A note on Vicarstown

P.J. Tynan

The town of Vicarstown, or Ballenvicker as it is called in the 1592 grant by Queen Elizabeth 1st to Francis Cosby, was part of the ancient parish of Moyanna.

This is the earliest reference to the name that has so far been traced. The direct translation "Town of the Vicar" gives no indication of the origin of the name and is difficult to understand or make sense of.

There is a belief that the name comes from a family called Vicars who lived in the area. However the Vicars family came to Co. Leix about 1540 during the reign of Queen Mary, and there is no evidence of their having any connection whatever with the locality.

About the end of the 16th century the old church at Moyanna came into Protestant usage, a small church was built at Kylemahoe, about half a mile from the present village.

Undoubtedly this building was a fairly primitive structure and sadly nothing now remains of it. In fact, even the adjoining graveyard has been completely destroyed, with the tombstones removed some time during the 19th century.

Through Vicarstown and Greate Wood had a population of 65 in the year 1659, the present village more than likely only came into being with the building of the Grand Canal through the locality some time about 1790. This was a major undertaking and must have had a huge impact on the local population. From that time, until its closure 170 years later, "the canal" gave the village an importance out of proportion to its size.

After Catholic Emancipation, and no doubt due to the increase in the local population, a replacement for the church building at Kylemahoe was found desirable, so in 1838 work began on the present church. This was during the time that Rev. Cornelius Dowling was PP. in Stradbally and took some years to reach completion.

The building was designed by Joseph Lynch, a Carlow man, and architecturally is quite an attractive one, with interesting features both internally and externally. However, the removal of some of these during the past half century has stripped it of a lot of its unique charm.

In 1782 the estate of Moyanna, which included the lands to the River Barrow, was bought by the Right Hon. Henry Grattan from Admiral Philip Cosby. This included at least some of the division known as Vicarstown Dodd. At the old Fort of Dunrally, on the banks of the Barrow, Grattan boilt a shooting lodge and Summer residence.

He appears to have been very fond memories of his Moyanna estate and it is said to have been his last wish to be buried in the local graveyard. For one reason or another this did not happen, no doubt partly because of the fact that he died in London.

After Henry Grattan's death in 1820 the estate passed to his son James and then to his granddaughter Pauline Grattan-Bellew. It is she who in 1882 built the charming residence now known as "Grattan Lodge". Some fourteen years earlier, in 1868, she had built a school in the village for the education of her tenant's children. It did so quite successfully for about 100 years, until the Department of Education in its wisdom closed its doors as a place of learning. The building itself is one of the most attractive in the area, and thankfully is still standing and in good repair.

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