It was one of the ancient manors of the Butlers, who received for it the grant of a fair from Henry VIII.
The year 1778 saw the bloody operations of the Tory Butlers and their Loyalist and Indian allies in the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys and notably the massacre at Cherry Valley.
The Butlers held both barony and manor till 1586, when the barony lapsed and the manor passed after some vicissitudes to the Irelands of Bewsey, then to the Booths and in 1769 to the Blackburns.
Here the Grail is a food-providing, self-acting talisman, the precise nature of which is not specified; it is designated as the "rich" Grail, and serves the king and his court sans serjant et sans seneschal, the butlers providing the guests with wine.
In other places the English were less successful, the Butlers being beaten by the O'Carrolls in 1318, and Richard de Clare falling about the same time in the decisive battle of Dysert O'Dea.
