Bishop and Chapter, and by Philip Prendergast. By the terms of this deed, in 1227, "the said Philip and his wife, Maud de Quincey, were given the manor of Enniscorthy" in exchange for six stated ploughlands, the former inheritance of Philip Prendergast.

Thus, in 1227, and not before, Philip Prendergast acquired Enniscorthy, and the indenture was subsequently enrolled at the request of Sir Henry Wallop on November 4th, 1595 (Egerton мss., Brit. Mus., No. 75). Philip Prendergast, who was summoned as a baron in 1206, 1207, and 1221, fell ill in 1228, and died in the month of August, 1229, being succeeded as Lord of the Manor of Enniscorthy by his son Gerald.

It is in the highest degree improbable that Philip Prendergast could have built the Castle of Enniscorthy between the years 1227 and 1229. Probably he selected the site and laid the foundation stone, but he certainly never built the castle.

We thus arrive at the year 1229, and the passing of the Duffrey lands to Gerald Prendergast. This Gerald, whose first wife was Matilda, sister of Theobald Butler, was summoned by King Henry III. to the Brittany war of 1229, and paid a fine of sixty marks for relief in homage to the king for his Irish estates on September 10th, 1229 (Close Rolls, 13 Hen. III., m. 4). During Gerald's absence, his Enniscorthy property was held in custody for him and his brother-in-law. Theobald Butler died July 19th, 1230.

Gerald Prendergast returned to Ireland in October, 1231, and took over his Enniscorthy estates. Almost the first thing he did was to obtain a confirmatory deed of the indenture made to his father regarding the manor of Enniscorthy. This deed of confirmation was signed in October, 1231, and the witnesses included William Prendergast, Milo de Cogan, Richard de Marisco, Ralph de Sumery, Robert Wolf, Peter de Staunton, Richard St. Leger, Reginald, Archdeacon of Ferns, Master W. Forest, Vicar-General (Official) of Ferns, &c.

In 1232, Gerald Prendergast founded the Priory of St. John, near Enniscorthy, for the Canons of St. Victor, as a cell to the great Abbey of St. Thomas, Dublin. Not long afterwards he took for his second wife a daughter of Richard de Burgh, Viceroy of Ireland.

Of

Secure in the favour of Church and State, Gerald, Lord of the Manor of Enniscorthy, built the castle between the years 1232 and 1240. course, he sided with his father-in-law in the Anglo-Norman internecine feuds against Richard Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, who was killed in an ambuscade on the Curragh of Kildare on Saturday, April 1st, 1234. A few months later he took some chattels from Anselm Marshall; but on December 23rd, 1234, the king ordered him to deliver up the chattels and hostages, Marshall being taken into the "king's peace." Gerald received a special letter of thanks from the king in August, 1235, for testifying his loyalty, as appears from the Close Rolls (19 Hen. III.,

In 1243, Richard de Burgh died en route for Gascony; but his sonin-law returned scatheless. From the Close Rolls we learn that the king wrote a very complimentary letter to Gerald Prendergast on July 7th, 1244, thanking the Lord of Enniscorthy for all his good services. It would seem that Gerald was determined to fight against the Scots in the early summer of 1244; but as Alexander, King of Scotland, had made peace with the English monarch, his services were not required. The king therefore wrote, "That he may return to his own country, but that he was to be ready for active service in the following summer."

The date of Enniscorthy Castle may, therefore, be fairly assigned as between the years 1232 and 1240, and the style of architecture confirms the historical facts. It only remains to add that Gerald Prendergast died in August, 1251, leaving two daughters, Maria and Matilda, co-heiresses. Maria married John de Cogan, sometime Lord Justice, who in her right acquired the lands of Belvoir and Douglas, County Cork; and Matilda married Maurice Rochford, who in her right became Lord of Enniscorthy, the County Wexford lands being valued at £195 88. ld. This Maurice Rochford was confirmed in the Enniscorthy property on April 20th, 1252, as custodian of the marriage and dower of Gerald Prendergast's daughter, whom he married in January, 1253, and he died in 1258.

After three "restorations," this magnificent castle (which had been leased to Edmund Spenser, the poet, on December 6th, 1581) was almost a ruin in 1898, when it was acquired by Mr. P. J. Roche, J.P., of Woodville, New Ross. During the past two years Enniscorthy Castle has been admirably restored and enlarged by its owner, Mr. Roche, and it is now again inhabited as a residential dwelling.

Miscellanea.

Iniscathay, part of the Diocese of Killaloe.-(Note on Appendix A., p. 126). There is very strong evidence that Iniscathay, or Scattery, was in the diocese of Killaloe in the fourteenth century. In 1358, Thomas, O. F. M., a Franciscan friar of Nenagh, was appointed Bishop of Iniscathay. Three years later the Bishops of Limerick and Ardfert objected to the revival of this ancient See (Theiner). However, Pope Urban V., in 1363, recognised the claim of Iniscathay, and granted the said Thomas, Bishop of Cathays, an Indulgence, applicable to all penitents who, on certain specified days, visited the Cathedral Church of Cathay, dedicated to St. Senan. At this date (1363) the Bishop was in Avignon, at the Papal Court, having gone to get confirmation of his bishopric granted him by Pope Innocent VI. After the death of Thomas, Iniscathay was annexed to Killaloe, but some of its possessions went to Limerick and Ardfert.

On the seventh of the Ides of January, 1390, Pope Boniface IX. issued a mandate to the Abbot of Iniscathay, in the Diocese of Killaloe.

On 4 Ides Dec., 1392, Pope Boniface IX. granted an Indulgence towards the repair of " the Church of the Augustinian monastery of St. Mary the Virgin, Iniscathay [Inysgad], in the Diocese of Killaloe [Laonen.]." ("Calendar of Papal Petitions and Calendars of Papal Registers," Rolls Series.) Thus, at Rome, Iniscathay was regarded as a separate diocese from 1358 to 1370; and when it was no longer an independent See, it was annexed to Killaloe. Anyhow, these two Papal documents of 1390 and 1392 make Iniscathay as in the diocese of Killaloe. This view supports the opinion of the Rev. Sylvester Malone, as given in two papers contributed to this Journal in 1874.-WILLIAM H. GRATTAN FLOOD.

Mr. Flood does not, I think, touch the position for which I contend, viz. that Scattery Island was assigned to Limerick. He accepts the theories published in the Journal of 1874, but he does not even attempt to prove (any more than the author of that paper) by palæographic arguments, the forgery of any of (still less all) the very definite records of the Black Book. He relies mainly on documents produced abroad in a case of confessed fraud and misrepresentation. The claims of Thomas, the fraudulent Bishop, were at once exposed by, among others, the Bishop of Limerick; proving that that prelate had tangible interests in Iniscatha. On Mr. Flood's theory the Bishop of Limerick had no interest whatsoever in the matter. This narrows the evidence to a possible claim to, or even a temporary possession of, Iniscatha Island by the See of Killaloe, and in no way touches my contention that Archbishop Usher is right as to its allotment, and that it (the Island) was certainly held by Limerick in 1201, 1290, 1409, and 1419. Mr. Flood entirely ignores documents

of apparently the weightiest character on the other side. In 1201 the Inquisition of Meyler Fitz Henry (found by twenty-four local men of three nations, and similar to an earlier Inquisition found with equal solemnity and local knowledge) states that Iniscathidch belonged to the See of Limerick. He does not explain the connection of Iniscatha with Rathkeale, the See of Limerick, and the county of Kerry, in judicial records ("Plea Rolls," xix. Ed. I.), nor the mention of "Iniscathy, Limericen Dioc.," 1409. Lastly, till h establishes the (entirely unnecessary) forgery of the Taxatio Procurationum, we must receive the statement, in 1418-1422, that the See of Limerick and Deanery of Rathkeale held Iniscatha. "Ecclesia de Iniscathigh cujus rector, precentor et communitas, Eaglas montin et presentat apud Iniscathigh vicar: et fecit custodem super conventum ibidem." Till these independent and concurring testimonies are discredited, I must continue to hold the views based upon them, and refuse to hold the allocation of Iniscatha to the See of Limerick to be a mere figment supported by forgery.-T. J. WESTROPP.

Kiltoola Church, County Clare.-A recent event shows us that legislation has not superseded the necessity for vigilance by local antiquaries in safeguarding our venerable ruins. I was grieved to find the entire south wall of this ancient church levelled to the ground, and the blocks of its neat pointed door dispersed in a heap of stones stacked against the graveyard wall. I found that, in the spring of this year, local authorities (considered by a recent Act of Parliament to be trustworthy curators of our ancient monuments) employed a "boy," on contract, to deal with the ruin, which he did by demolishing one side (even where not overhanging), and destroying some of the most interesting remaining features of the building. The church evidently dates from the earlier part of the thirteenth century, though I find no record earlier than the Papal Taxation of 1302, in which "Kellsuvleg" appears as a parish church. The parish appears to have been merged into, or superseded by, Inchicronan, possibly when the latter monastery was repaired as a parish church by the Earl of Thomond, in 1615. The church of Kiltoola is pleasantly situated not far from the river Fergus and Dromore demesne. It is an oblong building, 47 feet 2 inches long, and 21 feet 9 inches wide. The east window, which had a plain ambry to each side, was once a beautiful example of the simple but finely built and moulded triplet, but its side lights were closed and a clumsy curtailment of the middle light made in the fifteenth century. These opes were 4 feet 6 inches in the splay. I was unable to measure the light hidden by knotted ivy stems. The details are best shown in the drawings. The whole measured 15 feet 2 inches inside. Two windows occurred at 6 feet 7 inches and 15 feet from the east gable; they were thickly ivied, and their splays were 3 feet 8 inches and 4 feet 8 inches, respectively. The splay of the door

1 The "Custos" of Iniscatha appears in various independent authorities:-MSS., T.C.D., F. 4, 23; the "Red Book of Kilkenny"; and that of 1409, cited by Brady.

was 32 feet, and its jamb 36 feet 4 inches, from the east. It was 37 inches wide, the arch rising 33 inches from the spring. The capitals were defaced, but a neat moulding and beading ran round the jambs and head. The wall was 2 feet thick, and leant outward at the windows. A buttress might have saved it, and, at least, the part with the door might easily have been preserved. This strange "conservation" gives a value to this note, which I took two years ago, none the less that those in the Ordnance Survey Letters are valueless and misleading as to the age and character of the building.

It is discouraging to find such vandalism possible after all the efforts to raise a more healthy interest in our national antiquities. The fact being so, it calls us to greater efforts to protect, sketch, plan, and describe such ruins while there is yet time to do so.-T. J. WESTROPP.

Bog Butter.-The usual hypothesis that this substance was originally deposited in the peat, either for security, or to impart "a peculiar taste or consistence" (Wilde's "Catalogue," R.I.A.), has always struck me as unsatisfactory, and I was surprised lately by hearing a friend, who has lived many years in India, state that the curious custom prevails in that country of burying "gee," or clarified butter, to mark the boundaries of land. My friend informs me that masses of charcoal are also used for the same purpose, and that both substances are often used together. May not our finds of bog butter be primitive land-marks also? and may not this be another link in the evidence which suggests an oriental origin