Confey,
County Kildare
The castle and
lands of Confey in the extreme north-east corner of Co. Kildare were held for
several centuries by a detached branch of the family, which seems to have
originated from a Nicholas FitzEustace of Dublin. He bought in 1401 the
head-rent of Dowdenstown (q.v.) and Tipperkevin. His son (or grandson) Henry was
the father of James Eustace of Confey who married Elizabeth FitzLeons and
died in 1506. His elder son John Eustace married Elizabeth daughter of
Christopher Chivers of Macetown, Co. Meath. (The other son was Sir Robert, a
priest.) He also inherited property in Dublin including an almshouse and a
house and grounds in St. Sepulchre parish, which he presented to the Vicar. In
1532 he still held Dowdenstown, and died in 1552, leaving by his wife Joan,
daughter of John Peppard of Ballyroan, a son Nicholas. Nicholas Eustace
married Maud, daughter of Sir Thomas Luttrell, and died in 1582 leaving a son
John Eustace, who married Mary, daughter of Richard Fagan, an Alderman of
Dublin. (A younger son of Nicholas Eustace, Sir James, was the father of Joan
who married Richard Walshe of Carrickmines (d. 1619) ancestor of the Walshes of
Kilkie, Co. Clare.) John Eustace died in 1598, both he and his son Nicholas
being included in a list of important men in the County.
Go to this link for additional
information. (James Eustace, the
elder son of John Eustace and Mary Fagan, predeceased the father).
Nicholas Eustace married Margaret, daughter of John Sarsfield of Lucan, and
secondly Margaret Bath. (Nicholas had a daughter,
Catherine, who married
Thomas Chivers.) His son James Eustace married a daughter of Sir
Nicholas Whyte of Leixlip Castle and his wife Lady Ursula Moore, daughter of 1st
Viscount Drogheda. Both James and one of his sons, Nicholas were outlawed soon
after 1641 and their lands were forfeited. At the time of the forfeiture James
had two sons Nicholas and Thomas, and in 1664, Thomas the survivor regained all
the property (which had been entailed) by stating that his father had died
before the forfeiture. This was later proved to be false and Thomas Eustace lost
all the lands except part of Confey, with Balscott and Eyersland just south of
it in Donoghcumpter parish. Of the other lands, Ballycorne (west of Confey in
Laraghbryan parish) went to Benedict Arthur and William Fitzgerald, and the
property near Clongowes Wood to Richard Reynolds.
For
pedigree of the Eustace family of Confey from the late 1300s until the
Cromwellian Transplantation to County Clare
Click here.
Five members of
the Eustace family of Confey were allotted lands in Kilmacduane Parish, County
Clare during the 1654 Cromwellian Transplantation. The Books of Surveys &
Distributions (1636-1703) record that Anne and Martha Eustace were allocated
land at Drumillehy Townland, Kilmacduane Parish, County Clare. The townland of
Drumillehy was the property of Daniel O'Gorman, Caher O'Gorman and Daniel
O'Brien. Also among those issued Certificates of Transplantation were Cisly,
Francis and John Eustace of Confey, Mary Eustace of Blackhall and Walter Eustace
of Coghlanstown. Cisly, Francis and John likely went to Kilmacduane Parish with
Anne and Martha but we have not located a record showing the destination of Mary
of Blackhall and Walter of Coghlanstown. Two centuries later, County
Clare had the largest concentration of Eustace households in all Ireland as listed on
Griffith's Valuation 1845-63. Eighteen Eustace households are listed in
Griffith's Survey as household heads in County Clare
Confey itself was
later shared between Margaret Plunkett, Sir Edward Sutton and James’s son Thomas
Eustace, who was living in 1670 and was probably the father of John of Confey,
who in 1689 married Mary daughter of Richard Flagan but apparently without male
issue.
The ruins of the
castle at Confey still remain, but there are no monuments there or in the
neighbouring churchyard to commemorate the long occupation of the estate by the
Eustaces. By the end of the seventeenth century it had come into the possession
of Lord Archibald Hamilton of Riccartoun and Pardovan, Co. Linlithgow, a younger
brother of the 4th Duke of Hamilton.
These pages © Ronald Eustice, 2007 |