O'Conor in letter no.42 surveys the history of Ballybritt and Leap Castle.

ORDNANCE SURVEY LETTERS KING'S COUNTY

[Letter no. 42 from Thomas O'Conor ]

Roscrea,
February 6th 1838.

Sir,

In the Townland of Ballybritt in the Parish of Aghancon there is a castle in ruins, which is said to have belonged to O'Carroll.

A short distance to the south of this castle are some portions of the walls of a Church and to the north of it is shewn the site of a Roman Catholic Chapel.

There is a tradition in the country that a priest of the name of Conell (whether this was his Christian name or surname is not known) who used to officiate in this Chapel, was inhibited from doing duty for some officiate in this Chapel, was inhibited from doing duty for some misconduct on his part. When he found he was on the eve of being silenced, he requested that the denunciation should be deferred for a few days. In the interim, he turned Minister and preached thenceforth in the Church which stood close by the Chapel, so that, as the tradition observes, it was curious to see the one man officiate as Priest in the Chapel and afterwards as Minister in the Church just by it.

If there be any truth in the circumstance related by this tradition, it can be collected from it that the old Church of Ballybrit was in use at rather a modern period.

Leap Castle is in the Townland of Leap in this Parish. It is said to have formerly belonged to O'Carroll; it is now occupied by ----------- Darby, Esq.

The ancient name of it is not remembered by anyone in the neighbourhood. The people there are not willing to communicate any information, from what cause, I know not. I was introduced today to one of the oldest men in the Parish of Aghacon. He is a perfect oddity and if he were out in the time of the cynic philosophers, might be sure to graduate in their college. With an expression of face indicating duplicity of mind, he made fabricated answers to every question put to him relative to the original names of places in the Parish and neighbourhood. When I told him that what he related was trifling and evidently made up by some persons who were in the habit of framing stories and giving them to swallow to others who had no means of discovering the untruth of them, he was afterwards wholly intent on giving negative answers and giving no information whatever about what was enquired after. Returning him thanks with words, though not at all feeling thankful, I came off. I wished that fate might not furnish me with another such character, and going on I found that the amount of information to be had in general in that part of the country is but very little.

Leap is a translation of Leim in the ancient name Leim Ui Bhanain, Leim Ui Bhanain, the castle of which is placed in Ely at the year 1557 by the 4 Masters, where it is recorded that:-

"The Lord Chief Justice marched with an army into Fearaceall to expel the plunderers from it, for he had heard that they were in the Woods of Fearaceall. He took Theobald O'Molloy and others prisoners and proceeded from Fearaceall into Ely, where he took the Castle of Leim Ui Bhanain, and O'Carroll escaped him only by means of the swiftness of his steed."

Leim Ui Bhanain signifies O'Banan's Leap, i.e., Saltus Obanani. This Leap was the name of some feature about the place previously to the erection of a castle there, but the spot so called is pointed out by no one in the country, nor is the circumstance that gave origin to the name remembered. O'Banan was one of the eight septs of Ely under O'Carroll who was the sovereign and we learn from O'Huidhrin's poem, O'Clery MSS. R.I.A. , that he was Chief of Hui Deci:- ...

"Hui Deci the goodly country of hills
The extensive white mansioned land,
A fertile country, closely adhered to by them (the Hy Deki)
The hereditary estate of O'Banan."

In the description of Aghacon Parish in the Down Survey, it is said that upon the lands of Ballibritt stands a castle and a Church. See what is said above of Ballybrit Castle and Church in ruins.

Aghacon is in Irish Achadh na gCon, Ager Caenum, that is, "the Field of the Hounds." Let Colgan, the Calendar, the Four Masters, be searched for any reference to Achadhnag Con and the Inquisitions for Leim Ui Bhanain.

No local evidence could be obtained to prove that the Leap Castle is the Leim Ui Bhanain of the Annals. The Inquisitions will prove their identity.

Your obedient servant,
T. O'Conor.