Lyons Hill

Lyons Liamhain
Townland
Lyons Location in Ireland
Coordinates:53°17′58″N6°33′25″W
Country	Ireland
Province	Leinster
County	County Kildare
Time zone	UTC+0(WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-1(IST(WEST))

Lyons HillorLyons(Irish:Liamhain)is a townland and restored village inCounty Kildare.At a time when canal passenger boats travelled at 3 mph (4.8 km/h) Lyons was the nearest overnight stop to Dublin on theGrand Canal.On the hilltop is a trigonometrical point used by Ireland'sOrdnance Survey.The name derives from theIrish languagename for anelmtree,Liamhan.

History

Four families (FitzDermot, Tyrrell,AylmerandLawless), have held possession of Lyons through most of its history.

Royal Seat

Lyons Hill, a hill within the townland, was the inauguration site for members of one of three septs of theUí Dúnlaingedynasty which rotated thekingship of Leinsterbetween 750 and 1050, after which the family became Normanised as the FitzDermots. In that period 10Uí DúnchadaKings of Leinster established their base at Lyons. Their influence helped secure a placemyth for Cnoch Liamhna among 300 locations featured inDinnshenchas Érenn,the poemLiamuin.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,
• 854–62 Ruarc.Ruarc mac Bran,
• 884–85 Muiredach.Muiredach mac Bran,
• 917–23 Fáelán.Faelan mac Muiredach,
• 942–43 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.

Royal Family

The arrangement of the three septs of theUí Dúnlaingeto exchange thekingship of Leinsterin rotation was almost unique in Irish history. It meant that by the end of the three-century arrangement, monarchs who were seventh cousins were swapping the kingship. By then the dynasty, traditionally clients of theUí Néill,had become weakened by the battle for control of the region betweenBrian BórumaofDál Cais,the Uí Néill kingMáel Sechnaill mac Domnailland theViking kingdom of Dublin,as well as theUí Chennselaigof South Leinster.

TheUí Dúnchadadynasty held an important ecclesiastical role within the triumvirate, theAbbacy of Kildare,andMuiredachwas simultaneously abbot and Kings of Leinster. The Uí Néill clientship dates to 806 when High KingAed Oirdnide mac Néillinvaded Leinster and deposedFinsnechtae.Finsnechtae regained the kingdom, presumably with Uí Néill support until his death in 808 causing dynastic strife and a further invasion of the High King.Muirchertach mac Néill,King of Aileach,paid an official visit to Cnoch Liamhna in 941. After Cellach's death, the dynasty was weakened by dynastic rivalry with the Uí Chennselaig, from whom the Uí Dúnlainge had captured the Kingship of Leinster, and incursions from the Vikings in Dublin.Domnall Claen mac Lorcáin,who had according to theAnnals of Ulster"deceitfully killed"Murchad mac Finnin 972 was taken prisoner in 978 by theDanes of Dublinand had to be freed by the intervention of former High KingMáel Sechnaill.After he was killed by the Uí Chennselaig in 984 his sonDonchadaassumed the kingship and began a nine-year rivalry with hisUí Fáeláinrival,Máel Mórda mac Murchadaand theVikings of Dublin.

Battleground

This rivalry was responsible for provoking a war betweenMáel Sechnaill mac Domnaill(948–1022), andBrian Bóruma(c.941–1014) for supremacy and the High Kingship. It began in earnest in 999 when Donnchad mac Domnaill Claen was captured by Máel Mórda and his nephewSitric Silkbeard,the son ofOlaf Cuaran.This was a challenge toMáel Sechnaill,as the province's overlord, and he ravaged Leinster. Brian saw an opportunity to intrude into Leinster's affairs, and late in the year, he led an army there which defeated the combined forces of Leinster and Dublin at the battle of Glenn Máma, on a site to the east of Oughterard Hill adjoining Lyons between Castlewarden and Windmill hill.It is noted as one of the few occasions when Brian engaged in open battle. Brian capturedDublinon New Year's Day 1000 and atAthlonein 1002 took the hostages of Connacht and Meath thus ending Máel Sechnaill's first possession of the high-kingship.

When Brian Bóruma campaigned again in Leinster in 1003, he deposed Donncha and set up in his stead an Uí Fáeláin rival,Máel Mórda mac Murchada.Ironically Mael Morda was to become Brian's foe and opponent at theBattle of Clontarf(1014). After Clontarf, the Kingship of the Uí Dúnlainge was held by the Uí Muiredaig and shortly afterwards the Kingship of Leinster reverted from theUí Dúnlaingeto theUí Chennselaigdynasty based inFerns, County Wexford.

FitzDermot Family

After theNorman invasiontheUí Dúnchadaaccepted Norman title and land grant and became the FitzDermot family.Carn Uí Dúnchadain Dublin was named for them and they later settled in Rathdown in South Dublin and North Wicklow.

Manor and Parish

NormanLyons became an important manor, castle and parish. Anglicised names which occur in the calendar rolls are Lewan (Calendar of State papers) in 1217, Leuan in 1223, 1224, 1225, 1228, 1230 and 1260, Lyons in 1272, Lyons (Ecclesiastical Tax 1322), Lyons in 1332 (listed as "burned by the O'Tooles" in the Book of Howth), as Lions (Calendar of Carew MS 1535 and 1537) and eventually as Lyons after 1541. Lyons church, now a mausoleum for theLawless family,was constructed around 1350. It has intricate carvings and a stone commemorating the marriage of Richard Aylmer to Eleanor Tyrrell in 1548. Lyons parish was united with the parish of Oughterard in 1541 and with Kill in 1691, although it remained the headquarters of the Catholic parish until 1817. The oldest headstone in Lyons churchyard dates to 1693, dedicated to Edmond Moore and his son James. Royal manors were created inOughterardon an adjoining hill andNewcastle-Lyons,below the hill within the County Dublin boundary created in 1210.Newcastle-Lyonsdeveloped as a separate medieval town and was granted two seats in the Irish parliament in 1606. The seats were purchased by the Latouche family before the suppression of theIrish House of Commonsin 1800.

Medieval Wars

Sir William Brereton, (d. 1541?), used Lyons as a military base for his campaigns duringSilken Thomasrebellion in 1535. The original Lyons house and town were burned in 1641 on the orders of Lord JusticeWilliam Parsons(c.1570–1650), who ironically had sat for the borough ofNewcastle-Lyonsin the 1613–15parliament,and his colleague SirJohn Borlase.

Clonaghlis Church and Parish

Clonaghlis graveyard within the Lyons estate is also the seat of a former parish associated with female saints Fedhlim and Mughain.The Calendar Rolls record that Peter de Laermerd granted the Church of Clonacles to St Thomas Abbey near Dublin in 1206 and that in 1336 John Plunkett sued Hugh de Blound of RathreganCounty Meath,for the Manor of Cluinaghlys, in possession of his grandfather Walter Plunkett and passed down by his father Henry Plunkett. Nothing remains of the church but some scattered stones, and the oldest headstone in Clonaghlis graveyard, still in use by local people, dates to 1729. Aviation pioneerTony Ryanwas buried in the graveyard after his death in 2007.

Lyons Castle

Lyons House

Main article:Lyons Demesne

Michael Aylmer inherited the estate at the age of four in 1733 and became indebted to bankerNicholas Lawless(laterBaron Cloncurry), eventually losing the house in 1796. First Nicholas Lawless (construction during 1786) and his sonValentine(construction 1804–10) combined to build a large country house in its own gardens, decorated in theDirectoirestyle, of which there are few examples in Ireland, and with a private lake. Valentine Lawless, after 1799 the second Lord Cloncurry, spent £200,000 on renovation including frescoes byGaspare Gabrielliand three shiploads of classical art imported from Italy. A fourth shipment was lost when it sank offWicklow.Treasures which were successfully imported include three columns from the ruins of theGolden HouseofNeroin Rome, used in the portico, and a statue ofVenusexcavated atOstia.His son, the third Lord Cloncurry, committed suicide in 1869 by throwing himself out of a third-floor window at Lyons

Grand Canal

When work on theGrand Canalbegan in 1756Ardcloughwas one of the first sections to be dug. The canal reached Ardclough in 1763, when the 13th lock, a 137 feet (42 m) double lock built withPozzuolonamortar, was opened, following the ambitious design of the canal's original engineer,Thomas Omer.When a new engineer,John Trailtook over construction of the canal in 1768, the proposed canal capacity was reduced from 170-ton barges to 40-ton barges.

Thirteenth Lock

Canal records show that "Lyons or Clonaughles lock" was reduced in size in 1783, but the canal through the thirteenth lock serves as a reminder of Omer's original plan, 20 feet (6.1 m) wide, compared with the 14 feet (4.3 m) width adopted by Trail. Ardclough bridge was named in original plans for the Bruton family ofClonaghlisbut constructed with a nameplate bearing the name of the Henry family ofStraffan.

From 1777 a local river, theMorrelwas proposed as a water feeder for the canal, construction resumed and the first passenger boats were towed toSallinsin February 1779.

Lock Yard

Local landownerLord Cloncurry(1773–1853) was a canal enthusiast, constructing the Lyons mill and lockyard village complex in the 1820s and serving as chairman of theGrand Canal Companyfive times during his lifetime. The canal was an important, if slow, passenger thoroughfare feeding passengers to John Barry's hotel at Lyons.

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1821	536	—
1831	158	−70.5%
1841	379	+139.9%
1851	308	−18.7%
1861	310	+0.6%
1871	288	−7.1%
1881	286	−0.7%
1891	222	−22.4%
1901	172	−22.5%
1911	163	−5.2%

When in 1834 Flyboats increased the average speed for passenger boats from 3 mph (4.8 km/h) to 9 mph (14 km/h) Ireland's first railway was already under construction. The canal peaked at 120,615 passengers in 1846, the year construction started on the Dublin-Cork railway line. When a Dublin-Galway railway line was opened in 1850 the closure of the rarely profitable passenger service followed in 1852.

Cargo traffic continued to use the canal for another 108 years, peaking at 379.045 tons in 1865 when an average of 90 barges a day passed through Ardclough. The canal was motorised 1911–24 and closed to cargo in 1960, but is still a popular thoroughfare for leisure boats. The tracks of the ropes of the horse-drawn barges can still be traced at Ardclough canal bridge.

Economic life

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.

Artistic life

John Betjeman's (1906–1984) ode to a Lake was based on his stay in Lyons in 1958. WriterEmily Lawless(1845–1913) spent part of her childhood in Lyons house.Lydia Shackleton(1828–1914), botanical artist, lived in Lyons between April 1853 when she moved to the family's newly acquired mill at the 13th lock, where she was the housekeeper for her elder brother Joseph, until 1860.

Lyons today

Restoration

The fabric of the buildings in the lockyard beside the 13th Lock date to the 1820s and represent an important industrial heritage site. In the period after the burning of the mill and especially after the 1950s the buildings were allowed to fall into disrepair. Thanks to the interest of the owner of Lyons HouseRyanairfounderTony Ryan(1936–2007), Lyons lockyard village was redeveloped and restored between 1999 and 2008.

The first phase, set around formal gardens and an artificial lake, was reopened in August 2006. The mill building was converted into a restaurant from 2006 until 2008. A second restaurant, La Serre, continued to serve meals. The mill building, called Shackleton House, is used as a venue for parties and corporate events.

Modern Village

Lyons village located at53°17′58″N6°33′25″W.was restored 1999–2007 from a deserted and depopulated state by the aviation pioneerTony Ryan(1946–2007), and contains his mausoleum. The village consists of apartments based in the former canalside industrial heritage buildings dating to the 1820s, a small chapel, and Café la Serre. Between 2006 and 2008, another restaurant, The Mill, was run at the site by Irish celebrity chefRichard Corrigan.Otherartisans dwellingswere to be restored in the third phase of the scheme, 2007–2011.The development is beside the 13th lock on the Grand Canal and approached from a separate entrance to the entrance ofLyons Housebeside Kearneystown Bridge on the road fromNewcastletoArdclough.

Bibliography

• W J Fitzpatrick:Life, Times and Contemporaries of Lord Cloncurry(1855). (Online version available)
• Valentine Lawless,Personal recollections of the life and times, with extracts from the correspondence of Valentine Lord Cloncurry,Dublin: J. McGlashan; London: W.S. Orr, 1849. (Online version available)
• Lyons House: A Guide(2001).
• Annals of ArdcloughbyEoghan Corryand Jim Tancred (2004).
• Ardclough Churches 1985 Souvenir Brochure.

External links

• Feature In Irish Times Property section, 2 October 2008
• Lyons house to be put on sale, Irish Times, 18 June 2009
• Brigid Maguire: Lyons House was haunt of poets and patriots