Local History
Parish of Kilmacud
The lands of Kilmacud, or the Church of Macud, were granted after the English Conquest, together with the lands which lay between Stillorgan and Dublin, to Waiter de Rideleford, Lord of Bray, and became part of the manor of Thorncastle, now represented by Booterstown.
The lands of Kilmacud, or the Church of Macud, were granted after the English Conquest, together with the lands which lay between Stillorgan and Dublin, to Waiter de Rideleford, Lord of Bray, and became part of the manor of Thorncastle, now represented by Booterstown. As portion of that manor they were, in the 14th century, in the possession of Sir John Cruise, and subsequently passed to the Fitzwilliams of Merrion, from whom the Earl of Pembroke is descended in the female line. During the 15th century the lands, on which there were two stone houses, were held under the Fitzwilliams by the tenants of Shanganagh, and their trustees, Thomas Sale, of Salestown, and William Walter, a clergyman; and in the 16th and 17th century by the Archbolds. The Archbolds of Kilmacud, who held the lands for more than 200 years, were descended from some of the first English settlers in the County Dublin, and belonged to a widespreading clan. The earlier members of the family were evidently, from the funeral pomp with which they were laid to rest in the quiet churchyard of Dundrum, people of good position amongst the Roman Catholic families of the Pale, and the later members were recognised amongst the landed gentry in the County Dublin, and in the County Kildare, where a branch of the family settled.
Amongst the residents at Kilmacud we find, in 1584, Richard Archbold, whose daughter married James Wolverston, of Stillorgan, and whose son Piers was granted a pardon by the Crown; in 1615, Patrick and Edmund Archbold; and in 1641, Maurice, son of Patrick Archbold. After the Restoration Kilmacud, which had been assigned by the Parliament to one of the regicides, John Hewson, who was governor of Dublin, was claimed under the Act of Settlement in equal shares by Gerrard .Archbold, of Eadestown, in the County Kildare, "an innocent Roman Catholic," and Richard Archbold, of Mapas, in Cheshire, "an innocent Protestant." The former claimed as representative of Edmund Archbold, the joint owner in 1615, whose son William Archbold, of Cloghran, had sold his interest to Gerrard Archbold's father, and the latter as representative of Maurice Archbold, who was his grandfather. Richard Archbold was restored to his moiety of the lands; but the other moiety was confiscated and was granted by Charles II. to his brother, the Duke of York, afterwards James II.
There were then four houses on the lands, and a population of thirteen persons, eleven of whom were of English extraction, and two of Irish. The Archbolds, who rented the moiety granted to the Duke of York, in addition to the moiety which they owned, continued to reside at Kilmacud.
In 1681 Christopher Archbold was resident there, and in 1703, when James the. Second's moiety was sold, at Chichester House, to the Hollow Sword Blade Company, which purchased a considerable quantity of his property, Mortagh Griffin, as guardian to his stepson, James Archbold, was returned as the tenant.
After the death of the last of the Archbolds, who resided at Kilmacud, John Archbold, who died in 1756, their interest passed through mortgages which they had executed upon the property, into the possession of Lieutenant-Colonel John Arabin, the father-in-law of General Aylercorn, of Seapoint.
The house known as Redesdale, for many years the residence of Archbishop Whately, was originally the country seat of Sir Michael Smith, who held successively the judicial positions of a Baron of the Exchequer and Master of the Rolls, and whose son and grandson afterwards adorned the Irish Bench. Having been in 1799 disposed of by him, it was occupied during his short tenure of the Great Seal of Ireland, by Lord Redesdale, from whom it doubtless obtained its name, and who is said to have become so attached to the place that he shed tears in leaving it.
Ecclesiastical History
The church, which stood upon the lands of Kilmacud, and which was founded by some holy man, of whom all trace is lost, was given, together with its tithes, by Walter de Rideleford to the Convent of Grany, near Castledermot, in the County Kildare, and was held by that establishment until the dissolution of the religious houses.
It was in the middle ages an important charge, and in 1281 its chaplain, Elias de Kilmacud, who acted as agent on behalf of the convent, was a well known person.
After the suppression of the monasteries the tithes were granted to Sir Anthony St. Leger, the Lord-Deputy of Ireland, in recompense for his services in the reformation of the country and establishment of the Government and were sold by him to the De Bathes, of Drumcondra, who subsequently assigned them to Christ Church Cathedral.
The spiritual charge of the parish under the Established Church, which was sometimes assumed by the clergy of Donnybrook or Dundrum, was given after the dissolution of the religions houses to the curate of Kill-of-the-Grange, and after the Restoration became vested in the curate of Monkstown. On the appointment of a perpetual curate of Stillorgan, the charge was assigned to him, and subsequently was given to the clergy of Dundrum.
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Further historical information about the Church of St. Laurence O'Toole can be viewed on the Kilmacud Stillorgan Local History Society website, link below.