9th Dragoons in Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow, accused of training men for rebellion. However, Edward Jordan managed to escape his imprisonment and a year later joined the 1798 rebellion fighting on the side of the rebels. His decision to join the rebels was motivated by the traumatic experience of having his mother burned alive in their family home by a regiment of Dragoons. Jordan was thereafter entrusted with the command of a rebel party by Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, who was the cousin of Beauchamp Bagenal (in addition to being Beauchamp’s godson). Edward mentioned that after the rebellion, he received protection from Col. Kavanagh of Borris, likely referring to Walter Kavanagh, who held the title deed to the lands Edward leased at Ballynabanoge for the lives of Matthew Keating’s sons.

This exhibit, housed at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, showcases a replica of Edward Jordan’s gibbet. The photo was taken by Dennis Jarvis of Halifax, Canada. The description to Jarvis’s photo states: “Piracy was robbery at sea and was considered so serious that the penalty was not only death but also ritualistic exception. A special Admiralty Court tried and executed pirates. After they were hanged on the beach between high and low tide, their bodies were tarred and hung in chains called a “gibbet” at the harbour entrance as a warning to other mariners.”

The pardon mentioned above during the reign of King James I, involving Art mac Murtagh of Ballysallagh, and Murrough mac Art of Shraghmore (the lands of Ballysallagh being held by William Jordan and Shraghmore being held George mac Murrough Jordan, in 1640) also included Redmond Forstall of Bellaboro, Co. Wexford (now called Castleboro), who was pardoned with Walter fitz Edmond Forstall, of Moneyhore, Co. Wexford. Moneyhore, was a townland which was in the possession of Edward Butler of Kayer (son of Pierce Butler of Kayer and grandson of Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Mountgarret), whose grandson Edward Butler of Moneyhore, was wed to Jane, the daughter of Col. Thomas Bagenal of Dunlecky, Co. Carlow (brother to the aforementioned Col. Walter Bagenal); while Bellaboro were lands held James Butler of Tinnahinch Castle (of whom Gibbon and Garret Forstall were in the service of in 1641; James was first cousin to Edward Butler of Kayer, both men being grandsons of Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Mountgarret), where James kept an additional residence. James Butler also held Forstallstown, Co. Wexford, bordering the lands of Bellaboro; these lands being conferred to James by his brother-in-law Sir Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond (grandfather of Col. Thomas and Col Walter Bagenal). The aforementioned Redmond Forstall, was granted an additional pardon in 1606, with his residence given as Forstallstown, Co. Wexford at the time. On the Down Survey map produced in the mid-seventeeth century, for the barony of Bantry. Co. Wexford, Belloboro and Forstallstown, Co. Wexford are neatly conjoined with a castle appearing on these lands.

A portion of the Down Survey Map for the barony of Bantry, Co. Wexford, depicting the lands of Forstallstown and Bellaboro which were held by James Butler of Tinnahinch, and were residences of Redmond Forstall. Note the proximity to the townland of Rathnure, where members of the Forstall or Forrestal family, were leasing 121 Irish acres in 1833.

In his testimony in 1652, involving the murders which occurred in 1642, Gibbon Forstall stated that he was nearly eighty years old and that he had lived with James Butler since he was a boy. Thus, Gibbon Forstall, was raised or fostered in the same household as James Butler of Tinnahinch, whose father, Edmond Butler, 2nd Viscount Mountgarret, was son to Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Mountgarret. Previously, In 1548-49, Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Mountgarret, grandfather of James Butler of Tinnahinch, had been included as the leader in a pardon involving Thomas mac Edmond Forstall, Richard duff fitz Thomas fitz Redmond Forstall, and Edmond mac Thomas mic Redmond Forstall, of Carrickcloney, Co. Kilkenny, where Pierce Forstall of Carrickcloney (d. 1683), grandson of the aforementioned Pierce Forstall of Mullennahone resided in the mid-seventeenth century. In another pardon from 1566, Brian mac Cahir MacMurrough Kavanagh (ancestor of the Borris, Rocksavage, and Inch Kavanagh lineages) is recorded as the leader in a pardon, which involved James fitz Edmond Forstall of Carrickcloney, Walter fitz Edmond Forstall of Carrickcloney (who may be the same Walter who was recorded as living at Moneyhore in 1603, which was a residence of Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Moutgarret’s grandson, Edward Butler), and John mac Walter Forstall of Forstallstown, Co. Kilkenny. In 1572, Walter Forstall, Gent, was in receipt of another pardon while living at Mullennahone, Co. Kilkenny, and just a few months prior, in 1571, Edmond Forstall, Gent, of Mullennahone (possibly the father of Walter and James), received a pardon.  In 1608, Gibbon Forstall, perhaps son of the aforementioned, Walter fitz Edmond Forstall, was seized of the lands of Forstallstown, Co. Kilkenny, these lands afterwards being held by Gibbon’s heir, also named Walter Forstall, who died in 1639. The name Gibbon, was an uncommon first name in usage by the Forstalls, which makes it likely that the Gibbon Forstall who was in the service of James Butler in 1641-42, was the brother or son of Walter Forstall who died in 1639 (Walter, as aforesaid, being the heir to Gibbon Forstall who was seized of lands at Forstallstown, Co. Kilkenny, in 1608). By the late eighteenth century, the Mullennahone Forstall lineage still retained interest in lands at Forstallstown, Co. Kilkenny, as is stated in a letter from Roger Forstall Sweetman, grandson of Edmond Bán Forstall of Ringville, to Edmond Jean Forstall of New Orleans (great-grandson of Nicholas Forstall of Martinique, Nicholas being an uncle to Edmond Bán Forstall), dated November 18th, 1844.

The ancestral lineage of Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Moungarret, who was the son of Pierce Ruadh Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond. Richard was recorded as the leader in a pardon which included the Carrickcloney Forstalls in 1548-49. Richard’s granddaughter, Eleanor Butler, was wed to Morgan Kavanagh of Borris, son of Brian mac Cahir Mac Murrough Kavanagh of Polmonty Castle, who was the leader in a pardon involving the Carrickcloney Fortstalls in 1566. The Forstalls who were settled in the barony of Bantry, near Forrestalstown, Co. Wexford, and Moneyhore, Co. Wexford, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were primarily settled on the lands of Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Moungarret’s descendants.

The Forrestalstown, Co. Wexford and Moneyhore Co. Wexford Forstall lineages, who in light of the above, likely owe the root of their stem to the Forestalstown, Co. Kilkenny, and Carrickcloney, Co. Kilkenny Forstall lineages, may have survived in Co. Wexford with their representatives being the Forstalls who held lands during the eighteenth and nineteenth century in Killann parish, Co. Wexford at Rathnure, Rathduff, Garraun, and Grange, in addition to Forrestalstown, in the parish of Killegney, bordering Rathnure. On December 3rd, 1837 the death of 26 year-old Garret Forrestal of Forrestalstown, Co. Wexford occurred. In 1833 at Rathnure, John Forrestal (1779-1853), Richard Forrestal (1782-1847), and Moses Forrestal (1789-1871), the sons of Richard Forrestal, publican and farmer of Rathure (d. 1841), held a combined 100 irish acres, along with Walter Forrestal, who held 19 acres, and two Forrestal widows, who held one acre each. Walter Forrestal of Rathduff, Co. Wexford, was the uncle of James Forrestal of Rathduff and Grange (1795-1852), whose father Anthony Forrestal had been killed in the 1798 rebellion. John Forrestal (1779-1853) who held 40 acres of Rathnure in 1833, is buried next John Forrestal and Richard Forrestal at Rossdroit cemetary, near Enniscorthy. This Richard Forrestal, who appears to be the great-grandfather of John (1779-1853) and his brothers, was born in 1698 and died in 1782. In 1759 Richard witnessed memorial deed 132289 where Rev. Arthur Jacob of Rathduff demised 140 acres of Rathnure to Peter Eaton of Ballyboro. This may be the same Richard Forrestal who held a residence at Rathduff in the mid-eighteenth century where he was active in the affairs of Killann parish and was kinsman to Walter Forrestal, publican of Rathduff Cross.

By the mid-eighteenth century, the usage of the first-name Walter (a name commonly associated with the Butler family), which had been used by the Carrickloney, Mullennahone, and Forrestalstown, Co. Kilkenny, Forstall lineages in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was nearly non-existent among Forstall families living in the barony of Ida, Co. Kilkenny, where Forrestalstown, Mullennahone, and Carrickcloney are located. One of the last noted occurrences of the name in the barony of Ida, was Walter Forstall who was paying a hearth tax at Mullennahone in 1664. Notably, in 1803, Nicholas Aylward of Shankill, Co. Kilkenny, was conferred with a portion of the lands of Grange, Rathduff, Garraun, and Rathnure. Nicholas Aylward of Shankill, was the great-grandson of Nicholas Aylward of Aylwardstown and Shankill, who held the lands of Mullennahone in 1719, and was first-cousin to Edmond Dubh Forstall and his brothers, Nicholas Forstall of New Ross, Richard Forstall, and James Forstall, who were the sons of Nicholas’s aunt, Mary Aylward and Pierce Forstall of Carrickcloney. Edmond Dubh Forstall, father of Pierce Forstall of New Ross and Nicholas Forstall of Nantes and Martinique, was the grandfather of Edmond Bán Forstall of Ringville.

Nicholas Aylward of Aylwardstown and Shankill, was a brother-in-law to Charles Doyle of Clomoney, Co. Carlow, who later in his life resided at Bramblestown, Co. Kilkenny, where Gibbon Forstall, who was involved in the hanging in May of 1642, was stated to have had a residence (in addition to Tinnahinch) by Richard McCody in McCody’s testimony given in 1652.

By 1659, Bramblestown, was where Edward Butler, treasurer of James Butler, 12th Earl and 1st Duke Ormond (1610-1688), kept a residence along with John Butler of Ballykeife and Bramblestown. The Bramblestown Butlers, appear to have descended from the Neigham Butler lineage through Edmond Butler (the brother of Pierce Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond and uncle to Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Mountgarret), son of Sir James Butler of Polestown and Sabh Kavanagh. In 1667, after the death of John Butler of Ballykeife and Bramblestown, Edward Butler of Bramblestown was conferred with John Butler’s lands of Ballykeife, Coolishilmore, and Sheepstown. to hold for the use of John’s children for 21 years under the condition of suit and service at the Duke of Ormond’s manor court of Pottlerath. In 1681, four years after the death of Edward Butler of Bramblestown, the lands of Ballykeife were conferred to Theobald Butler, eldest living son of John Butler of Ballykeife, through the pursuance of an award granted by John Grace, Esq, and Hugh Drysdale, Archdeacon of Ossory who was chaplain to James Butler, 12th Earl and 1st Duke of Ormond.

Signficantly, Hugh Drysdale, Archdeacon of Ossory, was the namesake of Hugh Waring, Esq, of Warington, the son of Drysdale’s daughter Anne and John Waring of Pottlerath. By the mid-eighteenth century the Waring’s held leases in Co. Kilkenny, on the lands of Ballykeife, Sheepstown, Pottlerath, and Warington (formerly called Archerstown). The townland of Waringston borders the townland of Kilfera, the chief seat of the Forstall family prior to the eighteenth century, and Hugh Waring, Esq, of Warington, wed Mary Forstall, daughter of Edmond Dubh Forstall of Kellymount. Hugh Waring’s sister Mary, was wed to Buckley Butler. In seventeenth century correspondence from Edward Butler of Bramblestown involving the Ormond estates, Edward Butler mentions a brother named Buckley; establishing the likelihood that Buckley Butler, husband of Mary Waring, was of the Bramblestown Butler family, and was perhaps a nephew to Edward Butler of Bramblestown (who had a brother named Buckley, as shown in his corresondence).

The Arms of Hugh Drysdale, Archdeacon of Ossory, and chaplain to James Butler, Duke of Ormond. Hugh was the grandfather of Hugh Waring, Esq, of Warington, Co. Kilkenny, who was wed to Mary Forstall, daughter of Edmond Dubh Forstall of Gurteens and Kellymount.

In the Forstall Letters, sister Mary Paul, formerly known as Letitia Forstall (granddaughter of Edmond Bán Forstall of Ringville), mentions the marriage of Mary Forstall and Hugh Waring, remarking that it was ‘said to have broken the father’s heart’ due to the fact of the Warings being Protestant. However, it may very well be that this was an arranged marriage with political motivation, and if so, a shrewd one at that. This marriage not only gave the Forstalls the ability to have descendants inhabit lands very near to the former Forstall estate of Kilfera which had been forfeit in the seventeenth century, but also aligned the Forstalls within a significant kinship network involving Kilkenny merchants and landowners with Protestant backgrounds. Also, of note, is that this kinship network included the Kearney family, as Hugh Drysdale, grandfather of Hugh Waring, had taken, for a second wife, Elizabeth Kearney, the daughter of Richard Kearney and aunt of James Kearney (Richard’s son) who was wed to Katherine Alcock, daughter of Benjamin Alcock; and in 1711, Alexander Alcock, purchased the Forstall lands of Carrickcloney, which had been forfeit by Edmond Dubh Forstalls’ father, Pierce Forstall of Carrickcloney Castle (d. 1683).

Benjamin Kearney, the son of James Kearney and Katherine Alcock, and grandnephew to Hugh Drysdale’s second wife Elizabeth Kearney, wed a daughter of Walter FitzGerald of Bramblestown, who was conferred with lands at Bramblestown by Amyas Bushe, grandson and heir of Amyas Bushe, who was the husband of Anne Drysdale, widow of James Drysdale; brother to the aforementioned Hugh Drysdale. Benjamin Kearney kept residences at Bramblestown and Blanchevillestown and was the father of Mary Kearney, who was wed to Nicholas Aylward of Shankill Castle, the son of Nicholas Aylward of Aylwardstown (Nicholas of Aylwardstown being first cousin to Edmond Dubh Forstall of Kellymount and his brothers, Nicholas Forstall of New Ross, Richard Forstall, and James Forstall).

Notably, Hugh Waring of Warington, leased property on High Street in Kilkenny City from William Evans Morres, son of Francis Morres of Castlemorres, and first-cousin to Hervey Kavanagh of Borris and Ballyhale. After Hugh’s death the High Street holding was demised to Hugh’s son, also named Hugh, who sublet the property to Frederick Hunt in 1759, the deed was witnessed by Richard Reilly, goldsmith of Kilkenny, whose eldest daughter Jane was wed to Robert Freeman, son of Robert Freeman of Barnahask, Co. Carlow and Anne, who by 1759, had remarried the previously mentioned Alexander Jordan of Barnahask, Co. Carlow, father of Alexander Jordan of Scartreen, who leased lands at Scartreen along with Margaret Kavanagh, granddaughter of Hervey Kavanagh of Borris and Ballyhale. By 1775, Richard Reilly, Frederick Hunt, Rev. John Waring (nephew to Hugh Waring Sr.), and Robert Freeman, were joint shareholders in the property on High Street, held from the aforementioned William Evans Morres. Previously, in 1726, Frederick Hunt had witnessed a deed involving the lands of Sheepstown and Ballykeife, let from John Cuffe to William Waring, Esq, brother of Hugh Waring Sr., for the lives of said Hugh Waring, Thomas Waring (brother of Hugh and William), and William’s eldest son, Rev. John Waring. Richard Reilly, goldsmith of Kilkenny, was the son of William Reilly, who leased his property on High Street in Co. Kilkenny, from James Archdeacon, of Waterford, the son of John Archdeacon and nephew to Mary Archdeacon, who was wed to William Aylward, the brother of Nicholas Aylward of Aylwardstown and Shankill, and uncle to Nicholas Aylward who was wed to Mary Kearney of Bramblestown.

The aforementioned Charles Doyle of Clomoney and Bramblestown (brother in-law of Nicholas Aylward of Aylwardstown and Shankill), was included as a shareholder in Nicholas Aylward’s Will and was the overtenant of Luke Hegarty of Kilcoltrim, father of Edmond, who, as aforesaid, let lands at Kilcoltrim to Matthew Keating whose sons lives were given as the lease term for Edward Jordan’s holding on the lands of Ballynabanoge, Co. Wexford. Notably, in 1749, Simon Kavanagh of Rocksavage’s second-cousin Simon Kavanagh of Inch (father of Mary Kavanagh, who was wife to Stephen Lawlor, and grandmother of Elizabeth Lawlor of Mohullen), leased his lands and mansion house of Inch, Co. Carlow to said Luke Hegarty (first cousin to Simon Kavanagh of Rocksavage). Charles Doyle’s holding at Kilcoltrim, was previously enjoyed by John Barry of Bahana and Rathrush, a former Jacobite, whose holding at Bahana (a later residence of James Forstall, the husband of Elizabeth Lawlor of Mohullen, and son of Nicholas Forstall of New Ross) had been conferred to him by Francis Blackney of Bahana. John Barry’s son Michael Barry of Rathrush, inherited his estate upon his death. Among Michael Barry’s executors, as outlined in his will, were Simon Kavanagh of Rocksavage, John Nolan of Shangarrry and Bahana (brother-in-law of Michael Barry), and Walter Blackney of Ballycormick (nephew of Francis and great-great-grandson of Dudley Bagenal) whose son John Blackney of Waterford, would then become a shareholder in the marriage settlement of Edmond Bán Forstall’s daughter Juliet, who wed Pierce Sweetman, son of Roger Sweetman of Newbawn.

Sources

1641 Depositions, Trinity College Dublin. https://1641.tcd.ie/. Accessed 12 December 2023; J. Prendergast, “The Plantation of the Barony of Idrone in the County of Carlow.” The Journal of the Kilkenny and South-East of Archaeological Society, New Series, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1860). 23-44, 155; K. W. Nicholls. ‘The Kavanaghs, 1400-1700,’ (VI),  The Irish Genealogist, 6/2, (Nov 1981), pp. 189–203; K. W. Nicholls ‘The Kavanaghs, 1400-1700,’ (III), The Irish Genealogist, 5/6, (Nov 1979), pp. 730–734; T.B. Butler, Viscount Mountgarret & Poolestown, Bart (Brighton, Sussex, England), 1-14, 168; M.F. Keller, The Lineage of Mullennahone 1571-1855, Third Edition (Muing Historical Press, Castleisland, 2022), 17-249; Go Ms 171, 37-57; Go Ms 161, 43; W. Carrigan, The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory, Vol. III, (Dublin, 1903), 358. K.W. Nicholls & T.G. Fewer ‘Will of Robert Forstall of Kilferagh, 1645’ Journal of the Old Waterford Society (Decies, No. 48, 1993), 7-12; P. Dromantin. Jacobite Refugees in 18th Century France: The Exodus of an Entire Nobility for Religious Reasons. (Presses Univ de Bordeaux, 2005), 43, 58, 410-413. Registered Deeds involving the Jordan family: RD Mem. 195686 (Barnahask, Clonmullen, Co. Carlow, Jordan to Langford, 1759); RD Mem. 353933 (Clonagoose, Jordan to Jordan 1795); RD Mem. 374278 (Ballinabanoge, Ballyanne, Co. Wexford, 1804); RD Mem. 347252 (Clonagoose, Co. Carlow, Jordan to Love, 1795); RD Mem. 353932 (Scartreen, Borris, Co. Carlow, Jordan to Jordan); RD Mem 419053 (Charles Corcoran and his mother Bridget Jordan regarding the right and title to the lands of Seskin, Co. Carlow, 1805); Inquisitionum in Officio Rotulorum Cancellariae Hiberniae Asservatarum Repertorium: Lagenia. 1826; Vol. II. Ultonia. 1829 (84-91 CAR. I, 92-104 CAR I); A Thom Calendar of the Patent Rolls of the Chancery of Ireland; (1800) 34-35; R. Simington, The Civil Survey, 1654-1656, Vol. IX, The County of Wexford (Dublin, 1953). 272-288; P. Fleming. ‘Report of the trial of Edward Jordan, and Margaret Jordan his wife, for piracy & murder, at Halifax on the 15th day of November, 1809, together with Edward Jordan’s dying confession: to which is added the trial of John Kelly, for piracy and murder, on the 8th day of December, 1809′ (Atlantic Canadian imprints), 1810 Betham’s Genealogical Abstracts Prerogative Wills. (Phillips Mss) A. 1736-1786, 55; RD Mem 77798 (Harman to Doyle showing that Charles Doyle was an overtenant to Luke Hegarty of Kilcolrtim and that the lands were formerly held by John Barry); G Binions. ‘Old Killanne 1759-1859,’ The Past: The Organ of the Uí Cinsealaigh Historical Society No. 23 (2001), 112-128; Tithe Appplotment Books, Killanne Parish, Co. Wexford; Cantwell’s Memorials of The Dead, Rossdroit Cemetery, Co. Wexford; Patent Roll, 18 James I, Part 3; Lodge Ms (lands in the Duffry); J. Walton. ‘The Family of Aylward.’ The Irish Genealogist, Vol. 5. No. 1, Nov. 1974, 57-71; RD Mem. 407243 (Kearney to Aylward regarding the lands of Rathduffe, Grange, Rathnure, and Gurraun, Co. Wexford); J. Kirwan, The Chief Butlers of Ireland and the House of Ormond (Irish Academic Press); ; E. O’Byrne, War, Politics and the Irish of Leinster (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2003). S. H. Blackhall. ‘The Blackneys of Ballyellen,’ The Irish Genealogist Vol 3. No. 2 (1957). D. Rothwell-Byrne, ‘The Heraldry of the O’Byrnes.’ Published in 2021 on Academia.edu.