Harristown ( ga, Baile Anraí) is a

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

on the River Liffey downstream from Kilcullen, just north of Brannockstown in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

of Carnalway in the

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

of Naas South. It is the site of a former borough and

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

, and Harristown Borough was a

borough constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by ...

sending two MPs to the Irish House of Commons before the Acts of Union 1800. Harristown Common is a townland and former

commonage Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who has a r ...

north of Harristown proper and separated from it by the townlands of Dunnstown and Johnstown or Dunshane. Harristown was a part of the

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...

Castlemartin House and Estate Castlemartin is the name of a historic house and estate, and the townland in which they sit, on the banks of the River Liffey in Kilcullen, County Kildare, Ireland. Formerly a key estate of the Eustace family, it was for many years the home of ...

owned by the (Fitz)Eustace family, namesakes of nearby

Ballymore Eustace Ballymore Eustace () is a small town situated in County Kildare in Ireland, although until 1836 it lay within an exclave (a detached "pocket") of County Dublin. It lies close to the border with County Wicklow. The town's name, which is frequ ...

. Harristown Castle on the border of

the Pale The Pale (Irish: ''An Pháil'') or the English Pale (' or ') was the part of Ireland directly under the control of the English government in the Late Middle Ages. It had been reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast st ...

was fortified in the 15th century by Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester. In the 17th century Harristown House was built near the castle by the

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland (commonly known as Lord Chancellor of Ireland) was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801, it was also the highest political office of ...

, Sir Maurice Eustace. In 1684 (

regnal year A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year of ...

33), Sir Maurice Eustace obtained a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

from Charles II incorporating Harristown as a borough. The borough was a rotten borough with "not one house and but one tree inhabiting". Its boundaries encompassed 100 acres whereas the townland as a whole had . The 1684 charter also established a manor of Harristown, with a

court leet The court leet was a historical court baron (a type of manorial court) of England and Wales and Ireland that exercised the "view of frankpledge" and its attendant police jurisdiction, which was normally restricted to the hundred courts. Etym ...

court baron The manorial courts were the lowest courts of law in England during the feudal period. They had a civil jurisdiction limited both in subject matter and geography. They dealt with matters over which the lord of the manor had jurisdiction, primarily ...

and

court of record A court of record is a trial court or appellate court in which a record of the proceedings is captured and preserved, for the possibility of appeal. A court clerk or a court reporter takes down a record of oral proceedings. That written recor ...

for of land in the townlands of Harristown, Dunstown, Carnalway, Milltown and others. After Maurice Eustace's death with no son, his estate was divided between three daughters, corresponding to Harristown, Mullacash and Carnalway, the first of which fell to the eldest daughter, Anne. Anne's son Eustace Chetwood sold the estate to James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, and his son William resold it to David La Touche, whose son John took up residence in 1783 in the new Harristown House, designed by Whitmore Davis. Authorised by an Act of the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chamb ...

, La Touche enclosed the grounds of the house, building the "New Bridge" over the Liffey to carry the redirected Naas–

Dunlavin Dunlavin () is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland, situated about south-west of Dublin. It is centred on the junction of the R412 and R756 regional roads. It was founded around the end of the 17th century and became a prominent town in ...

road (now the R412). Once the borough was disenfranchised by the Act of Union, the corporate officers, who had no functions other than for parliament, were discontinued. The Corporation Book covering 1781 to 1800 is in the National Library of Ireland. In 1906 the Corporation Book from 1714 was in the library of Maurice FitzGerald, 6th Duke of Leinster at

Carton House Carton House is a country house and surrounding demesne that was the ancestral seat of the Earls of Kildare and Dukes of Leinster for over 700 years. Located 23 km west of Dublin, in Maynooth, County Kildare, the Carton Demesne is a 1,1 ...

. In 1837, Samuel Lewis described Harristown as "an inconsiderable village", though there was an

Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ga, Constáblacht Ríoga na hÉireann; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the country was part of the United Kingdom. A separate ...

barracks there. From 1886 to 1947 the

Great Southern and Western Railway The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) was an Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland from 1844 until 1924. The GS&WR grew by building lines and making a series of takeovers, until in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was the ...

had a branch line from Naas to Tullow, which had a station at Harristown. The ruins of Harristown Castle were demolished in 1884 to build a national school. Harristown House was partially destroyed by fire in 1891 and rebuilt smaller by James Franklin Fuller.

References

{{coord, 53.1367, N, 6.6885, W, type:city_region:IE-KE, display=title Townlands of County Kildare Former boroughs in the Republic of Ireland