Dairsigh

Rev Patrick Woulfe

1923

DAIRSIGH—XI—de Arcy, D'Arcy, Darcy; Norman 'de Arcy,' i.e. from Arci in Normandy. The D'Arcys were one of the most distinguished of the Norman families who settled in England after the Conquest. The founder of the Irish family of the name was Sir John D'Arcy, chief justiciary of Ireland, in the second quarter of the 14th century. He received large grants of land in Meath, which remained in the possession of his descendants down to the Cromwellian and Williamite confiscations. The first home of the D'Arcys in Ireland, and their chief seat for many centuries, was at Platten, in Co. Meath, from which branched out all the other houses of the name in Ireland. But see Ó Dorchaidhe, which is also anglicised Darcy.

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