Tyrrell familyShortly after the invasion of 1170 the Anglo-Norman family of Terrell or Tirrell, which had gone from France to England with William the Conqueror, came to Ireland, obtaining a grant of the greater part of the barony of Fertullagh in Westmeath as well as the lordship of Castleknock in county Dublin. There or thereabouts thet have remained since, appearing in the records down the centuries in every walk of life but always with representatives in the highest ranks of society. In the Ormond Deeds and other mediaeval records the name occurs frequently from the year 1176 onwards, the most prominent of the many mediaeval officials of the name being Hugh Tirrell, who was seneschal of Ulster in 1224. In some sixteenth century records, e.g. Dowling's Annals and the Fiants, the name is given as MacTyrrell: this is not to be taken as indicating that there was also a Gaelic sept of the name but merely that many families of the name had become assimilated in the Irish nation by that time. The name has been gaelicised as Tirial. ..... more |
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