Historic town

The National Monuments Service's description

On the N bank of the River Barrow, with its tributary, the Douske River, running roughly N-S through the town and W of the Cistercian abbey (KK029-018001-) which dominates the SE portion of the town. The abbey was founded in 1204 by William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke and Leinster, though the foundation charter dates to 1207 (Bradley and Manning 1981, 398; Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 133; Stalley 1987, 245). On the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map the High Street is indicated running E-W, W of the abbey, while the Main Street runs northward from the bridge, W of the abbey and E of the Douske River.
It would appear that by the 13th century a town had grown up close to the abbey. In the charters of the Cistercian abbey a grant of land, dated c. 1255, mentions, ‘Baliodowisky’ which has been interpreted as being, ‘equivalent of Owenduff (baile duibh uisge = town of the black water’ (Butler and Bernard 1918, 84). Brooks (1950, 89) suggests that, ‘Baliodowisky may simply mean the town of the monks of Duiske (dubh-uisce, black water) and it is possible that it was the new town of Duiske, just north of Graiguenamangh’.
However, other references in the charters would appear to support the presence of a town at Graiguenamanagh in the 13th century. The ‘Noue Ville iuxta Baruwe’, is mentioned in a reference dated c. 1261, a summary translation of the latin text is given as a, ‘Grant by Sibyl Bremyl, widow, and Susanna, her unmarried daughter, to the convent of Duiske, of their claim upon 15 acres in Kulbrothyn, in the holding of New Town near the Barrow’ (Butler and Bernard 1918, 91-2). In c. 1280 there are three other leases, in latin, referring to New Town (ibid. 105-7). One, ‘granted by Nicholas Abeinion to the convent of Duiske, of half of a burgage between his land on the north and the abbey land on the south, with the adjacent croft in Newtown, near the abbey’ (ibid. 105-6). Another, a ‘Lease by Thomas the Mason, of Cunal, to the convent of Duiske, of half an acre in New Town near the Barrow’ (ibid. 106). The latter lease is witnessed by ‘Elya preposito Noue Ville’, which translates as Elias, mayor of Newtown. The third is a, ‘Lease by Henry, son and heir of Adam Tabernar, to the convent of Duiske, of a burgage in New Town, lying between the two highways, from their crossing to the highway from Idrone, and across to the Barrow’ and it is witnessed by, ‘Ricardo de Sancto Florencio, Waltero Margan, Andrea Tannur, burgensibus predicte Noue Ville’, burgesses of New Town (ibid. 107). In c. 1300, ‘Robert de Hille, son of William de Hille grants to Andrew Tanator and his heirs, a burgage in the tenement of Nova Villa [Newtown] near Barw [Barrow] between the land of the monks on the east and the land of Henry Barbur on the west’ (Curtis 1932, vol. 1, 142 (deed no. 353)).
The justiciar’s court was held in ‘Newtown of Dowisky’, [the new town of Duiske] in 1305 (Mills 1914, 153, 466-7). In 1314 the jusdiciary court was held in, ‘the new town of Dawisky [Duiske]’ with ‘Edmund le Botiller [Butler]’ as the Justiciar (Wood and Langman vii, 317).
The Ormond Deeds (Curtis 1943, vol. 6, 72) mentions a ‘grant to Peter Butler of Graigdowske’ in 1594. In 1618 a patent was granted to Edward Butler of Low Grange for a Thursday market and 2 fairs, on the 11 June and 28 October, in Graigeduiske. (https://www.logainm.ie/en/27222?s=graiguenamanagh, accessed 14 March 2022). In the 13th year of Charles I reign (1638) the manor of Graig was granted to Sir E. Butler (https://www.logainm.ie/en/27222?s=graiguenamanagh, accessed 14 March 2022).
The Down Survey (1655-6) terrier accompanying the parish map of Graige states that, ‘There is on Graige a Castle an Abby and a Mill a ware and noething else observeable herein’, the proprietor in 1640 is listed as Sir Edward Butler (Hibernia Regnum, courtesy of Trinity College Dublin). A town is not depicted on the Down Survey maps (1655-6), only a substantial building where the abbey is located and another castle-type building N of it on the E bank of the Douske River.
The precise location of the medieval borough/town of Duiske/Graige/Graiguenamangh is unknown. The Cistercian abbey occupied the area between the Barrow and the Douske rivers, and it seems likely that the Douske forming a natural W boundary. The medieval town may have developed on the W side of the Douske. The name of the main street, ‘High Street’, suggests that this was the principal street in the town. The Main Street, the southern portion of which appears to cut through monastic remains, appears to be a later development, post-dating the dissolution of the monastery in 1540.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 15 March

References

Brooks E.St. J. (ed.) 1950 Knights' fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny (13th-15th century). Dublin. Stationery Office.

Curtis, E. (ed.) 1932 Calendar of Ormond Deeds 1172-1350 A.D. Vol. 1. Dublin. The Stationery Office.

Curtis, E. (ed.) 1937 Calendar of Ormond Deeds 1509-1547 A.D. Vol. 4. Dublin. The Stationery Office.

Mills, J. (ed.) 1914 Calendar of the justiciary rolls, or proceedings in the court of the justiciar of Ireland preserved in the Public Record Office of Ireland. Edward I, part 2, 1305-7. Dublin. HMSO.

Butler, C. M. and Bernard, J. H. 1918 The charters of the Cistercian Abbey of Duiske in the County of Kilkenny. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 35 C, 1-188.

Wood, H. and Langman, A. (revised by Griffith, M) 1956 Calendar of the justiciary rolls, or proceedings in the court of the justiciar of Ireland preserved in the Public Record Office of Ireland. I to VII years of Edward II. Dublin. Public Record Office.