Dublin Woulfes

By Paul MacCotter

   Dublin has been Ireland's largest city since the12th century so it is not surprising that a long history of Woulfe presence exists here, as it does in Dublin county, which originally included northern Wicklow, another area with a Woulfe presence.

   Sometime between 1228 and 1255 one William Wulf dwelt in New Street in Dublin. He may be the William Wolf of Dublin mentioned in 1270. Nine years one John Wolf occurs as a juror in the city, after which we find regular occurrence of the name Henry Wolf in Dublin. Between 1277 and 1280 he was also the constable or keeper of the important march castle of Newcastle McKinygan, now Newcastle in North Wicklow. Just south of medieval Dublin lay the village of Crumlin, where, in 1400, one Thomas Wolf sold a house.

   In the north west of Co. Wicklow lay the lands of the manor of Ballymore. An extent of this manor, taken around 1260, lists one Robert Lupus as a tenant at Tirmokes, near Senkyll (now Shankill, Kilbride Parish, Co. Wicklow), which he held by payment of one pound of wax and one pound of incense each year. His successor here, in a later inquisition taken in 1326, was John Wolf. In 1540 one Nicholas Wolff was a small tenant of Baltinglass Abbey, a few miles to the south.

   A Woulfe with an unusual trade was William Wolff, pardoned in 1578 as a gallowglass in the employ of the O'Toole chieftains of north Wicklow. A gallowglass was a professional or mercenary soldier. Three years later he was again pardoned, when his address was given as Fercullen, the old name for the district around Bray, Co. Wicklow. Brittas Bay lies around 20 miles south of Bray, and in 1689 one Robert Wolfe, Gentleman, of the Glins, near Brittas, was outlawed as a Jacobite. These men are probably linked and it may be possible to uncover additional references to the surname here.

   During the 17th century Dublin saw a huge influx of English settlers and it is not possible to distinguish older Irish Woulfes from newer English arrivals after this time. The 1665 landgable roll lists two Wolfe households in the city, in Cooks Street and in Keysers Lane, while R.T. Woulfe gives a pedigree of a Wolfe family descending from a Wolfe who arrived in Dublin around 1750, from Kent or Cornwall. Some branches of the 'New English' Woulfes of Fornaghts and Baronrath, Co. Kildare, later moved to Dublin.

 ***One other note, There are many Woulfes living in Dublin who moved there over the years seeking work. My own branch in Ardagh has several members living and working in the Dublin area. mw