Leighsbrook, Navan, Co Meath, Ireland
Peter Gilroy lived at Leighsbrook which gets its name from a stream which flows along the Commons Rd. but which is piped at Dan Shaw Road, through Parnell Park, McDermott Villas, O'Mahonys, Leighsbrook and Circular Road and finally into the River Boyne. During the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14), in the words of Father Dean Cogan's great work " The Diocese of Meath Ancient and Modern " consists of three volumes having a total of 1,668 pages, published in Dublin between 1862 and 1870.
Peter Gilroy lived at Leighsbrook which gets its name from a stream which flows along the Commons Rd. but which is piped at Dan Shaw Road, through Parnell Park, McDermott Villas, O'Mahonys, Leighsbrook and Circular Road and finally into the River Boyne. During the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14), in the words of Father Dean Cogan's great work " The Diocese of Meath Ancient and Modern " consists of three volumes having a total of 1,668 pages, published in Dublin between 1862 and 1870.
"...a little mudwalled chapel was erected at Leighsbrook, separated from Leighsbrook House, the present residence of the Sisters of Mercy, by a stream. In this humble temple the Catholics of Navan worshipped God for 70 years, and frequently during this time their little chapel was closed against them owing to a more rigourous enforcement of the Penal Laws. Then Mass would be celebrated by stealth, while the stars were twinkling on the lonely rocks which line the Boyne below Blackcastle."
One Christmas night around the year 1772 the little chapel crumbled and fell, and the Catholics of Navan were once again left without a place of worship.
For many months after this, Mass was celebrated in a yard off Trimgate Street with a sentry box from the cavalry barracks providing shelter for the priest.
About Peter Gilroy
Dr Peter Gilroy, Esq. M.D. was born in 1779 in Navan, co Meath, Ireland. At the age of 27 he graduated from the University of Edinburgh.
On Thursday last, the Senatus Academicus of the University conferred the Degree of Doctor in Medicine on 2 Gentlemen of Scotland, 18 from England, 1 from Portugal, 1 from America, 3 from the West Indies, and the following from Ireland...Peter Gilroy.. "Monday 29 June 1807, Belfast Commercial Chronicle, British Newspaper Archive
Dr Gilroy married Frances Clavel, daughter of Anthony Clavel and Jane Cades. Frances gave birth to three daughters between 1807 and 1812. Jane Antoinette in 1807, Maria Angelica in 1809 and Emily Frances in 1812.
Professional Practise
It was common in 1810 'respectable' society to practice birth control through abstention and to 'engage' the services of a mistress. Mistresses were 'kept' women, and therefore only noblemen or wealthy businessmen or members of the upper educated working classes could afford to keep them.Wives & Mistresses in eighteenth century Scotland, Leah Leneman 1999
Dr Peter Gilroy was a member of the upper educated working class and as such kept a mistress, named Margaret Sheenan, in a small town fifty miles from Navan, Co Meath. The relationship resulted in the birth of a son named Francis Gilroy in 1814.
Title Page and the page 259 Petrus Gilroy, Hibernus, De Ictero
From 'History of the University of Edinburgh, from 1580 59 1646
to which is Prefixed, the Charter Granted to the College by James VI. of Scotland
in 1582', p 295/285
Signature of Petrus Gilroy in the University of Edinburgh
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| Degree of Doctor, Mon 29 June 1807, Belfast Commercial Chronicle |
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| Letter about the Navan Fever Hospital, 12 April 1826, Dublin Evening Mail see full page below
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 Download high quality version |
| Dublin Evening News, 12 April 1826, Fourth Column FULL PAGE VERSION |
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| Properties, 17 December 1829, Dublin Evening Packet see below for Peter Gilroy |
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| Registry of Freeholds, 17 December 1829 Dublin Evening Packet and Correspondent Meath, Ireland |
Physicians in Navan , Pigot Directory 1824
Pigot & Co., City of Dublin & Hibernian Provincial Directory
Children of Peter Gilroy (1779-1853) and Frances Clavel (1791-1874)
Peter married Frances Clavel, daughter of Anthony Clavel and Jane Cades. Frances gave birth to three daughters between 1807 and 1812.
Jane Antoinette Gilroy 1807-1877
Jane was aged 27 when she married Dr Alfred Hudson (1808-1880) in 1834. No children were born to the couple. Alfred Hudson's younger brother married Jane's younger sister, Emily in 1868.
Maria Angelica Gilroy 1809-1879
Maria was aged 21 when married John Henderson (1793-1835) in 1830. She was the first of Peter's daughters to get married. The couple had three children before John passed away five years later. The eldest of their children, Frances Mary Henderson (1832-1907) married Edgar L'Estrange (1826-1913) in 1855. That union produced six children and the only succession of Peter Gilroy's grandchildren.
Born second was Mary Ann Henderson (1834-1906). Mary did not marry.
The last child born to the couple was named John (1835-).
Maria's first and last children were born in her father's house at Leighsbrook, husband John, passed away in the same house under the care of her father.
Emily Frances Gilroy 1812-1901
Emily was aged 56 when she married widow Robert Spear Hudson (1812-1884) in 1868. Robert was the brother of Alfred Hudson who married Emily's elder sister Maria in 1834. No children were born to the marriage but Emily was an active stepmother to Roberts children who were aged from 13 to 9. When Robert died in 1884 he left Bache Hall, Chester, England to Emily. Many family photographs of her nieces and nephews were taken at Bache Hall and survive today thanks to the L'Estrange family
Francis Gilroy 1814-1884
Francis was the son of Margaret Sheenan and Peter Gilroy. He emigrated to Australia in 1840 with his wife Ann Kairns (1824-1892). Francis lowered his age from 28 to 23 to suit immigration and Anne raised hers from 16 to 19. Their first child was born in the new country.
It is from the linage of their eldest child, Mary Gilroy (1842-1903), that the webmaster descends.
- Read more about Francis, the only son of Peter Gilroy
- See the descendant line of Francis, the only son of Peter Gilroy
Female Fashions 1830 Ireland
Newspaper article about ladies dress.
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Female Fashions 1830 Ireland
Drogheda Journal, or Meath & Louth Advertiser 6 November 1830, page 2
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Death
Headstone of the Peter Gilroy, wife Frances,
daughter Jane and son-in-law Alfred Hudson
MT Jerome Cemetery. Harolds Cross. Dublin
Inscription
PETER GILROY M.D. | of Navan, Co. Meath | who died July 1853 | aged 74 years.
Interred in this Cemetery Grant 1846 | Also his widow | FRANCES A. GILROY | who
died 4th March 1873 | aged 84 years | also his daughter JANE A HUDSON | (wife
of ALFRED HUDSON M.D.) | who died 18th Nov. 1877 | aged 70 years. | and the
above named | ALFRED HUDSON M.D. | of Merrion Square North, Dublin | who died
19th November 1880 | aged 72 | "Blessed are the dead who die in | the Lord".
