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History of rush
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Baldungan Castle and the Barony of Balrothery
Those that drive between Rush and Lusk and Lusk and Skerries will notice a ruin on a hill in the distance. This is know locally as Baldungan/Baldongan Castle do it is actually a Church. The castle stood beside the church but was removed piece by piece over the years.
The Castle was the adminstrative headquarters for the Norman created Barony of Balrothery which today still exists on land deeds do now broke up into East and West Balrothery.
Extract from Chapters of Dublin 1824 detailing the Barony of Balrothery.This maritime district, according to the survey and valuation of 1824, comprises 14 parishes subdivided into 174 townlands, and has been assessed to the ancient subsidies as extending over 30,370 arable acres, and 1,699 acres then deemed unprofitable. The [408] parishes there assigned to it are Lusk, Holmpatrick, Baldungan, Balrothery, Balscadden, Naul, Hollywood, Grallagh, Garristown, Ballymadun, Palmerstown, Westpalstown, Ballyboghill, and Dunabate. In this scope are 12 small towns and 16 villages. The surface of the barony is for the most part level, and the soil productive, resting almost entirely on limestone. it is, however, badly supplied with rivers, and its harbours have not been much improved. Being the most remote from the metropolis it is principally used in tillage.
You might ask who the original people who ran the Barony, who was the Baron? The Barony of Balrothery was actually owned by the Church or to be more correct owned by the Order of Templars commonly know today as the Knights Templars.
Article Knight Templars in Ireland, The Dublin Penny Journal, Volume 2, Number 87, March 1, 1834This society took its rise during the period of the first crusade at Jerusalem, about the year 1118; and although formed at a period later than the other military order of the Knight Hospitallers, or of St. John of Jerusalem, soon outstripped it in wealth and power, and was also the earliest abolished. The name assumed by the knights had, according to some, a reference to vows entered into for the defence of the holy temple against infidels; and according to others, from the acccidental occupation of some chambers adjacent to the temple, by the original members of the order.
The knights were ecclesiastics; differing in this from those of Saint John, who although bound by strict monastic rules were not in orders; their vows were very strict, enjoining celibacy, poverty, humility, and inveterate war against infidels; to the latter it must be admitted they adhered pretty steadily, but the former injunctions were often interpreted with great laxity. Their dress in peace consisted of a long, white robe, having the cross of St. George on the left shoulder, and worn after the manner of a cloak or mantle; a cap, turned up, such as heralds call a cap of maintainance, covered the head; and the staff or abacus of the order, having at its extremity an encircled cross, was borne in the right hand. Their panoply in war did not differ materially from that of the knights of that period, except the distinctive cross, the badge of the order being emblazoned on the cuirass, and the Agnus Dei was displayed on their banners.
Their superior, elected for life, chosen by the order and styled the grand master, took rank as an independent prince. Immediately under him were the preceptors or priors, each ruling over his peculiar district, and subject to the grand master and the statutes of the order. The number of the knights' companions were unlimited; they were each attended by two esquires, who were usually candidates for admission into the order, into which none were enrolled but those who could prove their nobility of descent for two generations.
Their preceptories or priories were usually surrounded by what was called a peculiar; that is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction independent of the bishop of the diocese, and were generally erected near a river, often on a slope, or at the bottom of an eminence; they were sometimes built with that jealous regard to strength and security usual in the baronial residences of the day, but frequently were of a moderate size, capable of accommodating from twenty to thirty knights; the dread of the order, who were accounted the best lances in Christendom, serving them for ramparts and fosses. There was always a chapel, and sometimes a church attached, and the surrounding meadow served them as a tilt yard and place of exercise.
Few of these buildings have escaped the wreck of time; many of them have merged into private residences, and of those which remain, Clontarf Castle is, we believe, the most perfect specimen extant in this country.
The institution of the Knights Templars exactly suited the taste of an age tinctured with all the elevating spirit of romance, and heightened by the spirit of religious enthusiasm; and the Christian world was so well pleased with the unexampled valour and Christian virtues displayed by the first members, that in the space of 126 years from their first institution, they were possessed of no less than nine thousand manors in Christendom; and at the time it was determined to put a period to their existence, they were in actual possession of sixteen thousand.
But these times of their prosperity passed away. Corrupted by luxury and profusion, they degenerated from their austere simplicity, and original purity and uprightness; and instead of illuminating the world by their good example, they became the model and standard of every vice that could disgrace humanity. Pride, covetousness, cruelty, and infidelity, aggravated by every species of tyranny and oppression, were the distinguishing marks of their character; and independent of all authority, and trampling on all laws human or divine, they became the objects of universal hatred and detestation; and their character, as given by Matthew Paris, fully presents the picture which Sir Walter Scott has so admirably portrayed of them in his novel of Ivanhoe.
Philip, King of France, was a prince naturally avaricious and jealous of his prerogative; he beheld their rising greatness with a malignant eye, and their possessions with envy; and taking advantage of the general feeling against them, he determined, in conjunction with the pope, to suppress the order.
Luxury, intemperance, and cruelty were crimes too general in that age to bear particularly hard upon the Templars—they were, therefore, accused of sorcery, unnatural lusts, and idolatry—charges so monstrous as almost to exceed belief; but which were readily credited in that credulous age: and the people being prepossessed against them, Philip found it easy to carry the iniquitous transaction through his courts; and upon the proofs adduced, their estates, houses, and effects were seized; and their persons simultaneously secured in castles, prisons, &c.—their estates and effects were sequestered into the hands of commissioners; and the grand master and several of his knights were subjected to the torture, under the extremity of which they gave vent to expressions which were afterwards wrested into a confession of their guilt, and they were publicly condemned and burned alive in Paris in the year 1307.
In England, Edward the Second, tempted by the amazing accession of property consequent on this persecution, followed the example of Philip—the designs of both being alike favoured by the pope. It was, therefore, publicly ordained by the king and his council, that all of the order throughout his dominions should be seized; and in the year 1307, the order for their suppression was transmitted to John Wogan, Justiciary of Ireland, on the Wednesday immediately after the feast of the Epiphany, enjoining him to have the same executed without delay. The mandate was accordingly obeyed; and on the morrow of the purification they were everywhere seized and committed to prison—Gerald, fourth son of Maurice, lord of Kerry, being then grand master of the order in Ireland.
It does not appear that the Templars of Ireland were as hardly dealt with as those on the Continent; perhaps their conduct was not so flagrant: they had fought and bled in defence of the English power in this country; for in the year 1274, William Fitz Roger, the prior of Kilmainham, was taken prisoner with several others, by the Irish at Glyndelory, when many of the friars were slain; and in the years 1296 and 1301, William de Rosse, the then prior, filled the honourable situation of lord deputy of the kingdom; and in 1302, but a few years before their ruin, he was appointed chief justice of Ireland; this argues that he at least was a man of unblemished reputation and acknowledged probity; and, perhaps, may account for a degree of lenity with which they appear to have been treated by the authorities here; as we find the king, Edward the Second, found it necessary by his writ, dated September the 29th, 1309, to further command the said Justiciary to apprehend without delay all the Templars that had not yet been seized, and them to safely keep in the castle of Dublin, together with those who were before apprehended.
Their doom was not finally fixed until "1312, in which year, on the morrow of Saint Lucia the virgin, the moon appeared variously coloured; on which day it was finally determined that the order of Knights Templars should be totally abolished."
The trial of those who were seized was conducted with great solemnity in Dublin before friar Richard Balybyn, minister of the order of Dominicans in Ireland; friar Philip de Slane, lecturer of the same; and friar Hugh St. Leger; among other witnesses were Roger de Heton, guardian of the Franciscans; Walter de Prendergast, their lecturer; Thomas, the abbot; Simon, prior of the abbey of St. Thomas the Martyr, and Roger the prior of the Augustinian friary in Dublin. The depositions against them were weakly supported; yet they were condemned, and their lands and possessions of every kind granted to their rivals—the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, an order still represented by the Knights of Malta.
In England many of the knights were committed to monasteries, there to do penance for their supposed offences, with a daily allowance of four pence to each. The grand master was allowed two shillings per day. To many of their chaplains the king allowed three pence per day for their diet, and twenty shillings yearly for their stipend or livery: their servants had two pence per day, and inferior servants one penny, and either five or ten shillings yearly for their livery; and for this allowance they were to perform the same services they had before done for the knights; and in Ireland the king, on petition of the master, granted the manors of Kilcloghan, Crooke, and Kilbarry for their support.
The possessions of the order in Ireland were very considerable; they had, in addition to their chief seat of Kilmainham, the prior of which sat as a baron in parliament, two other commanderies in this county, viz—Clontarf, which furnishes the present illustration, and Baldungan in the barony of Balrothery, besides many others in various parts of the kingdom.
History of Knight Templars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar
http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmurphy/irhismys/templars.htm
The Castle later went on to play apart in the uprising in 1600s by Confederate Ireland.
Extract from Chapters of DublinThe road is uphill most of the way to the ruins, which are conspicuously situated on the summit of a rising ground, about two miles from Skerries, commanding an extensive prospect of the surrounding country. The ruins now surviving consist of the eastern and western ends of what must originally have been an extensive castle and church, the materials of which were probably utilised to build the enclosing wall around the graveyard - still used as a burial ground. The most striking feature is the great tower of the church or abbey, 70 feet high and 22 feet square, entered by an arched doorway, leading to a flight of 53 steps to the battlements, on the eastern side of which is a two-arched bell-turret. The buildings originally formed a spacious quadrangular court, flanked by four square towers, and were erected on the site of an ancient dun or moat.
In the beginning of the 16th century this castle belonged to the de Berminghams, from whom it passed by marriage into possession of the Howth family, subsequently being held by the Barnewalls with their manor of Balrothery. In June, 1642 it was defended by the Confederates of the Pale against the Parliamentary forces, and according to a contemporary tract entitled New Intelligence from Ireland, dated 17th June, 1642, Colonel Trafford besieged it with cannon, and put all the garrison, about 200 in number, to the sword, while two priests who were among the defenders, were examined on the rack and afterwards deported to France.
The following more detailed accounts of the siege appear in another tract or bulletin, undated, but evidently issued within a few days of the other: -
(I) "The Lords of the Pale are besieged in Baldongan Castle by our forces, who sent to Dublin for Ordnance to batter it, which was sent them, guarded with 400 men, but what they have done is not yet knowne."
"Sunday last was the day appointed for a set battle, which (it is said) was given, but what is done is not yet knowne; we hope to heare by the next post."
(2) "Colonell Trafford went out from us with some 1,000 men to forage and light upon a part of the enemy, who betook themselves to Baldongan Castle, some 12 miles from us who besieged them. Two large pieces were sent to him which came there; ten shot two shots [sic] onely that night; and on the next day they beat down the Castle and put all to the sword which were about 200, none of any note in it, but two Priests that were Captaines to those Rebells, one of them was brought home, and was examined and put to the Racke, but confessed little; that day 26 Priests were shipped for France, which deserve better to be hanged."
These interesting ruins are maintained in excellent order, and are easily accessible, as the field where they stand is entered by a stile from the road.
Print of Castle and Church from 1791
More information on Confederate Ireland and Uprisings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_Ireland0 -
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Photos Courtesy of www.myhometown.ie
Someone might be able to put a date to the images?
St Maurs
St Maurs Pic 2
Channel Road
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This video from the 1940's was posted in the Dublin City forum, at 7.40 in the camera man pays a visit to the tulip fields of Rush, perhaps others can identify other areas of NCD.
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Inside Whitestown Mill
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Marvellous history to the place.
Peter Dunne, a great local craftsman built Mermaid yachts in here Back in late 50s.
A considerable amount of work has ben done to date but the owner is doing most of the work and reckons it was a 15 - 20 years project.0 -
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS--M7PRMYY
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