GRANARD — Moatfield,rathcronan,granard,granardkill

In rolling pasture. The Granard area was granted to Hugh de Lacy by King Henry II in 1172 as part of his lordship of Meath (Mills and McEnery 1916, 177). It was subsequently granted to Richard de Tuit who built a motte and bailey castle (LF010-080001-) in 1199 (Orpen 1911, 20, ii, 89; ALC; AI). The borough may have been established shortly after the foundation of the motte but the earliest direct reference to its existence is a late-14th-century reference to the burgage lands of the vill of Granard (Otway-Ruthven 1968b, 411 no. 51). After de Tuit died in 1211 it was returned to Walter de Lacy (Cal. doc. Ire., 95). When he died in 1241 Granard passed into the hands of absentee landlords (Otway-Ruthven 1968b, 410-11). This area was ravaged by the forces of Edward Bruce during his invasion of 1315-18 (Ann. Conn., sub 1315). This event, combined with the inability of the de Verdons to produce a male heir, natural hardships and the calamities of the early 14th century probably presaged the decline of the borough. The area passed into the control of the Gaelic Irish Uí Ferghail sept in the 15th century. The leader of one branch, William Ó Fearghail, built a castle (LF010-080004-) in 1405 (Ó hInnse 1947, 175). A native Irish market developed in the 15th century (Stat. Ire. 12-22 Edw. IV, 819-21). Irish control lasted until the 1580s when the manor of Granard was leased first to Roger Radford and then, after the end of the Nine Years War, to Sir Francis Shane (Nicholls 1994, vol. 2, 746; Morrin 1862, 251; Pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 489-500). Urban development proper at Granard only began with a series of grants to Francis Aungier, baron of Longford in 1608 and 1620 (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 348, 452). The existing streetscape has a linear street plan and consists of two streets: Main Street and Barrack Street. About halfway along its length Main Street broadens, indicating that it functioned as the market place. No upstanding remains predating the 18th century are evident within the town, apart from St Patrick's (C of I) church (LF010-055001-), which may date to the 17th century (Bradley et al. 1985, 19-20). The precise location of the Anglo-Norman borough has not been identified. It was believed that it was located in Granardkill (see LF010-078001-) but archaeological research excavations carried out here between 2002 and 2004 indicated that these remains probably date to the late 16th and 17th centuries. No evidence to support an Anglo-Norman date for the settlement was recovered (O’Conor and Dillon 2002, 123; O’Conor 2006, 319; pers. comm. K. O’Conor). It is now thought that the borough was sited close to the W of the motte and bailey (LF010-080001-), in Moatfield, at the SW end of the 17th-century town (O’Conor and de Meulemeester 2007, 91; pers. comm. K. O’Conor). Archaeological test excavations carried out in 1999, c. 45m to the ESE of the motte and bailey, yielded no archaeological features, finds or deposits (Delaney 2000, 181). Likewise, nothing of archaeological significance was found during monitoring of ground disturbance on Main Street in 2004 and 2005 (Finn 2007, 251; 2008, 252) and in test excavations at the old schoolhouse at the SW end of the town, off Church Street (Delaney 2008, 252). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 17 September 2013