Baron of Granard & Baron Lehra

Queen Mary and Philip -  grants "in capite" for knights service to Baron Delvin of all Lordships, heritaments, fisheries, mountains,  and Castles of Lehra, The Abbey of Granarde, Granard, Foure, Belgarde,

Citation of Lehra Granard Belgarde Barony Grant

 

On many occasions this monastery was despoiled. First in 1066, when the original institution suffered in a dynastic dispute between the chieftains of Breffney, and again in 1272 when Hugh O'Connor, one of the Kings of Connaught, was at war with the English of the Pale. Two of its abbots became bishops of Clonmacnoise, one in 1398, and the other, John O'Mayle, in 1447. Mention is made of one of its abbots, Cornelius O'Ferral, in the Vatican Papers of Pope Innocent VIII.

St. Patrick erected a church here and placed St. Guasacht over it; his feast is honoured on the 24th January. It is traditionally told that a labourer's cottage at the entrance of the village from Granard, covers the site of this ancient church, of which now nothing more is known.

“At Lerha, in Longford (says O'Halloran), there was an abbey  of Bernardines founded by Richard Tuite, an Englishman, Lord of Granard. The first monks of this abbey came from that of Our Lady, Dublin, of the Order of Clairvaux. Some say this house was founded in 1210. The founder was killed the following year at Athlone, by the falling of a tower, and was buried in Abbeylara.” Here also were buried many of the O'Farrells, Princes of Anghaile.

Abbeylara was an institution of great wealth and influence:“On the surrender of the abbey, the said Richard was seized of two carucates of land with their appurtenances in Clonmore, of the yearly value, besides reprises, of 13s. 4d.; four carucates in Lerha, of the yearly value, besides reprises, of 26s. 8d.; two carucates in Clonecryawe, of the yearly value, besides reprises, of 13s. 4d.; two carucates in Tonaghmore, of the yearly value, besides reprises, of 13s. 4d.; four carucates in Monktown, value, besides reprises, 26s. 8d., and the tithes of corn of the rectory of Monktown of the yearly value, besides reprises, of 40s.; also of a moiety of tithes of the rectory of Granard, of the yearly value, besides reprises, of 26s. 8d., a moiety of the tithes of the rectory of Drumloman, of the yearly value, besides reprises, of 13s. 4d.; and a moiety of the tithes of the rectory of Ballymachivy, of the yearly value of Ios. The rectories of Athlone, Levanaghan, Clonmacnoise, Tessauran, Ballyloughlo, and Reynagh, were all appropriated to this abbey.” “Lease under commission. Dublin, 26 September, IX of Elizabeth, to Sir Thos. Cusacke, Knt., and lady Jenett Sarcefeld his wife, the  tithes of Ballenamanaghe in the Annale, of the lands of lord MacGennor in the Annale (these lands lay to the west of Lough Gowna), of the lands of Mount Carbré, of the lands held by the heirs of Morff O'Ferrall, of all the Maghirt of Granarde, of four granges in Granarde, of the grange of Tonaghmore, of the grange of Rincolle, Cowldony, Clontrall, and Deraghe; the rectories of Dromloman, Ballmakier, Ballekillen, and Strade (Street), possessions of the late monastery of Larra, alias Granarde, near the town of Granarde, in the Annale O'Farrell's country. £13 18s. 6d. for the possessions of the monastery of Granarde, provided they shall not alien their interest without licence of the deputy under the great seal, nor let to anyone unless they are English by both parents, and shall not levy coyn, livery, or other unlawful impositions —consideration 20 morks.”—Fiants of Elizabeth.

The only vestige of remote antiquity worthy  of special  notice is a tumulus at one end of the town of  Granard, said to have  been a Danish rath, and called the Moate of  Granard.  It commands a view of six or seven surrounding counties. Though several ruins of monastic buildings may still be traced, few memorials of their  history have been preserved.  The erection of those at Ardagh,  Lerha  or  Granard,  Clonebrone, and Drumcheo, is attributed to St Patrick. Those of Longford, Abbeyshruel, and Ballynasaggard, were founded by members of the O'Ferral family. Abbey Deirg was built by O'Quin. A house of gray friars, dedicated to St John, gave name to Johnstown. At Lanesborough are some ruins said to have been part of a monastery, but no historical trace of such a foundation there can be discovered. The island of Inchimore in Lough Gawnagh, and those of Innisbofin, Innisclothran, and Innismacsaint, in Lough Reagh, were each at some remote period the site of a religious house now in utter ruln. The castle of Longford, once the mansion of the O'Ferrals, was taken at the commencement of the war of 1641, and the garrison slaughtered after their surrender upon terms. Castle Forbes, in the same neighbourhood, made a gallant resistance during the same period, under the command of the widow of Sir Arthur Forbes, until reduced by famine. Rathcline, placed in a highly romantic position near Lanesborough, was dismantled by Cromwell, and burned in the subsequent wars between William and James. The castles of Ballymahon, Barnacor, and Castlecor, were built to command passes over the Inny. Of these, the last named has suffered, not only by the ravages of time, but by excavations made in order to discover concealed money, imagined to have been buried in its interlor. The seats of the gentry are numerous. Carrickglass on the Camlin, belonging to the Newcomen family, is a fine residence; as is also Castle Forbes, the seat of the Earl of  Granard.  Edgeworthstown will long be noted in the annals of British literature as the residence of the Edgeworth family. Castlecor, the seat of the Hussey family, and said to have been modelled after the round tower of Windsor Castle, is more remarkable for eccentricity of appearance than architectural elegance or domestic convenience. Tirlicken was built by Lord Annaly, near the ruins of a former edifice of the same name, the seat of Sir

The Lands of Lehra - Abbeylara  (  Mainistir Leathrátha  )