The End of the Old

Usually I avoid reminders of Ireland’s story after the Normans came as I would like to know more about Gaelic culture before then but occasionally I come across a place that draws me into the later period.  

An example is Donacumper, just outside Celbridge on the Dublin Road. It is another of the ‘Domnach’ or’ ‘Donagh’ churches, an ancient name indicating it was founded by St Patrick.

There is little recorded of it early days (maybe because it was just a parish church) and it is best known locally for its cemetery. The ruins of an 1150 church stand half-hidden in trees in one corner. After the Reformation it was used by the COI until the mid-1700s. Parts of it are in comparatively good condition perhaps because it houses the vault of the Alen family. I did not recognise the name but I was to discover they played an active role in bringing an end to the old Gaelic order and changing the face of the country. They were pioneering Tudor ‘Planters’ advancing their family’s fortune in the Royal cause.

Until then English control had been confined to the Pale, a small area around Dublin. Even there many of the powerful families, such as the Fitzgeralds of Kildare, felt more Irish than English. The Reformation changed that and the Alens were to benefit from it.    

John Alen came from a large Norfolk family, five of his brothers settled in Ireland. John started as a lawyer serving Cardinal Wolsey who sent him to Ireland in 1528 to promote the Cardinal's authority while acting as secretary to Alen's own cousin, the Archbishop of Dublin.  

In 1539 he was appointed head of the Commission for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Ireland, He had already received his reward, St. Wolstan's Priory near Celbridge, of which Donacumper was part (the two are joined by an underground tunnel). It was the first monastery in Ireland to be seized during the Dissolution of 1536. The Alen family held it for 216 years and lived in the priory for most of that time but eventually build a separate house.

From early on they were involved in a contest with the Ducal Fitzgerald family who had land just across the Liffey from theirs. John had a role in having Gerald Fitzgerald, 9^th Earl of Kildare, arrested and sent for trial in London. This led to the Earl’s hot-headed son, Silken Thomas, launching an ill-fated rebellion in which John’s uncle, the archbishop, was killing in revenge by Thomas’ followers. That revolt and defeat of the great Irish families marked an end of the old Gaelic order.  

John continued to be a capable servant of the English Crown, he held various offices and spent much of his later years in England.  He is buried in Donacumper church (under the floor!).  

The last of the Alens of St Wolstans made his mark in France as an officer in the Irish Brigade and fought at Fontenoy in 1754 against English troops.  As a result he had to sell his estate in Ireland.

Donacumper may not impress today but not unlike many such places in Ireland it has a story worth discovering. 

Photo: St Wolstans across the Liffey from Fitzgerald’s side.