Stone and Slate Quarries in the Ormond Deeds

Stone and Slate Quarries in the Ormond Deeds

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

The surviving medieval landscape is full of ruined stone churches, abbeys, and castles. Often these buildings just appear in the documentary evidence as if by magic. But occasionally references are made to stone and slate quarries.

Stone quarry

Sometime in the 1260s, Brother Nicholas de Ros, prior of Kells, made a lease to Gerald Onoel of a half mark of land at Ynchebritan with 15 acres of land in Cnochynnoc for one silver mark per year. As part of the lease, the priory was to have passage rights across the land to their quarry and bring from there whatever was necessary to the church and houses of Killolehan.[1] Killolehan is possibly Kiltorcan church which was held by Kells priory in 1540 and now forms part of Derrynahinch civil parish.[2] The Kiltorcan area is still today (2019) noted for its sandstone quarries and the ancient fossils within the rock.[3]

Kells priory

Slate quarry

In August 1348 Matthew son of Richard Fitz Oliver granted leave to the Prior and convent of St. Mary at Kells to take away slate stones from his slate quarries in Melagh and Carrigmokelagh. The prior could take the slate whenever necessary for the use of their houses for the term of forty-nine years. If Matthew Fitz Oliver or his heirs contravened this grant then Matthew would pay the priory one hundred pounds of silver.[4] Carrigmokelagh maybe the place-name of Carrikmoclagh in Iverk while Melagh equals Methelagh, both of which places were granted, in 1355, by Patrick son of Richard Fitz Oliver to Thomas son of William, son of Hugh the Clerk.[5] In 1379 Walter Datoun quitclaimed Melagh (Metlagh) to James Butler, Earl of Ormond.[6] Later documents give Mealaghmore in the barony of Kells as equal to the Melagh of 1348.[7] Certainly the townland of Mealaghmore was located in the heart of the nineteenth century slate quarries around the passage tomb of Knockroe.[8]

Other quarries

Sometimes quarries are mentioned in the documents without saying if they were stone or slate quarries or some other type of quarry. Such is the case in two documents from May 1315 in which Sir John de Hanstede granted and quitclaimed to Robert de Nottingham, citizen of Dublin, the watermill at Lotereleston, Co. Dublin and the manor of Lucan with all its appurtenances including quarries, marlpits and sandpits.[9]

Sometimes two different quarries were used in the fabric of a medieval building. The parish church at Earlstown was originally built around 1220 using sandstone mouldings for the windows. In the late medieval period these were replaced by limestone ogee headed windows with bars for glazing.[10]

Imported stone

The transport costs of carrying stone overland for a long distance was very expensive. But transporting stone by river and sea transport was relativity cheap. Many important building imported some of their stone materials from overseas. Duiske abbey at Graiguenamanagh used not just local granite and schist stones but also employed yellow Dundry stone from the Bristol area. The River Barrow allowed boats to carry this stone across the Irish Sea and up to the abbey site.[11] It is possible that some of the quarrymen and masons who built abbeys like Duiske were from England.[12] After the Norman Invasion a large number of English, Welsh and Continental settlers made their home in east Leinster, including south Kilkenny.[13] In the early thirteenth century the large undertaking of Kilkenny castle was built with grey carboniferous limestone and possibly some masons from overseas.[14] Limestone was quarried not just for its building stone or stone for sculpture but was used in abundance for burning lime to make mortar for the medieval buildings.[15]

Quarries in not continuous use

The fact that quarries are rarely mentioned in Inquisitions Post Mortem and other medieval documents describing landed property would suggest that quarries were not in continuous use but were opened whenever stone was needed and then left to nature to grow over.[16] In the Gloucestershire feet of fines from 1199 to 1299 a quarry was mentioned only once and that as a geographical position finder for one acre of land.[17] The fact that the Ormond Deeds, running from 1172 to 1603, mention quarries three times is therefore not too bad of a record.

Not every medieval building was of stone

Because of the surviving evidence of stone churches, abbeys and castles one can sometimes get a false idea of what the medieval building world was like. In reality most medieval buildings were made of timber, including important buildings. In 1307 the castle upon the motte at Callan was mostly built of wood with just one stone structure. The main hall was a timber building with a roof of wooden shingles.[18] Callan was an important manor in the centre of the Kilkenny liberty.

Even in the sixteenth century, with its many surviving towner houses of stone dotting the landscape, not every castle was made of stone. In 1549, Sir William Whelan, rector of Listerlynge, owed Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond, £100. One of the conditions of the bond was that with five years of January 1549 William Whelan was to build a timber castle with glazed [windows] and a slate covered roof. The castle was to be surrounded by a ‘wall of green sods’ or a bank of earth, for defence. William Whelan also had to build a bake-house and plant an apple orchard.[19]

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[1] Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, 1172-1350 A.D. (Dublin, 1932), no. 70. The rent was to be paid in Kyllolehan church.

[2] White, N.B. (ed.), Extents of Irish Monastic possessions, 1540-1541 (Dublin, 1943), p. 190

[3] http://kiltorcanquarry.com/about/fossils/ [accessed on 7^th January 2019]

[4] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, 1172-1350 A.D., no. 805

[5] Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume II, 1350-1413 A.D. (Dublin, 1934), pp. 15, 317

[6] Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume II, 1350-1413 A.D. (Dublin, 1934), p. 167

[7] Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume III, 1413-1509 A.D. (Dublin, 1935), pp. 48, 59, 139; Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume IV, 1509-1547 A.D. (Dublin, 1937), p. 177; Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume V, 1547-1584 A.D. (Dublin, 1941), pp. 159, 203, 315

[8] O’Sullivan, M., ‘The Eastern Tomb at Knockroe’, in the Old Kilkenny Review, No. 47 (1995), pp. 11-30, at p. 11

[9] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, 1172-1350 A.D., nos. 504, 505

[10] Shine, L., ‘The Cantred of Erley: a case study of manorial organisation’, in the Old Kilkenny Review, No. (2003), pp. 11-25, at p. 14

[11] Murray, C., ‘The stones of Duiske Abbey, Graiguenamanagh’, in the Old Kilkenny Review, No. 56 (2004), pp. 113-120, at pp. 114, 115

[12] Hunt, J., Irish Medieval Figure Sculpture, 1200-1600 (2 vols. Dublin, 1974), Vol. 1, p. 112

[13] Shine, L., ‘The Cantred of Erley: a case study of manorial organisation’, in the Old Kilkenny Review, No. (2003), pp. 11-25, at p. 23

[14] Murtagh, B., ‘The Kilkenny Castle Archaeological Project 1990-1993: Interim Report’, in the Old Kilkenny Review, Vol. 4, No. 5, (1993), pp. 1101-1117, at pp. 1101, 1104

[15] Murray, C., ‘The stones of Duiske Abbey, Graiguenamanagh’, in the Old Kilkenny Review, No. 56 (2004), pp. 113-120, at p. 115

[16] Dryburgh, P., & Smith, B. (eds.), Handbook and Select Calendar of Sources for Medieval Ireland in the National Archives of the United Kingdom (Dublin, 2005), pp. 230-274. These pages contain a calendar of a large selection of varied medieval documents concerning property and no reference to a quarry.

[17] Elrington, C.R. (ed.), Abstracts of Feet of Fines relating to Gloucestershire 1199-1299 (Gloucestershire Record Series, Vol. 16, 2003), no. 58. The acre of land was located above the quarry operated by Richard Prim in the region around Cirencester.

[18] Clutterbuck, R., Elliot, I., & Shanahan, B., ‘The Motte and Manor of Callan, Co. Kilkenny’, in the Old Kilkenny Review, No. 58 (2006), pp. 7-28, at p. 23

[19] Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume V, 1547-1584 A.D. (Dublin, 1941), p. 27

Walter Dauntsey: a very medieval birth

Walter Dauntsey: a very medieval birth

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

Walter Dauntsey was born on the Vigil of St. Nicholas in 1340.[1] Walter Dauntsey was the third son of Richard Dauntsey and his wife Joan. For some weeks before Walter Dauntsey was born his mother Joan was confined to her chamber. In the chamber she was assisted by the female members of the Dauntsey household, and possibly, by female neighbours of the family.

Joan Dauntsey was married to Richard Dauntsey of Dilton, Wiltshire, sometime before 1321. She had a number of children before the birth of Walter Dauntsey. Her eldest living son was born in 1326 but there may have been previous children who did not survive to adulthood. Childbirth was one of the most dangerous times in the life of a child and the mother in medieval times but there were plenty of other reasons for a child to die before adulthood. It would seem that Walter’s next older brother, William Dauntsey died before adulthood even though he got as far as sixteen years old.[2]

While the women gathered round the expectant mother the men folk departed on their work and play. Even for royal births, where male physicians were usually available outside the door of the bedchamber, the world inside the bedchamber was the exclusive reserve of the women folk. At the birth of Walter Dauntsey, his father, Richard Dauntsey, went fox hunting at a place called La Holte. With Richard Dauntsey were John Everard, John James, Thomas Reynold and Richard de Pound. These men were beaters for the fox hunt. Such was the fun had by Richard Dauntsey and his friends that not only did they miss the birth of Richard’s third son but they also missed the baptism.[3]

This was because on the same day that Walter Dauntsey was born he was baptised in the chapel of St. Nicholas at Dilton. After 1380 a new church, dedicated to St. Mary, was built across the road and the old chapel of St. Nicholas was left fall into ruins.[4] Walter de Park acted as godfather while Walter Shereueton laid his hands on Walter at the baptism. Also there to hear the mass were John Brok, William Athelim and William Bailiff.[5]  

The actual birth of Walter Dauntsey happened late at evening time or very early in the morning.[6] A person called Richard atte Grove was in the Dauntsey house, on what business we are not told, at that early hour. While there Margaret Dauntsey, a daughter of Richard Dauntsey, came out of her chamber to joyfully tell Richard atte Grove that “she had a brother then born, for which God be thanked”.[7]

The birth may not have been so joyful for Joan Dauntsey. She did not attend the baptism of Walter and the fact that the baptism took place the same day of the birth would suggest that the family had a fear that Walter Dauntsey could die before his baptism and if he did the path to heaven would be much harder.

By late evening William Workman had gone from Dilton to find Richard Dauntsey to tell the good news. When he found the fox hunters William decided for fun to extend the tension and drama. He asked Richard Dauntsey “Sir, do you want to hear the news?” to which Richard replied “Friend, what is the news?” And then William Workman told all the company that Walter Dauntsey was born the previous evening and was baptised that day. Richard Dauntsey was happy at such news and gave William Workman 40 pence for his news.[8]

St. Mary church at Old Dilton 

The ancestors of Walter Dauntsey

The districts of Dilton and Bratton form part of the parish and hundred of Westbury. In 1066 Queen Editha, wife of King Edward the Confessor held all of Westbury. After the Conquest, Queen Editha was allowed to keep all her lands until her death in 1075, when they reverted to the crown. Thus in the Domesday Book of 1086 King William held Westbury.[9] The family of Dauntsey possibly take their name from Dauntsey in the hundred of Malmesbury.[10]

In December 1221 Richard of Dauntsey, son and heir of William of Dauntsey, made a fine with King Henry of 100 shillings to have his father’s 4½ hides of land in Dilton and Bratton.[11] Sometime around 1238 the wife of Richard Dauntsey gave birth to a son who was baptised as Richard Dauntsey. This wife of Richard Dauntsey was Mabel, daughter of Elias Giffard of Brimmesfield in Gloucestershire by his first wife, Isabel Musard.[12] Elias Giffard was a son of another Elias Giffard of Brimmesfield.[13]

Before April 1250 Richard Dauntsey senior died. At his inquisition post mortem he held Dilton and Bratton from the king by the service of serjeanty of being in the army for 40 days at his own cost. Richard Dauntsey also held of Avicia de Columbar for 7 marks of rent. These lands were surveyed at 4 carucates and were valued at £32 6 shillings 10½ pence which included the rent charge. Richard Dauntsey senior was succeeded by his twelve year old son, Richard Dauntsey junior.[14]

It seems that Richard Dauntsey senior had a brother called Thomas Dauntsey. This Thomas Dauntsey held one virgate of land at Dilton from Richard Dauntsey junior and one virgate of land from the Prior of Stinentun. Thomas Dauntsey died before January 1265 when he was succeeded by his fifteenth year old son, Bartholomew Dauntsey.[15]

The land of Dilton and Bratton were taken into the king’s hand during the minority of Richard Dauntsey. In about 1261 Richard Dauntsey came of age and recovered his father’s lands. But Richard Dauntsey was unable to manage the estate properly and became a pauper. Sometime after 1261 Richard Dauntsey changed the crown service rent in the hope of helping his financial troubles. The previous crown rent was to keep the king’s larder. Richard Dauntsey changed this without warrant from the king to the service of finding one servant on horseback to serve in the army for 40 days.[16] But such was Richard’s poverty that he was unable to pay the crown rent. Before 1276 the sheriff of Wiltshire was ordered to collect the rent from the tenants of Richard Dauntsey. One of these tenants was Philip Marmion who held one virgate of land which contained 20 acres and was valued at 6 pence per acre.[17]

Richard Dauntsey junior had a son born in 1287 and was named Richard Dauntsey.[18] Richard Dauntsey junior died before June 1315 when his son and heir was twenty-eight years old. The crown service in 1315 was for half a knight’s fee and to pay 10 marks per year to the castle of Sarum. The manor of Dilton was valued at £12.[19] This was a big fall in value since 1250 when Dilton and Bratton were worth £32. It would seem that Richard Dauntsey junior struggled to manage his estate. The land at Bratton was held by Ralph de Maundeville in chief from the king in 1280 and inherited by his son, Thomas de Maundeville.[20]

As said, Richard Dauntsey was twenty-eight years old in 1315 when he became the next lord of Dilton. By 1321 Richard Dauntsey had married a woman called Joan.[21] In 1326 Richard and Joan Dauntsey had their first known child, a son called John Dauntsey.[22] In 1327 Richard Dauntsey became one of the heirs of his cousin, John Giffard of Brimmesfield.[23]

Walter Dauntsey in life

When Walter Dauntsey was so joyfully born in 1340 he had two elder brothers and at least two elder sisters. His eldest sister, Joan Dauntsey married a man called St. Manyfuy and had a son born in 1357 called John St. Manyfuy. His second sister, Margaret, who thanked God for Walter’s birth, married Ralph de Norton, chevalier.[24]

Walter’s two elder brothers were John Dauntsey and William Dauntsey.[25] Walter’s father, Richard Dauntsey died in January 1348 and was succeeded by his eldest son, John Dauntsey.[26] John Dauntsey died on 18^th September 1355 and was succeeded by his brother William Dauntsey. On the day he died John Dauntsey held Dilton manor and a carucate of land at Bratton. He also held land at Turnston and Cheyneston in Herefordshire from Thomas de Chaundos along with more land at Cheneston from John Ragon. The inquisition post mortem for John Dauntsey tells us that William Dauntsey was born in 1339.[27]

As William Dauntsey was only sixteen years old when his elder brother died, the family lands came into the king’s hand. It would seem that William Dauntsey was deceased by December 1362 when the proof of age for Walter Dauntsey was made and for some time before that.[28] When the writ to take the proof of age was issued on 26^th October 1361 the lands of Walter’s inheritance were in the custody of William, Bishop of Winchester by the king’s gift.[29] This would suggest that William Dauntsey never attained his majority before his death otherwise an inquisition post mortem would have been produced for William Dauntsey.

The lying-in chamber at childbirth 

Life after Walter Dauntsey

As previously noted Walter Dauntsey was proved as twenty-two years and more in December 1362 and thus entered into full possession of the ancient family estates. Yet Walter Dauntsey had only a few years to enjoy his inheritance. Walter Dauntsey died on 12^th October 1369 leaving the manor of Dilton, worth 10 marks, to his heirs. These heirs were Margaret Dauntsey, his sister (wife of Ralph de Norton) and his nephew, John St Manyfuy.[30]

The happiness of Margaret’s joy in 1340 at the birth of a younger brother was now turned to sadness at the loss of all her brothers. Margaret Norton died childless in 1388 and Dilton passed by grant to the rector and Bonhommes of Edington and was so held until the Dissolution.[31] In all that time life at Dilton continued on. The very medieval birth of Walter Dauntsey progressed onwards with thankfully better modern conditions and better help for mother and baby alike. Even the men folk are involved and the foxes all over are happy with that.

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[1] Ethel Stokes (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire inquisitions post mortem in the reign of Edward III (British Record Society, 1914), p. 311

[2] C.B. Dawes & others (eds.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem preserved in the Public Record Office, Vol. XI, Edward III (Stationery Office, London, 1935), no. 385

[3] Ethel Stokes (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire inquisitions post mortem in the reign of Edward III, p. 312. These fox beaters often appear in jury lists of other inquisitions in the 1360s.

[4] https://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getchurch.php?id=856 [accessed on 18 December 2018]

[5] C.B. Dawes & others (eds.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem, Vol. XI, Edward III, no. 385

[6] Ethel Stokes (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire inquisitions post mortem in the reign of Edward III, pp. 311, 312

[7] C.B. Dawes & others (eds.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem, Vol. XI, Edward III, p. 299. Richard atte Grove often appears in various inquisitions in central Wiltshire in the 1360s.

[8] Ethel Stokes (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire inquisitions post mortem in the reign of Edward III, p. 312

[9] William Henry Jones (ed.), Domesday for Wiltshire (R.E. Peach, Bath, 1865), pp. 13, 14, 239

[10] William Henry Jones (ed.), Domesday for Wiltshire, p. 211

[11] Paul Dryburgh & Beth Hartland (eds.), Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the reign of Henry III (Boydell Press & National Archives, 2007), Vol. 1 (1216-1224), no. 6/42

[12] J.E.E.S. Sharp (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem preserved in the Public Record Office, Vol. VI, Edward I (Kraus reprint, 1973), no. 78

[13] Edward A. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), p. 214

[14] Edward Fry (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire Inquisitions Post Mortem Henry III-Edward II (British Record Society, vol. 37, 1908), pp. 11, 30. Avicia de Columbar died in 1259 and was succeeded by Matthew de Columbar.

[15] Edward Fry (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire Inquisitions Post Mortem Henry III-Edward II, p. 42

[16] Edward Fry (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire Inquisitions Post Mortem Henry III-Edward II, p. 103

[17] Edward Fry (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire Inquisitions Post Mortem Henry III-Edward II, p. 100

[18] Edward Fry (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire Inquisitions Post Mortem Henry III-Edward II, p. 395

[19] Edward Fry (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire Inquisitions Post Mortem Henry III-Edward II, p. 395

[20] Edward Fry (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire Inquisitions Post Mortem Henry III-Edward II, p. 129

[21] R.B. Pugh (ed.), Abstracts of feet of fines relating to Wiltshire for the reigns of Edward 1 and Edward II (Wiltshire Record Society, vol. 1, 1939), p. 108

[22] E.G. Atkinson (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem preserved in the Public Record Office, Vol. IX, Edward III (Kraus reprint, 1973), no. 22

[23] J.E.E.S. Sharp (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem preserved in the Public Record Office, Vol. VI, Edward I (Kraus reprint, 1973), no. 78

[24] Ethel Stokes (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire inquisitions post mortem in the reign of Edward III (British Record Society, 1914), p. 352

[25] C.B. Dawes & others (eds.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem, Vol. XI, Edward III, no. 385

[26] E.G. Atkinson (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem preserved in the Public Record Office, Vol. IX, Edward III (Kraus reprint, 1973), no. 22

[27] E.G. Atkinson (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem preserved in the Public Record Office, Vol. X, Edward III (Kraus reprint, 1973), no. 230

[28] Ethel Stokes (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire inquisitions post mortem in the reign of Edward III, p. 311

[29] C.B. Dawes & others (eds.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem, Vol. XI, Edward III, no. 385

[30] Ethel Stokes (ed.), Abstracts of Wiltshire inquisitions post mortem in the reign of Edward III (British Record Society, 1914), p. 352

[31] http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=16096 [accessed on 24 March 2014]