William le Deveneys

Sir William le Deveneys (died 1319) was a Crown administrator and judge in late thirteenth and early fourteenth century Ireland, who served very briefly as Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.

Crown Servant

He was probably a native of Dublin, where he spent his whole career. The le Deveneys (later called Devenish) family were among the first Anglo-Norman settlers in Ireland. William was probably a relative of Nicholas le Deveneys, who was summoned for service in the Scottish War in 1302, William is first heard of in 1278 when he was an official of the Exchequer of Ireland. He held several senior positions in the Exchequer, including Marshal, Chief Remembrancer, Engrosser (copier) and Prothonotary (Chief Clerk), at a salary of 100 marks a year. He became Keeper of the Royal demesne lands in Ireland in 1281.

Landowner

He was clearly a valued Crown official: he was given twelve oak trees from the royal forest at Glencree, County Wicklow in 1282. In 1299 he was granted a part of the Royal manor of Thorncastle in south County Dublin, roughly corresponding to modern-day Booterstown and Mount Merrion, and the fishery attached to the manor, in return for payment of a knight's fee, "this being to the King's advantage", according to the jury which was empanelled to advise on the matter. Thorncastle had previously been held by the professional soldier Sir Richard FitzJohn (died 1297), who also served as a judge in Ireland.

Booterstown, present day. In the Middle Ages, the district was called Thorncastle, where Deveneys had his Dublin estate.

Judge He was appointed to the Bench as a justice in eyre (itinerant justice) in 1301. He became a judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland), which was then simply called "the Bench", in 1303.

He died in or shortly before 1319, His manor of Thorncastle was purchased after his death by his judicial colleague Walter de Islip. It subsequently passed to Sir John Cruys (died 1407), who built Merrion Castle on the site in the 1360s, and later became part of the vast Fitzwilliam holdings in South Dublin.