Knocktopher
| Knocktopher Irish: Cnoc an Tóchair | |
| County Kilkenny | |
|---|---|
 Approaching the village on the R713 (formerly N10) | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | S534371 |
| Location: | 52°28’60"N, 7°13’0"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 166 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Callan |
| Dáil constituency: |
Carlow–Kilkenny |
Knocktopher (historically Knocktofer and Knocktover; is a village in County Kilkenny. Its name is from Cnoc an Tóchair, meaning 'Hill of the Causeway'.[1] It is in the Barony of Knocktopher, on of the twelve baronies in County Kilkeenny.[2]
The village is on the R713 road between the villages of Stoneyford to the north, and Ballyhale to the south: it was formerly on the N10 national route until bypassed by the M9 motorway.
Knocktopher has two pubs, two shops, a petrol station, a three star hotel, a restaurant and a glass gallery.
History
An ogham stone was erected about a mile south of Knocktopher in the Middle Ages, the Ballyboodan Ogham Stone. A mile to the west was Sheepstown Church.
In 1312 Knocktopher was listed as having four farmers holding between 5 and 74 acres of arable land, and 45 free tenants holding from as much as 2,520 acres of arable land all the way down to a one-house plot. Ninety-seven burgesses held 360 acres of arable land, and there was a settlement of betaghs farming 120 acres of arable land.[3] Knocktopher was home to a monastery, built in 1356 by James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond for the Carmelite friars. Following the implementation in Ireland of the dissolution of the monasteries in 1542, it was acquired by the Kingsland branch of the Barnewall family, who later acquired the title Viscount Barnewall. Its only remains are part of a residence built upon the site. The Carmelites returned to Knocktopher in 1735,[4] where they remain to this day.
The first Baron of Knocktopher was said to be Griffin FitzWilliam, brother of Raymond le Gros known as Raymond FitzGerald. Gilbert fitz Griffin is cited as the second Baron and first owner of Knocktopher Manor. He died about 1203/4. In the early fourteenth century, Knocktopher was owned by a certain Amicia and (successively) her two husbands, Nigel le Brun and Walter de Cusack; Nigel and Amicia had bought it from Sir Walter de la Haye, Justiciar of Ireland, in about 1310. By the 15th century the family of "Walsh of the Mountain" held half of the land in this barony.[5] The lands are believed to have included the castles at Ballyhale, Ballynacooly, Ballynoony, Castlebanny, Castlegannon, Castlemorris, Clonassy, Cloone, Derrynahinch, Earlsrath, Inchacarran, Knockmoylan, Lismateige, and Manselscourt. Their lands were said to have been confiscated by Oliver Cromwell in around 1640, by which time the Walsh families owned much of the southern Knocktopher lands. Most of the remainder of the Barony was then owned by the Earl Of Ormond. In the census of 1659, the total number of Irish in the Barony of Knocktopher was recorded as 1,301.
Knocktopher Abbey was established by the Normans in the 13th Century and was subsequently acquired with its lands by the Langrishe family.[6] Today is a time-share resort.
Sport
- Football: Southend United.
- Hurling: Ballyhale Shamrocks GAA
References
- ↑ Cnoc an Tóchair / Knocktopher: Placenames Database of Ireland
- ↑ Barony of Knocktopgher: Placenames Database of Ireland
- ↑ Mediæval Ireland, An Encyclopedia
- ↑ "The Carmelite Friary Knocktopher". http://www.carmelites.ie/knocktopher.html.
- ↑ "The Legacy of Castlehale Walsh of the Mountain". http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~walsh/cstlhale.html.
- ↑ "Knocktopher: From A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837". http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/K/Knocktopher-Knocktopher-Kilkenny.php.