Kilbride, County Wicklow
Kilbride, or Manor Kilbride, is a village, civil parish and electoral division in County Wicklow, Ireland, located at the western edge of the Wicklow Mountains in the barony of Talbotstown Lower.
Geography
Manor Kilbride village is situated in the eponymous townland at the center of the civil parish, occupying a valley formed by the convergence of the Brittas River and the River Liffey, north of Poulaphouca Reservoir. The valley is bounded by Goldenhill, Cromwellstownhill and Cupidstown Hill to the west with Butterhill and Ballyfoyle to the east. The civil parish covers 11,591 statute acres, containing the following townlands:| Townland | Acreage | Irish name | Earliest record of placename or variant |
| Aghfarrell | 12 | Áth Fhearaíl | 1578 - Agherillin 1605 - Aghferylin |
| Athdown | 1089 | Áth Dúin | 1530 - Downisfford, Downysforde 1655 - Addoone |
| Ballyfolan | 848 | Baile Uí Fhaoláin | 1700 - Ballyfolane* |
| Ballyfoyle | 433 | Baile an Phuill* | 1618 - Ballinfrill |
| Brittas | 245 | An Briotás | 1228 - Bretaschia 1278 - Britach 1260 - Bretag' in le Cowlagh |
| Butter Mountain | 935 | Sliabh an Bhóthair | 1655 - Butter Mountaine |
| Carrignagower | 205 | Carraig na Gabhar* | 1760 - Carrignagower |
| Cloghleagh | 700 | Clochóg* | 1618 - Inchecloghfea 1655 - Cloghoge |
| Goldenhill | 181 | Gualann* | 1760 - Golden-Hill |
| Kilbride | 938 | Cill Bhríde | 1225 - villa Gillebride Ogadereur 1250 - Killbride |
| Kippure | 1450 | Cipiúr | 1604 - Kippoore |
| Knockatillane | 579 | Cnoc a' tSeithleáin/Cnoc an tSaileáin* | 1700 - Knockatalane* |
| Knockbane | 103 | Cnoc Bán* | - |
| Lisheens | 373 | Na Lisíní | 1700 - the Lesseens* |
| Moanaspick | 282 | Móin Easpaig | - |
| Scurlocksleap | 630 | Léim an Scorlógaigh | 1655 - Scurlocksleape |
| Shankill | 1338 | An tSeanchill | 1663 - Sankell |
| Tinode | 1250 | Tigh Nód * | 1248 - Tachewaur 1540 - Tenaud * |
Much of the parish consists of mountain and blanket bog; the boundaries are formed by the southwest–northeast ridge of Cromwellstownhill and Cupidstown Hill to the west, the Brittas River to the north, the peaks of Seefin, Seefingan and Kippure to the northeast, the River Liffey to the southeast and a small stream to southwest. The parish borders counties Kildare and Dublin to the west and north and the Wicklow parishes of Blessington and Calary to the south and east. The N81 road from Dublin to Baltinglass runs southwest through a valley between Cromwellstownhill and Goldenhill, across Moanaspick and Tinode. The R759 road, one of two routes crossing the Wicklow Mountains, runs southeast above the Liffey through Manor Kilbride, Knockatillane, Cloghleagh, Scurlocksleap, Athdown and Kippure.
History
Prehistory
A cluster of four cairns of Neolithic or Bronze Age origin and a ringfort are located atop Golden Hill west of the village. Two enclosures of prehistoric or early medieval date, and four cairns of Neolithic or Bronze Age date are situated atop the Dowry Hill in Kilbride townland. A pit-burial of likely Bronze Age date was excavated in Kilbride townland. Six cairns of likely prehistoric date are located in the eastern half of Cloghleagh and two are located in Ballyfolan. Passage graves are located atop both Seefin and Seefingan. All are listed in the . A polished stone axehead was recovered from the townland of Knockatillane in 1866.Early medieval
speculated that the townland and parish name originated from an Early Christian church, located in the townland of Shankill under the jurisdiction of St. Bridget's Monastery of Kildare. Ringforts of likely early medieval date are located atop Golden Hill, below Cloghleagh Church, and adjacent to the deserted settlement at Lisheens. A perforated stone, found at an earthen fort, adjoining Kilbride Parish Church presented to the Royal Irish Academy in 1866, may have been a quern stone, presumably from the ringfort below Cloghleagh Church. While there are no visible medieval remains in Kilbride village, the townland of Lisheens contains the site of an early medieval watermill.Anglo-Norman settlement
The medieval history of the area is obscure. West Wicklow was densely forested in the medieval period, with the barony of Talbotstown described as Coillacht in the 12th century and the church of Kilbride described as Kylbryde in the Colach in 1291, when the area formed part of the estates of the Archbishop of Dublin. Despite later references to the manor and lordship of Kilbride, it is unclear if the townland or parish contained a manorial centre; a likely site would be close to the graveyard or in the grounds of Kilbride Manor, but no evidence has been identified.Kilbride church
Price speculated that the graveyard was the site of an Anglo-Norman parish church founded before 1250 and it is listed as a church site in the Record of Monuments and Places. The Catholic church contains a font reputedly from the earlier church. An early medieval cross-slab from the graveyard was presented to the National Museum of Ireland in 1970. In 1630 the impropriations of Kilteel and Kilbride churches were held by the Alen family of St. Wolstan's and the church and chauncels were described as "very ruinous". Foundations of a building, possibly the original church, were identified during the excavation of a grave in the 20th century. A 2009 survey recorded the earliest legible gravestones, from the first decades of the 18th century, clustered around a raised area at the graveyard's centre, possibly the site of the church.Athdown
Athdown contains the site of a church and graveyard and the site of a possible Anglo-Norman motte; the latter site, removed by quarrying, presumably controlled the fording point across the River Liffey to the southwest, marked on the OS maps. The church and motte site were connected by a lane, also visible on the OS maps. Liam Price speculated the church was the 'Ecclesia de Villa Reysin' noted in the 13th century extent Crede Mihi. Scurlocksleap, an adjacent townland, may preserve the name of an Anglo-Norman landowner.Ballyfolan
A possible deserted medieval settlement, two hut sites and three enclosures of uncertain date are located in Ballyfolan.Brittas
The name Brittas suggests a bretasche, an earth and timber fortification from the first phase of Norman settlement, though such a site is more likely to have been located in the adjoining townland of the same name in the parish of Tallaght.Later medieval
In 1318 the 2nd Earl of Kildare granted the church of Rathmore and its subordinate chapels, with Kilbride and the church of Villa Reysin to the prior of the Hospitaller Preceptory of Kilmainham. The churches of Rathmore and Kilbride and the lordship of Kilbride were held by the Preceptory of Kilteel at the time of its dissolution. The uplands of County Wicklow were a land of war in the later medieval period, beyond the boundaries of the English Pale defined by the fortified settlements at Rathmore and Kilteel to the west, disputed between the Gaelic O'Toole and O'Byrne families who held the Wicklow uplands and the settled communities of the lowlands. The Alen family of St. Wolstans held a lease of the preceptory and its possessions from at least 1539; a lease of the preceptory dated 12 July 1539 describes Thomas Alen as of Kilheele. The preceptory's possessions included the "Lordship of Kilbride". The status of the area as a marchland is noted in an early grant:Large areas of west Wicklow nominally held by the Earls of Ormond were occupied by the O'Tooles in the 15th century. The 8th Earl of Kildare, who held the adjacent manor of Rathmore, claimed these lands using a statute of 1482 allowing occupation of uninhabited lands. A tower house at Threecastles in Blessington parish, three kilometres west of Kilbride, controlling a fording point across the River Liffey, may have been built by the Earl before his death in 1513 to protect the territory against the O'Tooles. In 1524 the 8th Earl of Ormond seized Threecastles and installed a garrison in response to the Fitzgeralds' murder of Sir Robert Talbot. In 1538 a force under John Kelway, Constable of Rathmore, was ambushed and slain at Threecastles by a force under Turlough O'Toole. Turlough's son, Brian O'Toole of Powerscourt, sheriff of Dublin, defeated an alliance between FitzGerald rebels and the O'Tooles of Imaal at Threecastles in 1547. The Annals of the Four Masters describes the battle:
An entry in Friar Clyn's Annals of Ireland suggests Kilbride was one of a number of settlements on the borders of the Pale raided and burnt by Rory O'More in 1577.