In 1312 it was listed as having four farmers holding between 5 and 74 acres of arable land, 45 free tenants holding from as much as 2,520 acres of arable land all the way down to a one-house plot. Ninety-seven burgesses held 360 acres of arable land, and there was a settlement of betaghs farming 120 acres of arable land. Knocktopher was home to a monastery, built in 1356 by James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond for the Carmelite friars. Following the implementation in Ireland of the dissolution of the monasteries in 1542, it was acquired by the Kingsland branch of the Barnewall family, who later acquired the title Viscount Barnewall. Its only remains are part of a residence built upon the site. The Carmelities returned to Knocktopher in 1735, where they remain to this day.