In Ireland, a feudal barony is a customary title of minor nobility, similar to a title in the Baronage of Scotland. The person who holds an Irish feudal barony is always referred to as a baron. However, unlike peers in the British House of Lords, they did not necessarily hold a hereditary peerage title. As a result, feudal barons were not automatically entitled to seats in the Irish House of Lords by virtue of their barony alone. This distinction was noted by the Dublin Government in 1614, which observed that while many "gentlemen" in Ireland were called Baron, "Never was any of them Lord Baron nor summoned to any Parliament".[1] In other words, the title of feudal baron did not in itself confer membership or voting rights in the Irish House of Lords.
In Ireland, most of the originally-feudal titular baronies disappeared through obsolescence or disuse. The exception being those feudal baronies with a solid root of title, and those held by Irish or British peers. The Lordship of Fingal was granted to Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath for seven knight's fees, "although the lords thereof hold elsewhere in capite", according to the unusual grant in 1208 by King John as Lord of Ireland, who allowed de Lacy to retain custody of his fees.[2] Fingal at the time spread from the River Liffey to the River Delvin, north of Dublin, similar to the administrative boundary of today's County Fingal (minus Dublin City) created from part of County Dublin in 1994. A small number of titular feudal baronies continue to exist either as subordinate titles held by members of the Peerage of Ireland, Peerage of Great Britain or the Peerage of the United Kingdom, or as titles held by grand serjeanty, such as, originally, Fingal. Those few feudal baronies that survive all are considered as "incorporeal hereditaments", and may continue to exist as interests or estates in land, registrable as such upon conveyance or inheritance under the Registry of Deeds of the Government of Ireland, or as titles held in gross as personal rights, and not as real interests in land.
Following a report by the Law Reform Commission,[3] the system of feudal tenure as such, in so far as it had survived, was abolished by the Oireachtas in the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act (no. 27 of 2009); fee tail was also abolished.[4] However, estates and interests in land, including incorporeal hereditaments, continue. Formerly registered or proven feudal titles with a solid root of title, and the submerged feudal titles of surviving Irish or British peers were not affected, and continue to exist as personal rights, now held in gross. However, those obsolete or unregistered feudal titles, and those that lapsed into desuetude after 1662, when the Irish Parliament passed the Abolition of Tenures Act, no longer exist as incorporeal hereditaments, nor as personal rights, and cannot be revived.
An example of a hereditary baronial knighthood that remains in Ireland is the Knight of Kerry.
Some Irish feudal baronial titles have been offered for sale online.[5]
| Title | Family | Earliest record | First known holder | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ards (historically Arde[s] or Art) | Savage (South/Little), Montgomery and Hamilton (North/Great), Hamilton (Middle) | 1226-7 | Robert de Valibus (Comitatus de Arde established under John de Courcy 1177) | [7] | |
| Ballyvoe | Butler | 1614 | |||
| Bargy als Slemarge | Purcell, then St. Leger | 1298 | Walter Purcell | ||
| Birr | Fitzowen | 1335 | Hugh Fitzowen | ||
| Brownsford | Fitzgerald | 1585 | David Fitzgerald | ||
| Burnchurch | Fitzmaurice | before 1218 | Maurice Fitzmaurice | ||
| Castleknock | Tyrrel | c.1172 | Hugh Tyrrel | ||
| Castlemagner | Magner | February 1183 (Castle built);January 10, 1481 (recorded in The Pipe Roll of Cloyne) | William Magunel; David Magnel | ||
| Clabbye | O'Neill | Before 1611 | Conn Mac Shane O'Neill | ||
| Dunkellin (historically Doonkillen) | French, then Dorgan | c. 1170 | Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke (Strongbow) | ||
| Fingal | De Lacy, then Preston, et al. | 1208 | Walter de Lacy | [8] | |
| Galtrim | Hussey | 1374 | John Hussey | ||
| Idrone | le Gros | 1175 | Raymond Le Gros | [9] | |
| Erris (historically Irrus) | Barrett[10] | Before 1605[11] | Sir Edmund Barrett[12] | [13] [14] [15] | |
| Killetragh | O'Neill | 1592 | Hugh (mac Conn) Mac Shane O'Neill | ||
| Kells | Fitz-Thomas, then Bermingham | 1172 | Gilbert Fitz-Thomas | [16] | |
| Kilbixey | Constantine | 1172 | Geoffrey de Constantine | ||
| Killough [and Rathmollen] | Russell | 1316 | Thomas Russell | [17] | |
| Purcell | 1328 | Richard Purcell | |||
| Lune | Misset | 1172 | Robert Misset | ||
| Maynooth | Fitzgerald | 1172 | Maurice Fitzgerald | [18] | |
| Moyashel | Tuite | 1172 | Risteárd de Tiúit | ||
| Mullingar | Petit | 1172 | William le Petit | ||
| Naas | Fitzmaurice, then de Londres | 1177 | |||
| Navan | Nangle | 1172 | Jocelyn de Angulo | ||
| Newcastle Lyons | Butler | before 1600 | |||
| St. Michael, then Wellesley | c.1175 | Robert St. Michael | [19] | ||
| Pormanstowne | Deane | 1577 | |||
| Rathcormac | Power | before 1597 | Piers Power | ||
| Rathdown | MacMillan | 1344 | |||
| Rathwire | de Lacy, then Daniel | 1172 | Robert de Lacy | ||
| Skryne | de Feypo, then Marward | 1170 | Adam de Feypo |
. Bernard Burke. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry. 1847. H. Colburn. 1162.