It is believed that John Langrishe (1660-1735) was the first to arrive in Knocktopher. After his first wife, Sarah Sanford, died in 1684 he then married Hon. Alice Blaney, daughter of Harry the 2nd Lord Blaney and widow of Thomas Sandford. Alice inherited the lands at Knocktopher when Thomas died in 1679. After Alice died, John became owner of those lands and married for a third time in 1695, to Mary Grace, with whom he had a child. According to Willian Nolan and Kevin Phelan’s book entitled "Kilkenny: History and Society" (1990), Robert Langrishe completed the outright purchase of the fee simple of their Knocktopher lands of over 800 acres in 1757, lands that had previously been held by them on a lease of lives renewable since 1698. Although John was married five times he had only one child, a son Robert (1706-1770), who succeeded John when he died in 1735. Robert was married twice, and he had one surviving son, Hercules (Herky, 1731-1811). Five of the eight Langrishe Baronets were named Hercules, and the current heir to the 9th Baronet title is also called Hercules (born 1988).