The name Wall is found in considerable numbers in that part of Munster which lies between Limerick and Waterford, and in the counties of Leinster which adjoin this. The name is common in England also. It is of Norman origin: its earliest form is du Val, I.e of the valley, hence the form de Bhal in Irish. The Walls have been in Ireland since the thirteenth century and when they first appear in Irish records they were called de Vale, alias Faltaigh; O'Donovan states that Faltagh was the usual English equivalent in his day - a hundred years ago ago. An alternative of de Vale was de Wale. Wale, which we would now pronounce Wayle, was, up to the end of the seventeenth century pronounced Wall, just as the verb to fall was often written fale, and thus the present from of the name came into general use (cf. Smale - Small, Sale - Saul). Though the name Wall is now rare in Connacht and Ulster, it should be mentioned that families of the name were well established in the western province in the sixteenth century and compilers of the "Composition Book of Connacht" treated them as an Irish sept, naming Walter Wale, alias the Fealtach, of Droughtie, Co. Galway as chief of the name. From the fourteenth century to the twentieth Irish Walls have made the name an honoured one. Three of them were bishops in the fourteenth century, notably Stephen de Wale, or Vale, Bishop of Limerick (1360-1369) and of Meath (1369-1379), and also Lord High Treasurer of Ireland. Richard Wall (1694-1778), Spanish war minister, son of Matthew Wall of Kilmallock, was a famous man in his adopted country; Joseph Wall (1737-1802), who was born in Co. Leix, achieved notoriety in India and was hanged for his cruel conduct while British governor there: Patrick Viscount Wall, one of the Carlow Walls, was a notable figure at the court of Louis XIV and was murdered in 1787. Four close relatives of his were outstanding officers in the Irish Brigade. At home, Edmund Wall (c. 1670-1755) was one of the Gaelic poets of the Jacobite period; Rev. Fr. Charles William Wall (1780-1862) was famous as a Hebrew scholar; Father Patrick Wall (c. 1780-1834) was the constant patron of the Co. Waterford Irish scribe Thomas O'Hickey; and more recently, Fr. Thomas Wall was a popular figure of the War of Independence on account of his defiance of Sir John Maxwell, commander-in-chief of the British forces, in which he had the full support of Dr. O'Dwyer, Bishop of Limerick. Both Father Tom Wall and Rev. Charles Wall, mentioned above, belong to Co. Limerick.