Lyons Hill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lyons Liamhain |
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| Province: | Leinster | |
| County: | County Kildare | |
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Lyons Hill, a former parish and town, and now part of the community of Ardclough in north Kildare. On the hilltop is a trigonometrical point used by Ireland's Ordnance Survey.
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[edit] Ancient
Lyons Hill was the inauguration site for members of one of three septs of the Uí Dúnlainge dynasty which rotated the kingship of Leinster between 750-1050. In that period 10 Uí Dúnchada Kings of Leinster (later the FitzDesmonds) established their base at Lyons. Their influence helped secure a placemyth for Cnoch Liamhna among 300 locations featured in Dinnshenchas Érenn. The Toraíocht of Liamuin was based on the mythical pursuit of a beautiful daughter of King Dúbhthach Dubthaire. The Lyons kings were:
- 760-776 Cellach. Cellach mac Dunchad,
- 795-808 Finsnechta. Finsnechta Cethardec mac Cellach,
- 834-8 Bran. Bran mac Finsnechta,
- 854-62 Ruarc. Ruarc mac Bran,
- 884-5 Muiredach. Muiredach mac Bran.
- 917-23 Fáelán. Faelan mac Muiredach.
- 942-3 Lorcán. Lorcan mac Faelan,
- 958-66 Cellach. Cellach mac Faelan,
- 978-84 Domnall Claen. Domnall Claen mac Lorcan,
- 984-1003 Donnchad. Donnchad mac Domnall Claen,.
[edit] Medieval
After the Norman invasion Lyons became an important manor, castle and parish. The first record of Lyons castle records its destruction by the O’Tooles in 1332. Lyons church around 1350. It has intricate carvings and a stone commemorating the marriage of Richard Aylmer to Eleanor Tyrrell in 1548. Lyons parish was untied with the parish of Oughterard in 1541 and with Kill in 1691. The oldest headstone in Lyons churchyard dates to 1693.
[edit] Lyons Estate
Four families, FitzDesmond, Tyrrell, Aylmer and Lawless, have held possession of Lyons through most of its history. The original Lyons house and town was destroyed in 1641. Michael Aylmer inherited the estate at the age of four in 1733 and became indebted to banker Nicholas Lawless, eventually losing the house in 1796. First Nicholas Lawless (construction during 1786) and his son Valentine Lawless (construction 1804-10) combined to build a large country house in its own gardens with a private lake. Valentine Lawless, after 1799 the second Lord Cloncurry spent GBP200,000 on renovation included frescoes by Gaspare Gabrielli and three ship loads of classical art imported from Italy. A fourth shipment was lost when it sank off Wicklow. Treasures which were successfully imported include three columns from the temple of Nero, used in the portico, and a statue of Venus excavated at Ostia.
[edit] Economic Life
After the construction of the Grand Canal Lyons became a commercial centre with a Hotel, police station and barracks operated by Shackletons. An average of 90 barges a day passed through the nearby 13th Lock in the 1880s. With the accidental burning of the mill in 1903 and the decline of the estate after the Cloncurry title became extinct, the area went into decline. Lyons estate was sold to UCD as an agricultural campus in 1962. In 1990 it was purchased by Michael Smurfit and in 1996 resold. John Betjeman's ode to a Lake was based on his stay in Lyons in 1958. Writer Emily Lawless spent part of her childhood in the house.
[edit] Lockyard
Under the auspices of current owner of Lyons House Ryanair founder Tony Ryan, Lyons lockyard village which had fallen into dereliction is in the process of being redeveloped and restored.
[edit] Bibliography
- “Annals of Ard Cloch”, by Eoghan Corry and Jim Tancred CLG, 2004.
- W J Fitzpatrick: Life, Times and contemporaries of Lord Cloncurry (1855). (text available online http://indigo.ie/~kfinlay/Cloncurry)
- Valentine Lawless, Lord Cloncurry: Recollections (Dublin 1849).
- Ardclough Churches 1985 Souvenir Brochure.
