Blackhall near Punchestown

By Major-General Sir-Eustace F. Tickell

(As published in the Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society; Volume XI1I, No. 6 (1955)

Blackhall, three miles south-east of Naas, still contains the old ruined castle. Unlike Blackhall in Calverstown (q.v.), this was not built by the early Eustaces, but was acquired by an unidentified William Eustace, a juror in 1535, upon his marriage to an heiress, Catherine Archdekin. Their son Oliver Eustace was pardoned in 1583 for his part in the Baltinglass rebellion, but his lands were not restored for seven years. He married Joan, daughter of Thomas Eustace of Mullaghcash (q.v.), and died in 1618 leaving a son Rowland Eustace.

Rowland Eustace promptly made an unsuccessful claim to Gaganstown, west of Ballymore Eustace, asserting his right of "hereditary possession," perhaps through his wife who was a Catherine Eustace. (In his will dated 1640 he asked to be buried in the ancient graveyard of Killsaintlucan, half-a-mile south of Blackhall Castle.) In 1641 he lost (apparently only temporarily) Blackhall and the nearby lands of Newtown with parts of Tipperkevin and Oldtown. Roland Eustace had a daughter Mary who married Robert Archbold, and two sons, Oliver Eustace of Blackhall and Thomas Eustace of Tipperkevin. Oliver had a son Richard, but he did not succeed as the whole estate was finally lost during the Commonwealth and divided between the Crown, Lady Allen and John Lattin.

Today Blackhall is of sporting interest, as the very substantial boundary between it and Punchestown (owned during the last century by the Tickell family) contains the two most famous jumps on the steeple chase course. They figure in several well-known prints, one of which hangs in Lawlor’s Hotel, Naas.

Rowland Eustace Biographical Sketch