The map above shows the distribution of Garveys in Co Kilkenny listed in the mid-1800's Griffith Valuation.

As the title of her book implies, Rosemary Garvey in "From Kilkenny to Murrisk" was not able to trace the lineage of Archbishop Garvey's family back any further than to the city of Kilkenny.

The earliest record of Garveys in Kilkenny dates to 1491:

Sir William Garvey, chaplain, holds a tower by the great castle of the earl of Ormonde for a term of
20 years, rendering yearly 2s. 4d. Given the 4th day of September in the 7th year of king Henry VII (Sept. 4, 1491). ...
(from "Liber primus Kilkenniensis")

A letter dated four years letterexists in which the same Sir William Garvey is mentioned in the role of delivering some accounts to the Earl of Ormond. This would have been the seventh Earl of Ormond (Thomas Butler), a cousin of Henry VII. There were close ties between the Tudor monarchs and the house of Ormond. For example, the 9th Earl of Ormond was brought up in the court of Henry VII, and the 10th Earl of Ormond was raised as a schoolmate Henry VIII's son Edward VI.

While there is no way of knowing if they had any connection to the Archbishop's line of Garveys, there are records of a couple of Garveys in Elizabethan England. One was an Owen Garvey who was Groomsman and messenger in Queen Elizabeth I's chmaber. He seems to have petitioned to go back to Ireland in about 1601. Another record of 1599 has it that he petitioned to go with Sir George Carew, Governor of Munster, to act his messenger. He is listed as messenger for the Privy Council here and here, here.

A Margaret Garvey married Robert Barney in London on July 18, 1564.

There was an Edward Garvey of Cripplegate, London who was listed as a witness on a 1562 document.