The Grace Dieu Abbey was an Augustinian abbey in County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded about 1190 by John Comyn, Archbishop of Dublin, to house an order of nuns, the Sisters of St. Augustine. It derived most of its income from lands at Lusk and Swords, County Dublin. Over the centuries, it became mainly a refuge for the unmarried daughters of the Anglo-Irish landowners of the Pale, and no doubt for this reason, at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, there were pleas for its continuance. Nonetheless, it was suppressed in 1541 and acquired by Patrick Barnewall, the Solicitor General for Ireland. [1] Patrick's son, Sir Christopher Barnewall, built Turvey House nearby, reputedly from the stones of Grace Dieu, of which only ruins now survive. Christopher did find a refuge for the dispossessed nuns at Portrane. Turvey House itself was demolished in controversial circumstances in 1987 on the orders of Dublin County Council, a step later described by conservationists as a "tragedy". [2]
Baron Trimlestown, of Trimlestown in County Meath, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland.
Viscount Barnewall, of Kingsland in the Parish of Donabate in the County of Dublin, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 29 June 1646 for Nicholas Barnewall, who had earlier represented County Dublin in the Irish House of Commons. The Kingsland Barnewalls were a junior branch of the family of Baron Trimleston; Nicholas's great-grandfather Sir Patrick Barnewall had achieved political eminence largely through his friendship with Thomas Cromwell and had done well out of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Nicholas was made Baron Turvey at the same time, also in the Peerage of Ireland. His grandson, the third Viscount, was a supporter of James II and was outlawed as a result. However, he was restored to his titles and estates under the Treaty of Limerick. His son, the fourth Viscount, was a Roman Catholic and consequently disqualified from taking his seat in the Irish House of Lords. He was childless and was succeeded by his nephew, the fifth Viscount. He was the son of the Honourable George Barnewall, younger son of the third Viscount. He died unmarried in 1800 when the titles became dormant. They were successfully claimed in 1814 by Matthew Barnewall, who became the sixth Viscount. He was the great-grandson of the Honourable Richard Barnewall, younger son of the first Viscount. However, he had no surviving male issue and on his death in 1834 the titles are considered to have become extinct.
Dame Mary Joseph Butler was the first Irish Abbess of the Irish Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of Grace, at Ypres, Flanders.
County Meath was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until 1800.
County Dublin was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until 1801.
The Grace Dieu Priory was an independent Augustinian priory near Thringstone in Leicestershire, England. It was founded around 1235-1241 by Roesia de Verdun and dissolved in October 1538. It was dedicated to the Holy Trinity and St Mary. Today the site is managed by the Friends of Grace Dieu Priory, a charitable group of volunteers who fundraise to care for the site, and keep it open to the public for free.
John Barnewall, 3rd Baron Trimleston, was an Irish nobleman, judge and politician. He was the eldest son of Christopher Barnewall, 2nd Baron Trimlestown and his wife Elizabeth Plunket, daughter of Sir Thomas Fitz-Christopher Plunket of Rathmore, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland and his second wife Marian Cruise. He succeeded his father as 3rd Baron in about 1513. His father, like most of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy, had supported the claim of the pretender Lambert Simnel to the English throne in 1487. After the failure of Simnel's rebellion, he received a royal pardon.
Nicholas Netterville of Dowth, County Meath, Ireland, was born in 1581, and succeeded his father, John Netterville, in the family estate on 20 September 1601. Although an enemy accused them of being "but a mean family" the Nettervilles had in fact been in Ireland since before 1280 and had been established at Dowth for centuries; they were related to many of the leading families of The Pale including the Earl of Kildare, Lord Slane, Lord Howth and the Luttrells of Luttrellstown Castle. Nicholas was the grandson of Luke Netterville, judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland) and nephew of the leading barrister and statesman Richard Netterville. His mother was Eleanor Gernon, daughter of Sir James Gernon of Castleton, County Louth. Being "a person of many good qualities" he was created, 3 April 1622, Viscount Netterville, of Dowth in the County Meath, taking his seat, 14 July 1634. He died in 1654 and was buried at Mountown, County Dublin.
Nicholas Barnewall, 1st Viscount Barnewall of Turvey, County Dublin, was an Irish landowner and politician.
Sir Patrick Barnewall or Barnwall, was the eldest son of Sir Christopher Barnewall of Turvey House, Grace Dieu Abbey, and Fieldston. Christopher in turn was the son of the elder Sir Patrick Barnewall, who in 1534 was made Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) and Solicitor-General for Ireland, and in 1550 became Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Patrick's mother was Marion Sherle, daughter of Richard Sherle of Shallon, County Meath: after his father's death, she remarried the prominent judge Sir Lucas Dillon. She died in 1607.
Patrick Barnewall was a leading figure in the Irish Government of the 1530s and 1540s. He owed his position largely to his close links with Thomas Cromwell. He sat in the Irish House of Commons as MP for County Dublin, and held the offices of Solicitor General for Ireland and Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Today he is mainly remembered for his role in founding the King's Inns. He belonged to a junior branch of the family of Lord Trimlestown: his own descendants held the title Viscount Barnewall of Kingsland.
Sir Christopher Barnewall (1522–1575) was a leading Anglo-Irish statesman of the Pale in the 1560s and 1570s. He was the effective Leader of the Opposition in the Irish House of Commons in the Parliament of 1568–71. He is remembered for building Turvey House, where he sheltered the future Catholic martyr Edmund Campion, for his impressive tomb in Lusk Church, and for the eulogy to him in Holinshed's Chronicles, which was written by his son-in-law Richard Stanyhurst.
Christopher St Lawrence, 8th Baron Howth was an Irish politician and peer. He was a member of the Privy Council of Ireland, and played a leading part in the Government of Ireland in the 1560s, but he later went into opposition and was imprisoned as a result. He was nicknamed the Blind Lord.
Nicholas St. Lawrence, 9th Baron Howth (c.1550–1607) was a leading member of the Anglo-Irish nobility in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Despite openly professing his Roman Catholic faith, he enjoyed the trust of Elizabeth I and of successive Lord Deputies of Ireland, and was even forgiven by the English Crown for signing a petition protesting against the enforcement of the Penal Laws.
Sir Lucas Dillon, also called Luke, was a leading Irish barrister and judge of the Elizabethan era who held the offices of Attorney General for Ireland and Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He supported the Lord Deputy Henry Sidney in the cess controversy and the Lord Deputy John Perrot in the Desmond Rebellions. He was held in high regard by Queen Elizabeth, but was accused by his enemies of corruption and maladministration.
James Dillon, 1st Earl of Roscommon fought for the crown in the Nine Years' War. He was ennobled despite being a Catholic after his son Robert turned Protestant.
Sir Nicholas Barnewall was an Irish judge and landowner of the fifteenth century who held office as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He was the ancestor of the Barnewall Baronets of Crickstown.
Turvey House was a substantially altered 16th-century house, with tower house elements, synonymous with the townland of Turvey near Donabate in North County Dublin. Turvey is said to be a reference to the Irish mythical character Tuirbe Tragmar, father of Gobán Saor. At various stages, the house and surrounding lands formed the family seat of the Barnewall family. The house is said to have been constructed with stone from the ruins of the nearby Grace Dieu Abbey by either Sir Christopher Barnewall or Sir Patrick Barnewall.
Patrick Plunkett, 7th Baron of Dunsany was an Irish nobleman.
Christopher Plunkett, 8th Baron of Dunsany was an Irish nobleman.