Harristown, Naas South

Harristown (Irish: Baile Anraí)[1] is a townland in County Kildare on the River Liffey 2.5 miles (4.0 km) downstream from Kilcullen,[2] just north of Brannockstown[3] in the civil parish of Carnalway in the barony of Naas South.[1] It is the site of a former borough and manor, and Harristown Borough was a borough constituency sending two MPs to the Irish House of Commons before the Acts of Union 1800.[2][4] Harristown Common is a townland and former commonage north of Harristown proper and separated from it by the townlands of Dunnstown and Johnstown or Dunshane.

Not to be confused with Harristown (civil parish), transferred to County Kildare in 1840 from King's County.

Harristown was a part of the demesne of Castlemartin House and Estate owned by the (Fitz)Eustace family, namesakes of nearby Ballymore Eustace.[3] Harristown Castle on the border of the Pale was fortified in the 15th century by Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester.[5] In the 17th century Harristown House was built near the castle by the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Sir Maurice Eustace. In 1684 (regnal year 33),[6] Sir Maurice Eustace obtained a royal charter from Charles II incorporating Harristown as a borough.[2][4] The borough was a rotten borough with "not one house and but one tree inhabiting".[6] Its boundaries encompassed 100 acres[2][4] whereas the townland as a whole had 618 acres (250 ha). The 1684 charter also established a manor of Harristown, with a court leet, court baron and court of record for 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of land in the townlands of Harristown, Dunstown, Carnalway, Milltown and others.[2][4] After Maurice Eustace's death with no son, his estate was divided between three daughters, corresponding to Harristown, Mullacash and Carnalway, the first of which fell to the eldest daughter, Anne.[7]

Anne's son Eustace Chetwood[8] sold the estate to James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, and his son William resold it to David La Touche, whose son John took up residence in 1783 in the new Harristown House, designed by Whitmore Davis.[2][3][9] Authorised by an Act of the Parliament of Ireland, La Touche enclosed the grounds of the house, building the "New Bridge" over the Liffey to carry the redirected Naas–Dunlavin road[9] (now the R412). Once the borough was disenfranchised by the Act of Union, the corporate officers, who had no functions other than for parliament, were discontinued.[4] The Corporation Book covering 1781 to 1800 is in the National Library of Ireland.[10] In 1906 the Corporation Book from 1714 was in the library of Maurice FitzGerald, 6th Duke of Leinster at Carton House.[9]

In 1837, Samuel Lewis described Harristown as "an inconsiderable village", though there was an Irish Constabulary barracks there.[11] From 1886 to 1947 the Great Southern and Western Railway had a branch line from Naas to Tullow, which had a station at Harristown.[12] The ruins of Harristown Castle were demolished in 1884 to build a national school.[13] Harristown House was partially destroyed by fire in 1891[9] and rebuilt smaller by James Franklin Fuller.[14]

Historical population of townlands of Harristown and Harristown Common, Carnalway[15]
Townland 184118511861187118811891190119111926–200620112016
Harristown 109918771818111185No data7886
Harristown Common 557170891108647421117

References
  1. "Harristown". Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  2. "Harristown". The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland: Adapted to the New Poor-law, Franchise, Municipal and Ecclesiastical Arrangements, and Compiled with a Special Reference to the Lines of Railroad and Canal Communication, as Existing in 1844–45. Vol.II: D-M. A. Fullarton and Company. 1846. p. 295.
  3. "Harristown House, Brannockstown, County Kildare, Ireland". History & Heritage. Kildare Community Network. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  4. Baldwin, Henry (1835). "Harristown". In Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the municipal corporations in Ireland (ed.). First report; Appendix, Part I. Command papers. [23] 27 1. London: HMSO. p. 178.
  5. Lyons, Mary Ann (2000). Church and Society in County Kildare, 1480-1547. Four Courts Press. p. 152. ISBN 9781851824595.
  6. "Constituencies: Harristown". History of the Irish Parliament. Ulster Historical Foundation. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  7. Bunbury, Turtle. "La Touche of Harristown, Co. Kildare". www.turtlebunbury.com. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  8. (Later Eustace Chetwood Eustace.) Sadleir, Thomas Ulick (1912). "County Kildare Members of Parliament, 1559-1800: The Borough of Harristown". Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society. VII: 410. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  9. Young, Margaret F. (1912). "The LaTouche Family of Harristown, County Kildare". Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society. VII: 33–40. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  10. "Corporation Book of the Borough and Town of Harristown, Co. Kildare". Catalogue. NLI. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  11. "Harristown (Kildare)". A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. libraryireland. 1837. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  12. "Growth of Transportation Networks in Carlow: Railways 3: Sallins-Baltinglass-Tullow". www.askaboutireland.ie. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  13. Murphy, Denis (1899–1902). "The Three Maurice Eustaces of the latter end of the seventeenth-century', JCKAS, iii, 7 (), pp ". TextsJournal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society. III: 484–485. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  14. "Harristown House". Heritage. Kildare County Council. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  15. 1871 census Leinster p.230; 1901 census Kildare p.32; 1911 census Kildare p.30; "Census 2016 population for 50,117 Townlands" at Census 2016 Small Area Population Statistics

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