42 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



From the foregoing, it is clear that the citizens of Dublin and St. 

 Thomas' Abbey had had contests over the water supply derived from 

 the Poddle, prior to the construction of the watercourse from the 

 Dodder, and though, with the sanction of the Justiciary, a solemn 

 agreement had been entered into between the parties, for the 

 purpose of meeting such differences and difficulties as might arise 

 under the new arrangements, the citizens appear to have violated 

 their part of the compact, and infringed on the undoubted rights 

 and privileges of Thomas Court. It is matter of history that, 

 until the suppression of the Abbey, this and other subjects of 

 controversy were frequent soxu'ces of litigation between the two 

 bodies. 



In 1258, King Henry the Third and his son Edward, as Lord of 

 Ireland, issued a writ at suit of the Abbey, under which the foregoing 

 inquisition was taken, and the findings of the inquisition may be briefly 

 summed up as follows : — 



The citizens were entitled to take from that portion of the Dodder 

 water appropriated to the Abbey a fixed supply, but in reality they 

 were drawing off double the stipulated quantity and even more. 

 They were entitled to take what would run "per medium mole 

 cujusdam rote plaustri," but as the word wi'itten "mole" (which 

 might possibly be read mete, and which may originally have had 

 a mark of contraction over it) is very indistinct, a perfectly satis- 

 factory conclusion as to the precise meaning of the phrase cannot be 

 arrived at. 



At this early period, a more primitive mode of partitioning the 

 water than that afterwards constructed at the Tongue, may have been 

 used, and the clause in the inquisition may well have reference to this 

 point in the course. In the absence of the agreement, however, and 

 of a more specific description of the locality and surroundings of the 

 spot where the contrivance for limiting the supply was fixed, the 

 precise meaning of the expression must be matter of conjecture; 

 but it seems plain that a cartwheel of a circumference agreed 

 on (implied by the word, cujusdam) was to be the standard of 

 an outlet for regulating the quantity of water to be drawn 

 away. 



A fine of five marks was to be paid for this accommodation, of 

 which three had been discharged, and in addition, a yearly rent of one 

 mark was fixed on, which, up to the date of the inquisition, had not 

 been paid. The jurors assessed the damage sustained by St. Thomas' 

 mills and those of the King, consequent on the excessive with- 



