An early reference to lands described as "Terra Philippi Vituli" (Latin for "Philip of Calfs land") provides an unaudited confirmation in the form of a petition from the Royal Hospitallers of Kilmainham listing their possessions to Pope Innocent III in 1212.
He was also charged with strengthening the bridges at Lucan and Kilmainham.
Ball considers the story most unlikely, noting that Tyrrel was renowned as a benefactor, not a despoiler of religious houses: in particular he made a substantial grant of lands in present-day Phoenix Park to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, whose Irish house was at Kilmainham.
Old chronicles describe Kilmainham Hill as the camping place of Brian Boru and his army prior to the last decisive Battle of Clontarf on 23 April 1014.
In 1577, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, while Sir Henry Sidney was Lord Deputy of Ireland, an arched stone bridge was built here to replace an earlier structure nearby at Kilmainham.