William de Meones

William de Meones (died 1325) was an English-born cleric and judge in fourteenth-century Ireland, who was the second Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer.

[1] In his capacity as executor he defended a lawsuit brought against the Archbishop's estate by Thomas de Chaddesworth, Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral: the plaintiff claimed sixty pounds compensation for a difficult and hazardous journey he had undertaken at the Archbishop's command.

His estates passed to a nephew, Gilbert de Meones, the first recorded owner of Meonesrath, and also a military man who was given the command of several forts in County Wicklow.

[2] It is widely accepted that the de Meones family gave its name to Rathmines, the Rath (Gaelic for ringfort) of de Meones;[1] such a combination of Irish and Norman-French elements in a place-name was not uncommon in medieval Ireland.

Elrington Ball, in support of the theory, notes that in the fourteenth century, the district was often referred to as Meonesrath.