TOWN HISTORY

Our town name  The name of our town comes from the Irish words ‘éadan' and ‘doirí'. It means the “hill-brow of the oak woods”. Edenderry is part of the ancient parish of Monasteroris. Where it all began:  In 120 AD Cathair Mór was the king of Leinster and he had ten sons. His eldest son Ros Fáilghe was given the territory of North Offaly which today is known as Uí Fháilghe. The sub-division which contained Edenderry was ruled by a descendant of Ros and was known as Tuath-dá-Muighe (The territory of the two plains). This continued until the Norman invasion in 1169 AD. Richard de Clare, better known as Strongbow, the leader of the Normans married the daughter of Diarmuid Mac Murrough, the then king of Leinster and therefore became ruler of Leinster when Diarmuid died. However the territory of Offaly became too much work for him and he passed it on to Robert de Bermingham. The De Berminghams ruled the area up to the 1500s. The O'Conor clan were not very happy with this and had many battles to try and reclaim the land. 500 years ago - Blundell Castle In 1562, the castle and manor of Edenderry was given to Sir Henry Colley, a soldier in the royal service. Edenderry was then known as Colleystown. In 1581, he left Edenderry to his eldest son William and it was then passed down to his daughter Sarah who married Sir George Blundell. They had no family and on his death, the Edenderry estate was passed to his sister Sarah, Lady Blundell. The family probably occupied the castle on the hill until it was sacked by part of the army of James II in 1690. It was never rebuilt. Click on the timeline below to read more about Edenderry's History over the last 3 centuries...