The O'Dunnes -- an ancient and formidable tribe
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THE O'Dunnes originated as a sept in the present County Laois and formed one of the principal families of Leinster, their chiefs being Lords of Iregan in that county. The sept is one of these specially mentioned in the mid-sixteenth century official orders as hostile and dangerous to the English interest.
They are mentioned as follows in O'Huidhrin's famous topographical poem of the fourteenth century:
A vigorous tribe who conquer in battle
Is O'Duinn, chief of demolition
Hero of the golden battle spews.
The ancient O'Dunne territory is now represented by the Barony of Tinnahinch and includes the parishes of Clonaslee and Rosenallis. In his history of Queen's County (Laois), Canon O'Hanlon writes -"The family of Dunne of Brittas is of extreme antiquity. From time immemorial the sept has been settled in Hy Regan and the tribal lands still at the turn of the century remain in the possession of the family, curtailed, indeed, by forfeitures and confiscations commencing with James l's scheme for the plantation of the King's and Queen's Counties"
One of the septs of Offaly descended from Ros Failghe, son of Cathair Mor, King of Ireland and their early history is hid in the mists of the past; but State and other papers show them to have been a powerful tribe whose raids and forays caused anxiety to the English Pale, which they frequently harried with fire and sword, returning to their fastnesses laden with spoil. The Annals relate that, in 1329, on the Vigil of St. Mary Magdalene, the O'Dempseys and O'Duinns made an incursion into the territory of Meleghlin O'Connor, when 200 of the former and 60 of the latter were killed.
Their territory, though isolated, covered with thick forest, and bounded on the south, like a wall, by the Sieve Bloom mountains, was early an object of desire to the Norman invaders. In early times the name was anglicised O'Doyne. It is recorded that, in 1379, David O'Doyne, Chief of his name, was treacherously killed by his kinsmen. He was succeeded by Rory, who, dying in 1427, was followed by Lenagh O'Doyne. About this time the Castle of Castlebrack, or Toghesuier, was built as the abode of the Tanist, with Tinnahinch Castle continuing to be the residence of the Chief.
After the system of tanistry had been ended in the time of Elizabeth's reign, the last chief, Teige Logha, on January 10, 1609, surrendered his terrtory to the King, and the following March he obtained a regrant of a portion considerably less than all lands held by his ancestors. The lands granted seemed to have been over 15,000 acres.
The passing of Letters Patent for this grant to Teige Logha occasioned litigation between him and his brother, Charles, which resulted in the exclusion of Teighe's children from the property. In 1640, three years after Teiges death, his nephew, Barnaby Og, obtained from Charles I an estate in common soccage, "subject to the conditions of the plantation", one being "that he should not assume or take the style or title of O'Doyne".
This estate contained a number of the townlands granted to Teige Logha, many of which continued in the possession of the family down to the beginning of this century.
In 1641 Barnaby Og was obliged to leave his residence and property at Brittas and take refuge with his brother-in-law Sir Robert Pigott, in Dysart Enos Castle, which was soon besieged and taken Barnaby barely escaped with his life. The Dunnes burned the Castle Cuffe (otherwise Ballenasagarte), the fine house which Sir Charles Coote had built on land of the O'Dunnes, granted to him.
The O'Dunnes took a prominent part in the Catholic Confederation, particularly Daniel Dunne, of Tinnahinch, on whose head £400 was set. Under the Cromwellian regime there were fresh forfeitures; Barnaby Og was permitted to retain part of his estate, but the property of the other branches of the family was confiscated.
When Barnaby ended his troubled life in 1661, his son Charles found that, owing to the part he had taken in the rebellion in 1641, the estates had been granted on a thirty years lease to Sir W. Flower and Thomas Pigott. Dying in 1680, he was succeeded by his son Terence, a Captain in Moore's Infantry, who, after escaping capture at Ballymore, where ten of his fellow officers were taken prisoners by Ginkell, met his fate on the fatal field of Aughrim.
Many of the name suffered for the Jacobite cause. They were deprived of their property, and hunted from the land of their birth, helping to swell the numbers of the 'Wild Geese' seeking fame and fortune in far off lands. With the success of William of Orange, the Dunne lands were again forfeited, but Margaret, the widow of Terence, putting in a claim before the Commissioners of Forfeited Estates on behalf of herself and her four sons, had the good fortune to secure its restoration.
On the death of Daniel, the eldest of the four, his youngest brother Edward succeeded. He married a daughter of Francis Wyse, of Waterford, and died in 1765, leaving, with other issue, a son Francis as his successor. He married his cousin Margaret, third daughter and co-heiress of Nicholas Plunkett, of Dunsoghly Castle, County Dublin, and eventually succeeded to the Plunkett estate.
His eldest son, also Edward was a General in the army, Deputy Governor and High Sheriff of the Queen's County and M.P. for Moryborough (Portlaoise). He died in 1844. Two Dunnes were Bishops of Ossory - James Bernard Dunne (1149-58) and John Dunne (1787-89). Bernard Dunne was Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin in 1726. Bishop James Dunne spent most of his life in France, in the service of which country several of his relatives distinguished themselves as diplomats and soldiers. Suffering from ill health, the bishop withdrew from his diocese in August, 1757, and returning to France, died there on April 30, 1758. Bishop John Dunne, who belonged to the Brittas family, died at the age of forty-four, as a result of an accident in which he broke his leg. He had been just two years in the episcopal charge of Ossory.
In modern times, Charles Dunne, 1799-1872) was a notable judge in the U.S.A., and Cot. Humphrey O Dunne was famous for his bravery in the attack on Savanagh in 1774.
The O'Dunne motto is "Mullach Abu: The Summit to Victory".
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