Display Ancestors of
Robert Newcomen		 GD018330    Contact contributor     Contributor Number: 32
Born ABT 1570 at London
Died 16/09/1629
Father: Charles Newcomen
Mother: Jane Nightingale
Married Elizabeth Wentworth

Married Catherine Molyneux
Children.

Notes: Parish of Ballyfermot (i.e., Dermot's town). This Parish is returned in the seventeenth century as containing the town lands of Ballyfermot and Gallanstown. It now contains the townlands of Ballyfermot Upper and Lower, Blackditch , and Gallanstown (i.e. the town of the pillar stone). The only object of antiquarian interest is the ruined church. Ballyfermot Near the ruined church of Ballyfermot, which lies to the south of 2 CON C Palmerston, there stood in the early part of the nineteenth century, a s shown in a sketch by the late Mr. Wakeman, which is here reproduced , a ruined castle. No trace of it is now to be found, and the only remain s of old buildings in the vicinity of the church are a curious brick wal l built with alcoves for the protection of fruit trees, and an artificia l fish pond partly faced with cut stone. It is probable from their name that the lands of Ballyfermot were portio n of the property left after the Anglo-Norman conquest in possession of t he Irish chief MacGillamocholmog, as mentioned under Esker, but the earli est owners of whom record has been found are William Fitzwilliam and Avic ia his wife, who before 1307 assigned a third of the manor of Ballyfermo t to Thomas Cantock, Bishop of Emly and Chancellor of Ireland. After the Fitzwilliams Robert de Clahull, a member of the family to whic h Dundrum then belonged, appears as owner of the manor. He had an only so n Thomas, who died without issue, and six daughters, Johanna, Avicia, wh o married Philip de Cantelupe, Nichola, who married Wolfran, son of 2 CON C Reginald de Barnewall, the owner of the adjoining manor of Drimnagh, An na, who married Philip Fitz Thomas, Alianor, who married John Coterel, an d Alice, who married Richard Coterel. After Robert do Clahull's death, wh ich occurred before 1327, the manor of Ballyfermot was for a time divide d amongst his daughters, but eventualy came, together with the manorof Ba lrothery in the northern part of the County Dublin, which the de Clahull s also owned, into possession of Wolfran do Barnewall’s son, and was hel d subsequently by the owners of Drimnagh for many generations. Amongst other persons connected with the' place at that period were Steph en and his son Richard of Ballyfermot in 1290, and Robert son of Robert B urnell in 1339. The lands of Blackditch then belonged to the see of Dubli n. In 1334, when they were partly tilled and partly stocked with cattle, the y were in the hands of the Archbishop, but a century later, in 1435, the y were leased, under the name of Balimknegan, to Thomas Sanguine, a Dubli n butcher, one of the fields being then described as "the baron's mede, " and one of the boundaries as "the trench," whence arose doubtless the t ownland name Blackditch. The lands of Gallanstown, which formed a manor, were also ecclesiastica l property. In 1441 they were in possession of the Bishop of Killaloe, Th omas O'Ghonelan, but he was found to be "Irish of the Irish nation and a n enemy of the King," and before long the lands became the property of St . Mary's Abbey, which held them until the dissolution of the religious ho uses. About the middle of the fourteenth century the manor of Ballyfermot, toge ther with that of Balrothery, was in the custody of Sir Nicholas Gernon , but later on in that century, in 1392, both these manors appear as poss essions of Wolfran de Barnewall's son Reginald. From that time the Barnew alls are frequently referred to in connection with Ballyfermot; but of th e inhabitants only a glimpse now and then can be caught. In 1395 Richard Butler, who was pardoned for killing one William Horsle y in self defence, was living there, and in 1451 John Barnewall was a res ident. Coming down to Elizabethan times we find the castle of Ballyfermo t occupied in 1562 by Luke Dillon, an eminent lawyer, who afterwards beca me Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and is well known in connection with th e history of his time; and in 1573 by Richard Wespey. At that time portion of the Ballyfermot lands, which in the fourteenth ce ntury had belonged to Robert Burnell and had descended from him to the Bu rnells of Balgriffin, were in the possession of the Crown owing to the at tainder of the Balgriffin family, and were held under the Crown by Thad y Duffe, an alderman of Dublin, who was succeeded in occupation of them b y several generations of his family. Towards the close of Queen Elizabeth's reign the most important residen t in Ballyfermot Castle appears in the person of Sir Robert Newcomen, th e founder of a family which was prominent in Ireland for more than two ce nturies and whose last representative was elevated to the peerage. Newcomen was an Englishman, the son of a Government official in London, a nd came to this country about 1585 in the commissariat service. He acte d at first as deputy to the chief officer George Beverly, and afterward s is variously styled surveyor and purveyor of her Majesty's victuals i n Ireland. His duties were arduous as well as responsible, but Newcomen s ucceeded in overcoming difficulties which arose no less from the 2 CONC s carcity of provisions in this country than from the uncertainty of commun ication with England. Both the English and Irish Councils joined in a chorus of praise of " hi s fruitful success in executing his business," and bore testimony to hi s integrity and discretion. These good qualities led Lord Mountjoy whil e Lord Deputy to select Newcomen as one of his staff on all his expeditio ns in Ireland, and it was said a rare thing in those days-that Newcomen' s name had never been brought into question for any misdemeanour. In 1605 the honour or knighthood was conferred upon him, in 1613 he was r eturned to parliament as member for Kilbeggan, and in 1623, when he had a cquired further distinction as one of the Ulster undertakers, he was crea ted a baronet. Newcomen doubtless owed his advancement partly to the family connection s which he made. He was married three times, in each case under advantage ous circumstances from a worldly point of view, but particularly in the f irst, as the lady was the daughter of one in a position to promote Newcom en’s interests, Thomas Molyneux, the founder of the Castle Dillon family , who came to this country in the same service as Newcomen and became Cha ncellor of the Irish Exchequer. In addition, through the marriages of his eldest son and daughter to chil dren of Sir William Ussher of Donnybrook, Newcomen was allied to that pow erful and widespreading family. On his death in 1629 Sir Robert Newcomen was succeeded at Ballyfermot b y his eldest son, who bore the name of his old chief, Beverly. Sir Beverl y Newcomen had entered the army at an early age. At that period the nav y drew its officers from the land force, and before long Sir Beverly Newc omen was attracted to the sea service and became commander of the ships g uarding the Irish coasts. He is said to have possessed great knowledge of these seas and to have ba nished the pirates by whom they were then infested. Owing to the high rep utation which he obtained as a bold and energetic officer he received th e honour of knighthood and was appointed admiral of Ireland. In spite o f what seems to have been, judging from his letters, a defective 2 CONC e ducation even for those times, Newcomen took a leading place in civil a s well as in military affairs, and sat in the Irish parliament, first wit h his father for Kilbeggan and afterwards for Tralee. When engaged in sounding Waterford harbour in 1637 Sir Beverly met an unt imely fate and was drowned. By his wife Margaret Ussher he had two childr en, a son who was drowned with him, and a daughter who succeeded him at B allyfermot. She was twice married, first as his second wife to the eldest son of Si r William Parsons, one of the Lords Justices at the time of the rebellion , who has been already mentioned in this history, and will be again 2 CON C referred to in connection with the parish of Clondalkin in which he ha d a residence; and secondly to Sir Hubert Adrian, who was mayor of Dubli n in the Restoration year 1660, and seems to have then assumed the additi onal name of Verveer. He died in 1665, and subsequently we find his wido w involved in litigation with a mortgagee regarding Ballyfermot. Besides the Castle of Ballyfermot, which was rated as containing ten hear ths and as occupied by Sir Hubert Adrian-Verveer, there were about the ti me of the Restoration some twenty other houses in the parish, the populat ion of which was returned as about ninety. Only two of these houses conta ined more than one hearth; one of them, a castle like house with the ruin s of a gate house near it, on the lands of Gallanstown, was occupied by R ichard Styles and subsequently by "the widow Waterhouse," and the other w as occupied by William Carden. Before that time the Barnewalls had lost all interest in the Ballyfermo t lands, and besides the Adrian-Verveers, Lady Ryves, widow of Sir Willia m Ryves, who has been mentioned in connection with Booterstown, John Exha m, and Sir Henry Talbot of Templeogue appear as owners of them. Later on in the seventeenth century Sir Henry Talbot's interest passed t o Sir Thomas Domvile, whose representatives subsequently became the 2 CON C principal proprietors in the parish. The castle appears to have decline d rapidly in importance, and towards the close of the eighteenth centur y a school was kept in it by Mr. William Oulton Prossor. Ecclesiastical History The ruins of Ballyfermot Church, although those of one of the larger ruin ed churches in the county, the measurement being some fifty-four feet b y nineteen, display no architectural feature of interest, and indicate th at the structure of which they formed a portion was, like the church of K ilmactalway, of late date, with possibly more than one predecessor on it s site. The advowson of the church, which is said to have been dedicate d to St. Laurence, was in the thirteenth century in the possession of th e adjacent Priory of St. John of Jerusalem at Kilmainham, and so remaine d until the dissolution of that house in the sixteenth century. Subsequently the tithes were leased by the Crown to various lay owners, i ncluding in 1608 James Hamilton, Viscount Clandeboy, by whom they were as signed to Sir Edward Blayney of Monaghan. There is no record to show th e condition of the church at that time, but it was presumably in repair , as there appear in charge of it in 1615 the Rev. Simon Swayne, in 162 8 the Rev. Matthew Forster, in 1629 the Rev. John Lenox, in 1639 the Rev . Thomas Humphries, and in 1643 the Rev Gilbert Deane. After the Restorat ion it does not appear to have been used. Parish of Ballyfermot (i.e., Dermot's town). This Parish is returned in the seventeenth century as containing the town lands of Ballyfermot and Gallanstown. It now contains the townlands of Ballyfermot Upper and Lower, Blackditch , and Gallanstown (i.e. the town of the pillar stone). The only object of antiquarian interest is the ruined church. Ballyfermot Near the ruined church of Ballyfermot, which lies to the south of 2 CON C Palmerston, there stood in the early part of the nineteenth century, a s shown in a sketch by the late Mr. Wakeman, which is here reproduced , a ruined castle. No trace of it is now to be found, and the only remain s of old buildings in the vicinity of the church are a curious brick wal l built with alcoves for the protection of fruit trees, and an artificia l fish pond partly faced with cut stone. It is probable from their name that the lands of Ballyfermot were portio n of the property left after the Anglo-Norman conquest in possession of t he Irish chief MacGillamocholmog, as mentioned under Esker, but the earli est owners of whom record has been found are William Fitzwilliam and Avic ia his wife, who before 1307 assigned a third of the manor of Ballyfermo t to Thomas Cantock, Bishop of Emly and Chancellor of Ireland. After the Fitzwilliams Robert de Clahull, a member of the family to whic h Dundrum then belonged, appears as owner of the manor. He had an only so n Thomas, who died without issue, and six daughters, Johanna, Avicia, wh o married Philip de Cantelupe, Nichola, who married Wolfran, son of 2 CON C Reginald de Barnewall, the owner of the adjoining manor of Drimnagh, An na, who married Philip Fitz Thomas, Alianor, who married John Coterel, an d Alice, who married Richard Coterel. After Robert do Clahull's death, wh ich occurred before 1327, the manor of Ballyfermot was for a time divide d amongst his daughters, but eventualy came, together with the manorof Ba lrothery in the northern part of the County Dublin, which the de Clahull s also owned, into possession of Wolfran do Barnewall’s son, and was hel d subsequently by the owners of Drimnagh for many generations. Amongst other persons connected with the' place at that period were Steph en and his son Richard of Ballyfermot in 1290, and Robert son of Robert B urnell in 1339. The lands of Blackditch then belonged to the see of Dubli n. In 1334, when they were partly tilled and partly stocked with cattle, the y were in the hands of the Archbishop, but a century later, in 1435, the y were leased, under the name of Balimknegan, to Thomas Sanguine, a Dubli n butcher, one of the fields being then described as "the baron's mede, " and one of the boundaries as "the trench," whence arose doubtless the t ownland name Blackditch. The lands of Gallanstown, which formed a manor, were also ecclesiastica l property. In 1441 they were in possession of the Bishop of Killaloe, Th omas O'Ghonelan, but he was found to be "Irish of the Irish nation and a n enemy of the King," and before long the lands became the property of St . Mary's Abbey, which held them until the dissolution of the religious ho uses. About the middle of the fourteenth century the manor of Ballyfermot, toge ther with that of Balrothery, was in the custody of Sir Nicholas Gernon , but later on in that century, in 1392, both these manors appear as poss essions of Wolfran de Barnewall's son Reginald. From that time the Barnew alls are frequently referred to in connection with Ballyfermot; but of th e inhabitants only a glimpse now and then can be caught. In 1395 Richard Butler, who was pardoned for killing one William Horsle y in self defence, was living there, and in 1451 John Barnewall was a res ident. Coming down to Elizabethan times we find the castle of Ballyfermo t occupied in 1562 by Luke Dillon, an eminent lawyer, who afterwards beca me Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and is well known in connection with th e history of his time; and in 1573 by Richard Wespey. At that time portion of the Ballyfermot lands, which in the fourteenth ce ntury had belonged to Robert Burnell and had descended from him to the Bu rnells of Balgriffin, were in the possession of the Crown owing to the at tainder of the Balgriffin family, and were held under the Crown by Thad y Duffe, an alderman of Dublin, who was succeeded in occupation of them b y several generations of his family. Towards the close of Queen Elizabeth's reign the most important residen t in Ballyfermot Castle appears in the person of Sir Robert Newcomen, th e founder of a family which was prominent in Ireland for more than two ce nturies and whose last representative was elevated to the peerage. Newcomen was an Englishman, the son of a Government official in London, a nd came to this country about 1585 in the commissariat service. He acte d at first as deputy to the chief officer George Beverly, and afterward s is variously styled surveyor and purveyor of her Majesty's victuals i n Ireland. His duties were arduous as well as responsible, but Newcomen s ucceeded in overcoming difficulties which arose no less from the 2 CONC s carcity of provisions in this country than from the uncertainty of commun ication with England. Both the English and Irish Councils joined in a chorus of praise of " hi s fruitful success in executing his business," and bore testimony to hi s integrity and discretion. These good qualities led Lord Mountjoy whil e Lord Deputy to select Newcomen as one of his staff on all his expeditio ns in Ireland, and it was said a rare thing in those days-that Newcomen' s name had never been brought into question for any misdemeanour. In 1605 the honour or knighthood was conferred upon him, in 1613 he was r eturned to parliament as member for Kilbeggan, and in 1623, when he had a cquired further distinction as one of the Ulster undertakers, he was crea ted a baronet. Newcomen doubtless owed his advancement partly to the family connection s which he made. He was married three times, in each case under advantage ous circumstances from a worldly point of view, but particularly in the f irst, as the lady was the daughter of one in a position to promote Newcom en’s interests, Thomas Molyneux, the founder of the Castle Dillon family , who came to this country in the same service as Newcomen and became Cha ncellor of the Irish Exchequer. In addition, through the marriages of his eldest son and daughter to chil dren of Sir William Ussher of Donnybrook, Newcomen was allied to that pow erful and widespreading family. On his death in 1629 Sir Robert Newcomen was succeeded at Ballyfermot b y his eldest son, who bore the name of his old chief, Beverly. Sir Beverl y Newcomen had entered the army at an early age. At that period the nav y drew its officers from the land force, and before long Sir Beverly Newc omen was attracted to the sea service and became commander of the ships g uarding the Irish coasts. He is said to have possessed great knowledge of these seas and to have ba nished the pirates by whom they were then infested. Owing to the high rep utation which he obtained as a bold and energetic officer he received th e honour of knighthood and was appointed admiral of Ireland. In spite o f what seems to have been, judging from his letters, a defective 2 CONC e ducation even for those times, Newcomen took a leading place in civil a s well as in military affairs, and sat in the Irish parliament, first wit h his father for Kilbeggan and afterwards for Tralee. When engaged in sounding Waterford harbour in 1637 Sir Beverly met an unt imely fate and was drowned. By his wife Margaret Ussher he had two childr en, a son who was drowned with him, and a daughter who succeeded him at B allyfermot. She was twice married, first as his second wife to the eldest son of Si r William Parsons, one of the Lords Justices at the time of the rebellion , who has been already mentioned in this history, and will be again 2 CON C referred to in connection with the parish of Clondalkin in which he ha d a residence; and secondly to Sir Hubert Adrian, who was mayor of Dubli n in the Restoration year 1660, and seems to have then assumed the additi onal name of Verveer. He died in 1665, and subsequently we find his wido w involved in litigation with a mortgagee regarding Ballyfermot. Besides the Castle of Ballyfermot, which was rated as containing ten hear ths and as occupied by Sir Hubert Adrian-Verveer, there were about the ti me of the Restoration some twenty other houses in the parish, the populat ion of which was returned as about ninety. Only two of these houses conta ined more than one hearth; one of them, a castle like house with the ruin s of a gate house near it, on the lands of Gallanstown, was occupied by R ichard Styles and subsequently by "the widow Waterhouse," and the other w as occupied by William Carden. Before that time the Barnewalls had lost all interest in the Ballyfermo t lands, and besides the Adrian-Verveers, Lady Ryves, widow of Sir Willia m Ryves, who has been mentioned in connection with Booterstown, John Exha m, and Sir Henry Talbot of Templeogue appear as owners of them. Later on in the seventeenth century Sir Henry Talbot's interest passed t o Sir Thomas Domvile, whose representatives subsequently became the 2 CON C principal proprietors in the parish. The castle appears to have decline d rapidly in importance, and towards the close of the eighteenth centur y a school was kept in it by Mr. William Oulton Prossor. Ecclesiastical History The ruins of Ballyfermot Church, although those of one of the larger ruin ed churches in the county, the measurement being some fifty-four feet b y nineteen, display no architectural feature of interest, and indicate th at the structure of which they formed a portion was, like the church of K ilmactalway, of late date, with possibly more than one predecessor on it s site. The advowson of the church, which is said to have been dedicate d to St. Laurence, was in the thirteenth century in the possession of th e adjacent Priory of St. John of Jerusalem at Kilmainham, and so remaine d until the dissolution of that house in the sixteenth century. Subsequently the tithes were leased by the Crown to various lay owners, i ncluding in 1608 James Hamilton, Viscount Clandeboy, by whom they were as signed to Sir Edward Blayney of Monaghan. There is no record to show th e condition of the church at that time, but it was presumably in repair , as there appear in charge of it in 1615 the Rev. Simon Swayne, in 162 8 the Rev. Matthew Forster, in 1629 the Rev. John Lenox, in 1639 the Rev . Thomas Humphries, and in 1643 the Rev Gilbert Deane. After the Restorat ion it does not appear to have been used. Parish of Ballyfermot (i.e., Dermot's town). This Parish is returned in the seventeenth century as containing the town lands of Ballyfermot and Gallanstown. It now contains the townlands of Ballyfermot Upper and Lower, Blackditch , and Gallanstown (i.e. the town of the pillar stone). The only object of antiquarian interest is the ruined church. Ballyfermot Near the ruined church of Ballyfermot, which lies to the south of 2 CON C Palmerston, there stood in the early part of the nineteenth century, a s shown in a sketch by the late Mr. Wakeman, which is here reproduced , a ruined castle. No trace of it is now to be found, and the only remain s of old buildings in the vicinity of the church are a curious brick wal l built with alcoves for the protection of fruit trees, and an artificia l fish pond partly faced with cut stone. It is probable from their name that the lands of Ballyfermot were portio n of the property left after the Anglo-Norman conquest in possession of t he Irish chief MacGillamocholmog, as mentioned under Esker, but the earli est owners of whom record has been found are William Fitzwilliam and Avic ia his wife, who before 1307 assigned a third of the manor of Ballyfermo t to Thomas Cantock, Bishop of Emly and Chancellor of Ireland. After the Fitzwilliams Robert de Clahull, a member of the family to whic h Dundrum then belonged, appears as owner of the manor. He had an only so n Thomas, who died without issue, and six daughters, Johanna, Avicia, wh o married Philip de Cantelupe, Nichola, who married Wolfran, son of 2 CON C Reginald de Barnewall, the owner of the adjoining manor of Drimnagh, An na, who married Philip Fitz Thomas, Alianor, who married John Coterel, an d Alice, who married Richard Coterel. After Robert do Clahull's death, wh ich occurred before 1327, the manor of Ballyfermot was for a time divide d amongst his daughters, but eventualy came, together with the manorof Ba lrothery in the northern part of the County Dublin, which the de Clahull s also owned, into possession of Wolfran do Barnewall’s son, and was hel d subsequently by the owners of Drimnagh for many generations. Amongst other persons connected with the' place at that period were Steph en and his son Richard of Ballyfermot in 1290, and Robert son of Robert B urnell in 1339. The lands of Blackditch then belonged to the see of Dubli n. In 1334, when they were partly tilled and partly stocked with cattle, the y were in the hands of the Archbishop, but a century later, in 1435, the y were leased, under the name of Balimknegan, to Thomas Sanguine, a Dubli n butcher, one of the fields being then described as "the baron's mede, " and one of the boundaries as "the trench," whence arose doubtless the t ownland name Blackditch. The lands of Gallanstown, which formed a manor, were also ecclesiastica l property. In 1441 they were in possession of the Bishop of Killaloe, Th omas O'Ghonelan, but he was found to be "Irish of the Irish nation and a n enemy of the King," and before long the lands became the property of St . Mary's Abbey, which held them until the dissolution of the religious ho uses. About the middle of the fourteenth century the manor of Ballyfermot, toge ther with that of Balrothery, was in the custody of Sir Nicholas Gernon , but later on in that century, in 1392, both these manors appear as poss essions of Wolfran de Barnewall's son Reginald. From that time the Barnew alls are frequently referred to in connection with Ballyfermot; but of th e inhabitants only a glimpse now and then can be caught. In 1395 Richard Butler, who was pardoned for killing one William Horsle y in self defence, was living there, and in 1451 John Barnewall was a res ident. Coming down to Elizabethan times we find the castle of Ballyfermo t occupied in 1562 by Luke Dillon, an eminent lawyer, who afterwards beca me Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and is well known in connection with th e history of his time; and in 1573 by Richard Wespey. At that time portion of the Ballyfermot lands, which in the fourteenth ce ntury had belonged to Robert Burnell and had descended from him to the Bu rnells of Balgriffin, were in the possession of the Crown owing to the at tainder of the Balgriffin family, and were held under the Crown by Thad y Duffe, an alderman of Dublin, who was succeeded in occupation of them b y several generations of his family. Towards the close of Queen Elizabeth's reign the most important residen t in Ballyfermot Castle appears in the person of Sir Robert Newcomen, th e founder of a family which was prominent in Ireland for more than two ce nturies and whose last representative was elevated to the peerage. Newcomen was an Englishman, the son of a Government official in London, a nd came to this country about 1585 in the commissariat service. He acte d at first as deputy to the chief officer George Beverly, and afterward s is variously styled surveyor and purveyor of her Majesty's victuals i n Ireland. His duties were arduous as well as responsible, but Newcomen s ucceeded in overcoming difficulties which arose no less from the 2 CONC s carcity of provisions in this country than from the uncertainty of commun ication with England. Both the English and Irish Councils joined in a chorus of praise of " hi s fruitful success in executing his business," and bore testimony to hi s integrity and discretion. These good qualities led Lord Mountjoy whil e Lord Deputy to select Newcomen as one of his staff on all his expeditio ns in Ireland, and it was said a rare thing in those days-that Newcomen' s name had never been brought into question for any misdemeanour. In 1605 the honour or knighthood was conferred upon him, in 1613 he was r eturned to parliament as member for Kilbeggan, and in 1623, when he had a cquired further distinction as one of the Ulster undertakers, he was crea ted a baronet. Newcomen doubtless owed his advancement partly to the family connection s which he made. He was married three times, in each case under advantage ous circumstances from a worldly point of view, but particularly in the f irst, as the lady was the daughter of one in a position to promote Newcom en’s interests, Thomas Molyneux, the founder of the Castle Dillon family , who came to this country in the same service as Newcomen and became Cha ncellor of the Irish Exchequer. In addition, through the marriages of his eldest son and daughter to chil dren of Sir William Ussher of Donnybrook, Newcomen was allied to that pow erful and widespreading family. On his death in 1629 Sir Robert Newcomen was succeeded at Ballyfermot b y his eldest son, who bore the name of his old chief, Beverly. Sir Beverl y Newcomen had entered the army at an early age. At that period the nav y drew its officers from the land force, and before long Sir Beverly Newc omen was attracted to the sea service and became commander of the ships g uarding the Irish coasts. He is said to have possessed great knowledge of these seas and to have ba nished the pirates by whom they were then infested. Owing to the high rep utation which he obtained as a bold and energetic officer he received th e honour of knighthood and was appointed admiral of Ireland. In spite o f what seems to have been, judging from his letters, a defective 2 CONC e ducation even for those times, Newcomen took a leading place in civil a s well as in military affairs, and sat in the Irish parliament, first wit h his father for Kilbeggan and afterwards for Tralee. When engaged in sounding Waterford harbour in 1637 Sir Beverly met an unt imely fate and was drowned. By his wife Margaret Ussher he had two childr en, a son who was drowned with him, and a daughter who succeeded him at B allyfermot. She was twice married, first as his second wife to the eldest son of Si r William Parsons, one of the Lords Justices at the time of the rebellion , who has been already mentioned in this history, and will be again 2 CON C referred to in connection with the parish of Clondalkin in which he ha d a residence; and secondly to Sir Hubert Adrian, who was mayor of Dubli n in the Restoration year 1660, and seems to have then assumed the additi onal name of Verveer. He died in 1665, and subsequently we find his wido w involved in litigation with a mortgagee regarding Ballyfermot. Besides the Castle of Ballyfermot, which was rated as containing ten hear ths and as occupied by Sir Hubert Adrian-Verveer, there were about the ti me of the Restoration some twenty other houses in the parish, the populat ion of which was returned as about ninety. Only two of these houses conta ined more than one hearth; one of them, a castle like house with the ruin s of a gate house near it, on the lands of Gallanstown, was occupied by R ichard Styles and subsequently by "the widow Waterhouse," and the other w as occupied by William Carden. Before that time the Barnewalls had lost all interest in the Ballyfermo t lands, and besides the Adrian-Verveers, Lady Ryves, widow of Sir Willia m Ryves, who has been mentioned in connection with Booterstown, John Exha m, and Sir Henry Talbot of Templeogue appear as owners of them. Later on in the seventeenth century Sir Henry Talbot's interest passed t o Sir Thomas Domvile, whose representatives subsequently became the 2 CON C principal proprietors in the parish. The castle appears to have decline d rapidly in importance, and towards the close of the eighteenth centur y a school was kept in it by Mr. William Oulton Prossor. Ecclesiastical History The ruins of Ballyfermot Church, although those of one of the larger ruin ed churches in the county, the measurement being some fifty-four feet b y nineteen, display no architectural feature of interest, and indicate th at the structure of which they formed a portion was, like the church of K ilmactalway, of late date, with possibly more than one predecessor on it s site. The advowson of the church, which is said to have been dedicate d to St. Laurence, was in the thirteenth century in the possession of th e adjacent Priory of St. John of Jerusalem at Kilmainham, and so remaine d until the dissolution of that house in the sixteenth century. Subsequently the tithes were leased by the Crown to various lay owners, i ncluding in 1608 James Hamilton, Viscount Clandeboy, by whom they were as signed to Sir Edward Blayney of Monaghan. There is no record to show th e condition of the church at that time, but it was presumably in repair , as there appear in charge of it in 1615 the Rev. Simon Swayne, in 162 8 the Rev. Matthew Forster, in 1629 the Rev. John Lenox, in 1639 the Rev . Thomas Humphries, and in 1643 the Rev Gilbert Deane. After the Restorat ion it does not appear to have been used. http://indigo.ie/~kfinlay/ball1-6/Ball4/ball4.10.htm 061003