Hugh Canoun

Hugh Canoun, or Hugh Canon (died after 1316) was an English-born judge in early fourteenth century Ireland. He was a justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) and served as Deputy Justiciar of Ireland. In this capacity he was praised for his good and faithful service to the English Crown.

He was a native of Woodford, Somerset (now Nettlecombe), where he owned a "house and close"; he later complained that they had been ransacked during his long absence abroad. He was in Ireland, presumably practicing law, by 1294. He was appointed to the Court of Common Pleas, (which was then usually called simply the Bench) in 1308, and resigned from the Court in 1312. He was appointed a justice of the Justiciar's Court in 1315, and served as Deputy Justiciar in 1316.

In 1316 he petitioned the Crown for a grant of Rathcoffey and the lands neighbouring it in County Kildare, which had reverted to the Crown on the death of Isabel, widow of Henry de Rochford. The official endorsement on the petition praised Hugh for his good and faithful service as a judge in Ireland, but clearly had doubts about the propriety of the grant, since it appeared that John Wogan, the former Justiciar, already held the lands. The grant to Wogan was confirmed shortly afterwards, and his descendants built Rathcoffey Castle on the property.

The ruins of Rathcoffey Castle: Hugh unsuccessfully petitioned for a grant of the lands of Rathcoffey

Hugh's wife ws called Albreda: it is likely that he had sons, as in his petition for possession of Rathcoffey he specified that the lands should descend to his male heirs. His date of death is not recorded.