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Brian Baru Descendants
Dan Magonigle quotes us
...During the era of the building of Enniscorthy Castle (in December 1170) "the O'Briens were Lords of the Duffrey (Dubh-thir = Black, turfy land) in which Enniscorthy was situated-the name still surviving in the present Deanery of the Duffrey". The Duffry has been defined loosely as encompassing that land between the Slaney River on the East and running West to the slopes of Mount Leinster and stretching North to Bunclody and south to Enniscorthy and the Urrin River. The Norman invading forces had landed in Bannow Bay earlier that year and the O'Briens were evidently part of the opposing forces. But the O'Briens themselves evidently fared poorly in their struggle and ultimately payed dearly with their lives as Murrough O'Brien was beheaded in October 1171 at the command of Strongbow (Flood, 1898 p. 9). ["The only incident ….is the capture of Murrough O'Brien of the Duffrey, near Enniscorthy. Maurice Regan tell us the 'O'Brien of the Duffrey(Murrough O'Brien) conspired against Strongbow, although he had given hostages'---and he was beheaded early in October"].
Dan McGonigle tells us:
Then in 1337 O'Briens are again described in the Duffrey according to the Annals of Friar Clynn who while relating the declining power of the Anglo Normans in County Wexford as evidenced by the "murder" of three Normans by the O'Briens of the Duffrey (Flood, 1898, p20).
Dan McGonigle tells us:
In the same volume a Grant which was dated April 3, 1475 from Enniscorthy Castle includes the names of the individuals witnessed the signing of the document and among these are the names Cormac O'Brien and Magnus O'Brien (Flood, 1898, p27-28).
Bibliography:
William H. Grattan Flood,Enniscorthy in the Thirteenth Century-Who Built the Castle(The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland; Vol XXXIV, PART 4, Hodges, Figgis & Co., Dublin 1904)
William H. Grattan Flood, History of Enniscorthy. (Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland, 1898.) P9.
Philip Herbert Hore, History of the Town and county of Wexford.(Elliot Stock, London, 1911), p502-504