Adam de Hereford

Adam de Hereford was one of the first generation of Norman colonisers in Ireland.

Naval commander

He was the Norman commander at a naval battle in 1174 when a fleet of thirty-two ships from Cork, carrying armed men under the command of Gilbert, son of Turgerius, who was presumably an Ostman, attacked a group of Normans who had just plundered Lismore.^[1] The Ostmen, who fought with slings and axes, were defeated by the Normans, who fought with bows and arbalests.

Adam is referenced also in the Annals of the Four Masters Cornellin as Dungarvan. Ware annals reference Dungarvan at battle site. Orpen^[2] says that it is not quite clear in which port the fight took place. While he says that Dungarvan is named in the Book of Howth and in Bray's Conquest of Ireland,^[3] he thinks that Youghal harbour was the more likely site.

Land

After de Hereford was given large territories by Strongbow, he granted lands at what is now Castlewarden, along with Wochtred (Oughter Ard), both in County Kildare, to the Abbey of St Thomas in Dublin, leading to the foundation of St. Wolstan's Priory.^[4] In 1219, the Norman landowners, Warrisius de Peche, of the Manor of Lucan and Adam de Hereford, Lord of Leixlip, (Strongbow's right-hand man, and the Norman knight responsible for the construction of Leixlip Castle in 1172) granted to the brethren known as the order of the canons of St. Victor, the lands of St Katherine's, the Prior John Warrisius, Bishop of Meath Simon Rochfort and the Archbishop of Dublin Henry de Loundres are mentioned in the documents.^[5][6][7][8]

Among the lands bestowed by Strongbow on de Hereford was half the vill of Aghaboe.^[9][10] This land presumably included what is now the townland of Rathpiper South in County Laois, where one of his descendants, Pipard, is believed to have been the builder of a castle less than one kilometre to the south-west of Coolkerry Castle.^[11] Although the castle is no longer to be seen, it was marked on the first Ordnance Survey map^[12] and has been said^[13][14] to have been still standing in 1836.

References

1. Mary Leland, "An Irishwoman' Diary", Irish Times, 16 February 1998
2. Goddard Henry Orpen, Ireland under the Normans 1169-1216, (1911), pages 329-331
3. The conquest of Ireland wrote by Thomas Bray and copied by Josiah Jones, a transcript of the greater part of Lambeth Palace Ms. 598, containing the Bray part and "the arms of some of the nobles of Ireland, 1246" in trick, 1744
4. County Kildare Archaeological Society, Journal of the Co. Kildare Archaeological Society and surrounding districts, Volume 2, (1899), page 183
5. History of the Park
6. CALENDAR OF THE PATENT ROLLS PRESERVAD IN THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE EDWARD III A.D. 1327-1330 Great Britain. Public Record Office 1891
7. A HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION, IN ENGLAND AND IRELAND:SHOWING William Cobbett 1827
8. Monografia da Altanum a Polistena territorio degli Itali-Morgeti libro documento, a cura di V. Guerrisi 2021, ISBN 9788824953078Warrisius de Peche
9. Grant by Earl Richard, son of Earl Gislebert, to Adam de Hereford of half the vill of Achebo (Aghaboe) and the half cantred in which the vill is situated, as Dermod O Kelli held them, c. 1172., Manuscript in the National Library of Ireland, Dublin
10. Goddard Henry Orpen, Ireland under the Normans 1169-1216, (1911), pages 388
11. Seosamh Ó Cinnéide, The monastic heritage & folklore of County Laois, ISBN 0954233158, (2003), pages 57-59
12. . Archived from the original on 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2012-10-05.
13. Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, Royal Inauguration in Gaelic Ireland C. 1100-1600: A Cultural Landscape Study, ISBN 1843830906, (2004) page 24
14. William Carrigan, The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory, Volume 1, (1905), page 6