The Shield is: Gules a saltire vaire or and azure.
The Crest is: An heraldic antelope trippart ppr. attired and unguled or.
The Motto is: "Vincit Veritas", 'Truth Prevails'.
Variant spellings for Prendergast are: Pendergast, Prendergras,
Pendergas, Prender, Pinders, Pender, Pindy, and Pendy.
The Prendergas or Pendergass etc...family may trace their line of descent back to Maurice de Prendergast, who arrived with Strongbow in the Anglo-Norman invasions of the 12th century. He became one of the leading families to obtain large grants of land in Ireland as a result of his service in those invasions. His deescendants were seated near Waterford and in south Mayo, districts in which the name has always subsequently been found. In 1598 they are listed as among the leading gentry of Counties Waterford, Wexford and Tipperary.
The most noted location for the family is in Waterford and the south of Co. Mayo, where the family has traditionally been linked. The name is also given as setling early in Cork and Tipperary, according to Keatings History.
In the 17th century "Prendergrass" was a variant spelling of the name which was prominent in Co. Wexford. Prendergast was found in Clare, Tipperary and Kilkenny at that time. Pendergast was found in Tipperary, and Pendergas was a principal name of Carlow at that same time.
Prendergast became the preferred spelling of the name by the time of the 1890 index, when the family was centered in Mayo, Dublin, and Waterford.
The name has also been shortened simpy to "Prender", and this is noted several times in Co. Wexford. The family name is also spelled as Pendy and Pinders in Offaly, and as Pindy near Dingle in Kerry, according to the 1890 index report.
In Galway one Prendergast family held lands formerly owned by the O'Shaugnessys, as a result of the defeat of James II. These Prendergasts were of English political persuasion.
The Irish Book or Arms gives Prendergast of Ardfinnan Castle, Co. Tipperary, dating from the early 1700's.
The most distinguised man of the name was John Patrick Prendergast (1803-1893), author of The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland and other historical works. Two Sir Thomas Prendergasts (1660-1709 and 1698-1760), father and son, are noteworthy, though not praiseworthy from the Irish point of view: the first was a Jacobite who betrayed an anti-William plot in which he was concerned and subsequently became a brigadier in the English army, being killed at the battle of Malplaque; the son who became a Protestant was noted for his virulent anti-clericalism. After the defeat of James II these Prendergasts obtained extensive grants of O'Shaughnessy lands in Co. Galway, litigation regarding which dragged on 'till 1755.
Arms for the name are found on plates 83 and 269 in the Irish Book or Arms.
| Sources: The Book of Irish Families Great & Small | Irish Families: Their Names, Arms, and Origins |
| Michael C. O'Laughin | Edward MacLysaght |
| 1997 Irish Genealogical Foundation | Irish Academic Press Limited 1991 |
