Gerald FitzGerald Coat-of-Arms (KD004-002----)3D ModelNoAI
According to Con Manning (Archaeology Ireland, Spring 2010, 8-11), this armorial plaque, located in Johnstownbridge, Co. Kildare, dates from between 1569 - 1571. The carving represents the armorial arms of Gerald FitzGerald, the 11th Earl of Kildare.
The plaque is one of two (the other showing armorial arms of Sir Henry Sidney, then Lord Deputy of Ireland https://skfb.ly/oJLFx) embedded into the wall outside St Patrick’s national school in the centre of the village. O’Leary (JCKAS, 1896-9, 135-8) claimed the armorial carvings were originally located at Clonagh castle, 3.8 KM west, however, Manning posits that they originated in a small tower that likely guarded the bridge over the River Blackwater on the border of counties Kildare and Meath just east of the village of Johnstown Bridge. Sidney carried out many such infrastructural and defensive projects during his tenure and appears to have made a habit of ensuring his coat-of-arms were prominently displayed. Fitzgerald was allied to Sidney.
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