38 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Eoger, as the grantee of the churches ? I venture to suggest that the answer 

 to this question is to be found in the hypothesis that it was neither to Gilbert 

 nor to Eoger that Ardee was granted by John, but to Peter Pipard himself. 1 

 Gilbert left Ireland soon after our Charter was issued, and died in 1192 ; Peter 

 was disgraced in 1194, and probably died soon afterwards. It is therefore 

 not to be wondered at that Eoger alone of the three brothers appears as lord 

 of Ardee in such documents as we possess. 



"We can now trace the history of the churches of Drumcar and Clonkeen 

 further back than has hitherto been possible. "We learn that in 1188, and 

 probably many years earlier, they belonged to the Bishop of Louth and his 

 chapter. Some thirty years after their surrender to Peter Pipard, the 

 lord of Drumcar was Ealph de Eepentini, a feudatory of Eoger Pipard. By 

 him the Church of St. Fintan of Drumcar was granted to St. Mary's Abbey, 

 Dublin, Eoger being one of the witnesses to the instrument. 2 It is worthy 

 of note that confirmation was sought, not from the Bishop of Louth or of 

 Clogher, but from the Archbishop of Armagh, which proves that the boundary 

 between the two dioceses had already been altered. The confirmation was 

 given by Archbishop Eugenius in his Synod at Drogheda in 1215 or 1216. 3 

 Another confirmation was granted by Archbishop Donat about 1229. 4 The 

 history of the church of St. Edan, Clonkeen, was similar. It was granted by 

 Eichard de Stormi, doubtless another feudatory of the Pipards, to St. Mary's 

 Abbey, Dublin. We learn this fact from the confirmation of Archbishop 

 Donat already cited. In what year the grant was made we have no means 

 of ascertaining. It is interesting to observe that confirmation of both grants 

 was also given by ISTehemiah, Bishop of Clogher (1227 ?-1237), in terms which 

 clearly prove that he still claimed Louth as part of his diocese. 5 In these 

 documents there is a reservation of the third part of the greater tithes for the 

 canons of Louth. But a few years later a controversy arose between the 

 Dublin monks and the Louth canons with reference to the " third part," 

 which the former had evidently declined to pay. On what ground their 

 liability to this due was disputed we are unfortunately not told. If, as has 

 been suggested, the third part was really the quarter episcopal, it was possibly 

 contended that the Priory of Louth, being no longer associated with the Bishop 

 of Uriel, had no claim to it. A settlement was made in 1244, by which 

 Clonkeen was restored to the Priory, and Drumcar remained with the Abbey, 



1 It is to be remembered that Drumcar and Clonkeen are not adjacent parishes which 

 might have been included in the holding of a single tenant. They are at opposite ends 

 of the barony of Ardee. 



- Chart, of St. Mary's Abbey, i. 39. 



3 Ibid., 40, 150. For the date, see p. 155, and above, p. 30, note 12. 



4 Ibid., 153. 5 Ibid., 160. 



