Oughter Ard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Oughter Ard Uachtar Árd |
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| Location | ||
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| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Leinster | |
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| County: | County Kildare | |
| Elevation: | 121 m | |
| Population (2002) | ||
Uachtar Árd (or Oughter Ard in the English language) is an ecclesiastical site and graveyard, burial place in 1803 of Arthur Guinness, and a townland and formerly a parish, borough and royal manor in County Kildare, nowadays part of the community of Ardclough close to the Dublin border.
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[edit] Foundation
The round tower and ancient monastery is associated with a nunnery establish circa 600 AD by foundress Saint Briga (feast day January 21), and is associated also with Saint Tarcairteann (feast day December 18). This monastery was under the patronage of a local branch of the Uí Dúnlainge dynasty which rotated the kingship of Leinster between 750-1050. In that period ten Uí Dúnchada Kings of Leinster (later the FitzDesmonds) established their base at nearby Lyons Hill. Their cousins patronised the monastery of Kildare and Glendalough.
[edit] Royal Manor
Ougherard became a Royal Manor and Borough in the 1100s and a ruined castle nearby dates to 1300. Plough headlands from medieval times can still be seen in fields adjoining the churchyard.
[edit] Medieval Landmarks
Recent research by archaeological historian Mike O'Neill has established the ruined church on the site dates to c. 1350 and not, as previously thought, 1609. The ruined church is now entered through one of the windows, as both original doorways serve as mausoleums. The eighth century round tower, one of five in County Kildare, is in a good state of repair.
[edit] Destruction and Restoration
The hilltop monastery and round tower were burned by the Dublin Vikings in 995. Oughterard lost its independence after it was burned in 1210 by Manx king Godfred Crovan and the Uí Dúnlainge/FitzDermot dynasty was ousted by the Normans. The site was attached to the St Thomas monastery in Kilmainham after 1210. The 1303 Papal taxation listed it as 'Outherard' and it was also spelled as 'Wochtred' before 1500. The parish of Oughterard was eventually united with Lyons in 1541. The calendar rolls reference which in 1609 (which led to its mistakenly being cited as a foundation date by Walter Fitzgerald in 1898) was followed by another which described the church as being "in ruins" by 1620. It is not clear when the church fell into disuse.
[edit] Arthur Guinness and Other Notable Burials[citation needed]
Until the construction of the turnpike road in the adjoining valley in 1729, Oughterard was situated on the main road from Dublin to Limerick and Cork. Near here Arthur Guinness's grandfather William Read started selling ale from a roadside stall to troops en route to the battles in the Jacobite wars. Guinness was taken back to Oughterard to be buried in the Read family plot in January 1803. Later that year Arthur Wolfe, Lord Kilwarden who lived at Newlands, Co Dublin-- the most famous victim of Robert Emmet's 1803 rebellion -- was buried here in the Wolfe mausoleum, a grave that dates to 1650. James Phipps, "A Captain of Insurgents" who took part in the Battle of Ovidstown in 1798, and then moved to America where he died in 1826, is commemorated. William Kennedy from nearby Bishopscourt, who was posthumously decorated for bravery having lost his life in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.
[edit] Duel
Daniel O'Connell fought a duel with John D'Esterre on February 1st 1815 in an adjoining field, then part of the Bishopscourt estate, now owned by the King family. O’Connell described a Dublin Corporation provision for the poor as “beggarly” on Jan 24 and was issued the challenge from John D’Esterre, a champion of the conservative and Protestant cause at the time. D'Esterre died as a result of his wounds. A detachment of cavalry sent out from Dublin arrived too late to prevent the duel taking place. A commemorative boulder having been removed, the exact site was re-established in 2007 after consultations with local people.
[edit] Trivia
In the film Mission: Impossible II, Tom Cruise's character is told that the American President is unavailable "because he is fishing in Oughter Ard Co Kildare." The Grand Canal holds fish and runs about 1 km to the north. There is no river in Oughter Ard, although the nearby Morrel and Liffey rivers are known for their fishing, and the absence of a water soruce has been commented on as unusual by historical geographer Tadhg O’Keefe and others for such an important medieval manor and borough.
[edit] Bibliography
Eoghan Corry and Jim Tancred; Annals of Ardclough (2004).
DN Hall M Hennessy and Tadhg O’Keefe; Medieval Agriculture and Settlement in Castlewarden and Oughterard. Irish Geography, Vol 18 (1985) pp16-25.
Kildare Archaeological Society Journal. Volume I : pp84-86. Volume II : pp179, 183, 395. Volume III : pp361, 364, 456. Volume IV : pp255. Volume XII : pp339-341
