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Palmerstown House
Palmerstown House near Johnstown was home to the Bourke family from the early 1700s to the 1920s. The Bourkes came to live in Kill in 1641. The family were members of the Catholic religion until 1689 but they then decided to follow the state creed (as laid down by law) and became members of the Church of England. Ireland was ruled by Britain at that time and the Bourkes were declaring their loyalty to the British Crown. This change of religion allowed the Bourkes to own land and become members of Parliament. The Bourkes loyalty was rewarded when they were given the titles "Baron of Naas" (1776) and "Earl of Mayo" (1785).
The Bourke family owned several hundred acres of land in Kill and Johnstown and, by all acounts, were good landlords. Richard Southwell Bourke (6th Earl of Mayo) was elected as a Member of Parliament for Naas during the height of The Famine in 1847. It was said that he was "never out of the saddle" arranging relief works and raising funds for victims of the Great Hunger. He remained a Member of Parliament for ten years. He often spoke in the House of Commons on Irish issues, and brought 38 Bills to Parliament, all relating to Ireland. On one occasion he said he "came from a family that cast in their lot with the Irish people". Richard Southwell Bourke was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland - a post he held for three terms - in 1852.
At this time Britain also ruled India. In 1868 Richard Southwell Bourke was appointed as Viceroy of India. He was said to be a hard-working Viceroy for the four years he governed India. However, he was assassinated in 1872, by an escaped Afghan convict, while on a visit to the Andaman Islands. It was reported that " he ascended a hill to look at the sun and died on his way down - knifed". * The Earl's body was brought back to Ireland and he is buried in the graveyard in Johnstown. Legend has it that the Earl's body was immersed in a barrel of rum to preserve it on the long journey back from India. Palmerstown House was refurbished by public donations as a tribute to the Earl.
In his private life Richard Southwell Bourke was very interested in horse-breeding, horse-racing and hunting on horseback. He became Master of the Kildare Foxhounds and did a lot of work for the Hunt. (Up until the 1960s the Hunt used to meet regularly in the villages of Kill and Johnstown). Richard Bourke set up a stud in Palmerstown and sold yearlings each year during the Curragh Races.** During his time as Chief Secretary he brought the Prince and Princess of Wales to Punchestown Races.
Dermot Bourke, the seventh Earl of Mayo, was also interested in politics and hunting. He set up the Co. Kildare Archaelogical Society at Palmerstown in 1891. He wrote papers for the Society as well as a history of the Kildare Hunt. Dermot Bourke was a Member of the British Parliament for 37 years.
In Dec. 1921 an agreement was reached between Britain and Ireland to set up a 26 County Irish Free State. Dermot Bourke supported the Treaty. He was made a Senator of the Irish Free State. However, Civil War broke out in Ireland and IRA members who didn't agree with the Treaty burned down many buildings which they saw as symbols of British rule in Ireland.The IRA burned down Palmerstown House on Jan. 29th 1923 as a reprisal for the execution of six men in the Curragh Prison. Family treasures brought back from India, Africa, America and Sardinia were destroyed. Palmerstown House was re-built by the Irish Free State. Lord Mayo died in London in 1927. He was 77 years of age.
*The Afghan convict was hanged for the murder. Local people believe that the man's skull was brought back to Palmerstown House.
** Palmerstown estate continued to be a stud farm up until its conversion to a Golf course around 2000.
St. John's Church in Kill has a long association with the Earls of Mayo. When it was built in 1821 it was financed by the Earl of Mayo, the Earl of Clonmel (Scott of Bishopscourt House) and Lord Cloncurry (Lawless of Lyons House). There are plaques in the church commemorating Richard and Dermot Bourke (6th and 7th Earls), and Captain Walter Bourke who was killed in Ypres in France (16-6-1915) during the First World War. The church organ was a gift from Lady Mayo (Dermot's wife). She bought it in England in 1875 for 100 pounds. It is an 18th century German organ with the black and white keys reversed. The entrance to St. John's Church Kill.The church still has its original half-door in the porch.
The Bourke family built cottages in Kill and Johnstown for the workers on their estate, and cottages in Kill for "married members of the RIC", the Royal Irish Constabulary. The houses are still occupied but are now in private ownership. One Countess of Mayo designed, built and managed the Dew Drop Inn in Kill.The design is similiar to English country inns. The Johnstown Inn was called the Mayo Arms Hotel when the Earls of Mayo owned Johnstown. It was the second coach stop from Dublin. When "the village wives complained their husbands were drinking too much" the Dowager Countess of Mayo (presumably Richard's wife) took away the Mayo Arms Hotel's licence.
The Mayos were interested in helping to educate the local children before the National Schools were set up in the 1830s. The family provided money to run a school in a house in the village (next door to the current Mace car-park).
Wolfe Tone and The Wolfes of Forenaughts
Forenaughts Estate just outside the village of Kill was home to the Wolfe family. The last surviving member of the family, Miss Maud Wolfe, died aged 88 in 1980. Miss Wolfe moved from Ballymore Eustace to Forenaughts, with her family, in 1910. The family were very wealthy. They owned 1,397 acres of land at that time.
Cousins of the family had an estate near Blackhall in Clane. Wolfe Tone's grandfather was a prosperous tenant on the estate. Wolfe Tone's father, Peter Tone, was a coachmaker in Stafford Street in Dublin (now called Wolfe Tone St.). Peter Tone asked Theobald Wolfe (Clane Wolfe family) to become godfather to his first son. Peter Tone named his son Theobald Wolfe Tone in his honour.
Arthur Wolfe of Forenaughts (Lord Kilwarden) was Lord Chief Justice at the time of the 1798 Rebellion. Wolfe Tone was sentenced to death for his part in the Rebellion. Lord Kilwarden tried unsuccessfully to save Wolfe Tone's life. Lord Kilwarden was later murdered by rebels during Robert Emmet's * Rising in 1803. Robert Emmet planned to attack Dublin Castle and declare an Irish Republic. He hoped to gather 2,000 followers but only 80 turned up. Robert Emmet set off, carrying a drawn sword, at the head of the group who were armed with pikes and blunderbusses. Lord Kilwarden, his daughter Marianne, and his nephew (Rev. Richard Staubengie Wolfe) were travelling home by coach when they met Robert Emmet's group. Some of Emmet's followers dragged Lord Kilwarden and his nephew from the coach and piked them to death. Marianne was rescued and brought to a nearby house.
* Robert Emmet's older brother, Thomas Addis Emmet, knew Wolfe Tone well. They were members of the Dublin Club of the United Irishmen (formed 9/11/1792)
Wolfe Tone, Michael Reynolds and the 1798 rebellion
Rebellions occurred in France and America in the late 1700's. Wolfe Tone, one of Irelnad's most respected Repiblicans, was very impressed by the French Revolution. He liked the French ideals of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity". Grattan's Parliament in Dublin didn't represent Ireland's 3 million Catholics or the Presbyterians in the North of Ireland ("Dissenters" as they called themselves) very well. Wolfe Tone, Napper Tandy and Thomas Russell set up the Society of the United Irishmen in 1791. The United Irishmen had two aims:
* to reform parliament and
* to unite Catholics and Protestants into one nation
Napper Tandy said he wanted to replace the names Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter with the word Irishman.
The Society of the United Irishmen made very little progress so, in 1796, they became a secret society and decided to fight for reform. In December 1796 Wolfe Tone brought a fleet of French ships carrying French soldiers to Bantry Bay. The ships were unable to land due to bad weather and had to return to France (with Wolfe Tone on board).
Local people had seen the ships in Bantry Bay and soon the authorities realized that a rebellion had been planned. The authorities set about putting a stop to the rebellion. The army searched for arms and information in a very ruthless way. Suspected members of the United Irishmn suffered such punishments as : floggings, pitch-cappings and half-hangings. According to Robert Kee in his book "Ireland: A History" (p.75) Athy in Co. Kildare was the first place in which the wooden triangle, on which victims were spreadeagled and flogged, was set up. He quotes an eye-witness:
"There was no ceremony used in chosing victims, the first to hand done well enough... They were stripped naked, tied to a triangle and their flesh cut through without mercy. And though some stood the torture to the last gasp sooner than become informers, others did not and one single informer in the town was enough to destroy all the United Irishmen in it".