The Irish standard., 1914-05-23
Huerta. But the churchmen are
known to have protested against
some of the assessments which they
were virtually forced to pay.
LEGEND OF ATHENRY.

LEGEND OF ATHENRY.
Athenry, an incorporated market
and posttown, and parish, partly
in the baronies of Glare. Dunkellin,
Kilconnell, and Tysquin, but chiefly
in the barony of Athenry, county Of
Galway, and province of Connaught,
IL miles (E.) from Galway. and
95k wv. by 81 from Dublin; con-
tanning 1915 inhabitants, of which
number 1919 are in the town, which
is wholly within the barony of Ath-
enry. This place. anciently called
Athnere, is said to have derived its
name from "Ath-na-Riagh,' 1.-The
Kings ford" or the abode of
King" Sir James Ware considers it
to have been the chief town of "An-
terri which, according to Ptolemy,
were the ancient Inhabitants Of this
part of the country. 1t was the first
town established by the De Burgos
and Berminghams, the Anglo-Nor-
man invaders of Connaught, and at a
remote period was surrounded with
walls and became place of import
ance. In the reign of John, Meyler
de Birmingham granted site of
land here for the foundation of a
Dominican monastery, and contribu-
ted towards the erection of the build
ings, which were completed in 1861.
Florence O'Flin, Archbishop of
Tuam, and the Earls of Ulster and
many others were munificent bene-
factors to this establishment, which,
became very extensive and wealthy,
and the chief burial-place of the
Earls of Ulster and all the principal
families of this part of Ireland. In
dulgences for the benefit of the mon
astery were granted by the Pope in
14OO, and in 1923 its church was
burned down; in 1927, some of the
monks obtained license from the
Pope to found two subordinate es-
tablishments; and in 1925 Pope
Eugene Nv. renewed the Bull of Pope
Martin for repairing the church, at
which time there ware 80 brethren in
the monastery. A Franciscan friary
was founded here by Thomas, Earl
of Kildare, in 1464, and chapels
were successfully erected by his wife,
the Earl of Desmond. and O'Tully.
In 1877 the two sons of the Earl of
Clanricarde, called the "Macan-
Earlas," renouncing the submission
which they had recently made to
Queen Elizabeth, assembled their
partisans i'm considerable force and
sacked the town, destroyed the FEW
houses that had recently been built,
set fire to the new gates, and drove
away the workmen employed in re
pairing the fortifications and tn
erecting other buildings, which had
been undertaken by the Chief Gov
ernor. Sir Henry Sidney. From this
period the town remained in a de.
serted condition till 1884, when
Robert Foyle. John Browne, and
other of its former inhabitants petit
toned the Queens Council in Eng.
land for such encouragement as
would enable them to bring over
English artisans and tradesn1en to
settle in the town, to rebuild and i'm.
prove 1t and to support sufficient
force for it's future protection The
Queen, in 1885, directed the Lord
Deputy to grant their request forth
with; and although no record exists
of any such grant having passed the
seal, several buildings were erected
and numerous improvements were
made. In 1896 the northern Irish
invested the town, burned the gates
and forced an entrance; but they
were repulsed in an attack on the
castle, which was bravely defended
and having failed in an attempt te
scale the battlements, they took pos
session of all the wall towers, anG
made prisoners of the inhabitants
who guarded them; they afterward:
set fire to the town, which. with the
exception only of the castle, the
abbey, and the church was again re
duced to aches and from time to time
seems to have been entirely naglect-
ed except by its mediate proprietors
In 1645 the Dominican establish
ment was revived and converted into
a university: and in 1862 a writ of
privy seal was issued on behalf of
the Inhabitants: but the town. which
formerly held the second rank in the
county, never recovered Its ancient
importance. The borough is very
ancient, and probably exists by pre-
scription. From a mirage grant
made to the "bailiffs and honest men
of Athenry," in the 4th of Edw. II.
(1310), it would appear that Cor
poration previously existed; and
writs of the first and some subse-
quent years of the reign of Rich. IL.
show that it then returned represen-
tatives to Parliament. Queen Eliza
beth, by letters patent dated at
Greenwich in the 18th year of her
reign, granted to the portreeve and