Prior to the Invasion of Ireland (1169-1171), the lands later held by
the Walshs of Kilkenny were likely in the hands of the Gaelic sept of
MacBraoin or (Mac)Breen, who were centered in the cantred of Knocktopher,
and of the ancient sept of Uibh Eirc, descendants of Erc, whose name was
given to the medieval cantred of Overk (now the baronies of Ida and Iverk).
The Welsh, Normans and Flemish began to migrate into southern Ireland
in the wake of the Cambro-Norman campaign of the late twelfth century.
Among these adventurers are the ancestors of the Walsh families. In Gaelic
Ireland they are first referred to as Breathnach, le Waleys,
Wallensis, Brenagh; and during the fourteenth century, become to be called
Walshe, Welsh and Walsh. It is speculated that they were from the leading
houses of Wales, and that Ririd, Philip Fitz-Rhys, Howell ap Grono,
Philip "the Welshman" (nephew of Rhys ap Griffith), William Wallensis (le Waleys),
Haylen Brenagh, Stephen Howel, and David Walensis (nephew of Raymond le Gros) were
among the earliest progenitors.
In County Kilkenny about the year A.D. 1200, the chief lords in the
territory in which later the Walshs are most numerous included "Griffin fitz William" of Knocktopher,
"Milo fitz David" of Overke, and "Geoffrey fitz Robert" of Kells.
(also see descendants of Nesta).
Large sections of the modern baronies of Knocktopher and Iverk were later to
become the homeland of "Walsh of the Mountain,"
as the leading family of the Kilkenny Walshs came to be known. Their main stronghold
was at Castlehale, said to originally have been built in the 13th century.
"On Thursday next after the feast of St. John the Baptist, in the year
1374, Geoffrey, son of Thomas, son of Nicholas, son of Howel Walsh,
appointed ... to deliver to James le Botiller, Earl of Ormond, the lands
and buildings of his manor and town of Melagh and Cannderstown in
Iverk." This passage from the deed by which Geoffrey Walsh made over to
the Ormond Butlers so large a share of the patrimony of Iverk is a mystery.
Yet the Walsh family fortunes seem to have been in the ascendant from that
time. Richard, son (or perhaps grandson) of Geoffrey lived through exciting
times ... and after the Butlers defeated the Kavanaghs, the descendants of
the Kings of Leinster, Richard appeared in 1410 as one of the Keepers of
the Peace for the County Kilkenny. Richard is described in the genealogies
[Burke] as "chief captain of his nation," probably not the first to be so
called, as he certainly was not the last. On March 9, 1446, Richard made a
grant to the Abbey of Jerpoint of his lands of Clone, in the barony of Kells,
and Ballycheskin in Knocktopher, thereby enabling the Cisternian monks to
build the tower of the Abbey, which remains in a good state of preservation,
and beneath which certain of his immediate descendants are buried.
In commemoration of the gifts of Richard fitz Geoffrey Walsh and his faimly,
an effigy of a knight in armour was carved from stone and placed
between the window lights in Jerpoint Abbey. Although the slab
was removed and is now lost, Canon Carrigan had a chance to describe it
in the twilight of the 20th century at a church in Piltown. Carigan described it thus:
"It is exactly similar to those slabs at Jerpoint and Inistioge, formerly used to
separate the window lights in the cloister. On each face is a well carved effigy of
a warrior in complete armor, the shield in one instance being charged with ermine,
a chevron as on one of the sculpture stones in Fiddown churchyard; the other
shield has the ordinary Walsh coat of arms, viz., a chevron between three pheons."
An old illustration of the latter side of the slab is found in Sheffield Grace's Memoirs of
the Family of Grace (1823), on a plate entitled "Tomb Stones of the Walsh Family in
Jepoint Abbey." The knight is shown wearing a type of helmet known as a bascinet,
and has a ridge running down the front from the apex of the helmet to the center of the
forehead. Around his neck he wears a pisane of mail which falls in a gentle curve, and does
not taper to a point like those of 16th century effigies elsewhere in the county. The shield
bearing the coat of arms is of the heater-shaped variety, common on effigies of the
13th and 14th centuries. The knight's body is largely covered by a jupon or surcoat, under the
somehwat irregular hem of which a coat of mail can be seen descending to a few inches above
the knees. A belt hangs loosely, with one end falling limply from a buckle in the center.
Attached to this belt at the knight's right hip is a dagger with an upward-cruving cross, and with
a grip protruding from one side of the end of the handle. The daggers blade runs from the belt to
the bottom of the coat of mail just above the knees. The legs are protected by plate armour, the
poleyns falling to acute points at the knees. On the feet are pointed shoes, and spur-straps can
also be seen. Leaning against the half-column to the right of the figure is a tall slendar spear.
Richard's son was Edmund and ... in the old Abbey of Jerpoint, ... there is a coffin
shaped slab in one of the sepulchral niches in the chancel, to which it was
removed from its original position beneath the tower. It bears a raised eight
pointed cross, a shield bearing the arms of the Passion, and another with
the arms of Walsh of Castle Hale. There is rich foliage ornamentation. Some
of the letters of the inscription are obliterated. It reads, in old English
(Here lies Edmund Walsh and Johanna Butler
his wife. On whose souls God have mercy. A.D. 1476).
Other monuments include that of Robert Walsh, who died December 8, 1501,
and his wife Katherine Power, as well as that of Walter Brenagh (Walsh) chief captain
of his nation, and Katherine Bulter, his wife. The position of these monuments
bears testimony to the gratitude of the monks for the munificent gifts of
Richard Walsh, and the tombs themselves, the most notable on the Abbey except
two effigial monuments bearing the figures of Bishop Felix O'Dulany and
William, Bishop of Cork, indicate past all misunderstanding the importance
of the Castle Hale family of Walsh in the Barony of Knocktopher at the end
of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Source: Walsh 1170-1690
In the southern mountain regions of County Kilkenny, the complex
hierarchical territories of the Walsh family (the
Lords of the Mountain) extend right across the county from Tibberaghny in
the west to near Rosbercon in the east. Here Robert Walsh alone held
over 10,000 acres. Other key centres in this upland region were manned by
members of the extended kingroup of the Walshes. This kinship strategy was
also characteristic of all the major families in Tipperary, Kilkenny and
elsewhere, revealing the interweaving of 'Gaelic' and 'feudal' strategies of
land management and social control. The remainder of the south is dominated
by long established landed families: the Forstalls dominate in the parishes
of Ballygurrim and Kilmakevoge; the Fitzgeralds are lords of Brownsford and
Gurteen, William Gaule holds 1,631 acres around Dunkitt and Gaulskill; Edmund
Dalton, near Piltown, controls 2,179 acres; while the families like the Denns
and the Freneys are also strongly represented.
Prior to the confiscation of Catholic lands during Oliver Cromwell's
campaign into Ireland from 1649 to 1652, the Walsh families controlled
over 19,000 acres in southern County Kilkenny. The major share was held
by Robert Walsh, with smaller sections held by Thomas Walsh, Piers Walsh,
William Walsh, Richard Walsh and Philip Walsh. In the 1660's Robert Walsh
possessed about 5,300 acres by having some of his lands restored. By 1703,
the Williamite confiscations took the last 1,675 acres held by Robert Walsh.
The map above represents some of the Walsh land holdings. For a more detailed
listing, see Confiscations.
Source: Kilkenny History and Society
extensive dairies are in the barony of Iverk and principally around the
Walsh mountains: this tract has a good depth of soil, much inclined to
grass. As late as the close of the last century, the principal family
residing in it consisted of five branches, holding among them more than
2,000 acres; they retained a remarkable degree of clanship, and were very
comfortable and hospitable. But from the
practice of subdividing the land amongst their descendants, the farms
have become very small and the occupiers poor. The land, however, is much
improved: the chief crops are oats and potatoes, and great numbers of
cattle and pigs are bred here. The milch cows are principally fed on
potatoes during the summer, and the butter is of a superior quality, and
brings a good price both at Waterford and Kilkenny, whence it is exported
to England. The pigs are mostly fed with buttermilk and potatoes and grow
to a large size: vast numbers are annually shipped for England, and during
the season the provision merchants of Kilkenny and Waterford obtain a large
supply from the barony of Iverk. Throughout the whole of that part of the
barony which is not immediately adjacent to the city of Waterford, the
population is more or less connected by ties of consanguinity, rarely
marrying out of their own district.
Source: Topographical Dictionary of Ireland