Confey, County Kildare

The castle and lands of Confey in the extreme north-east corner of Co. Kildare were held for several centuries by a detached branch of the family, which seems to have originated from a Nicholas FitzEustace of Dublin. He bought in 1401 the head-rent of Dowdenstown (q.v.) and Tipperkevin. His son (or grandson) Henry was the father of James Eustace of Confey who married Elizabeth FitzLeons and died in 1506. His elder son John Eustace married Elizabeth daughter of Christopher Chivers of Macetown, Co. Meath. (The other son was Sir Robert, a priest.) He also inherited property in Dublin including an almshouse and a house and grounds in St. Sepulchre parish, which he presented to the Vicar. In 1532 he still held Dowdenstown, and died in 1552, leaving by his wife Joan, daughter of John Peppard of Ballyroan, a son Nicholas. Nicholas Eustace married Maud, daughter of Sir Thomas Luttrell, and died in 1582 leaving a son John Eustace, who married Mary, daughter of Richard Fagan, an Alderman of Dublin. (A younger son of Nicholas Eustace, Sir James, was the father of Joan who married Richard Walshe of Carrickmines (d. 1619) ancestor of the Walshes of Kilkie, Co. Clare.) John Eustace died in 1598, both he and his son Nicholas being included in a list of important men in the County. Go to this link for additional information. (James Eustace, the elder son of John Eustace and Mary Fagan, predeceased the father). Nicholas Eustace married Margaret, daughter of John Sarsfield of Lucan, and secondly Margaret Bath. (Nicholas had a daughter, Catherine, who married Thomas Chivers.) His son James Eustace married a daughter of Sir Nicholas Whyte of Leixlip Castle and his wife Lady Ursula Moore, daughter of 1st Viscount Drogheda. Both James and one of his sons, Nicholas were outlawed soon after 1641 and their lands were forfeited. At the time of the forfeiture James had two sons Nicholas and Thomas, and in 1664, Thomas the survivor regained all the property (which had been entailed) by stating that his father had died before the forfeiture. This was later proved to be false and Thomas Eustace lost all the lands except part of Confey, with Balscott and Eyersland just south of it in Donoghcumpter parish. Of the other lands, Ballycorne (west of Confey in Laraghbryan parish) went to Benedict Arthur and William Fitzgerald, and the property near Clongowes Wood to Richard Reynolds. For pedigree of the Eustace family of Confey from the late 1300s until the Cromwellian Transplantation to County Clare Click here.

Five members of the Eustace family of Confey were allotted lands in Kilmacduane Parish, County Clare during the 1654 Cromwellian Transplantation. The Books of Surveys & Distributions (1636-1703) record that Anne and Martha Eustace were allocated land at Drumillehy Townland, Kilmacduane Parish, County Clare. The townland of Drumillehy was the property of  Daniel O'Gorman, Caher O'Gorman and Daniel O'Brien. Also among those issued Certificates of Transplantation were Cisly, Francis and John Eustace of Confey, Mary Eustace of Blackhall and Walter Eustace of Coghlanstown. Cisly, Francis and John likely went to Kilmacduane Parish with Anne and Martha but we have not located a record showing the destination of Mary of Blackhall and Walter of Coghlanstown. Two centuries later, County Clare had the largest concentration of Eustace households in all Ireland as listed on Griffith's Valuation 1845-63. Eighteen Eustace households are listed in Griffith's Survey as household heads in County Clare

Confey itself was later shared between Margaret Plunkett, Sir Edward Sutton and James’s son Thomas Eustace, who was living in 1670 and was probably the father of John of Confey, who in 1689 married Mary daughter of Richard Flagan but apparently without male issue.

The ruins of the castle at Confey still remain, but there are no monuments there or in the neighbouring churchyard to commemorate the long occupation of the estate by the Eustaces. By the end of the seventeenth century it had come into the possession of Lord Archibald Hamilton of Riccartoun and Pardovan, Co. Linlithgow, a younger brother of the 4th Duke of Hamilton.

These pages © Ronald Eustice, 2007