Effin had a Norman manor, located in the town land of Tobernea, it was in a field near Leos farm near Macs cross. Nothing remains now of the castle except what’s documented on ordinance survey maps. It appears to have been an important place in its time around the area,
In the Thirteenth century the Manor of Tiberneyum (Tobbernea)was an important castle at the time holding a weekly market and yearly fair. It was given to Gerard de Prendergast as a part dowry from Richard De Burgh in 1240. Its size and boundaries were defined in 1251 as “7 fees, 7 carucates and 59 ½ acres” Some of this land was sub-let as part payment for knights fees. There is evidence of serfdom in this manor and the native Irish had given up their freedom and some rights in order to be protected by the local lord. They could not move out of their area without the permission of their lord.
The serfs in Tobernea Manor held 3 carucates for 3 marks a year,
“…the natives here as elsewhere where treated as serfs by the Norman, though it is pleasant to find that some of them occupied a more elevated position in the organisation of this manor than is usually allotted to them”.
The serfs boundaries would have been defined a boundary of by the area of the manor they were attached to which may have been in operation in other castles in Effin, where Ballymacshaneboy Castle and Brickfield Castle
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