Knocktopher (historically Knocktofer and Knocktover; ) is a village in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is situated on the R713 road between the villages of Stoneyford to the north, and Ballyhale to the south. It was formerly situated on the N10 national route until being bypassed by the M9 motorway. It is also a civil parish in the eponymous barony of Knocktopher.
The village has two pubs, two shops, a petrol station, a three star hotel, a restaurant and a glass gallery. Knocktopher is also one of 12 baronies in the county.
History
An ogham stone was erected about a mile south of Knocktopher in the medieval period: see Ballyboodan Ogham Stone. A mile to the west was Sheepstown Church.
In 1312 it was listed as having four farmers holding between 5 and 74 acres of arable land, and 45 free tenants holding from as much as 2,520 acres of arable land all the way down to a one-house plot. Ninety-seven burgesses held 360 acres of arable land, and there was a settlement of betaghs farming 120 acres of arable land. Knocktopher was home to a monastery, built in 1356 by James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond for the Carmelite friars. Following the implementation in Ireland of the dissolution of the monasteries in 1542, it was acquired by the Kingsland branch of the Barnewall family, who later acquired the title Viscount Barnewall. Its only remains are part of a residence built upon the site. The Carmelites returned to Knocktopher in 1735, where they remain to this day.
Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the Barony of Knocktopher was created. The first baron was said to be Griffin FitzWilliam, brother of Raymond le Gros known as Raymond FitzGerald. Gilbert fitz Griffin is cited as the 2nd Baron of Knocktopher and first owner of Knocktopher Manor. He died about 1203/4. In the early fourteenth century Knocktopher was owned by a certain Amicia and (successively) her two husbands, Nigel le Brun and Walter de Cusack; Nigel and Amicia had bought it from Sir Walter de la Haye, Justiciar of Ireland, in about 1310. By the 15th century the family of "Walsh of the Mountain" held half of the land in this barony. The lands are believed to have included the castles at Ballyhale, Ballynacooly, Ballynoony, Castlebanny, Castlegannon, Castlemorris, Clonassy, Cloone, Derrynahinch, Earlsrath, Inchacarran, Knockmoylan, Lismateige, and Manselscourt as well as civil parishes of Killahy, Kilbeacon, Listerlin, Rossinan, Muckalee, Aghaviller and Kilkeasy. Their lands were said to have been confiscated by Oliver Cromwell, c.1640, by which time the Walsh families owned much of the southern Knocktopher lands. Most of the remainder of the Barony was then owned by the Earl Of Ormond. In the census of 1659, the total number of Irish in the Barony of Knocktopher was recorded as 1301.
Knocktopher Abbey was established by the Normans in the 13th Century and was subsequently acquired with its lands by the Langrishe family. Today is a time-share resort.
The Langrishes of Knocktopher
The Langrishes of Knocktopher were probably its most famous residents, their influence and impact lasting through the generations to the present day. The Langrishe's seat for nearly 300 years, until 1981, was Knocktopher Abbey.
We are indebted to the permission of Art Kavanagh for these detailed references in the chapter of his book, ‘Langrishe of Knocktopher’, in a book entitled Kilkenny: The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy (pub 2004).
It is believed that John Langrishe (1660-1735) was the first to arrive in Knocktopher. After his first wife, Sarah Sanford, died in 1684 he then married Hon. Alice Blaney, daughter of Harry the 2nd Lord Blaney and widow of Thomas Sandford. Alice inherited the lands at Knocktopher when Thomas died in 1679. After Alice died, John became owner of those lands and married for a third time in 1695, to Mary Grace, with whom he had a child. According to Kilkenny: History and Society (1990), by Willian Nolan and Kevin Phelan, Robert Langrishe completed the outright purchase of the fee simple of their Knocktopher lands of over 800 acres in 1757, lands that had previously been held by them on a lease of lives renewable since 1698. Although John was married five times he had only one child, a son Robert (1706-1770), who succeeded John when he died in 1735. Robert was married twice, and he had one surviving son, Hercules Langrishe (Herky, 1731–1811). Five of the eight Langrishe Baronets were named Hercules, and the current heir to the 9th Baronet title is also called Hercules (born 1988).