The park of the Honourable Society of the King’s Inns, Dublin, Ireland, at night, when it is easy to imagine it as it once was.
From the Irish Builder and Engineer, June 15, 1893, this fascinating account of a pleasant park on the banks of the Bradogue river, where Henrietta Street now stands, and of its one-time owner Mrs. Kinborough Piphoe, née Valentine, who reputedly lived to the great age of one hundred and twenty-two years:
“Anterior to the year 1721, there were no streets or houses in that part of the city north of Great Britain-street, except Drumcondra-lane (now Dorset-street), which was the only leading thoroughfare from Smithfield, King-street, &c, to the villages of Drumcondra and Santry.
The ground on which the houses in Henrietta-street now stand, together with the site of that street, and portion of the site on which the King’s Inns Buildings stand, belonged originally to the Monks of St Mary’s Abbey, and was the private garden of the Abbots or Priors of that Monastery. Hence we find it described in old records as the ‘Anchorite’s Garden,’ ‘Ankerster’s Park,’ ‘Ancaster’s Park’ & c.
The Anchorite’s Garden contained about seven acres, and was pleasantly situated on a gentle slope on the banks of the little Bradoge river, which watered it on its western boundary.
After the dissolution of the monasteries in this kingdom by King Henry VII, a grant was made by that monarch… ‘to John Travers, of Monkston, alias Carrykbrenan, by Dalcye (Dalkey), County Dublin, of those houses and places within the precinct of the Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by Dublin, lately called the Abbots Chamber, a garden, the common orchard, the Ayspark (Ashpark), the tanhouse, haggard and barn, two gardens near the haggard, and another garden on the east of the church of the Abbey, and the Aneysters Park…”
The Ancaster’s or Anchorite’s Park subsequently passed into the possession of Robert Piphoe, of Hollywood, County Wicklow… [who] died, leaving issue by his wife, Kinborough… Valentine, an only daughter and heiress, Ruth Piphoe.
In 1610, King James I made a grant (probably after the death of Robert Piphoe) of … [the Aynester’s Park] to Thomas Hibbots and William Crowe, Esquire, to hold them forever.
It appears that notwithstanding this latter grant of Robert Piphoe’s property Mrs. Piphoe did not surrender this land or give up possession of it; because in the following year (1611) we find a ‘Pardon of Intrusion and Alienation) granted by King James I to Kinborough… Pipho, a widow… relative to lands in Dublin and Wicklow counties and Dublin City.’
Mrs. Piphoe died 17th May 1669, aged about 122 years, and was buried in St Michan’s Church, Dublin…. The entry of her burial is thus recorded in St Michan’s Parochial Register”
‘1669, May 19. [Buried] Kinborough Piphoe, widow who was reputed to be about 122 years old, under the counting table at the East end of the South Isle in St Michans Church.’
After Mrs. Piphoe’s death, 1670, a portion of Ascanster’s Park was sold to Sir Richard Reynell, an English lawyer who came over to Ireland after the Restoration, and in 1869 was appointed Lord Chief Justice of Ireland… After his death Ancaster’s park passed to his son, Sir Thomas Raynesll, Bart, from whom it was purchased, in 1721, by Luke Gardinar, who laid out his portion of it for building…
The Evening Irish Times of 30 August 1886 describes Mrs. Piphoe’s property, on which Henrietta Street now stands, as having been called Anchorite’s park “after one of those hermits or holy men of old, who dwelt in some cave or wretched hut, and renouncing everything, were clothed in rags, but had their messengers who supplied them with food… From Anchorite the word was made into Anchorist, and thence corrupted into Ancaster’s…”
An article by James Fleming in the Irish Independent of 22 February 1936 states that, with a view to opening a thoroughfare to the Glasnevin Road, Luke Gardiner also purchased from the Dean and Chapter of Christchurch another portion of land at the top of Henrietta Street, known as Plover Park, which extended northwards as far as the Upper Dominick Street and westward to the rear of some houses on Constitution Hill, and which subsequently became the gardens of Blessington House, built by him on the north side of Henrietta Street.
According to Fleming,
“In 1775 Lord Mountjoy, grandson of the before-mentioned Luke Gardiner, sold his portion of the park to the Bencher’s of the King’s Inns, for a site whereon their present building now stands. The first stone of this building was laid by Lord Chancellor Clare on the 1st August 1795, and it was so far completed as to be opened for use in 1798.”
The Evening Irish Times article describes Plover Park as only the northern half of what is now the King’s Inns Park, referencing another area of land immediately southwards of it also belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Christchurch, which formed the gardens of the Primate’s House on the south side of Henrietta Street, and on which stood a dovecote. The Primate’s gardens, as they were known, were separated from the gardens of Blessington House by a boundary wall, removed when, in 1802, the Benchers purchased this area as a site for the office of the Registry of Deeds.
The two areas of land together, Plover Park and the Primate Garden, now form the site of the King’s Inns Park shown in the photo at the start of this post.
More on another long-lived member of St Michan’s congregation here.
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