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Extract
taken from Lewis' Topography of 1837
Newcastle, a parish (formerly a parliamentary borough), in the barony
of Newcastle, County of Dublin, and province of Leinster, 2 miles (N.W.)
from Rathcoole: containing 1100 inhabitants, of which 397 are in the
village. A charter, dated March 30th, 1613, was granted to this place
by Jas. I. Whereby it was erected into a corporation, consisting of
a portreeve, 12 free burgesses and a commonality, with power to appoint
inferior officers: to hold a court of record for pleas to the amount
of five marks, and be a guild mercatory and the portreeve to be clerk
of the market. In 1608, a grant was made to Jas. Hamilton Esq., to hold
a market here on Thursdays and fairs on the feasts of St. Swithin and
All Saints, and the day after each; and in 1762 the portreeve and burgesses
obtained a grant of a market on Mondays, and fairs on May 9th and Oct.
8th. All of these markets and fairs are now discontinued. The borough
also sent two members to the Irish parliament, but it was disenfranchised
at the Union (1800). There is a dispensary in the village, and a constabulary
police station. Agriculture is in a high state of improvement; the principal
crops are wheat, oats and potatoes. there are good quarries, the stone
of which is used for building and repairing the roads. The Grand Canal
passes through the parish. Part of the Demsne of Lyons, the splendid
seat of the Rt. Hon. Lord Cloncurry, is in the parish: the other seats
are Athgoe Park, the residence of Mrs. Skerrit, one part of which is
an old castle, erected at a very early period, and in the grounds is
the tower or keep of Colmanstown and an old burial place. Newcastle
house, seat of Alex Graydon Esq., Newcastle, of the Very Rev. Archdeacon
Langrishe; Peamount, of C.E. kennedy, Esq., Colganstown, of J. Andrews
Esq., and Newcastle, of O'Moore Esq. The old church was erected about
the 15th century, and is chiefly remarkable for its fine eastern window,
which was removed to it in 1724, when the building underwent a thorough
repar. In the R.E. divisions the parish forms part of the Union or district
of Saggard: in the village is a neat chapel, with a belfry, erected
in 1813 at a cost of about £1500.
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St.
Finian's Well
For
more than 1,000 years this well has always been regarded as a
Holy well by the people who have lived in Newcastle. St. Finian's
main monastery was at Clonard on the banks of the Boyne about
twenty miles away. The monks there were famous not only for their
holiness but also for their learning. St. Finian is known as the
"teacher of the saints of Ireland". Can you imagine
all the people who would have visited this well looking for a
cure for their ailments. The people of Newcastle always respected
and learned the customs and traditions of their parents and grandparents
and so respect for St. Finian has lived on here. Our school and
our G.A.A. club still keep his name alive and so the tradition
lives on. |
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The
Granite Cross
St.
Patrick began to convert the Celts to Christianity in 432 A.D.
and soon many monasteries were set up throughout the country.
St. Finian founded a famous monastery at Clonard in the Kingdom
of Leighlin. This granite cross is a sign that a small monastery
was set up here. Often these ancient Christian monasteries were
built on important pagan sites. This would explain why the cross
and the pillar stone are beside each other. The
cross is made of granite, a very weather resistant stone. It
would have to be as it is here for about 1,500 years. There
is a cross-in-circle on the front of the cross. Imagine what
this place looked like when the monks put up this little cross
all those years ago. Maybe there was a little church where the
church now stands and a few little huts for the monks to live
in.
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The
Pillar Stone
Pillar
stones like this one here were used by the people who lived
in Ireland 2,000 years before Our Lord was born. The Bronze
Age people made tools and ornaments out of bronze and gold.
Some of them may have used this Pillar Stone to mark a burial
ground or a place where they held a ritual - maybe adore a sun
god and earth goddess. |
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The
Glebe House
At the back there is a garden leading down to a small lake.
Beside the lake is the oldest Yew tree in Ireland. Another tree
in the grounds is called the Deans tree. It is said that the
famous Protestant Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral Jonathan Swift
used to visit this house and sit here. It is not surprising
that this famous writer of books like Gullivers Travels should
be visiting here as this house was the property of the Church
of Ireland and the local rector lived here.The word "Glebe"
means land attached to the Church and so many "Glebe Houses"
were originally homes of Protestant rectors and like this one
here are now privately owned. |
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The
First School
On 18th April, 1825 this school opened and it became a recognised
school ten years later with 90 boys and 89 girls attending.
Among those who signed the application to make Newcastle an
official school were Lord Cloncurry and John Locke Sherritt.
The pupils paid a halfpenny - a penny per week. Older children
had a reading, spelling and arithmetic book as well as book-keeping
and measuring books. School was open from 10.00 a.m. - 4.00
p.m. six days a week but all day Friday only religion was taught.
There were seats for 8-10 pupils with an inkwell in front of
each pupil. Boys were taught on the ground floor and girls were
taught upstairs. When the old School was built in the 1930?the
first school continued to be used as a classroom whenever extra
space was needed. It was last used in the 1970?before the new
school was built. |
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The Motte
The Motte is the first thing that the Normans would have built
when they arrived here about 1170. At that time it probably
had a wooden castle on top. Over the years this would have rotted
away. Newcastle Lyons means the new castle of Liamhain. This
motte was surrounded by a bailey. The bailey was built by digging
a trench all around the motte, piling up the earth and putting
timber stakes on top of the earth. People could run here for
protection for themselves and their cattle and horses if the
Irish attacked them. The native chief of Liamhain at the time
the Normans built the Motte was McGiolla Mocholmog. He later
made a deal with the Normans and was allowed to rule this area
again. However, in 1215 his nephew and heir lost all this land
when the King of England took it for himself and Newcastle became
a Royal Manor. |
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The Catholic Church
The church was built in 1813 just as the penal laws ended and
it was a huge improvement on the thatched mass house on Athgoe
Hill which had been in use since 1685. A lot of the ?1,500 needed
to build the church was given by Peter Warren Locke and local
labour was supplied free of charge. The building of a church,
a school and a priest?house helped the village to begin to grow
again after it decayed in the 1700's. The church is a barn church,
typical of the period and is built exactly in the east - west
direction. |
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The
Old Church
The Church was built around 1400 on the site of older churches
dating back to early Christian settlement here The tower of
the church may be even a little older. This was where the priest
lived. Can you imagine the dangerous times they must have been
if even the priest's house was built like a castle. The 'East
Window' is one of the best examples of it's kind to be seen
in Ireland. This window was originally in the chancel. It was
moved into the nave of the church in the 1600's when it was
a Protestant Church. The small Protestant population did not
need a big church so they blocked the original church between
the nave and the chancel. The east window was too beautiful
to leave behind in the abandoned chancel and so it was moved
into the nave. The tracery or ornamental stonework are said
to be curvilinear-five shaped curves creating a sense of movement
within the design. |
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The Village Green
[One of the children in traditional dress during our Heritage
Day last year.]
This has been Newcastle village green since the Normans came.
The old house on this side of the thatched pub is probably on
the site of the administrative building of the manor. Remember
that this manor had no resident lord. It was owned by the King
of England and so a stewart would have been in charge. Games
were played here on the green. On a Sunday in 1308 a footballer
form Newcastle, William Bernard fell on a spectator and a knife
that Bernard was wearing stabbed the poor bystander by piercing
him through the sheath of the dagger. Luckily the man wasnt?seriously
hurt. However, William had to pay the man for the injury he
inflicted. The Green was sometimes called the Pound, a place
where markets and fairs were held. In 1608 Newcastle had a licence
to hold a weekly market and two fairs a year on this Green.
The fairs were held on the feast of St. Swithin and the feast
of "All Saints". |
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The Tower House
The Tower House was one of at least six fortified tower houses
in Newcastle about 1640. These were the houses of the rich.
The original doorway is facing away from the road. The tower
house across the road has a murder hold - a hold just above
the door which was used for dropping down rocks or boiling water
on unwanted visitors. We know from these tower houses that Newcastle
was a wealthy village in the middle ages but it was destroyed
by the Earl of Ormonde in 1642 and it is probable that the tower
houses were ruined at this time. Newcastle never really recovered
from Ormonde's revenge on the people for supporting rebelling
Catholic troops in the village in 1641. |
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