Athenry

Athenry was a very old town with writs with grants and charters going back to at least the reign of Edward II. There is one for 14 October 1310 and there are a number for the reign of Richard II in the 1390s. The corporation comprised a portreeve and an undefined number of burgesses and freemen. In the 1780s there were 13 burgesses and two freemen. The borough appears to have been in the unchallenged possession of the Blakeney family throughout the eighteenth century. Theophilus Blakeney (0158) received the £15,000 compensation for its disfranchisement at the Union.