Offaly Administrative Divisions: Civil and Ecclesiastical

From Michael Byrne Sources for Offaly History (1977)

In Ireland as in other countries, regional organisation serves and has served a variety of purposes, public and private. Some of our present-day' territorial divisions once enjoyed an independent life as self-governing kingdoms, some originated as a framework for the collection of taxes, the allotment of military service or the administration of justice; others owe their existence to the voting procedures associated with parliamentary or local elections, others again have been adopted as tools for the execution of 'modern national planning and development policies.'

The above is quoted from 'Territorial divisions' by' J.H. Andrews in Encyclopaedia of Ireland, Victor Meally, ed. (Dublin, 1968), p. 142. Regarding the provinces Andrews goes on to say that they 'appear to be distantly derived from cultural regions of high antiquity'. The four provinces together with that of Meath (a kingdom larger than the present county) were separate kingdoms whose boundaries changed 'with the ebb and flow to' kingly power and ambition'. The provinces as kingdoms did not outlast the Anglo-Norman settlement but they were taken over for administrative purposes by the English government in the sixteenth century. Some useful maps of the kingdoms of lreland prior to the Norman invasion will be found in F. J. Byrne, Irish kings and high-kings (London. 1973). For an account of early wars between the men of Meath and the Ulstermen in the Annals of Ulster see A. P Smith, 'The Hui Neill and the Leinstermen in the Annals of Ulster, 431-516 A.D.' in Etudes Celtiques, xiv (1974), pp 121-43.

Paul Walsh in his article 'Ancient Westmeath' in Riocht na Midhe, i (1955), p. 20 noted that:

the office of count was derived from the court of Charlemagne, and the institution in the first place involved a delegation of the authority of the king for the purposes of the law and for administration. The county or 'comitatus' was the limit of jurisdiction of a Count or 'comes'. In the English language the latter was called an earl. In the ordinary counties the king appointed the sheriff and the judges. In counties Palatine which were of higher rank, the Palatine had formerly royal rights as fully as the king in his palace; he had the same courts and officers as the king; he could create barons; and he could exact royal service and take in escheats or forfeits.

The Anglo-Normans were responsible for introducing the system of shires or counties to Ireland. An account of this will be found in A.J. Otway-Ruthven, A history of medieval Ireland (London, 1968), pp 173-90.

The modern county of Offaly had its origins in the latter half of the sixteenth century prior to that time it belonged to several kingdoms. The present-day diocesan system reflects the pre-Norman divisions and thus the modern county is in five Church of Ireland and six Roman Catholic dioceses. One gets the impression that the area of the modern county was a no-mans-land with the kingdoms of Ireland abutting it only and eventually incorporating that portion of it nearest their own boundaries.

When Dermot MacMurrough died in 1171 his foreign son-in-law, Strongbow, succeeded to the kingdom of Leinster and the following rear this was formally granted to him by Henry II. At about the same time Hugh de Lacy was granted the kingdom of Meath. Strongbow granted or sub-infeudated the lands of Leinster to his knights and barons. According to the Song of Dermot the lands of the modern King's County, east of Tullamore were granted to Robert de Birmingham 'but only a small portion of this district was at first taken from the OConors Faly and the original Birmingham fief appears to have been confined to Tethmoy, of which they were known as barons. This district was comprised in the baronies of Warrenstown and the northern part of Coolestown in King's County' (see Orpen, Normans, i, p. 381). The barony of Offaly granted to de Birmingham comprehended the modern baronies of Upper and Lower Philipstown, Geashill, Warrenstown, Coolestown and the baronies of Portnahinch and Tinnahinch in Queen's County (see Otway-Ruthven, 'Knights' fees in Kildare, Leix and Offaly' in R.S.A.I. Jn., xci (1961), p. 178). The liberty (the lord of a liberty was a royal agent with delegated jurisdiction) of Leinster was divided into four counties or shires-Wexford, Carlow, Kilkenny and Kildare. That part of the county east of Tullamore and at present in the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, now the baronies of Philipstown, Warrenstown and Coolestown, and formerly part of the kingdom of Leinster now became part of the medieval county of Kildare. For an article on this see Otway-Ruthven, 'The medieval county of Kildare' in I.H.S., xi (1959), pp 18l-99.

Gerald FitzMaurice, the ancestor of the earls of Kildare, married Eva, daughter of Robert de Birmingham; for the Kildare family connection with Offaly see Orpen's paper in R.S.A.I. Jn., xliv (1914), pp 99-112 and also Lord Walter FitzGerald's, 'The earl of Kildare's manor of Geashill, in the King's County, with notes on Killeigh in the parish of Geashill' in Kildare Arch. Soc. Jour., ix (1918-21), pp 1-33. The Anglo-Normans came as far as Geashill where they erected a motte but it is probable that the area remained march country always liable to constant inroads from the unconquered Irish but the Normans seem to have held out until the Bruce invasion (1315) when it is clear that much of Leix and Offaly was lost.

That part of the modern county between Birr and Durrow and incorporating the baronies of Ballycowan, Ballybov and Eglish is in the diocese of Meath and formerly part of the kingdom of Meath was granted to Hugh de Lacy by Henry II. The boundaries of the kingdom of Meath are approximately those of the present dioceses of Meath and Clonmacnois; see Brady, 'Anglo-Norman Meath' in Riocht na Midhe, ii (1961), pp 38-45. De Lacy, as lord of the liberty of Meath sub-infeudated in the same way as Strongbow in Leinster and granted portions of his territory to his friends. The cantred of Ardnurcher he gave to Meiler FitzHenry (the area between Birr and the hill of Uisneach also called Fear Ceall, and the territory of the Cineal Fiachach or the O'Molloys). In the thirteenth century the north-eastern portion of this territory became known as Kineleagh of the Mageoghegans (now the barony of Moycashel). For these developments see 'The Mageoghegans' in Paul Walsh, Irish chiefs and leaders (Dublin, 1960), pp 226-69; also Kenneth Nicholls, 'The O'Molloys of Fear Ceall' (1975), typescript in the Offaly County Library.

Evidence of the Norman occupation in the southern part of the modem county is available in the Red book of Ormond N. B. White ed. (I.M.C., 1932). The territory of Ely O'Carroll (roughly the modern baronies of Clonlisk and Ballybritt) was granted together with extensive territories mostly in Tipperary to Theobald Walter (the founder of the great Butler family) by King John in 1185; for the text of the grant see Irish historical documents, 1172-1922, Curtis & McDowell ed. (London, 1943), p. 24 and for a useful map showing the lands granted see OtwayRuthven, A history of medieval Ireland, p. 68. The caput of the Normans in Ely O'Carroll was at Dunkerrin and this was surveyed in 1305; see 'Extent of the manor of Donkerin' in the Red book of Ormond. The latter document is in Latin and should this present problems see the chapter on the Norman invasion in Gwynn & Glesson, A history of the diocese of Killaloe, p. 183. The territory of Ely O'Carroll was incorporated in the medieval county of Tipperary before 1254 (it was formerly part of the kingdom of Munster), see Empey, 'The cantreds of medieval Tipperary' in N. Munster Antiq. Jn., xiii (1970), pp 22-9.

For the way in which Ireland, more particularly, Gaelic Ireland. governed herself in the period from the breakdown of Norman authority to the Tudor conquest, see Nicholls, Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the Meddle Ages (Dublin, 1972). On the Gaelic lordship Nicholls quotes a report on the state of Ireland, written in 1515:

"there be more than sixty countries, called Regions in Ireland inhabited with the King's Irish enemies; . . . where reign eth more than sixty chief captains . . . ; and every of the said captains maketh war and peace for himself, and holdeth by the sword, and bath imperial jurisdiction within his room, and obeyeth to no other person, English or Irish, except only to such persons as may subdue him by the sword" (Nicholls, Ibid., p. 21).

The following clans had lands in the modern county: the O'Connors- the dominant chiefs, the O'Molloys, O'Dempseys, Foxes, MacCoghlans and O'Carrolls (see the map of the lordships c. 1534 in A new history of Ireland iii, pp 2-3). Two most useful articles on this period of Offaly's history are 'The origins of King's County' in Paul Walsh, Irish chiefs and leaders, pp 2 70-80 and Robert Dunlop, 'The plantation of Leix and Offaly, 1556-1622' in E.H.R., vi (1891), pp 6 1-96.

When the act of parliament set up the King's County in 1557 only the part east of Tullamore was shired i.e. the territory of the O'Connors and the O'Dempseys. The country of the O'Dempseys was parcelled out into two counties and the River Barrow made the border of the King's and Queen's county on the south-east. Philipstown [now called Daingean] became the county town for King's which, despite the poor land on which it is built, made some sense as it was in the centre of the new county. However, this was to change as the country of the O'Molloys (now the baronies of Ballycowan, Ballyboy and Eglish) and the country of the MacCoghlans (the barony of Garrycastle) were added in 1570. The territory of E1y O'Carroll (the baronies of Ballybritt and Clonlisk) was added in 1605 and some years later the parish of Lusmagh (Clonfert diocese) and the parish of Clonmacnois; see an article in the Kildare Arch. Soc. Jour., xii (1941-2), pp 233-46 by 'Fear Ceall'. These new additions to the King's County left the county town, Philipstown, too remote for the people of Birr and Banagher and later Tullamore. About 1641 moves were made to make Birr the county town (at that time it had twice the population of Philipstown) but the necessary parliamentary bill was deferred because of the outbreak of the 1641 rebellion and thereafter left to rest. In 1784 the gentlemen and freeholders of the King's County petitioned parliament to have the assizes transferred to Tullamore- thus establishing it as the county town. The Bill failed in 1784 and again in 1786 because of the superior political influence of the Ponsonby family, the owners of Philipstown. It was only some fifty years later that the act was passed making Tullamore the county town.

Grand Juries and their records

Grand Juries had their origins in the local government system introduced by the Anglo-Normans. The head of the shire and the principal local representative of the crown was the sheriff. In 1355 it was ordered that 'in each county in Ireland a sheriff should be elected annually by the community of the county in the full court, holding office for one year only, after which he should not be re-admitted to office till he had accounted for the issues to the exchequer.' (See Otway Ruthven, A history of medieval Ireland, p. 176.)

In Ireland the county was preferred to the parish as the unit of government. R. B. McDowell wrote:

from early in the [seventeenth] century onwards parliament thrust on the grand jury which like its English prototype was chosen by the high sheriff and was supposed to comprise a selection of the leading landowners of the county, a wide range of administrative functions. The Irish grand jury was responsible for the construction and repair of all roads, bridges and public buildings in the county, the support of hospitals, asylums and dispensaries and the payment of the police. At the assizes it not only considered bills of indictment but also "presented" (i.e. voted) large sums to be raised from the county for these purposes. (Quoted from, R. B. McDowell, 'Ireland on the eve of the Famine' in The Great Famine, Edwards & Williams ed. (Dublin, 1956), p. 24.)

The records of the King's County Grand Jury were destroyed in the fire at the Four Courts in 1922 and also in the fire at the county courthouse at Tullamore in the same year According to a contemporary newspaper account of the Tullamore fire certain important records were saved but no information is available on this. Fortunately, the Offaly County Library has copies of the presentment books of the grand jury for the years 1830-62 and 1866-68, in Cambridge University Library is a presentment book for 1821 and in the Irish State Paper Office a presentment book for 1829. References to eighteenth century presentment books will be found in the King's County Directory (Parsonstown, 1890) [Reprinted as Offaly One Hundred Years Ago 1990]. Other records, presumably now destroyed, included the official map of the county of 1807, however, traces of other early maps of the county have survived; see 'A catalogue of the estate maps etc. in the Downshire office, Hillsborough, Co. Down' by E. R. R. Green in U.J.A., ser. 3, xii (1949), pp 1-25. The presentment books which have survived contain a great deal of information on, for example, the making of roads, the annual reports on the county gaol at Tullamore, material regarding the erection and repair of public buildings etc. On grand juries see also: Thomas U. Sadleir, 'High Sheriffs of the King's County, 1655-1915' in Kildare Arch. Soc. Jour., viii (1915-17), pp 30-49, 514; Charles H. Foot, The statutes relating to the powers and duties of Grand Juries (Dublin, 1861); Brenda M. H. Patterson, The chapter closes in Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, xxi (1970), pp 33-46.

So much for the administration of counties. What of towns. Philipstown was created a borough in 1569 and Banagher in the early seventeenth century; for the latter town, records survive covering the years 1693-1749 (B.M. Add. MSS. 19829). The early administration of Birr can be followed in Cooke's Birr (1875). Tullamore is perhaps the most fortunate because of the survival of the records of its manor court for the years 1765-1816 (P.R.O.I. M5284).

In 1838 the country was divided into a number of poor law unions and workhouses were built in an attempt to tackle the problem of poverty and disease. King's County was divided between five unions; for the surviving minute books of the boards of guardians of the unions see the Offaly County Library collection.

The next important development in local government occurred in 1898 when the county councils, urban district councils and rural district councils were set up thereby introducing democratic procedures hitherto absent from the Irish local government system. The whereabouts of the King's County Council records prior to 1922 is unknown. The records of the Tullamore Urban District Council prior to 1924 have not been located. For rural district council records see the collection in the Offaly County Library.

Ecclesiastical Divisions

As was already noted the area of the modern county is shared out between six Roman Catholic and five Church of Ireland dioceses. The difference in number is accounted for by the absorption of the diocese of Clonmacnois into the Church of Ireland diocese of Meath in 1569 while the Roman Catholic diocese was united with Ardagh soon after Dr Cheevers became bishop of the latter diocese in 1751 and before his translation to Meath in 1756 (see Monahan, Ardagh and Clonmacnois).

The diocesan system has its origins in the synod of Rathbreasail 1111 and the synod of Kells (1152). The background to the movement away from monastic organisation and the adoption of the diocesan system will be found in Aubrey Gwynn's, The twelfth-century reform (Dublin, 1968, and also in Gwynn & Gleeson, Killaloe. The dioceses reflect the pre-Norman civil divisions and because of this are of tremendous importance. The boundaries have hardly changed at all since the twelfth century. In the delimitation of the dioceses local influence was, of course, of great importance, in the case of Clonmacnois, for example, the monastery had great influence but was really too poor to support a bishop as is evidenced by its ultimate fate. The other united diocese is Kildare and Leighlin (R.C.) which was joined in 1683 (see Comerford, Kildare and Leighlin, pp 68-9). The Church of Ireland diocese of Kildare was united with Dublin in 1846. Useful succession lists of the Catholic and Church of Ireland bishops will be found in Handbook of British chronology, Powicke & Fryde, ed., (2nd ed., London, 1961), pp 302-412.

The development of the parish system is rather more complicated hut there are a few articles on the subject which should be consulted. See, for example: Otwav-Ru thven, 'Parochial development in the rural deanery of Skreen' in Jour. Roy. Soc. Antiq., xciv (1964), pp 111-22; Nicholls, 'Rectory, vicarage and parish in the western Irish dioceses' in Jour. Roy. Soc. Antiq., ci (1971), pp 53-84. The development of the parochial system in Killaloe can be studied in Gwynn & Gleeson, Killaloe, pp 307-15. Gleeson suggested three main origins for the bounds of the parochial divisions of Killaloe and probably other dioceses as well: (i) some parishes may owe their bounds to the ancient monastic termons; (ii) others to the Irish tuath; (iii) and finally to grants of land made by the Irish or the Normans to the new monastic houses.

The bounds of the parishes will be found on the early Ordnance Survey maps. Particularly useful is the coloured Index to the townand survey which will be found at the beginning of the bound volume of the first edition (King's County, 1838) in the Offaly County Library and elsewhere. The bounds of the parishes are shown in the earlier, Down Survey, and the denominations are stated in the Book of Survey and Distribution. The Civil Survey does not survive for Offaly excepting a description of the barony boundaries in The Civil Survey, x, Robert C. Simington, ed. (1961), pp 25-38. Unlike the Church of Ireland parishes the boundaries of the Catholic parishes have changed frequently since the eighteenth century and as a result are of little historical value. For an article on parishes see, Canon Power, 'The bounds and extent of Irish parishes', in Feilscribhinn Torna . . . , Seamus Pender, ed. (Cork, 1947), pp 218-23.

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