Name: The Parliamentary gazetteer of Ireland
Author: Anonymous

Algerine raid on Baltimore, 1631

On 20 June 1631, crews of two Algerine rovers made a night descent on Baltimore, plundered and fired the principal houses, and carried away many inhabitants including 100 English. A Dungarvan fisherman named Hacket piloted the raiders and was afterwards executed.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

lease of the village and of grounds around it, from Sir Fineen O'DriscoU. brought a number of English families as settlers, encouraged the erection of new houses, and procured the charter of incorporation. Disputes respecting the property arose after Sir Thomas' death, and caused a suspension of the improvements ; and a very memorable disaster, an unexpected and terrible reprisal for the O'DriscolIs' frequent acts of piracy, soon after reduced the town to a state of abject humiliation. At the dead of night, on 20th June, 1631, the crews of two Algerine rovers made a silent and sudden descent, plundered and fired the principal houses, and carried away as prisoners a great number of the inhabitants, including iOO English. A Dungarvan fisherman of the name of Hacket, treacherously piloted the Algerines into the harbour, and was afterwards executed for his crime. Baltimore never recovered from the desolation and misery which the rovers inflicted ; yet continued, amidst its haggard wretchedness, to send two
members to parliament till the union The Calvert

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 153

Battle of Aughrim, 1691

Aughrim · parish · Galway · 1691

The Battle of Aughrim was fought on July 12, 1691, between the forces of James II and William III on a hanging plain north-east of Aughrim village. St. Ruth's army of 25,000 was encamped along the heights of Kilcommeden behind a bog, opposed by Ginckle's 18,000 troops.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

view from the Dublin and Galway road, and now disposed in a series of green pasture-fields, is celebrated as the scene of the last of the great Irish battles between the forces of James II. and those of William IIL The battle was fought on the 12th of July, 1691, and was an immediate sequent of the expulsion of James's troops from Athlone : see that article. " Having repaired the fortifications of Athlone," savs Gordon, ** De Ginckle marched, on the 10th of July, toward the enemy, and encamped along the river Suck, 3 miles north-eastward from the Irish forces, who occupied a post of great strength at the village of Aghrim. The army of St. Ruth, consisting of 25,000 men, was encamped along the heights of Kilcommeden, behind a bog, near a mile in breaBth, which, extending all along the front, left only two passes for the approach of an enemy ; the one on the right, through a range of hills opening into wider ground ; the other on the left, occupied by the old castle of Aghrim, and intrenchments filled with soldiers, between the bog and a tract of hills and morasses. The whole slope of Kilcommeden, down to the edge of the bog, was intersected with hedges and ditches, which formed lines of communication, guarded by Irish infantry. With only 18,000 men, and even these not otherwise collected than by draining his garrisons to a degree of danger, Ginckle advanced on the 12th of July at noon, after a foggy morning, to attack an army so superior in number, so strongly posted, but without sufficient artillery, encouraged by every argument of the general in his harangues, and by the priests who ran through the ranks, and are said to have sworn the men on the sacrament not to desert their colours. A part of Ginckle's army, consisting of Danes, supported afterwards by English dragoons, and these again by other detachments, began the battle by forcing the pass on the right of the enemy, which, after a variety of fortune, they accomplished in an hour, gaining a position beyond the bog. After a pause, in consequence of a consultation among Ginckle's officers, the entire left wing of the English army, according to a plan recommended by Mackay, advanced at 5 o'clock in the evening through the acquired pass, and furiously attacked the right of the Irish, who obstinately defended their ditches, not giving way till the muskets of the combatants mutually touched, when they retired by their lines of communication, flanked their assailants, and charged with double fury. When the engagennent bad thus continued on that side for an hour and a half, St. Ruth drew great part of hia cavalry from his left wing to support his right. Mackay, who had waited for this incident, immediately ordered the cavalry in the right wing of the English to force their way through the pass of Aghrim-castle on the left of the enemy ; and some regiments of infiintry in the centre were ordered to march through the bog, and to take post on the lowest ditches beyond it, until the cavalry should gain the pass by the castle, and wheel from the right to support their attack. The infantry, plunging to the middle in the bog, made their way, with great labour, to the opposite side, where the enemy, after a furious fire, poured on them from the hedges, designedly retired. Transported with ardour, forgetting their orders, and pursuing almost to the main body of the Irish, they were overpowered by a charge in front and flank, driven back to the bog, many of them slain, and many taken, of whom some were persons of distinction ; while the French general, too easily elated, exclaimed, in an ecstacy of joy, — * Now will I drive the English to the very walls of Dublin I' But in the meantime, the English cavalry, commanded by Talmash, rushed through the narrow and dangerous pass on the enemy's left, closm

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 147

Abbot Albin O'Molloy's controversy with Giraldus Cambrensis

Baltinglass · town · Wicklow

Albin O'Molloy, abbot of Baltinglass, publicly denounced the incontinence of the English and Welsh clergy in a Dublin cathedral. This bold act provoked a notable controversy with the chronicler Giraldus Cambrensis.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

Morough, king of Leinster, founded at BaltinglMs an abbey for Cistertiaa monks ;. and he is said by some writers to have been interred in the building. The abbey was known as that of Vallis Salutis, and entitled its abbot to a seat in parliament. John, Earl of Mortaign, afterwards King John, confirmed to it the possession of its lands,.and otherwise showed it special favour. Albin O'Molloy, abbot of Baltin^ glass, denounced, in one of the Dublin catbedralsy the incontinence of the English and Welsh clem, and in consequence provoked a controversy witn Giraldus Cambrensis. In 1314, the abbot of BtltitU
BAL

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 154

Ballycastle piers and coal trade destroyed by the sea

near Ballycastle · town · Antrim · 1736

Hugh Boyd, aided by £23,000 from the Irish parliament, constructed piers at Ballycastle creek to facilitate coal exports to Dublin from mines under the basaltic cliffs two miles east. The exposed bay's violent tides overthrew the piers, choked the harbour with sand, and destroyed the suddenly arisen trade.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

Ballycastle was originally called Ballycashlaln, or Castlestown, and received its name from a castle erected on its site, in the 16th century, by Viscount Dunluce, one of the ancestors of the house of M'Donnell. Yet the place did not acquire importance, or become a town or seat of trade till about the year 1770; and it then sprang suddenly into bulk and strength, under the fostering care, of Its proprietor, the late Hugh Bo^d, Esq. That gentleman held a lease in perpetuity from Alexander, Earl of Antrim, dated 1736, of all coals, pits, mines, &c., from Bona-Marga monastery on the west, to Fair Head cliff on the east ; and from the whole line of intervening coast to a line 3 miles south in the interior ; and, aided by the Irbh parliament to the amount of i;23,000, he constructed piers in the creek, with the view of facilitating the export of coal from his mines for the supply of Dublin. The coal is found under the basaltic cliffs, 2 miles to the east : the rent paid under the lease is every 12th ton of coal, delivered at the mouth of the pit; and charges for banking, shipping, &c., are deducted from the chief rent, and estimated at 2s. 8d. per ton. But the situation of the bay, in which the piers were erected, ** is particularly exposed to the north-west winds, which, encountering the island of Raghery in their way, drive in a tremendous sea between that island and Ballycastle. While the shipping were without protection from these winds and turbulent waters, it was in vain to expect Ballycastle could become a place of commerce." The violence of the tides overthrew the piers ; the harbour was choked up with drifted sand ; and the trade, which had arisen with such suddenness, extent, and energy, was instantly flung prostrate, and, to all appearance, irretrievably destroyed. The works of the harbour, though not so constructed as to withstand the impetuous onsets of the sea, appear to have been very carefully executed. The west pier or quay, still mostly in order, and 600 feet long, is built of blue whin ; the east pier, 150 feet of which is down, is partly of whin, and partly cased with hewn sandstone, like the Dublin lighthouse wall, and has fir trees feathered into the ashlars ; and a cross pier at the mouth of the harbour to resist the direct stroke of the sea, is entirely destroyed. An opening at the west end of the cross pier's ruins was made by the fishermen, admita boats, and i» now the only en-

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 152

Grianan of Aileach: ancient stone fortress of northern kings

near Grianan of Aileach · monument · Donegal

An ancient fortalice crowning a hill above Lough Swilly, built by the early Irish king Eochy Ollahir and serving as the palace of the early kings of the north. It features concentric earthen ramparts, a massive uncemented stone wall, interior terraces, and two corridors perforating the wall. It was captured and dilapidated in 1101 by Murtagh O'Brien in revenge for the destruction of Kincora in Clare.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

AILEACH, or Grianan of Aileacu, a very ancient and interesting fortiilice, the quondam palace of the early Irish kings of the north, co. Donegal, Ulster. It crowns a hill upwards of 800 feet above sea-level, near the head of Lough S willy ; and commands a clear and extensive view of the exquisite landscape of the lake. An antique paved road leads up to Aileach, * the Stone Fortress ;' and three concentric earthen ramparts surround H, and are pierced, opposite the road, by a hollow passage. The areas within the ramparts are respectively 5^ acres, 4 acres, and I acre. Aileach itself encloses a circular area of 4t^ feet in diameter; and consists of an enormous stone wall, of from 1 1^ to 15 feet in thickness, and at present 6 feet in height. A terrace is carried round tbe interior, and descended by flights of steps. Two corridors, each 2 feet wide and 5 feet high, coranience at the door-way, but do not communicate with it, and, perforating the wall round one half of the circumf(*rence, open into the interior. A small oblong building, apparently more modern than the fortress, stands in the centre. The whole masonry is rude, — uncoursed, unchiselled, uncemented. Aileach was built by Eochy Ollahir, one of the earliest Iri<h kings whose names and storied reigns bear any marks of authenticity; and, in 1,101, it was captured, reduced, and dilapidated, by Murtagh O'Brien, king of Munster, in revenge of the destruction three years before of Kincora in Clare, by Donnel MacLoughlin, king of Ulster. Such historical facts as we have Ktatcd respecting the fortress, and a crowd of minute ones respecting its origin, builders, and architecture, are vouched by an Irish poem, recently brought to ViK^it, appearing to have been written before the year 1 100, and believed to be authentic.
AIRD'S SNOUT. See Giant's Cacsetvay.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 112

Treasure discovery at Ballybeg Abbey by blacksmith Supple

Ballybeg · townland · Cork · 1790–1815

Around 1790, a blacksmith named Supple, supposedly prompted by a dream, excavated among the Ballybeg Abbey ruins and found a stone-coffin containing a skeleton adorned with gold crosses, chains, and a thin gold plate stamped with the crucifixion. The relics were sold to a Cork goldsmith and melted down, and the stone-coffin was converted to a pig-trough.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

large and magnificent structure, they do not now present any feature of architectural beauty. In the church stood an equestrian braien statue of the founder ; and in the vicinity still stands the stump of an ancient round tower. *' Adjoining Ballybeg Abbey," savs Mr. Croker, *' is a large field called the Pigeon Field ; in digging which, some years since, a vault was discovered ' lined with images.' The person from whom I received the information added, that these images ' being handy to the road,' were broken up and thrown thereon to repair it. In 1815, the landlady of the inn at Buttevant gave me an account of a curious discovery made at Ballybeg Abbey, about 25 years back, by a blacksmith named Supple, who was induced, from a dream, to dig amongst the ruins, in search of money, — a superstition so prevalent with the lower order of the Irish, as to cause them, like the Arabs, to excavate near almost every ancient building, in expectation of finding concealed treasure. Supple, after some laborious days spent in disturbing the bones of the old fathers, came to a stone-coffin containing a skeleton adorned with a cross and chains of gold, and a thin plate of the same precious metal stamped with a representation of the crucifixion. These relics were carried by the finder to Cork, and disposed of to a goldsmith, by whom they were consigned to the crucible ; and the stone-coffin converted to a pig-trough at the cabin of a fiuiner near the abbey. The accuracy of this narrative has been corroborated by a son of Supple's, whom I met accidentally, and entered into conversation with on the spot. If this story be otherwise correct. Supple very probably sought and found the treasure from sheer avaricious research, and afterwards invented ' the dream ' by way aS embellishment.— Ballybeg is a perpetual* curacy, and oart of the benefice of Buttbyant [which see], in the dio. of Cloyne. The tithes, jointlv with those of Buttevant, are compounded for Jt962 10s., are wholly
impropriate, and belong to Oliver, Esq., who

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 152

Third Viscount Baltinglass and the Desmond Rebellion

Baltinglass · town · Wicklow · 1584

The third Viscount Baltinglass of the Eustace family participated in the Desmond and O'Neill rebellion against the English. He was convicted of high treason and his estates were confiscated under the 'Statute of Baltinglass' in 1584.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

The family of Eustace, or Fitz-Eustace, were created Viscounts Baltinglass in 1541 ; and the familf of Stratford, after^vards Earls of Aldborough, wem created Barons of Baltinglass in 1763. The Eustace family were lords of the manor from the reign of Henry VIII. till that of James L ; and their brief but turbulent annals exhibit the name of the towa in inglorious notoriety. The viscounts shaced in the memorable rebellions and the signal downfall of the great Easls of Desmond. The third Viscount, in particular, careered furiously in the Desmond and O'Neill rebellion ; made war on the EngUsb go¥enior. Lord Goey de Wilton r was convicted, with bis four brothers, of high treason ; suffered a total confiscation of his estates by a statute, emphatically called "the Statute of Baltinglass," which declared any kind of inheritance forfeitable for treason,;, and was forced, in 1584, to hide his head in exile on the con^
tinent About the year 1148 or 1151, Dermod Biac-

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 154

Banagher bridge and Shannon fortifications

Banagher · town · Offaly · 1759

Banagher's bridge across the Shannon, built in 1759, was 400 feet long with 15 arches and protected by mounted towers at each end. The crossing was anciently second in importance only to Athlone. Between the canal and river, on the site of an ancient nunnery, stood a battery, magazine, and infantry barrack. The old church of Reynagh lay in ruins.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

west of Kilbeggan, and 64 west-south-west of Dublin. The principal street is rather spacious, and not very irregular ; extends three-fourths of a mile south-eastward from the end of the old bridge ; ascends in its progress a very slow rising of the ground; and forks, at its termination, into the roads which lead respectively to Frankfort and to Birr. Another street cuts the fornoer at right angles, at a point about 500 yards from the bridge, and extends about 350 yards north-eastward along the road to Shannon Harbour, and about the same distance south-westward along the road to Clogban-castle. All houses not in the line of these two streets are so few and dispersed as not to prevent the plan of the town, in the intersection and comparative length of the two streets, from being almost strictly cruciform. Though nothing of urban, and little of borough, character is apparent, yet the number of good and tolerable dwellings is sufficiently large, and the aspect of the prevailing cottage and cabin is aggregately so free from squalidness, as to render the town of at least average agreeableness among the numerous seats of population in the centre and west of tho kingdom. The glebe-house, several villas, some wood, and much cultivation in the environs, even produce a sensation of cheerfulness in a stranger who approaches athwart the bogs and morasses from tht direction of either Dublin, Athlone, or Ballinasloe. But landscape, in any artistic sense of that word, is totally awanting; the country all around being nearly a dead level, nuich of it morass, and a considerable portion under periodical inundation from the Shannon. The communication at Bannagher between central and western Ireland, was anciently inferior in importance only to that at Athlone, and was guarded with similar vigilance, and placed under the surveillance of similar fortifications. See Athlone. The bridge is nearly in all respects,, except for its being free from the monstrous encumberment of corn-mills, a counterpart of that of Athlone, being akin to it in length, antiqueness of structure, narrowness of road wav, and decayedness of conditioik It was built in 1759, is 400 feet long, has iS arches, and is protected at each end by a mounted tower. A canal, cut for conveying vessels past a local obstacle in the river, commences immediately abovo the bridge, on the Connaught side, and is spanned by an arch on a line continuous with that of the bridge. Between the canal and the river, close to the bridge, and on the site of mn ancient nuimery, are a battery, a magazine, and an infantry barrack. A new bridge was planned by the Commissioners for Improving the Navigation of the Shannon *, estimated to cost £25,000 ; and recommended to be built at the joint and equal expense of King's county and the county of Gal way, whose mutual boundary it will span. Its site is immediatelv below that of the old bridge, and almost in a direct line with the principal street of the borough. •* According to the plan, ' say the Commissioners, " it consists of 7 elliptical arches, 50 feet span, for the passage of the water, and 6 semicircular land arches, 14 feet span : the roadway 16 feet, with a footpath of 4 feet on each side,* to be built of hammer-dressed masonry limestone from the Seven Churches: the canal is crossed by a cast-iron swivelbridge." The new church of Reynagh looks down the principal street, from the forking of the Frankfort and Birr roads, and has a rather imposing appearance. The old church, now in ruins, offers some features of interest to the antiquary. The spacious new RooMn Catholic chapel occupies a receia

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 154

Baltimore borough charter and corporation history

Baltimore · town · Cork · 1613–1690

Baltimore was incorporated by charter of 11 James I and received another charter in 5 James II. The corporation returned two members to parliament but no trace of it now exists; only a water-bailiff appointed by Lord Carbery remains.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

BALTIMORE, a village and sea-port, formerly a parliamentary borough, in the parish of TuUagh, eastern division of the barony of West Carbery, co. Cork, Munster. It stands on the east shore of Baltimore Harbour, 2 miles above its entrance, 5 northeast by north of the nearest part of Cape Clear Island, 6^ south by west of Skibbereen, and 174 south-west by south of Dublin. Its site is alleged to have been anciently a retreat of the Druids ; and its name is, in consequence, asserted to have been originally written Seai-i^'inor, signifying * the Great House of Beal.' But its ancient designation was Dunashad ; and the district in which it stands was called Leam-Con. The village consists of two sections, the one within, and the other without, the limits of the quondam borough ; and, in both of them, it has a decayed and squalid appearance, pos. sesses no manufacture, depends largely on small. farm agriculture, and affords very trifling promise of resuscitation or improvement. The nearest part of the nearest projected line of railway, that to Berehaven, is distant no less than 37 statute miles. A new pier was a few years ago constructed in its vicinity by the Fishery Board ; and was estimated by the engineer who planned it to cost £650. Though dues of from Is. to 4s. 6d. are levied from each British or Irish hooker, sloop, schooner, and ship not belonging to the place, and of double the amount from every forei^ vessel, which comes into the port, whether it discharges or not, the total amount realized is only about £8 a year. Yet the village itself has little or nothing to do with even this, except to exact the dues; for "the port" over which the nght of exaction ranges, extends up to Skibbereen in one channel, and up to Ballinahole and Bowing Water in another : see preceding article. There are neither markets nor fairs. A dispensary here is within the Skibbereen Poor-law union, and serves for a district which, in 1831, had a popuUtion of 6,479; and, in 1839-40, it received and expended £84, and administered to 1,956 patients. In 1842, the Baltimore Loan Fund had a capital of £326, circulated £1,178 in 718 loans, and both cleared in nett profit, and expended for charitable purposes, £7 6s. 9d. Baltimore was incorporated by charter of 1 1 James I. ; and it received another charter in 5 James II. The borough limits embraced a part of the manor, extending for about one-fourth of a mile round the landward sides of the town. The corporation consisted of a sovereign, 12 burgesses, and « commonalty; and the sovereign and burgesses returned two members to parliament. No trace of a corporation now exists ; and the only official person is a water-bailiff, who is appointed bv Lord Carbery, the lord of the manor, and who collects and appropriates the harbour dues, and whose only duty is to keep up a perch on a hidden rock in the harbour. A court for the manor was formerly held in the village before the seneschal ; but was removed 9 or 10 years ago to a more central part of the manor. Mo courts or sessions of any kind are now held. Area of the town, 15 acres. Pop., in 1831, 459; in 1841, 168. Hous>es 34.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 153

Ballymahon named for Mahon's 960 victory over Feargal

Ballymahon · town · Longford · 960

Ballymahon is said to derive its name from a battle in 960 in which Mahon, king of Thomond and elder brother of Brian Boru, defeated Feargal son of Ruarc, king of Connaught, on the banks of the Inny. Mahon had sailed up the Shannon from Killaloe, and Feargal's shield became a trophy carried by Mahon's posterity for ages.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

Ballymahon is said to have derived its name from the circumstance of Mahon, king of Thomond, and the predecessor and elder brother of the celebrated Brian Boromh, having, in 960, obtained, in its vicinity, a victory over Feargal, the son of Ruarc, king of Connaught. Mahon embarked a select body of troops in small sloops and flat-bottomed boats at or near Killalloe, sailed up the Shannon, made descents and levied contributions at intervals on the Connaught 8ide of the river, and landed his whole force for a grand effort at Lough Ree. Feargal, who had narrowly watched his motions, and mustered strength to confront him, rushed to the combat on the banks of the Inny, engaged him in a sanguinary battle, suffered a total defeat, and plunged personally into the river. His shield — says the story which we have followed and abridged, and which gives as its voucher a poem preserved in the book of Munster — fell into the hands of Mahon, and was for ages afterwards carried as a trophy by his posterity in their wars with the princes of Connaught. In 1793, riotous opposition was made in Ballymahon to the ballotting for the militia : the Earl of Granard, who acted as magistrate, saw his carriage broken to pieces, was forcibly expelled from the town, left the rioters in mastery during eight days, and eventually reduced them to order only by returning at the head of a strong detachment of the Monaghan militia Goldsmith the poet was educated in Ballymahon by the Rev. Mr. Hughes, vicar of Shruel, and afterwards bad much connection with the town and some of its

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 152

Ballycastle founded as Castlestown by the M'Donnells

near Ballycastle · town · Antrim · 1500–1599

Ballycastle, originally called Ballycashlaln or Castlestown, took its name from a castle erected on its site in the 16th century by Viscount Dunluce, an ancestor of the house of M'Donnell. The place did not become a town or seat of trade until about 1770, when it grew rapidly under proprietor Hugh Boyd.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

Ballycastle was originally called Ballycashlaln, or Castlestown, and received its name from a castle erected on its site, in the 16th century, by Viscount Dunluce, one of the ancestors of the house of M'Donnell. Yet the place did not acquire importance, or become a town or seat of trade till about the year 1770; and it then sprang suddenly into bulk and strength, under the fostering care, of Its proprietor, the late Hugh Bo^d, Esq. That gentleman held a lease in perpetuity from Alexander, Earl of Antrim, dated 1736, of all coals, pits, mines, &c., from Bona-Marga monastery on the west, to Fair Head cliff on the east ; and from the whole line of intervening coast to a line 3 miles south in the interior ; and, aided by the Irbh parliament to the amount of i;23,000, he constructed piers in the creek, with the view of facilitating the export of coal from his mines for the supply of Dublin. The coal is found under the basaltic cliffs, 2 miles to the east : the rent paid under the lease is every 12th ton of coal, delivered at the mouth of the pit; and charges for banking, shipping, &c., are deducted from the chief rent, and estimated at 2s. 8d. per ton. But the situation of the bay, in which the piers were erected, ** is particularly exposed to the north-west winds, which, encountering the island of Raghery in their way, drive in a tremendous sea between that island and Ballycastle. While the shipping were without protection from these winds and turbulent waters, it was in vain to expect Ballycastle could become a place of commerce." The violence of the tides overthrew the piers ; the harbour was choked up with drifted sand ; and the trade, which had arisen with such suddenness, extent, and energy, was instantly flung prostrate, and, to all appearance, irretrievably destroyed. The works of the harbour, though not so constructed as to withstand the impetuous onsets of the sea, appear to have been very carefully executed. The west pier or quay, still mostly in order, and 600 feet long, is built of blue whin ; the east pier, 150 feet of which is down, is partly of whin, and partly cased with hewn sandstone, like the Dublin lighthouse wall, and has fir trees feathered into the ashlars ; and a cross pier at the mouth of the harbour to resist the direct stroke of the sea, is entirely destroyed. An opening at the west end of the cross pier's ruins was made by the fishermen, admita boats, and i» now the only en-

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 152

Battle of Affane (1564): Butler vs Fitzgerald

Affane · townland · Waterford · 1564

In 1564 a conflict occurred at Affane between the clans of Butler and Fitzgerald, in which Gerald, Earl of Desmond, was wounded and 300 of his followers slain. The earl, taken prisoner and carried on the shoulders of his antagonists, famously retorted that he was 'on the necks of the Butlers.'

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

stands 4 miles south-east by east of Lismore. It has fairs in May, August, and November. Its ancient or uncorrupted name was Aghmean ; from at/h, *a ford;' the Black water being fordable in the vicinity. In 1564, a conflict occurred here between the clans of Butler and Fitzgerald ; when the leader of the latter, Gerald, earl of Desmond, was wounded, and 300 of his followers slain. The discomfited earl, who was taken prisoner in his gore, and carried on the shoulders of some of his antagonists from the field, was exultingly asked by a leader of the Ormond party, " Where is now the great earl of Desmond ? * when he indignantly replied, " Where, but in his proper place? on the necks of the Butlers I" The occasion of the feud is said to have been a litigation respecting some lands, covetousness leading \o bloodshed, an<l bloodshed to gloriation in culpable principles. " The lands of Affane," remarks T. C. Croker, Esq.. " are said to have been given by fiarret Fitzperald, for a breakfiut to Sir Walter Raleigh." — This parish is a vicarage in the dio. of Li<imore. The vicarial tithes are compounded for £184 I2s. 3d.; and the rectorial tithes, which conn^t of one moiety of the whole tithes, and are impropriate, and belong to the duke of Devonshire, are compounded for the same sum. The vicarage, and that of Aglish [which see], constitute the benefice of Atfane. Gross income £S7B 2s.; nett i,*289 7». 7i<l. Patron, the diocesan. Within the iM-nefice i< the chapelry of Villiekstown : see that article. The church of the united parish was built in 1819. at a co^t of X646 3s. Id. Brit. ; of which XHj\ lOs. Ojd. ^-as granted by the late Board of

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 112

Earl of Aldborough expands Baltinglass town, 1768-1780

Baltinglass · town · Wicklow · 1768–1780

Between 1768 and 1780 the first Earl of Aldborough, proprietor of Stratford Lodge and the town of Baltinglass, nearly doubled the number of houses and established manufactories of linens, woollens, and diapers. His son, the second Earl, built a comfortable inn and two school-houses in the neighbourhood.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

BALTINGLASS, a post and market town, and formerly a parliamentary borough, in the above parish, CO. Wicklow, Lemster. It stands 6i miles north-west of Hacketstown, 8} north of Tullow, 15^ south by west of Blessington, and 29^ southsouth-west of Dublin. Its site is supposed to have been a principal station of the priests who sacrificed to Baal, or the Fire, the emblem of the Sun ; and itf> name is alleged to have been originally Beal-tinneglass, " the clear fire of Beal," or " the fire of the mysteries of Beal," and to have alluded to the fire lighted up by the Druids on the first of May and August, in honour of the Sun. Some cromlechs, and other Dmidical remains in the vicinity, aiford quite as much sanction to the conjecture as any fond antiquary can desire. The town is small, and, thougjb containing many eligible private dwellings, is anregately ill boilt Between the years 1768 and 1780, the first Earl of Aldborough, the proprietor of Stratford Lodge and of the town, nearly doubled the number of houses, and established manufiurtories of linens, woollens, and diapers ; and his son, the second Earl, built the comfortable inn and the two schoolhouses in the neighbourhood, and exercised a |iffi»» tecting care over the inhabitant*. But the town^
206

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 153

Lynches and Twomeys faction battle at Ballyvourney, 1816

Ballyvourney · parish · Cork · 1816

On Sunday, 21 July 1816, the Lynches and Twomeys, two factions unfriendly for several years, met at Ballyvourney. The Lynches, about 100 strong and armed with guns, swords, scythes and pistols, waited outside the chapel during mass and attacked the Twomeys as they left. Sir Nicholas Colthurst had previously directed the factions to attend different chapels.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

village, sends off a branch-line toward Kenmare. The chief mansion is Knight's Bridge, formerly the seat of the Colthurst fiunilv. — The village of Ballj^- vourney, **the town of toe beloved," is romanti* cally situated on an eminence which overhangs the south bank of the Sollane. Its site is 7i mUea west of Macroom ; and its population is not specially returned. Archdall says that St. Abban, who died in 650, built a nunnery at Bally vourney, '* and presented it to St. Gobnata, who was descended from Connor the Great, Monarch of Ireland. Her patron day is February the 1 4th. The church, which IS dedicated to her, is 104 feet in length, and 24 feet in breadth ; and the steeple seems nodding to its fall." But the ver^ hd of this Gobnata's existence is highly questionable; the alleged royalty of her lineage seems merely a rhetorical flourish ; and the pretended foundation of her nunnery simply served to eke out the antiquities of the ** Monasticon." The church was as Archdall describes; but is now a nearly amorphous mass of ruin. Near its altar was the tomb of the O'Hereleb^s or O'Hierleys, the quondam toparchs of the district. At m small stone -cross stood, about 30 yards from the west end of the church, the alleged image of St. Gobnatm used to be exhibited on Whit-Mondays and on patron days. Dr. Smith, who notices the debasing practice, says, '* The devotees (which are only the more simple and ruder Irish) go round it on their knees, and repeat a certain number of prayers. They also tye their handkerchiefs, &c., about its neck, which they imagine will preserve them from several diseases." And he adds, in a note, " I have been informed that the devotion used to this image haa been of late prohibited by the titular bishop of the diocese; but so strong are the ignorant Irish pre* judiced in its favour, that they still persevere in their superstition, which is not a little kept up by the gain it brings to the proprietor of this image, who, as I hear, farms it at a considerable rent to the person who exposes it to view." Near the cross was a stone fixed in the ground, and worn b^ the knees of the superstitious pilgrims ; adjacent is " m holy well," the water pure and soft ; and a little to the north of this is a circle of stones about 9 feet in diameter, appearing to be the vestige of a tower, and formerly encompassed with the knee-worn path of devotees. On the north side of the Sullane stood an old castle of the O'Hierleys ; but it was long ago reduced to a mere heap of stones. Fairs are held on Ma^ 10, Sept. 10, and Nov. 10. Bally, vourney jMinsh, owing perhaps to its sequestered position, its Highland character, and its forming a prominent portion of that huge glen-cleft mountain rampart which separates Cork and Kerry, is probably more characterized bv the barbarous system of faction-fighting — that hideous memorial of feudal times — than most other districts of Ireland. Mr. Croker narrates his having witnessed, in 181 3» "the gathering" of two factions for battle, who had annually met during upwards of 40 years to renew and perpetuate their feud ; and, he adds, thai four years aHerwaras they met, and rioted in such strength at Bally vourney, as to drive, in rapid retreat, before them the sub-sheriff and a few dragoons who had gone to preserve the peace. The following newspaper particulars of the commencement of the affray, illustrate the determination and the truculency with which faction-fights are not only conducteil, but desired. ** On Sunday, 21st July, 1816, the Lynches and Twomeys met at Bally vourney : they had been for several years unfriendly to eadb other; and, in consequence of this hostile feeling. Sir Nicbo> las Colthurst directed his under-agent to desire that they should not go to the same chapel on SundaySy-^

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 153

Massacre at Ardglass ancient parish church

Ardglass · townland · Down

The ancient parish church of Ardglass stood on an eminence called Ardhol, near the town. It is said to have been abandoned after the sept of the MacCartanes massacred within its walls a whole congregation assembled for Christmas midnight mass.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

ARDGLASS, a parish on the south-east coast of the barony of Lecale, co. Down, Ulster. It contains a town of its own name: see next article. Length, 2^ miles; breadth, 2; area, 1,137 acres. Pop., in 1831, 1,628; in 1841, 1,433. Houses 279. Pop. of the rural districts, in 1831, 466; in I84I, 367. Houses 80. The coast is bold and rocky, dangerous to navigators, but replete with interest to the lovers of landscape. The land, in the interior, is rough and stony, yet produces such fine cereal erops that it may be aggregately pronounced good. The ancient parish-church surmounted an eminence, called ArdhoU, in the vicinity of the town of Ardglass ; and is said to have been abandoned on account of the sept of the MacCartanes massacring within its walls a whole congregation, assembled for Christmas midnight mass. The harbour, antiquities, and other matters, will be noticed in connection with the town. — This parish is an appropriate rectory, in the dio. of Down ; and forms part of the corps of the chancellorship of Down cathedral. All Ardglass, and parts of Bailee and Kilclief, constitute the perpetual curacy of Ardglass. The cure and tithes of the townland of Ross in Kilclief, the tithes of the townland of Ballyhosset in Bailee, and the cure and tithes of the townlands of Jordanscrew and Rildarescrew, are the parts and interests added to the former curacy, which was co-extensive with the parish ; and they were added by order in council, dated 3l8t October, 1834. Gross income, £214 Ts. ; nett, £202 3s. 9d. Patron, the Chancellor of Down. The church was built in 1813, at the cost of £1.107 13s. 10|d., two-thirds of which was gifted, and onethird lent, by the Board of First Fruits. Sittings 300 ; attendance, from 180 to 280. The Roman Catholic chapel is attended by 150; and, jointly with a chapel in Dunsford, is under the care of one officiate. In 1834, the parishioners of Ardglass consisted of 661 Churchmen, 29 Presbyterians, and 938 Roman Catholics; and the population within the curacy, of 685 Churchmen, 5^5 Presbyterians, and 1,216 Roman Catholics. In the same year, a boys' school and a girls' school, aided, the former with £30, and the latter with £18, from the Board of Erasmus Smith, had on their books respectively 92 boys and 83 girls; and three pay-schools had 53 boys and 48 girls.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 121

Artane Castle and the murder of Archbishop Allen

Artaine · parish · Dublin

Artane Castle, long the seat of the Doxellans of Ravensdale, was the scene of the tragic killing of John Allen, Archbishop of Dublin, whose captors misconceived an order for his removal as a death warrant and slew him in the castle hall. At the commencement of the 1641 civil war, Luke Netterville seized and garrisoned the fortalice with royalist forces.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

is of excellent quality. The hamlet of Artane has a pleasant appearance, and occupies an agreeable site, near the northern shore of Duldin bay, about 2^ miles from DubUn-castle. A castle which stood at the hamlet about 17 years ago, and was then in habitable repair, was long the seat of the Doxellans of Ravensdale. John Allen, or Alan, Archbishop of Dublin, having provoked the ire of the house of Kildare, by advocating the measures of Cardinal Wolsey, attempted to flee to England, and was shipwrecked near Clontarf, captured, carried before Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, then with the antagonist army at Artane, questioned respecting the oliject of bin attempted flight, and ordered to be taken '*outof his lordship^s sight." His captors, misconceiving the order for his removal to be a mandate for his death, hurried him into the hall of Artanc-castle, and tragically deprived him of life. At the commencement of the civil war of 1641, f-uke Notterville, son to I*ord Notterville, and one of the Roman Catholic leaders, at the head of a body of royalists, seised and garrisoned this fortalice. The marior of Artane was for manv ages the property of the family of Holy wood. In the I3th centurv. John Holywoo<l, or De Sacrobosco, a member ot this family, was a di^^tinguished mathematician and philosopher, and in the reign of Edwsrd HI., R. Holy wood, another member of it, was a baron of the exchequer. A tombstone of the family, erected in the cemetery in 1718, is a fragmentary and simple monument, with an escutcheon, representing a chevron ingrailed between three pigeons, and a pigeon the crest — This parish is a chapelry in the dio. of Dublin, and forms part of the benefice of Finglass, appropriated to the chancellorship of the cathedral of St. Patrick. Its ecclesias* ileal statistics are all mixed up with those of Finglass : which see. The church was small, and has for many years been a ruin. A boys* and girls' school are salaried with respectively £13 15s. and £IJ from the National Board ; and, in 1840, had on their books 70 boys and 59 girls.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 138

Askeaton Castle blown up by garrison, 1580

Askeaton · townland · Limerick · 1580

During the last Earl of Desmond's rebellion in 1580, the garrison of Askeaton Castle, unprepared to withstand a siege by the King's forces under Sir George Carew, placed gunpowder within the walls, evacuated, and blew up a considerable part of the building. The castle occupied a pinnacled site on a rock surrounded by a lofty wall and was accessible only by a drawbridge.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

its pinnacled site on the rock, and its encinetarcment with the divided stream of the Deel, it was surrounded by a lofty wall, and accessible only by a drawbridge. During the last E}irl of Desmond's rebellion in 1580, when the King's forces, under Sir George Carew, were approaching Askeaton, the garrison of the castle, being unpronded to sustain a siege, placed a train «f gunpowder within the walls, evacuated the place, fired the train, and blew up a considerable part of the building. The Earl, after three years of ceaseless warfare and various success, was driven from his castles, spoiled of his army, chased to the fastnesses of Kerry, and compelled to Ke perdu in mean apparel, much distress, and almost total unattendance. Kelly of Morierta eventually tracked the footsteps of a few kerns who had Tentnred to seize some cattle for the Earl's subsistence ; he found the hunted and fallen noble lying languidly before a fire in a ruined house ; he assailed him, wounded him, and drew from him the faint cry, '* Spare me, I am the Earl of De$>mond ;" and, heedless of theappeal, he struck off the Ekirl's head, and carried it to the Earl of Ormond, to be sent to Queen Elizabeth, and impaled on London bridge. Thus perished a family who, for four centuries, had flung rude splendour and magnificence around them, and frequently measured swords with the supreme civil power of the country. The EarFs forfeited lands amounted to 574,628 Irish acres. — About 30 yards from the castle, the Deel is spanned by an old bridge of 9 arches. About ^ of a mile from the town, and on the east brink of the river, stand the ruins of Askeaton abbey. This pile was founded in 1420, b3r James, the seventh Earl of Desmond, for friars roinorets ; and, long after its dilapidation, it ranked as one of the finest ecclesiastical ruins in Ireland. The cloisters, which are the chief part now remaining, form a square arcade of about ICO feet ; they are entirely composed of black marble; and they exhibit some beautiful and richly ornate chisellings. Askeaton was constituted a borough by charter of 11 James I. The limits included only a small space round the edificed area. The charter directed that the corporation should consist of a provost and 12 free burgesses ; that the free burgesses should hold their office for life, and annually elect from among their own number the provost ; that vacancies in the free burgess-ship should be filled up by the corporation from among ** the better and more honest of the inhabitants ;** that the provost might hold every Monday a court of record for the trial of all actions personal to the amount of 5 marks ; and that the corporation, in prosecution of the chief object of their beuig constituted, should return two members to parliament. The borough, owing to the prindple of self-election in its constitution, became at once a close borough ; it continued to act as such till it was disfranchised at the Union ; and it was then under " the patronage " of Lords Carrick and Massey. Of the sum of £15,000, which was awarded as compensation for the loss of its franchise, £6,580 was given to the Earl of Carrick, £6,580 to the trustees of the will of Hugh, Lord Massey, £1,100 to Sir Vere Hunt, Bart., and £200 to Sir Joseph Hoare, Bart. So extinct did the corporation become after the borough's disfranchisement, that the Commissioners on Municipal Corporations, when making inquiry a few years ago on the spot, could with difficulty obtain any evidence of its former existence. Power was given by James I. to Sir Francis Berkeley to hold in Askeaton weekly markets on Wednesday and Saturday, and a fiur on 20th and 21st July. Fairs are now held on dOth July and 9th Oct. Some tolls which are collected are private property. A seneschal's court, whose

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 138

Baltinglass Abbey foundation and royal burial

Baltinglass · town · Wicklow · 1148–1151

Diarmait Mac Murchada, King of Leinster, founded a Cistercian abbey at Baltinglass around 1148-1151. The abbey, known as Vallis Salutis, was favored by King John, and its abbot held a seat in parliament.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

tinent About the year 1148 or 1151, Dermod Biac-
Morough, king of Leinster, founded at BaltinglMs an abbey for Cistertiaa monks ;. and he is said by some writers to have been interred in the building. The abbey was known as that of Vallis Salutis, and entitled its abbot to a seat in parliament. John, Earl of Mortaign, afterwards King John, confirmed to it the possession of its lands,.and otherwise showed it special favour. Albin O'Molloy, abbot of Baltin^ glass, denounced, in one of the Dublin catbedralsy the incontinence of the English and Welsh clem, and in consequence provoked a controversy witn Giraldus Cambrensis. In 1314, the abbot of BtltitU

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 154

O'Dempsey castle at Ballybrittas destroyed by Cromwell

Ballybrittas · townland · Laois · 1649–1653

A castle or large mansion belonging to the O'Dempseys, lords of Clanmalliere, once stood in a field contiguous to Ballybrittas village. It was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell during his campaigns in Ireland.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

BALLYBRITTAS, a small post-village in the parish of Lea, barony of Portnehinch, Queen's co., I^inster. It stands on the road from Dublin to | Limerick, 2 miles north-east of £mo, 3 south-west \ of Monastereven, and 33 south-west by west of Dub- i lin. In a field contiguous to it stood a castle or I large mansion, which belonged to the O'Dempseys, lords of Clanmalliere, and which was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell. In the vicinity are the mansions of Ballybrittas, the Rev. Dean Trench; Rath, Thomas Trench, Esq. ; and Bellegrove, George Adair, Esq. A dispensary in the village is within the Mountmellick Poor-law union, and has a district containing 4,963 inhabitants; and, in 1839, it received £83 lis., expended £84 Is., and adminUtered to 1.483 patients. Area of the village, 7 acres. Pop., in 1831, 168; in 1841, 136. Houses 24.
BALLYBRITTON, a hamlet in the barony of Coolestown, King's co., Leinster. It stands on the banks of the Grand Canal, not far from Edenderry. In its vicinity are the ruins of Ballybritton-castle.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 152

Sir Thomas Crook leases Baltimore from O'Driscoll

Baltimore · town · Cork · 1603–1625

In the reign of James I, Sir Thomas Crook took lease of Baltimore village and grounds from Sir Fineen O'Driscoll, brought English settlers, encouraged new houses, and procured the charter of incorporation. Disputes after his death caused a suspension of improvements.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

The O'Driscolls.long notorious for daring practices of piracy, were for several centuries the proprietors and occupants of Baltimore; and some vestiges of their castle at the place are still to be seen. Sir Thomas Crook, in the reign of James L, took •
BAL

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 153

Baltimore village: ancient Druid retreat and name Dunashad

Baltimore · town · Cork

Baltimore's site is alleged to have been a retreat of the Druids, its name said to derive from Beal-mor meaning 'the Great House of Beal'. Its ancient designation was Dunashad, and the district was called Leam-Con.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

BALTIMORE, a village and sea-port, formerly a parliamentary borough, in the parish of TuUagh, eastern division of the barony of West Carbery, co. Cork, Munster. It stands on the east shore of Baltimore Harbour, 2 miles above its entrance, 5 northeast by north of the nearest part of Cape Clear Island, 6^ south by west of Skibbereen, and 174 south-west by south of Dublin. Its site is alleged to have been anciently a retreat of the Druids ; and its name is, in consequence, asserted to have been originally written Seai-i^'inor, signifying * the Great House of Beal.' But its ancient designation was Dunashad ; and the district in which it stands was called Leam-Con. The village consists of two sections, the one within, and the other without, the limits of the quondam borough ; and, in both of them, it has a decayed and squalid appearance, pos. sesses no manufacture, depends largely on small. farm agriculture, and affords very trifling promise of resuscitation or improvement. The nearest part of the nearest projected line of railway, that to Berehaven, is distant no less than 37 statute miles. A new pier was a few years ago constructed in its vicinity by the Fishery Board ; and was estimated by the engineer who planned it to cost £650. Though dues of from Is. to 4s. 6d. are levied from each British or Irish hooker, sloop, schooner, and ship not belonging to the place, and of double the amount from every forei^ vessel, which comes into the port, whether it discharges or not, the total amount realized is only about £8 a year. Yet the village itself has little or nothing to do with even this, except to exact the dues; for "the port" over which the nght of exaction ranges, extends up to Skibbereen in one channel, and up to Ballinahole and Bowing Water in another : see preceding article. There are neither markets nor fairs. A dispensary here is within the Skibbereen Poor-law union, and serves for a district which, in 1831, had a popuUtion of 6,479; and, in 1839-40, it received and expended £84, and administered to 1,956 patients. In 1842, the Baltimore Loan Fund had a capital of £326, circulated £1,178 in 718 loans, and both cleared in nett profit, and expended for charitable purposes, £7 6s. 9d. Baltimore was incorporated by charter of 1 1 James I. ; and it received another charter in 5 James II. The borough limits embraced a part of the manor, extending for about one-fourth of a mile round the landward sides of the town. The corporation consisted of a sovereign, 12 burgesses, and « commonalty; and the sovereign and burgesses returned two members to parliament. No trace of a corporation now exists ; and the only official person is a water-bailiff, who is appointed bv Lord Carbery, the lord of the manor, and who collects and appropriates the harbour dues, and whose only duty is to keep up a perch on a hidden rock in the harbour. A court for the manor was formerly held in the village before the seneschal ; but was removed 9 or 10 years ago to a more central part of the manor. Mo courts or sessions of any kind are now held. Area of the town, 15 acres. Pop., in 1831, 459; in 1841, 168. Hous>es 34.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 153

Ancient fort at Annahilt, O'Neil's 1641 retreat

near Annahilt · parish · Down · 1641

The cemetery around the church at Annahilt is of great antiquity, enclosed by the innermost of four fortifications covering at least nine acres with a former morass on three sides. Sir Phelim O'Neil retreated to this post in 1641 when repulsed at Lisburn by Sir John Rawdon; within the fort have been found querns, a grenade, and a six-pound cannon-ball.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

ANAHILT, or Annahilt, a parish, 3^ miles south-east of Hillsborough, and partly in the barony of Kinelearty, but chiefly in that of Lower Iveagh, CO. Down. Ulster. Length. 4^ miles ; breadth. 31 ; area of the Kinelearty section. 708 acres ; of the Iveagh section, 6,069 acres. Pop. of the whole, in 1831, 3J55; in 1841, 3,551. Houses 650. Pop. of the Kinelearty section, in 1831, 383; in 1844', 432. Houses 79. Pop. of the Iveagh section, in 1831, 3,372; in 1841, 3.119. Houses 571. The surface consists, for the most part, of hillocks varying from 20 to 60 acres eacn in area, and of intervening fiats small in extent when arable, and somewhat less contracted when boggy. The hills, as seen from one point of view, sweep round in the form of an amphitheatre ; they are steepest on the north side, and, along with the general surface, are drained northward ; and they present, in the undi^ lating lines of their summit, a pleasing perspective behind a soft landscape. Of the whole parochial area, 465 acres consist of bogs and lakes, 175 of irreclaimable rocks, and the remainder of as good arable land, on an average, as any in the county. The chief lakes are Aghrt and Erne : which see. Slates, excellent in colour, size, and durability, have long been quarried in the townland of Cluntogh. Greywacke and schistose rocks prevail; and are traversed by numerous dykes of basalt, of the same appearance and composition as the great basaltic field of Antrim. The cemetery around the church is of great antiquity and curious interest. A fort which surrounds it is the innermost of four enclosures, which include at least nine acres, and slope to the east in a regular glacis. It had formerly a morass on three sides ; and must, previous to the invention of cannon, have been a place of great strenjfth. To this post Sir Phelim O'Neil retreated, in 1641, when repulsed at Lisburn by Sir John Rawdon. "Within the fort have been foufid several querns, a handsome grenade, and a six-pound can> . non-ball. Numerous tiny forts on the hills, have, for the most part, only one trench and dit^Hi ; and are of the kind so common on the east coast of Ireland. The parish is traversed by the roads from Downpatrick to Dromore, Hillsborough, and Lisburn, and by that from Lisburn to Rathfriland — Anahilt is a rectory and a separate benefice in the diok of Eh-omore. Tithe composition, £367 5s. 4d. Gross income, £501 5s. 4d. ; nett, £412 178. 9d. Patron, the diocesan. A curate is employed at a stipend of £70. The church was built in 1741 ; and recdfed, in 1768, the addition of a tower, at the expense of the first marquis of Downshire. Sittings 150; average attendance 230. A Presbyterian meetinghouse at Lough Aghry, is attended by 1,500: A second Presbyterian meeting-house, called that of Aiiubilt-, actually stands within Hillsborough. In 1834, the parishioners consisted of 821 Churchmen, 2,812 Presbyterians, 4 other Protestant dissenters, and 199 Roman Catholics. The Rev. John Dubordieu, the author of the Agricultural Surveys of Down and of Antrim, was rector, of Anahilt wbeir he published these works ; and, in an account of hit parish which appears in Mason's Parochial Survey, he says : ** It is but a very few years since the parish of Anahilt was claimed by any Roman Catlio* lie clergyman, as there was only one family of thaf denomination in it." Five schools — each of two*flC

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 112

Ballybough village: vitriol works and Jewish cemetery

near Ballybough · townland · Dublin

Ballybough village in the parish of Clonturk stands on the north side of the Ballybough rivulet estuary, about 1.5 miles north-east of Dublin Castle. The place is noteworthy chiefly as the site of a vitriol manufactory and a Jewish cemetery.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

BALLYBOUGH, a viUage in the parish of Clonturk, barony of Coolock, co. Dublin, Leinster. It stands on the north side of the small estuary of the Ballybough rivulet, 1^ mile north-east of Dublin* castle. The place is noticeable chiefly as the site of a vitriol manufactory, and of a Jewish cemetery. Area, 112 acres. Pop., in 1841, 1,074. Houses 159. Families employed chiefly in agriculture, 55; in manufactures and trade, 49 ; in other pursuits, 1 16.
BALLYBOUGHT, a parish, formerly in the barony of Uppercross, co. Dublin, but now in the baropy of South Naas, co. Kildare, 6^ miles south* west by south of Blessington, Leinster. The transference was made by Act of 6 and 7 William IV., c. 84, s. 51. Length, 1} mile; breadth, 9 furlongs; area, 1,441 acres. Pop., in 1831, 207; in 1841, 265.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 152

Banada Augustinian friary ruins

Banada · townland · Sligo · 1423

In 1423, an Augustinian friary dedicated to Corpus Christi was founded at Banada. An inquisition under James I found it possessed of half the quarter of Knockglass and its tithes. The fine ruins of the edifice, with a steeple of hewn stone, still remained at the time of writing.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

BAN A DA, or Benada, a village in the barony of Leney, co. Sligo, Connaught. It stands on the road from Boyle to Ballina, by way of Lough Talt, S miles north-west of Tubbercurry, 5 west of Achonry, and 11 north-east of Foxford. The nascent Moy issues from the neighbouring and singularly outlined isolated hill of Knocknashee, and sweeps past the village in a race of beauty. The demesne of Banada, the property of Daniel Jones, Esq., is adjacent. A little north-west of the village, the road to Ballina dives into a mountain glen or gap, to reappear on the skirts of the lonely Lough Talt, and traverse the wild moorland tract of the Lurgan hills, in 1423, a friary of Augustinian Eremites was founded at the village by a member of the order, and dedicated to Corpus Chtisti. An inquisition of 11 James I., found this friary possessed of half the quarter of Knockglass, ami of its tithes. The fine ruins of the edifice, with a steeple of hewn stone, still remain. Fairs are held on Jan. 17* Whitmonday, and Aug. 7* Pop. not specially returned.
BANAGH. See Bankagh.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 154

Carmelite friary at Ardee destroyed by Edward Bruce 1315

Ardee · town · Louth · 1272–1315

A White or Carmelite friary at Ardee, founded by the Pipard family and endowed by Ralph Pipard under Edward I, was the meeting-place of a Carmelite chapter in 1315. That same year, civilians fleeing the Scots and Irish under Edward Bruce took refuge in its church and were burned to ashes along with the building.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

Crouched friary at Ardee was founded by Roger de Pipard in 1207> and dedicated to St. John ; but, excepting the part of its church which exists as the parochial place of worship, it has nearly all disappeared. The friary had ample possessions, and he^d sway over eight chapels in difierent parts of the county. George Dowdall, the last prior, surrendered its possessions in the 31st vear of Henry VIII., but he obtained a life-grant of them in the 1st year of Mary, and was made primate of all Ireland. In 1612, the possessions were granted by James I. to Sir Garrett Moore, the ancestor of the Marquis of Drogheda. — A White or Carmelite friary at Ardee is supposed also to have been founded by the Pipard family ; and, in the reign of Edward I., received large endowments from Ralph Pipard. In 1315, it was the meeting-place of a chapter of the Carmelites ; and, in the same year, a crowd of men, women, and children, fled to its church from the ravages of the Scots and Irish under Edward Bruce, and, in common with their asylum, were reduced to ashes by the assailants. The edifice was speedily restored; and, in the years 1320, 1325, 1489, and 1504, was the scene of provincial chapters or synodical assemblies. This friary, like the former, was dissolved in the 31 st ^ear of Henry VIII.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 121

De Ginckle storms Athlone across the river ford, 1691

Athlone · town · Westmeath · 1691

On June 30, 1691, after repeated failed attempts to cross the bridge, some 2,000 of De Ginckle's English troops rushed into the ford of the river under heavy fire, gained the opposite bank, and took the town within half an hour. About 1,200 Irish were slain and the castle garrison of 500 surrendered as prisoners.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

sure on the bridge, and numbers fell headlong from the battlements, and perished in the river. But the arch of the bridge next the Connaught town was now promptly broken ; the ford between the two towns was not only dangerous from its depth and roughness, but so narrow as hardly to admit 20 men abreast ; the Irish, who fired furiously from the Connaught side, were posted in great force behind intrenchments and fortresses; a place, considerably up the river, where a passage might be attempted by a bridge of pontons, was strongly and vigilantly guarded ; and the assailing and hitherto victorious army seemed in consequence to be arrested from attempting further progress. De Ginckle, concluding the bridge to be the only practicable passage, raised a wooden work for the purpose of throwing planks over the broken arch ; batteries played from the east side to cover the workmen, and from the west to destroy them ; a sergeant and ten privates in armour rushed from among the Irish to demolish the work, and were all slain; another Irish party followed, and flung the beams and planks into the river ; the English reconstructed the work, and completed a dose gallery over the broken arch ; they now resolved to pass in three simultaneous bodies, the principal one here, and subordinate ones at two other places ; and, just when they were about to start, they saw the gallery burnt by the fire of the Irish grenades, and were once more flung helplessly back on their inventive resources. On the dOth, the day after the last repulse, while the Irish were insolent in a sense of security, and after De Ginckle and his officers had held an inspiriting council of war, a party of about 2,000 of the Eriglish, headed by the most distinguished leaders, rushed, at an appointed signal, into the ford of the river, intrepidly advanced across the water amid a tremendous fire from the enemy's works, gained the opposite bank, were speedily joined by parties along the bridge and by pontons, mounted breaches which had previously been battered open on the side of the fortifications next the river, and strack such astonishment and panic into the Irish, that the latter either fell or fled, while the English were masters of the tcrwn within half-an-hour of their commencing the passage of the stream. About 1,200 of the Irish were slain in the siege ; the garrison of the castle, consisting of 500 men, surrendered as prisoners; and the bodv of the discomfited and expelled army instantly decamping, retreated the sane night beyond the river Suck, there to sustain in a few days their signal and nearly final defeat. See Adohrix. The siege of Athlone cost the assailants 12,000 cannon balls, numerous tons of stones thrown from mortars, 600 bombs, and nearly 50 tons of gunpowder.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 146

Galway paid O'Briens of Arran wine tribute

Galway · city · Galway · 1585

The corporation of Galway told Queen Elizabeth they paid the O'Briens of Arran a tribute of wine for guarding Galway Bay against pirates and coast plunderers. An address signed in March 1585 confirmed Murrogh MacTurlogh O'Brien as hereditary lord of the islands until expelled by the O'Flahertys.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

The ancient soverdgn lords of Arran were O'Briens, descendants of the celebrated Brian Boromh{ and they held, at the same time, the territory of Tromra, in the county of Clare. The corporation of the town of Galway stated, in an address to Queen Elizabeth, that they paid the O'Briens of Arran a tribute of wine for guarding Galway bay against
5 urates and ooast plunderers. ** This addresar says Ir. Hardiman, ''was signed on SOth March, U8S, by John Blake, the mayor, and Walter Martin and Anthony Kirrivaii, bailiffs, and countersigned by Anthony Detmot, notory, whereby tb^ testify to Queen Eliubeth.in fiivourof Murrogh MacTurlogh O'Brien, then living, that the MacTieges of Arran, his ancestors, were, under her Majesty and her predecessors, the temporal captains or lords of the islands of Arran, juid their territories and hereditaments ekewhere, under ihe name of MacTiege O'Brien of Arran, time out of man's memory ; and that they had seen the said Muraogh MacTurlogh authorised by all his sept, as chief of that name, and in possession of the premises as his own lawful inheritance, as more at large, say they, doth appear in our books of reoordfl, wherein he continued, until of late he was, by the usurping power of the O'Flaher* ties, ezpulsed, from whom it is taken by some inquest found in her Mi^esty's favour. * We say, moreover,* add they, 'that the sept of MacTiege O'Brien of Arran, since the foundation of this city and town, were aiding and assisting to ourselves and our prede-

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 138

Great traditional battle at Ballymoon, 908

Ballymoon · townland · Carlow · 908

According to traditionary history, a great battle was fought at Ballymoon on 16 August 908 between Cormac-mac-Culinan, king and bishop of Cashel, with the princes of Ossory and Munster, against Flann, king of all Ireland, Cearbhal, king of Leinster, and Cathal, king of Connaught. Cormac was slain and six thousand of his followers were cut to pieces.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

BALLYMOON— originally Bealla-Mochwa— B townland in the parish of bunleckney, barony of East Idrone, co. Carlow, Leinster. A great battle, according to traditionary history, was fought here on the 16th of August, 908. The belligerenU on the one side were Cormac-mac-Culinan, king and bishop of Cashel, and the princes of Ossory and Munster ; and, on the other side, Flanii, king of all Ireland, Cearbhal, king of Leinster, and Cathal, king of Connaught. The king of Cashel was slain, six thousand of his followers were cut to pieces, and his crown passed into the power of his conquerors. — Ballymoon-castle, in the townland, is supposed to have been built about the year 1096. Its ruins form a square of about 120 feet on each side, and were formerly surrounded by a moat, which is now nearly obliterated. The interior is so utterly dilapidated that only slender and interrupted vestiges exist of cross walls, and scarcely discernible traces of the bases of a few pillars. Two square towers rise respectively on the north and on the south ; the windows are mere loop-holes, 5 feet high, 4 inches broad, cruciform at top, and in good preservation ; and the entrance is on the we!>t by a cut stone archway, the upper part of which has fallen. The main walls are about 31 feet high, and not less than 8 feet thick, and are covered with earth and grass; and the masonry is of great strength and durability. An idea mav be formed of the extraordinary massiveaess ef the walls from the fact, that a pointed arch leads by stone steps in the bowels of the main wall to one of the loop-holes. The central part of the castle's interior appears to have been always an uncovered area. The castle surmounts the apex of a rocky eminence, yet is so commanded by adjacent heights that it could never have been very formidable to an invading army. Cromwell is said to have battered it dov^ii. Some curious specimens of armour, and a beautiful set of diamond beads, were dug up, a few years ago, from among the ruins.
BALLMORAN. See Almoritja.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 152

O'Driscoll castle vestiges at Baltimore

Baltimore · town · Cork

The O'Driscolls, notorious for piracy, were proprietors of Baltimore for several centuries. Some vestiges of their castle at the place are still visible.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

The O'Driscolls.long notorious for daring practices of piracy, were for several centuries the proprietors and occupants of Baltimore; and some vestiges of their castle at the place are still to be seen. Sir Thomas Crook, in the reign of James L, took •
BAL

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 153

Ballylinch Castle and the Grace family of Kilkenny

Ballylinch · parish · Kilkenny · 1642

The extensive ivy-clad ruins of Ballylinch-castle stand contiguous to the Nore and were the residence of the Viscounts Ikerrin until the first Earl of Carrick built Mount-Juliet on the opposite bank. The castle was long the property of a distinguished branch of the Grace family until Gerald Grace's opposition to the Commonwealth incurred forfeiture; he was slain at the battle of Kilrush in 1642.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

B ALLYLINCH, a parish in the barony of Gowran, a short way west of Thomastown, co. Kilkenny, Leinster. Area, 1,167 acres. Pop., in 1831, 298; in 1841, 319. Houses 48. A notice of the ornate and exquisitely beautiful surface would needlessly anticipate our article on the noble demesne of Mount- Juliet: which see. The extensive remains of Ballylinch-castle stand contiguous to the Nore, partially clothed in ivy, and shaded by venerable trees. " This spacious structure," says Brewer, ** constituted the residence of the Viscounts Ikerrin, until Somerset- Hamilton, the eighth Viscount and first Earl of Carrick, erected the mansion of Mount-Juliet on the opposite banks, and gave it the appellation ii now bears, in compliment to his wife Juliana, daugh* ter of Henry Boyle, first Earl of Shannon Ballylinch (or more properly BaUy-Inch, the peninsulated townland or habitation) was, for a long period, the property of a verv distinguished branch of the Grace iamilv. thence denominated till the opposition of Gerald Grace to the Commonwealth incurred the penalty of forfeiture. It appears that €»erald Grace of Ballylinch, and also of Carney-castle in ca Tipperary, commanded a corps in the army of his maternal unde, Richard Butler, third Viscoant Mountgarrett, at the battle of Rilrush, where he was slain on the 15th of April, 1642 '*— BalUlincfa parish is a rectory, and part of the benence of BuBNCHURCH [which see], in the dio. of Ossory. Tithe composition, £96. In 1834, the Protestants amounted to 18, and the Roman Catholics to 285 ; and there was neither church, chapel, nor scfaooL

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 152

Baltinglass Castle and parliament

Baltinglass · town · Wicklow

Baltinglass Castle, originally the abbot's residence and later the seat of the Viscounts Baltinglass, was an irregular edifice built at different periods with Saxon-style round-arched doors. A parliament was once held in Baltinglass and is thought to have sat in the castle.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

glass was permitted hy govenimcnt to eonfer with the septa orf the O'Tooles and the O'Byrnes, "and many others of the inhabitants of the mouRtains, denominated Irish felons, for the purpose of receiving from them the goods, chattels, &c., of which the abbot had been robbed, or a full equivalent for the f-amc." The abbey, with its rich endowments, was granted, at the dissolution, to Thomas Eustace, afterwards Viscount Baltingkiss ; and, on the forfeiture of the Eustace estates, it was granted to Sir Henry Harrington. The edifice, from considerable remains of it which are still standing, appears to have been built on nearly the same plan as the abbeys of Tintern and Dunbro<ly, in co. Wexford, but to have been less extensive. The chancel, with some additions, is now the parish-church ; part of an east window, which was composed of three narrow lights, exists ; six pointed arches, belonging to the side aisles, are still preserved ; and the steeple rises from the centre of the whole remains. The Aldborough family have a sepulchral vault within the pile, but no monumental erection. — Baltinglass castle, origi< nally the residence of the abbot, and afterwards the seat of the Viscounts Baltinglass, is an irregular and not very extensive edifice, and bears marks of having been built at different periods. The outward doors are in the Suxon or round-arched style of architecture, and other parts are in the styles of various less ancient periods. A parliament was once held in Baltinglass, and is supposed to have sat in the castle.
BALTRASNA, a village in the parish of Ballymacdun, barony of Balrothery, co. Dublin, Leinster. Fop. returned with the parish.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 154

Battle of Aughrim: St. Ruth slain, Irish routed to Loughrea

Aughrim · parish · Galway

During the battle at Aughrim, the English cavalry charged past the castle under heavy fire. The Irish commander St. Ruth was killed by a cannon-ball, and without communicated orders Sarsfield could not direct the troops; the Irish were driven into total rout, the cavalry fleeing to Loughrea.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

by the wnlU of Agh rim-castle through a tremendous fire, to the amazement of St. Ruth, who asked some officers, * What do the English mean?' Receiving for afiswer, ' To force their way to our right ;* he bad the generosity to sav, * They are brave fellows! it is a pity they should be so exposed/ While the cavalry were pressing forward with desperate impetuosity, and gave opportunity to the infantry in the centre to rally at the bog and recover their former ground, the French general resolving to direct hU miiin force against the cavalry, pointed a battery for that purpose, and led a formidable body of horse to attack them. In this critical moment, when fortune iieemcd to threaten discomfiture to the English, St. Ruth was slain by a cannon-ball; and as the order of battle had not been communicated to Sarslic'ld, who hud not lived on friendly terms with the deceased, this commander was unable to form di^- positions till the battle was decided. When the Irish cavalry, destitute of orders, on the fall of their general, halted and returned to their former ground, contur^ion spread through all their troops, who, violently pressed from every point of attack by the forces of Ginckle, were driven to their camp, and thence into total route; the infantry flyinff to a bog, the cavalry, to Loughrea. With all their cannon, ammunition, tents, and baggage, a ^eat quantity of small arms, eleven standards, and thirty- two colours, the Irish lost in the battle and pur^iuit of S miles, 7,000 slain, 450 taken prisoners; of the English were killed 700, and 1.000 wounded."
AIIGHRIS. See Aghris.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 147

Arigna ironworks and O'Reilly brothers' enterprise

near Arigna · population centre · Roscommon · 1788

The Arigna mineral district on the border of Roscommon and Leitrim contained the most noted and extensive ironworks in Ireland, with coal-pits, ironstone, and limestone. Around 1788, three brothers named O'Reilly adopted the English method of using pit-coal for smelting and produced iron of the highest reputation, but eventually became embarrassed, mortgaged their works, and saw them sold for £25,000 to a banking-house partner who lost £80,000.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

ARIGNA, an important mineral district in the vale of the Arigna river, on the borders of the counties Roficomroon and Leitrhn, Connaught. The ironworks of the district, the most noted and extensive in Ireland, are situated near the mouth of the vale, on the right bank of the river. A mountain which begins to rise almost at the verge of the works, constitutes what Mr. Griffith, in the report of his survey of the coal-distrfct of Cbnnaught, calls the fourth or southern division of the coalfield ; and It contains several coalpits both on the side next the valley and on the further side, and is unquestionably the most important division of the four. Two of the principal collieries, both situated on the side next the vale, were leased to the earlier undertakers of the frorwworks. The nearer one, called the Rover colliery, is I^ mile disUnt frocn the works ; and the further and larger one, caHetf the Aughabehy colliery, is 3 miles distant from them, but connected by a vrinding and not injudiciously planned Voad. The coal, though thru, is of excellent quality, or at least well-adapted to the smelting of ironstone ; and the ironstone is pecuHariy rich, and has yielded prime iron, both in casting and in bars. The area of coal is 20,000 acres, and is supposed to contain 20 millions of tons. Limestone also abounds in the vicinity. While the forests continued to supply wood for charcoal, iron was long made on the opposite side of Lough Allen, at the base of the range of Slieve-a-neeran. literally, in Erse, • the iron moontains.' But there, w in various other parts of Ireland where ^e smelting of iron had been effected, the works were abandoned when the woods were destroyed. But about the vear 1788, three brothers of the name of O Reilfy spiritedly adopted the idem, which had been recentljr introduced to England, of using pit-coal for smelting ; and applied it to the mineral field of Arigna. They immediately produced iron which obtained the highest reputation in Dublin, and in every place to- which it was sent ; but, from causes which are imperfectiv explained, or at least variously stated, they speedily became embarrassed, obtained repeated and large assistance from the banking-hoii<e of Messrs. Latouche, and finally mortgaged their works, and saw them brought to sale under the court of chancery. One of the partners of the bank, huvried away with the opinion that mone^ alone was necessary to render the works remunerating, bought them for £25,000, and resolved to conduct them for his private advantage. ** I well recollect taking a ride with that excellent and kind -hearted man, at a venerable period of his life," says Mr. Isaac Weld, whom we are at present following as our authority, ** and on stopping before a large iron gate in lus beautiful park of Bellevue, being asked whether I had ever before seen so costly a piece of workmanship? The gate was a spacious and a goodly one, but there was- nothing extraordinary in its appearance. *-! see you are hesitating. Sir,' said the good old gentlenwn ; ' and yet I can venture to assert, that you never before saw a gate which cost the owner so much. That gate. Sir, cost me £80,000; for it is the only thing I ever got out of the Arigna- ironworks, in return for all my money expended ttiere.*"

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 122

Baltimore fisheries and trade, 1830s

Baltimore · town · Cork · 1830–1835

Baltimore Harbour's fisheries employed large numbers of vessels and hands in 1830, with exports valued at over £37,000 in 1835. Much of the trade actually belonged to Skibbereen rather than the poor village of Baltimore itself.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

{)laccs on its shores, and up the river Hen ; they beong, in largest quantity, especially the latter, to the town of Skibbereen ; yet, with great absurdity, they are almost uniformly represented as all belonging to the poor village whence the harbour has its name. In 1830, the fisheries employed 4 decked vessels of aggregately 107 tons ; 27 half-decked vesseU of 445 tons ; 50 open sail-boat:*, and 336 row-boats, manned
by 2,367 hands. In 1835, the exports were estimated in value at ;€37,144, and the imports were valued at •£17,767. The customs collected at this port, in 1829, amounted to £962; in 1836, to ^€2,151 ; and, in 1841, had again sunk to £960. The port embraces Castletownsend, Glendore, and Ross ; with Bantry creek, and Berehaven.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 153

Humbert's surrender at Ballinamuck, 1798

near Ballinamuck · population centre · Longford · 1798

General Humbert's French army, invaded Ireland at Killala in 1798, was cornered at Ballinamuck by nearly 30,000 troops under Marquis Cornwallis. After a brief defence, the French surrendered on 8 September; about 500 Irish auxiliaries were slain attempting flight.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

to the last action of the French army which invaded Ireland at Killalla in 1798. General Humbert, after the various fortunes of his brief campugn, and while careering before a force which he could not check, found himself in such a desperate position at BalUnamuck, that if he should proceed he must inevitably be surrounded by nearly 30,000 troops, under the able command of the Viceroy, Marquis Comwallis. His small army was drawn out in battle order ; his rearguard was attacked by Crawford, who had been harassing his march ; about 200 of his men immedi. ately surrendered ; and the rest defended themselves upwards of half-an-hour, but surrendered on the appearance of the main body of the English army. Lord Roden, who had been made prisoner while advancing into the French lines to obtain their surrender, opportunely ordered the English troops to halt, and prevented some effusion of blood. Irish auxiliaries, 1,500 in number, who had accompanied the French to the field were excluded from quarter, and instantlv attempted flight in every direction, but were slain to the number of probably 500. Humbert's troops were found, after the surrender, to consist of 748 privates and 96 officers ; so that his entire lo<«s from the time of landing at Killalla, was 256. The affair at Ballinamuck occurred on the 8th of September. Pop. of the village, in ia31, 163.
BALLINAMUDDAGH, a village in the parish of Ballyhuskard, barony of Ballagbkeen, co. Wexford, Leinster. Area, 20 acres. Pop., in 1841, 005. Houses 39.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 148

Knights Templar church ruins and Tory Hill lake

Ballycahane · townland · Limerick · 1485–1500

Near Tory Hill in the parish of Ballycahane are remains of a church belonging to the Knights Templars and a small lake associated with curious local traditions. The neighbourhood of the parish church also contains the ruins of Ballycahane Castle, built near the close of the 15th century.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

BALLYCAHANE, a parish, partly in the barony of Small County, but chiefly in that of Pubblebrien, and 3 miles north by east of Croom, co. Limerick, Munster. Length, 2 miles ; breadth, 1 ; area, 3,738 acres, — of which 638 acres are in Small County. Pop., in 1831, 1,242; in 1841, 1,196. Houses 180. Pop. of the Small County section, in 1631, 252; in ]64i, 225. Houses 32. It lies within the baun, and about 2^ miles east of the Maig. The land is in Fome parts somewhat wet and heavy ; but in general it forms good arable and pasture ground. In the vicinity of Tory Hill are some remains of a church which belonged to the Knights Templars, and also a small lake, which figures in some curious local traditions ; and in the neighbourhood of the parishchurch are the ruins of Ballycahane-castle, which was built near the close of the 15th century by the
O'Grady family This parish is a rectory, prebend,

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 152

Richard Boyle founds Bandon-Bridge on a wilderness site

Bandon · town · Cork · 1602–1608

Around 1602, Richard Boyle purchased much of Kinnalmeaky after O'Mahony's forfeiture in the Desmond rebellion. He commenced building the town of Bandon around 1608 on a site he described as 'a mere waste bog and wood' that had served as a retreat for 'wood-kernes, rebels, thieves, and wolves.'

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

Origin and Early Condition — About the year 1602, Mr. Richard Boyle, afterwards the first and '* great " Earl of Cork, purchased the greater part of Kinnalmeaky from the party to whom it had been granted after O'Mahony's forfeiture for sharing in the Desmond rebellion. Though tbe site of Bandon within the limits of his purchase was then almost a desert, Mr. Boyle comprehended at a glance its high natural facilities for becooung a prosperous seat of population and of trade ; and be resolved to exhibit to Ireland a specimen of the energy and the bold enterprise which should convert a scene of stillness and sterility into a large, orderly, and busy haunt of men. About the year 1608, he commenced the buildings 00 a plan formed with considerable judgment ; and though then not a young man, he lived to see the walls of his new town afford a protection to all in the surrounding country who belonged to his party or adopted his politics. In 1611, he procured from James I. a charter of incorporation ; in 1623, he saw bis town made the seat of the August assiies for tbe whole county ; and, in 1632, he witnessed it complete in buildings, and wearing many indicationa of prosperity. In a letter, under the last of theae dates, to Mr. Secretary Cook, "the great Earl " describes ** the place in which it is situated," as '* upon a great district of the country that was, witbki thehwt 24 years^ a mere waste bog and wood, serving for m retreat and harbour to wood-kemes, rebels, thieves, and wolves." But abready tbe town whi<^ he had reared in this wilderness ¥ras surrounded by ttroM^ walls, and otherwise fortified; was provided wiu two churches, two sessions-bouses, a strong bridge over the river, two market-houses, and ample accommodations for traders ; occupied an area which was estimated to amount to 27 acres ; and was inhabited by such *' neat, orderly, and religious people as it would comfort any good heart to tee the change." This picture of the place, indeed, is m a great degree a copy of one drawn by the Earl himself, and may very probably be overooloored ; for so enthusiastically did he regard the town that he boldly challenged a comparison of it with Londonderry, then the cynosure of the greater part of Ireland. ** All that are judicial," said be, **and have carefully viewed them both, and compared every part of them together, do confidently affinn that the circuit of my new town of BaiidoD-Bridgt is

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 157

St. Gobnata's image, holy well and pilgrim stone at Ballyvourney

Ballyvourney · parish · Cork

A small stone cross about 30 yards from the west end of the church was the site where the alleged image of St. Gobnata was exhibited on Whit-Mondays and patron days. Devotees crawled round it on their knees, tied handkerchiefs about its neck for protection against disease, and wore a stone smooth with their knees. Nearby were a holy well and a circle of stones about 9 feet in diameter, appearing to be the vestige of a tower.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

village, sends off a branch-line toward Kenmare. The chief mansion is Knight's Bridge, formerly the seat of the Colthurst fiunilv. — The village of Ballj^- vourney, **the town of toe beloved," is romanti* cally situated on an eminence which overhangs the south bank of the Sollane. Its site is 7i mUea west of Macroom ; and its population is not specially returned. Archdall says that St. Abban, who died in 650, built a nunnery at Bally vourney, '* and presented it to St. Gobnata, who was descended from Connor the Great, Monarch of Ireland. Her patron day is February the 1 4th. The church, which IS dedicated to her, is 104 feet in length, and 24 feet in breadth ; and the steeple seems nodding to its fall." But the ver^ hd of this Gobnata's existence is highly questionable; the alleged royalty of her lineage seems merely a rhetorical flourish ; and the pretended foundation of her nunnery simply served to eke out the antiquities of the ** Monasticon." The church was as Archdall describes; but is now a nearly amorphous mass of ruin. Near its altar was the tomb of the O'Hereleb^s or O'Hierleys, the quondam toparchs of the district. At m small stone -cross stood, about 30 yards from the west end of the church, the alleged image of St. Gobnatm used to be exhibited on Whit-Mondays and on patron days. Dr. Smith, who notices the debasing practice, says, '* The devotees (which are only the more simple and ruder Irish) go round it on their knees, and repeat a certain number of prayers. They also tye their handkerchiefs, &c., about its neck, which they imagine will preserve them from several diseases." And he adds, in a note, " I have been informed that the devotion used to this image haa been of late prohibited by the titular bishop of the diocese; but so strong are the ignorant Irish pre* judiced in its favour, that they still persevere in their superstition, which is not a little kept up by the gain it brings to the proprietor of this image, who, as I hear, farms it at a considerable rent to the person who exposes it to view." Near the cross was a stone fixed in the ground, and worn b^ the knees of the superstitious pilgrims ; adjacent is " m holy well," the water pure and soft ; and a little to the north of this is a circle of stones about 9 feet in diameter, appearing to be the vestige of a tower, and formerly encompassed with the knee-worn path of devotees. On the north side of the Sullane stood an old castle of the O'Hierleys ; but it was long ago reduced to a mere heap of stones. Fairs are held on Ma^ 10, Sept. 10, and Nov. 10. Bally, vourney jMinsh, owing perhaps to its sequestered position, its Highland character, and its forming a prominent portion of that huge glen-cleft mountain rampart which separates Cork and Kerry, is probably more characterized bv the barbarous system of faction-fighting — that hideous memorial of feudal times — than most other districts of Ireland. Mr. Croker narrates his having witnessed, in 181 3» "the gathering" of two factions for battle, who had annually met during upwards of 40 years to renew and perpetuate their feud ; and, he adds, thai four years aHerwaras they met, and rioted in such strength at Bally vourney, as to drive, in rapid retreat, before them the sub-sheriff and a few dragoons who had gone to preserve the peace. The following newspaper particulars of the commencement of the affray, illustrate the determination and the truculency with which faction-fights are not only conducteil, but desired. ** On Sunday, 21st July, 1816, the Lynches and Twomeys met at Bally vourney : they had been for several years unfriendly to eadb other; and, in consequence of this hostile feeling. Sir Nicbo> las Colthurst directed his under-agent to desire that they should not go to the same chapel on SundaySy-^

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 153

Baltinglass Abbey ruins and later grants

Baltinglass · town · Wicklow

Considerable remains of Baltinglass Abbey were still standing, including six pointed arches, part of an east window, and a central steeple. The chancel, with additions, served as the parish church. At the dissolution, the abbey was granted to Thomas Eustace and later to Sir Henry Harrington. The Aldborough family maintained a sepulchral vault within the ruins.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

glass was permitted hy govenimcnt to eonfer with the septa orf the O'Tooles and the O'Byrnes, "and many others of the inhabitants of the mouRtains, denominated Irish felons, for the purpose of receiving from them the goods, chattels, &c., of which the abbot had been robbed, or a full equivalent for the f-amc." The abbey, with its rich endowments, was granted, at the dissolution, to Thomas Eustace, afterwards Viscount Baltingkiss ; and, on the forfeiture of the Eustace estates, it was granted to Sir Henry Harrington. The edifice, from considerable remains of it which are still standing, appears to have been built on nearly the same plan as the abbeys of Tintern and Dunbro<ly, in co. Wexford, but to have been less extensive. The chancel, with some additions, is now the parish-church ; part of an east window, which was composed of three narrow lights, exists ; six pointed arches, belonging to the side aisles, are still preserved ; and the steeple rises from the centre of the whole remains. The Aldborough family have a sepulchral vault within the pile, but no monumental erection. — Baltinglass castle, origi< nally the residence of the abbot, and afterwards the seat of the Viscounts Baltinglass, is an irregular and not very extensive edifice, and bears marks of having been built at different periods. The outward doors are in the Suxon or round-arched style of architecture, and other parts are in the styles of various less ancient periods. A parliament was once held in Baltinglass, and is supposed to have sat in the castle.
BALTRASNA, a village in the parish of Ballymacdun, barony of Balrothery, co. Dublin, Leinster. Fop. returned with the parish.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 154

Colonel Phaire, Cromwellian governor and regicide at Grange

near Grange · townland · Cork · 1649–1666

Colonel Phaire, proprietor of Grange during the Commonwealth period, was appointed governor of Cork by Cromwell and was among those directed to execute Charles I. He was later involved in a 1666 plot to seize Dublin Castle and other Irish garrisons.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

of the village. Colonel Phaire, the proprietor of Grange at the period of the Gobi mon wealth, was made governor of Cork by Cromwell ; he was one of the persons to whom the warrant for the execu. tion of Charles I. was directed ; and he was concerned in the plot of 1666, for seizing the castle •f Dublin and other garrisons in Ireland. The parish is bisected by the road from Cork to Inchegeelagfa, and will derive prime facilities of communication fron* the Berehaven and Blarney railway. — Athnowen is a rectory in the dio. of Cork. Tithe composition, £425. This rectory and that of Kilna- GLORY [which seel constitute the benefice of Ath- Dowen. Length, 7 miles; breadth, 5. Gross income, £771 ; nett, £665 28. H)d., exclusive of £8 5s. 6d. arising from rent of houses demised for a term of years as prebendary of Kilnaglory. Patron, the diocesan. A curate receives a stipend of £75. When the church was built, or at what cost, is not kjMwn. Sittings UX) ; attendance 70. The Athnowen Roman Catholic chapel has an attendance of 1,000, And shares with the chapel of Aglish ihe care of two officiates. There is a Roman Catholic chapel also in Kilnaglory. In 1834, the Protestants of the parish amounted to ^, and the Roman Catholics to 1 ,970 ; the Protestants of the union to 92, and the Roman Catholics to 3,084. In the same year, 4 daily schools 4n the union, 3 of which were m Athnowen, had on their books 219 boys«nd 96 girls; and one of the Athnowen schools had £14 a-year from the National Board, while another had £8 28. from the rector, and local contributions. In 1840, a boys' school and a girls' school at Ovens had reftpectively £15 and £8 fpom the National Board. The dispensary district of Ovens is partly within the Poor-law union of Macroom, but chiefly within that of Cork. In 1639^40, the dispensary received £108 16s., expended £107, and had reoomiaended to it 1,538 patients.
ATHSY. See Assel

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 146

Ardfert: ancient capital and declining borough

Ardfert · town · Kerry · 1639–1841

Ardfert, formerly a royal borough and the metropolis of Kerry, had become by the 1840s a poor village without trade or manufacture, with only five slated houses and the rest thatched cabins. It returned two members to parliament from 1639 until the Union, and the Crosbie family used it as a pocket borough, receiving £15,000 compensation after its disfranchisement.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

ARDFERT, the capital of the parish just noticed, the seat of the cognominal diocese, and formerly a royal borough, and the metropolis of Kerry, is situ-, ated 4 miles north-north-west of Tralee, and 142 south-west by west of Dublin. Area, 34 acres. Pop., in 1831, 717; in 1841, 655. Houses 110. This ancient and once important city is now a poor and declining village, without trade, without manufacture, and without either advantage or more than antiquarian attraction from its nominal cathedral. Only five of its houses are slated ; while all the rest are thatched cabins, and a large proportion of them miserable cabins. The borough limits are said to have comprehended the Sheep-walk, Grague, Killaraiie, Brandon Well, Kilcloghquanc, Laragh, Gortaspidale, and all the commons of Ardfert ; an area which, while strangely excluding a part of the town, extends, in one direction, two miles into the country. Though no charter is either on record or kno>%nn to have existed, the place returned two members to parliament from 1639 till the Union, and has always been considered a borough by prescription. The Crosbie family, very long, and perhaps always, were " patrons*' of the place, or used it as a mere pocket borough: and, after its disfranchisement, they received for their sole and private use £15,000, awarded as compensation for the loss of its privileges. A nominal corporation — consisting of a portreeve, who was generally the Crosbie family's agent, and burgesses, who were their friends or creatures — existed for some years after the disfranchisement, and exercised a care over the corporate property in the commons. The last regular corporate meeting — or the last assuming such a name — was held in 1826. Unless the pound- keeper may be called a corporate officer, none now exists. The only public property which remains is about 200 acres of commons, wltQ about £70 a-year, and is only a ninth part of what once existed. A court of record, and a court-leet or borough court, were formerly held, but have goae completely into desuetude. A seneschal, appointed by the Earl of Listowel, now lord of the manor of
ARD

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 121

Ballincollig Castle: Barrett stronghold and garrison history

near Ballincollig · town · Cork · 1600–1690

Ballincollig Castle, said to date from the reign of Edward III, was a chief stronghold of the Barrett family. William Barret submitted to the Queen's mercy in 1600 after the Desmond rebellion, and the castle was garrisoned by Cromwell during the Commonwealth wars and by James II during the Revolution. Mr. Windell described it as an irregular quadrangle on an isolated limestone rock, with a vaulted keep about 40 feet high, a natural cave beneath, and a deep moat around it.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

BALLINCOLLIG, a post-town in the parish of Carrigrohane, barony of East Muskerry, co. Cork, Munster. It stands on the river Bride, about a mile above that stream *s confluence with the Lee, and on the road from Cork to Inchegeelagh, 5 miles westsouth- west of Cork, and 130 south-west «f Dublin. The country which intervenes to Cork is not only rich, well-cultivated, and agreeably varied, but so studded and adorned with numerous villas, that Ballincollig mav be regarded as part of the city's environs. In the town, or adjacent to it, are the •nly gunpowder manufactory in the south, the depot for the police of the province of Munster, and a small barrack for cavalry. Even the private edifices •f the town, and the manner in which they are arranged in street alignment, give it a neat and pleasant appearance; but the various houses and offices connected with the public establishments, the mansion of Leemount, and several villas and villa-grounds in its neighbourhood, environ it with at once cheerfulness, comfort, and beauty. The gunpowder manufactory stands on low ground on the outskirts of the town ; is very extensive ; and pays about £200 a-week in wages to workmen. In 1802, when it was the property of government, it suffered a frightful explosion : it is now conducted by ** the Royal Mills Gunpowder Company.** A little southwest of the town stands Ballincollig-castle, said to have been built in the reign of Edward IIL The Barret fiunily, from whom apparently the barony has its name, resided in this fortaliee and in that of Castlemorc, in the northern extremity of the barony, as their chief strongholds. In 1600, William Barret of Ballincollig, submitted to the Queen*s mercy, he having been concerned in the rebellion of Desmond ; and in 1665, William Barret, of the same place, was honoured with a baronetcy which has long been extinct. Ballincollig-castle was garrisoned by Cromwell in the wars of the Commonwealth, and by James II. in the war of the Revolution. '* Thb building.- says Mr. Windell in 1639, " forms an irregular quadrangle. It is based on an isolated limestone rock, which rises to no very considerable height, in the midst of a gently undulating plain, and consists of a large fortified bawn or enclosure, and a slender keep or tower, of about 40 feet in height. The latter stands at the east side of the bawn, and is vaulted inside. The chambers are of uncommonly small dimensions, measuring in length 5 feet, and breadth 4, each occupying the entire internal space. The ascent is by a narrow and difficult stone staircase, which, as it approaches the upper apartment, becomes spiral and more inconvenient. Of the eo-

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 151

Ballingarry castle: last English garrison in the civil war

Ballingarry · castle · Kerry · 1641–1642

D. Crosbie built a castle or fortalice on the coast of Clanmaurice in 1641 and held it against the Irish for a year before being betrayed and carried to Ballingarry. He was acquitted through the intercession of his relatives Mac Elligot and Mac Gillicuddy, generals in the Irish army. This was the last garrison held by the English cause in the civil war.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

BALLINGARRY, a castle or fortalice, on the coast of the barony of Clanmaurice, 3] miles eastnorth-east of Kerry Head, and 9 north by west of Ardfert, co. Kerry, Munster. D. Crosbie built it in 1641 ; held it out, during a year, against the Irish ; and eventually was betrayed, and carried to Ball]^- l)eggan, but was acquitted at the intercession of his iiCF^c ws, Mac Elligot and Mac Gillicuddy, generals in the Irish army. This was the last garrison of which the cause of the English had possession in the civil war. BALLINGEAL. See Ambrosetown. BALLINGEARY, a village on the banks of the river Lee, and in the parish of Inchegeelagh, barony of West Muftkerry, co. Cork, Munster. Here are the first or highest bridge across the Lee, a Roman Catholic chapel, and a National school. POp. returned with the parish.
BALLINGLEY. See Balltingley. BALLINLANDERS, Ballinlondrt, or Bal- LYLANDER8, a parish containing a village of the same name, on the southern border of the barony of Coshlea, and of the county of Limerick, Munster. Area, 7,717 acres. Pop., in 1831,2.999; in 1841, 4,000. Houses 604. The southern division runs up to the summit-line of the G«ltee mountains ; and the whole surface, excepting such portions as form the seat of population, is a mimic wilderness of upland, moorish, and boggy waste land. The village of Bal- Ijnlanders is situated 9^ miles east-south-east of Kilmallock. Area, 15 acres. Pop., in 1831,281; in 1841. 340. Houses 60. A dispensary here b within the Kilmallock Poor-law union ; and, in 1839-40, it received £153 6s., expended £150 168., and made

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 152

Ballyboggan Augustinian priory ruins on the Boyne

Ballyboggan · townland · Meath · 1100–1528

An Augustinian priory was founded in Ballyboggan parish in the 12th century by Jordan Comin. It was surrendered in the 19th year of Henry VIII by Thomas Bermingham, the last prior, and a venerated crucifix from the priory was publicly burnt the following year. Remains of the priory buildings still exist on the banks of the Boyne.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

BALLYBOGGAN, a parish in the barony of Upper Moyfenragh, 2^ miles south-west of Clonard, CO. Meatb, Leinster. Area, 6,222 acres. Pop., in 1831, 1,477; in 1841, 1,430. Houses 221. About three-fourths of the land are good, and one-fourth inferior. The surface is washed on the east, and separated from co. Kildare by the river Bovne ; and is traversed southward by the road from Clonard to Philipstown. In the 12th century, a priory for Augustinian canons was founded in the parish by Jordan Comin ; in the 19th year of Henry VIII., it was surrendered by Thomas Bermingham, the last prior ; and, in the following year, a crucifix which had belonged to it, and been held in great veneration, was publicly burnt. Some remains of the priory buildings still exist on the banks of the Boyne.
A fair is held on Sept. 25 This parish and that of

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 152

Ballyragget Castle and Lady Margaret Fitzgerald

Ballyragget · town · Kilkenny

Ballyragget Castle was an ancient fortified residence of the Viscounts Mountgarret, probably the nucleus of the town. Lady Margaret Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormond, used the castle as her favourite residence and reportedly led her retainers on cattle-raiding expeditions against neighbouring families.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

residence of the Viscounts Mountgarret, was probably the nucleus of the town, or the occasion ot the place becoming a seat of population. The celebrated Lady Margaret Fitzgerald, usually styled ** Momia Gheroda,' Countess of Orroond, and mother to the first Viscount, used this castle as her favourite residence ; and, if history fairly represent her, she often indulged in the turbulent and freebooting practices more suitable to an unprincipled Amazon than to a lady, and often issued from the castle, at the head of her retainers, and plundered the cattle and other property of neighbouring families whom she was pleased to view as not belonging to the circle of her friends. In 1600, while the sons of the third Viscount Mountgarret were in rebellion against the crown, and plotters with O'More in the scheme to arrest the Earl of Ormond, the castle was strongly garrisoned by Sir George Carew, governor of Munster ; and, at a comparatively recent period, it was converted into a barrack, for the use of military employed in repressing the frequent insurrections of the
Whiteboys. Ballyragget Hall, in the immediate vicinity of the village, succeeded the castle as the noble abode of the ' Butlers of Ballyragget,' the main branch of the Mountgarret family ; and it Is now the property and seat of Mr. Kavanagh of Borris, in co. Carlow, who acquired it by descent from the Butlers. The male line of the Butlers of Ballyragget terminated, a generation or two ago. in the persons of Dr. James Butler, titular, or Roman Catholic, archbishop of Cashel. and George Butler, Esq., his brother. A little above the village is Ballyconra, the seat of the Earl of Kilkenny; and in the neighbourhood are Mount Deland and Grange, the seats of Mr. Messom and Mr. Stennard. Area of the town, 68 acres. Pop., in 1831, 1,629; in 1841, 1,577. Houses 280.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 152

Baltimore Harbour: a capacious landlocked haven

Baltimore · town · Cork

Baltimore Harbour is described as the estuary of the river Ilen, screened from Atlantic swell by Cape Clear and Sherkin islands. It is praised for capaciousness, shelter, anchorage and intricate creeks, excelled by few in Ireland, with rich and varied marine scenery.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

Baltimore; an inlet of the sea, and a fine natural harbour, properly the estuary of the river lien, in the Carbery part of the coast of co. Cork, Muiister. It looks out upon an expanse of sea, which, over a distance of 7 miles, is screened from westerly winds and the swell of the Atlantic by the islands of Cape Clear and Sherkin, and some intermediate rocks and islets ; it enters by a strait or channel of about half-a-mile in breadth between the termination of a peninsula on the east and the island of Sherkin on the west; it expands into a fine landlocked sheet of water, of probably about 3 square miles in area; it sends out an intricately isleted communication, round the north end of Sherkin, with the sea and with the entrance of the bay or estuary called Roaring Water; it is prolonged northward in two comparatively narrow channels, along the east and west sides of the islands of Rangaroyga and Innisbeg ; and, after a small final expansion, its navigation is continued up the Hen to Skibbereen, a distance of between 9 and 10 miles from the harbour's entrance, or of about 16^ from the extremity of Cape Clear, the most southerly ground in Ireland. The Harbour is free from any bar or other obstruction either troublesome or dangerous; and, in the combined properties of capaciousness, shelter, anchorage, and ramifications of creeks and mooring-grounds, is excelled, or even equalled, by few in Ireland. Its scenery, both in foreground and background, is rich, very varied, and full of character. Its shores, though destitute of wood, are decidedly picturesque; its bosom is a mazy series of watery straits and expansions, intersected with island and promontory, — almost a labyrinth of sounds, coves, islets, and headlands; its seaward view is grandly foiled by the lofty headlands of Cape Clear Island; and its interior screen commences in a high promontorv, and undulates in variety of surface and outline till it leads the eye to a range of mountain. ** Those who enjoy marine scenery on an extensive scale," says Mr. Fraser, ** will, at Baltimore, find ample employment for several days, in the examination of the bold and infinitely varied coasts, the numerous islands, and endless bays lying in the wide expanse of waters between the Stags of Castlehaven and Miienhead." Were the fisheries of Baltimore Harbour judiciously managed, they might prove an inexhaustible source of wealth and plenty ; for so great is the quantity of fish sometimes taken, that after it has amply supplied all the neighbouring district, and has in considerable bulk been dried and salted for exportation or future use. a large remainder is used for manure. Both its fisheries and its trade belong dispersedly to various

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 153

Baltinglass town charter and borough limits

Baltinglass · town · Wicklow · 1800

Baltinglass was incorporated by charter during the reign of Charles II, with borough limits extending beyond the edificed area. The corporation was virtually extinct until 1832, and the Aldborough family received £15,000 for its elective franchise in 1800.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

Baltinglass was incorporated by charter of 15^ Charles II. The borough limits extend beyond the edificed area, and comprise 300 contiguous acres on the south and west sides. The corporation is called " The Sovereign. Burgesses, and Free Commons of the Borough of Baltinglass ;" and its officers are a sovereign, 12 burgesses, a recorder, and town-clerk, a serjeant-at-mace, and a clerkiof the market. The sovereign is elected annually by and from among the burgesses; and the burgesses are elected for life from among the body of the freemen. Sucb is the constitution enjoined b^ the charter ; but, says the Commissioner on Municipal Corporations : ** Prior to the 29th of September, 1832, there were but tw9 burgesses, and no freeman. On that day,, ten of the present burge.«ses were nominated and sworn; the majority of whom are not resident within the district, but live not many miles distant from the town. Burgesses have no functions t» perform. Lord Aldberough is the patron of this borough: there is no select body, all power being vested m his lordship^ In fact, the corporation was virtually extinct until the election of the 10 burgesses in 1832, and, I a|>- prehend, was not capable of being restored by that proceeding. The Aldborough family received the £15,000 compensation money for the elective franchise in 1800." A manor court, which formerly existed, has been in desuetude during about 40 years ; and a court of petty-sessions, held weekly, and pre-- sided over by county magistrates, was the only court whieh existed between the former's extinction and the year 1835. Twenty-four of the county constabulary are stationed in the town. The corporation do net appear to have ever had any landed property ; and they ceased about 1832 to receive their only income, — the produce of tolls and customs. Area of the town. 60 acres. Fop., in 1831, 1,670-; in 1841, 1,928. Houses 282.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 154

Bandon as Protestant stronghold in the 1641 rebellion

Bandon · town · Cork · 1641–1642

During the 1641 rebellion, Bandon became the chief retreat for Protestants across south-west Cork, sheltering over a thousand women and children. Lord Kinnalmeaky, governor of the town, sallied forth with 200 foot and 60 horse against an insurgent party led by MacCarty Reagh, killing 105 and capturing 14, whom he executed by martial law at the town gate.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

HiUory, ^c] — Bandon necessarily made a prominent figure in the civil wars which began in 1641. It was placed under the governorship of Lord Kinnalmeaky, second son of the Earl of Cork, and became the retreat of multitudinous Protestantf from Clonakilty and other parts of the surrounding country. As no other walled town, capable of a lasting defence, existed in the south-west side of the county. It was regarded, athwart an extensive territory, as the common retreat and fortalice of the Protestant population ; and among the persons whom it sheltered were upwards of one thousand women and children. Yet, in consequence apparently of the unpopularity of Lord Kinnalmeaky's government, the journeymen and servants who were its chief strength soon began gradually to withdraw from it, and to offer themselves as soldiers in Cork and Kinsale. About 3 or 4 months after the commencement of the rebellion, the governor sallied, at the head of 200 foot and 60 horse, against an insurgent party, headed by MacCarty Reagh, who appeared before the town ; and, in the course of a short skirmish, he slew 105 of the insurgents, captured 14, and routed the remainder ; and he afterwards executed
by martial law at the town gate his 14 prisoners In

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 160

Battle of Antrim, 7 June 1798

near Antrim · town · Antrim · 1798

On 7 June 1798, a considerable number of insurgents assembled near Antrim to seize magistrates meeting there and nearly made themselves masters of the town. They were dislodged by troops under General Nugent, with perhaps 200 insurgents slaughtered and about 30 royalists killed, including Lord O'Neil.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

three victories in succession over the royal army. Expecting that their example would be followed throughout the province, a consiilerable number assembled in the vicinity of Antrim, on the 7th of June, with design to seise the magistrates, who had appointed on that day a meeting there ; and, making their attack at two o'dock in the afternoon, rendered themselves very neasly masters of the town. But they were dislodged by a body of troops, with artillery, under General Nugent, and pursued with the slaughter of perhaps nearly two hundred ; not without the loss of about SO royalists, among whom was Lord O'Neil,. a descendant of the ancient dynasts of Ulster, so formidable to the English government till the end of Elizabeth^s reign. The routed insurgents, in common with two or three other small beaten parties,, afterwards assembled on Dennegarhill ; and, learning that the movements in Wexford were actually a war against Protestantism, they threw down their arms in despair or disgust, and dispersed to their several homes."

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 121

Battle of Arklow, 1798

Arklow · town · Wicklow · 1798

In June 1798, a large rebel force marched from Gorey to assault Arklow. The royal troops, reinforced by the Durham fencibles under Colonel Skerrett, repulsed the attack, killing the popular insurgent leader Father Murphy.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

In 1281 . the Irish, in an action near Arklow, sustained a total defeat from the EngTish, under Stephen de Fulbome, bishop of Waterford, and lord justiciary. Bot an incomparably more noted battle, and one not a Httle sangainary, was foaght at the town in 1798. A large body of rebels wh« had, for several days, remained inactive around Gorey, marched northward on the morning of the 9th of June, to form a junction with another body in the county of Wicklow, and to assault the town of Arklow. At any period during the previous four days, they naight have seized the town without a blow, pursued its garrison, who were in retreat toward the north, and easily pushed their way to the very core of the metropofis. But, previous to their movement, the fugitive garrison hud been remanded and reinforced ; and, on the very day of their attack, arrived the regiment of Durham fencibles, commanded bv the brave and accomplished Colonel Skerrett. " The royal force,** says Gordon* "consisted of 1,600 men, arranged in lines, with artillery in front, so ai« to cover three sides of the town, the fourth of which was guarded by the Ovoca river. The army of the a^sailant^ amounted to thowe 20,000, of whom 4,000 tn* 5,000 carried ^uns, but were very scantily fnrnished with ammunition, the want of which is assigned as the cause of their four days' delay at Gorey. The approach of a column, which advanced by the sea-shore, was so rapid, that a part of it entered and fired what is called the Fishery, composed of thatched cabins inhabited by fishermen. A guard of yeoman cavalry, stationed in that quarter, had no other means of escape than galloping through the flames, and most of them were so terrified that the^ stopped not their flight till they had crossed bv swimming their horses, at the extreme peril of drowning, the broad stream of the Ovora. This body of assailants was easily repulsed; but if a great force had been directed to that point, the town very probably would have been taken. Happily, to the rebel force where the main attack was directed the most efficient part of the royal army was opposed, the Durham regiaaent, whose line extended across the fields in front of the barrack to the road leading from Gorey; General Needham, the first^ in conmand, had, with laudable attention to the object of defence, given discretionary orders to Colonel Skerrett to exert Hs abilities and skin to the best of his jtidgment. As the rebels at first poured their tire from the shelter of ditdies, where they could be little affected by the opposite fire of the sokfiery, Skerrett OMnmanded his men to stand with ordered arms, their left wing covered by a breastwork, their right by a natural rising of the ground, until the eneny, leaving their cover, should advance to aa open attack. Thrice was made this attack with such impetuosity that the assailants rushed within a few yards of the cannon mouths; but they were received with so close and effective a fire, as to be repulsed with great slaughter in every attempt. During the whole engagement, which lasted four hours, from about 4 o'clock P.M., this regiment maintained as perfectly unbroken ranks as a parade, though sometimes obfiged to shift ita ground to avoid being enfiladed by a cannon, which was so well directed by Esmond Kyan, a chief among the insurgents, that by a shot from it the carriage of one of the battalion guns was broken. At len^^th General Needham, who had displayed all the personal courage which could be useful in his place, perhaps apprehensive that the pikemen of the assailants, none of whom had

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 123

Burial of Brian Boru's remains at Armagh Cathedral

near Armagh · town · Armagh · 1014–1019

The bodies of Brian Boru and his son Murchard, along with the heads of his nephew Conan and his ally Methlin of the Decies, were conveyed to the cathedral in Armagh after lying for five years in the monastery of Swords, and laid in state with twelve nights of funeral obsequies following the Battle of Clontarf.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

The Cathedral,'] — A cathedral is alleged to have been erected, in Armagh, in the year 445 by St. Patrick ; and is said, in the tripartite life of the saint, to have been an oblong edifice, 140 feet in length, and divided into nave and choir. Even an earlier structure is asserted to have occupied the site, to have been constructed of willows or wattles^ and to have, in consequence, given to the hill the name of Dniirasailech. An ecdesiastical structure claiming to be the cathedral of St. Patrick, or a successor to it, was pillaged and burnt in 839 and 850; partly broken down by the Danes of Dublin in 890; burnt by lightnmg or accidental conflagration in 995 and lO'iO; repaired and tile-roofed in 1125; more thoroughly restored in I145-; and reduced by fire to irretrievable ruin by Sir Phelim O'Neil in 1642. In this edifice were buried the bodies of the celebrated Brian Boromh and his son Murchard, and the heads of his nephew Conan, and his ally Methlin, prince of the Decies of Waterford. These remains of the heroes of Clontarf, after being 5 years sepultured in the monastery of Swords, were conveyed hither by the clergy, and laid in state during twelve nights' performance of funeral obsequies. The present cathedral was built in 1675; renovated and greatly improved by Archbishop Robinson ; and, a few years ago, repaired at a great cost, X10,000 of which was contributed by Archbishop Beresford. The Commissioners on Ecclesiastical Revenue and Patronage said respecting it in 1834, that it was in a dilapidated state from age; that the provincial

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 134

Buried village and chapel revealed at Ballyvaston

Ballyvaston · townland · Down · 1736

Ballyvaston townland on Dundrum Bay was shown as the site of a village on Petty's 1654 map and a chapel in Bishop Echlin's 1622 diocesan return. About 110 years before 1846, a strong land wind tore up the sandy soil to about 10 feet deep, revealing vestiges of several cabins with hearth-stones and wooden chimney-frames.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

BALLYV ASTON, a townland on the north side of Dundrum bay, between Killough and Terrela, barony of Lecale, co. Down, Ulster. Though its ^ sea -board is now a sandy waste. Sir William Petty '§ ^ map of 1654 makes it the site of a village, and Binhop Echlon's return of the state of his diocese in 1622 makes it the site of a chapel. About 110 yean ago, when the place was partly verdant and partly occupied as a rabbit-warren, a strong wind set in from the land, tore up the sandy soil to the depth of about 10 feet, overwhelmed the rabbit-warren, and laid bare the vestiges of several cabins, witk hearth-stones and wooden chimney-frames.
BALLYVAIGHAN, a fishing vUlage in tbc

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 153

Dominican abbey of Aghaboe, founded by Florence Fitzpatrick

Aghaboe · townland · Laois · 1250–1346

A Dominican friary was founded at Aghaboe by Florence Fitzpatrick, prince of Ossory, on or near the site of the earlier Culdean establishment. The monastic church, 100 feet long and 24 feet wide, stood near the great church and included Phelan's chapel on its south side and a quadrangle of monks' cells on the north. The abbey was frequently plundered and burnt during local feuds, and in 1346 Dermot Mac Giolla Phadraig reduced the shrine, relics of St. Canice, and the town to ashes.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

windows: the eastern one is divided by stone-nudlions, and branched out into trefoils. ' Within, the northern wall is adorned with niches, canopies, and concentric mouldings; and near the communiontable is a curious eonfession-box in the thickness of the wall." In 1250, according to Arcbdall, or in 1382, according to other writers, an abbey for Dominican friars was founded by Florence Fitzpatrick, prince of Ossory, on or near the site of the Culdean establishment. The church of the monastery stands but a few yards from the remains of the great church. It is 100 feet long, and 24 feet wide, and has three pointed windows on the south, one on the east, and one on the west. The eastern window i» ramified, and the western door has concentric arches. There are two tabernacles, and an inverted cone for holy water, and a small tabernacle for the utensils of the altar. On the south side of the building, and connected with it by an arch, is a projecting structure, called Phelan's chapel ; and on the north side was a quadrangle 60 feet each way, with ten monks' cells, some servants' apartments, and various attached offices. The cellars were spacious, and over them were the refectory and a large dormitory, — the former, 46 feet by 17. Dr. Ledwich's predecessor used most of the monastic part of the pile as a quarry for enclosing a demesne. During the incessant tends among the neighbouring toparchs, the abbey was frequently plundered and burnt; and,. in 1346, the shrine, the alleged relics of St. Canice, and the town of Aghaboe were reduced to ashes by Dermot Mac Giolla Phadrai^. Two cells of the abbey stood upwards of a mile from it ; the one at Ballygowden, and the other, for females, on the glebe of Farran- Eglis. From the colour of the dotbes worn by the inmates of the latter, the church adjacent to the cell was called Teampul-na-Cailleachdubh, or * the church of the black old women.' Ancient places of worship stood, and cemeteries around their site still exist, at Knockseera, Lbmore, and Kilmunfoyle. To the north of the abbey church is an artificial mount, similar to the Welch Gorsedde, and the moats of Scotland, on which feudal justiciary courts were held. It is about 45 feet in diameter at the top, has a stone wall round the edge of the summit, and was ascended by a spiral pathway. Distant from the hamlet, but still within the parish, is a large earthwork, called by some the Rath of Lava, and bv others the Mote of Monacsghlan. It crowns a hill of considerable altitude, protected by ramparts and fosse, and was evidently the rudely-fortLfied residence or retreat of an ancient tribe. — This parish is a vicarage, and a separate benefice, in the dio. of Ossory. Vicarial tithe composition, £263 Is. 6^d.; glebe, £277 4s. 4d. Gross income, £540 5s. lOjd. ; nett, £461 18s. 5}d. Patron, the Rev. George Carr. Two curates are employed at stipends of respectively £83 Is. 6d., and £69 4s. 7id. The rectorial tithes, consisting of two-thirds of the tithes of the parish, and compounded for £526 3s. Id., are appropriate, and belong to the dean of the cathedral church of St. Canice, Kilkenny. The present parochial church was built in 1618, at a cost of £461 lOs. 9id. Brit., lent by the late Board of First Fruits. Sittings 200; average attendance 100. The court-house of Borris-in-Ossory is used as a chapel- of-ease, and attended by 60. Three Roman Catholic ehapels respectively at ELnockroa, Ballincolla, and Borris-in-Ossory, are attended, the first by 850, the second by 930, and the third by 1,230. | The parishioners consisted, in 1834, of 556 Churchmen, 10 Protestant dissenters, and 5,787 Roman ' Catholics. The schools, in 1834, amounted to 11, and had on their books 348 boys and 233 girls ; one was a school of the Society for Discountenancing '

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 112

French forces under Humbert seize Ballina, 1798

Ballina · townland · Mayo · 1798

In August 1798, a French force of 1,100 under General Humbert arrived in Killala Bay from Rochelle, defeated the picket-guard at Ballina, and took possession of the town. The Rev. George Fortescue, rector of Kilmoremoy, was slain in the action. Humbert marched on toward Castlebar the next morning.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

In 1798, the French, under the command of General Humbert, were, for a brief period, in possession of Ballina. They arrived in Killalla bay, in 3 frigates from Rochelle, oil the 2*2d of Aufrust ; they consisted of 1,100, of whom 70 were officers; and having chased a garrison of 50 yeomen and fencibles of the Prince of Wales's regiment from Killalla, they advanced, on the 24th, toward Balliua, defeated tb«
BAL

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 148

Galway Bay as the former lake Loch Lurgan

near Aran Islands · island or archipelago · Galway

Irish annals record that Galway Bay was once a spacious lake called Loch Lurgan, separated from the ocean by limestone banks. The Aran Islands are traditionally said to be the towering remnants of that barrier, too high to be overflown when the Atlantic burst through.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

name to three parishes which theychiefly eonstitutt, will be separately described. The whole Arrsii group seems to be a continuation of the limettoiJt country of Burrin in co. Clare. The large and splendid marine inlet which the group partially coreri is traditionally asserted to have been a lake, screened or curtained from the ocean by a band of limestone country of which the Arran islands are fragmentary remains. " It is related in one of the old Irish annals," savs Hardiman, the historian of Galway, " that, in the year of the world 1909, there were but three lakes ot any consequence in the whole island [of Ireland], namely, Loch-Foirdream, said to have been at Slievemis, near Tralee, in co. Kerry, Fin- Loch, the present Lough-Carra, in co. Mayo, and Loch-Lurgan, which is described as a spacious lake between co. Clare and West Connaught, to the south of Galway, and extending a considerable distance toward the east. This lake is supposed to have been the present bay of Galway, which was once, say the annalists, separated from the ocean by strong banks, until the Atlantic, bursting over them and uniting with the water within, formed the bay, leaving the three islands of Arran, the towering remnants of the chain or barrier, which were too high to be overflown by the billows. The position of these islands, with relation to the mainland, as it fiivours, seems also to have given rise to this idea. O'Flagherty says that, in his time, a lough in a neighbouring inlet of the sea, was called Lougli Lurgan ; but how far the entire circumstance is deserving of credit is left, without any comment, to the jud^ent of the reader." The surface of tlio islands, m a general view, commences with predpitous cliffs on the south, and terminates in a gradual descent to the water's edge on the north ; yet it presents undulations and otiier diversities of feature i and constitutes, in grouping with the circumjacent sea, and the intricate and commanding coast-fine of the mainland, a series of interesting and even brilliant landscapes. The islands contain a considerable pro* portion of good arable and pastoral land, and 3rield a rental of about £2,000 a-year. The inhabitants are partiy agriculturists and partly fishermen ; but they occasionally experience much distress, and have sometimes been employed in quarrying ashlers of limestone for the public works of the Government Boards in the harbours of the mainland. The fishemien cateh great quantities of turbot at a less distance than 25 miles from the islands ; they catch the fisk called Glassing on a bank from 25 to SO miles distant ; they share with the fii>hermen of Galway in the cod and ling fisheries ; and they have been known to prosecute their avocation at 40 miles' distance in the open Atlantic Their boats, though good and of the same construction as those of the ChMldagk fishermen, are too small to brave the perils to wkick they are exposed. Even the curragh, or the boat of willow-worK, sheeted with tarred linen, and of a site to carry 8 or 4 men, is said to be still occasionally in use. Both fishermen and agriculturists are a singularly unpolished, credulous, and neglected people. Their raiment is home-made, rude, and generally over-worn; their shoes or boots are a roughly formed fabric of untanned leather, called poppootics; and their whole costume indicates unacquaintance alike with modem civiliation and with even the rude elements of luxury.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 138

Goldsmith's Auburn at Lishoy hamlet

Lissoy · townland · Westmeath · 1730–1834

Lishoy, a decayed village near Lough Ree in Westmeath, is identified by locals and travelers as 'Auburn' from Goldsmith's poetry. The village and its surroundings retain remnants connected to the poem, including the mill, the church on the neighbouring hill, and the preacher's now-roofless mansion.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

AUBURN, LisHOY, or L^ssut, a hamlet or decayed village, in the parish and barony of Kilkenny- West, CO. VVestmeath, Leinster. It stands in a picturesque tract of country, not far from the beautiful arm of Lough Ree, called Killymore Lough, about 6 miles north-east of Athlone, and 3 southwest of Ballymahon, on the direct road between these towns. Lishoy is the proper name of the place ; and Auburn a name, first imposed by Goldsmith, and now generally adopted from admiration of his poetry. Both the village, and various places in its vicinity, are celebrated in connection with the family, nativity, history, and writings of the poet. See Ardach, Ballymahon, and Kilkenny- West. Topographists, tourists, and critics seem all to agree with the belief of the local populace, that Lissoy is Goldsmith's Auburn. *• I do not," says Mr. Inglis in 1834. whom we quote in preference to other writers, on account of his being more pleasingly minute, " I do not entertain the least doubt that the village of Lishoy is the Auburn of Goldsmith, though it in equally certiin that he has grafted upon its scenery English pictures of rural things and country life. Here are still the remains of *the busy mill ;' there the decent church still tops the neighbouring hill ; here is the village preacher's * modest mansion ;* and there the arch of stones within which stood the * hawthorn bush.' Lishoy was Goldsmith's favourite village ; he mentions it often, and always with enthusiasm, in his letters ; he passed his early years in it, or in its immediate neighbourhood, and could therefore say, 'Scenes of my youth.* All the scenery of the poem connects it with this village ; for although the perishable has perished, yet all is remembered to have l>een as Goldsmith painted it. The preacher's man&ion, now a roofless and windowless tenement, is known to have been the minister's hou<e ; and that minister is known to have been the poet's brother, and to have been, not the rector, but the curate,* on a small salary — perhaps £40 a-year, and, moreover, to have been loved and respected. The church— not in the viiWe, or its immediate neighbourhood, where a church generally is — but topping * the neighbouring hill,' is t>till seen as it it described. It is otdy a few years since the hawthorn bush was in its place ; and opposite, ' near yonder thorn,* stands the alehouse, though not the identical house with the ' nicely sanded floor' of which Goldsmith speaks. At some little distance from the village rises a mansion which belonged to a General Naper, who, some time after 1730, [1738?^ is known to have enclosed a domain, and to have ejected the tenantry. I had nearly omitted to observe, that in the name of the house where * news much older tbaii the ale went round,' there is strong evidence in favour of the claim of Lishoy. The alehouse is, and always has been, called the * Three Pigeons.' Now, Goldsmith has shown on more than one occasion, great fondness for this name. There is no doubt, however, that Goldsmith has grafted English life upon Irish scenery, and that rural life in an English village,

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 146

Moravian colonists at Gracehill improved local agriculture

Gracehill · townland · Antrim

Moravian colonists at Gracehill in County Antrim found the land in a rude, uncultivated state, with local natives so ignorant of husbandry they could scarcely pay four shillings rent per Irish acre. The colonists taught the locals to house their potatoes and protect them from winter frosts.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

Maine. Much of the Maine's valley possesses many amenities and beauties. The general parochial surface is broken, tumulated, and billy, — a little sea of green and moorish heights, with pendicles of bog, and interspersions of meadowy and arable land. Agriculture was long a laggard m the district ; and even yet has not acquired courage to traverse extensive tracts of boggy and waste land which would, without much reluctance, yield themselves to its dominion. ** When the first [Moravian] colonists were settled in this part of the country," says an interesting account ot Gracehill, inserted in Mason's Statistical Work on Ireland, ** they found the land in a rude and uncultivated state ; and the natives were so ignorant of husbandry, that they could scarcely afford to pay four shillings rent per Irish acre ; nor had they any idea of housing their potatoes, and securing them from the winter's frosts, till they learned it from these colonists." The manufacture of linen has long been extensively and sue cessfully prosecuted ; and the bleaching of it is practised in several establishments on the Maine. Galgorm-castle, a seat of the Earl of Mountcashel, situated a mile east of the village of Ahoghill, is a quadrangular embattled edifice. Five or six other mansions of note or elegance, a sprinkling of neat villas, and a considerable proportion of wood, combine with the greatly diversified face of the country to present pleasing natural pictures to the eye.-— This parish is a rectory and a separate benefice in the dio. of Connor. Tithe composition, £1,015 7a* 8d. Gross income, £1,219 7s. 8d. ; nett. £968 2s. 7d. Patron, the Crown. In 1835, a superannuated curate had a salary of £69 4s. 7id. ; and an acting curate had the same amount of salary, and the use of the glebe-house and its appurtenances. The church is so old that no record exists of the date or cost of its erection. Sittings 500 ; average attendance, from 80 to 100. Six Presbvterian meeting, houses are attended by respectively 60, 500, from 250 to 400. from 100 to 250, from 360 to 430, and from 275 to 350. The Moravian chapel is attended by 250, and has two ministers. The Roman Catholic chapel is attended by 400 ; and shares with Portglenone chapel the care of one officiate. In 1834, the parishioners consisted of 656 members of the Established church, 12,027 Presbyterians, 1,052 other Protestant dissenters, and 1,932 Roman Catholics; the day-schools amounted to 24, and had on their books 610 boys and 389 girls; and the Sunday schools amounted to 16, and were attended by a maximum of 1,513 children. Four of the dayschools belonged to the London Hibernian Society ; two received £8 each from the National Board; two, £5 each from Mr. McNeill ; two, £5 each from respectively the Earl Mountcashel, and Mr. Adair ; one, £6 from three ladies ; one, £2 from the rector ; and all the rest were pay-schools. In 1840, 12 schools were in connexion with the National Board, and received aid varying between £3 5s.^ and JC19 1 5s. ; and these were situated at Ahoghill, Killygarren, Watercloney, Lavmore, Gortgole, Tallygrawley, Glenhue, Cullybackey, Moyasset, West Gervaghy, East Gervaghy, and Upper Larg.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 112

Simon Jordan's defence of Jordan's Castle, 1598-1601

Ardglass · townland · Down · 1598–1601

During three years of the Tyrone rebellion preceding June 1601, Simon Jordan valiantly defended Jordan's Castle at Ardglass against all assailants. When eventually relieved by the Lord-deputy Mountjoy, he was rewarded both from the deputy's private bounty and by a concordatum from the queen.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

he had marched as far as Ballykinler, he received the submission of the Savages; and that, having both parties now in his power, he grasped as his own and transmitted to his posterity the object of their contention,— Ardglass and the circumjacent country. Such history, while so far as we know the whole of what is authentic, rather obscures than enlightens the questions of the town's ancient importance, and the origin of its fortalices. Nor, after the place is viewed apart from its antiquity and early connections, is there much real history to be told. All the grand and petty customs of the ports of Ardglass and Strangford were granted by Henry VIH. in fee-farm to Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare ; and, excepting during the period of the family's attainder, they contin«ed in the possession of the Earl's descendants till 1637, when they were sold to Charles I., and said to be worth £5,000 a-year to the king ; and, by a clause in the Act of Explanation 17 and 16 Charles II., they were confirmed to Charles II. and bis successors. In the reign of Henry VIII., one of the castles of Ardglass, being garrisoned by the Crown, was so galling a check to Con O'Neil, that, in 1537, he sent a force under the command of his son into Lecale to besiege it ; but on learning that the Lord-deputy Gray was m^ng preparations to Hiarch against him, he desisted from his attempt, and caused the force to be disbanded. About the year 1578, a strong garrison was placed in some of the castles by Sir Nicholas Bagnal, marshal of Ireland ; but they were besieged by the O'Neils, and, after a stout resistance, were obliged to surrender. During three years of the Tyrone rebellion preceding June 1601, Simon Jordan valiantly defended Jordancastle against all assailants; and, when eventually relieved by the Lord-deputy Mountjoy, was rewarded for his service both out of the private bounty of the deputy, and by a concordatum from the queen. In the memorable rebellion of 1641, the castles were for some time in possession of the Irish. So greatly and rapidly did the town decline after the close of that rebellion, and the rise of Belfast as a sea-port and the seat of a chief custom-house, that a century later the historian of Down describes it as ** now in a mean condition, consisting only of a few ordinary cabins, and 4 or 5 old decayed castles." This description has been copied or imitated in most topographical notices down to the present <Iay. Yet the town has revived, experiencea great improvement, and become at once a favourite summer retreat of sea-bathers, the rendezvous of an extensive coastline of fisheries, and the scene of considerable bustle and trade.

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 122

Teampull-na-feartagh (Church of Miracles)

near Armagh · town · Armagh

A nunnery in Armagh called Teampull-na-feartagh or the Church of Miracles claimed to be founded by St. Patrick for his sister St. Lupita. A body believed to be hers was discovered about 140 years ago, buried erect between two crosses beneath the ruins.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

been founded in Armagh by St. Patrick; and a monastery, which affected to be identified with it, afterwards figured as a celebrated Augustinian friary, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. A religious establishment, founded in 610, and ascribed to St. Columba, was nearly destroyed by fire in 670 and 687, and was frequently desolated of its inmates, and plundered of its books, records, and treasures, by the Danes. A Franciscan friary of Minorites was founded in 1263 or 1264, by Patrick O'Scanlain, Archbishop of Armagh, or, according to Allemande, in 1291 by O'Donnel. A Dominican friary is said also to have existed in the dty ; but when, or how long, seems not recorded. Two nunneries, the one called the Church of St. Bridget, and the other called TeampuU-na-feartagh or * the Church of Miracles,' absurdly claim, like the Augustinian friary, to have been founded bv St Patrick. Pretension, in the total absence oi authentic information, even soars so high as to affirm that the Church of Miracles was erected for the use of St. Lupita, the eldest sister of St. Patrick ; that the saintess was interred within its walls; and that her body was identical with one discovered about 140 years ago, inhumed erect between two crosses, deep beneath the rubbish of the nunnery's ruins. In 1612, the Augustinian friary and its possessions were granted to Sir Toby Caulfield, for the nominal rent of £5 Irish ; and, in 1618, the two nunneries were given to Frauds Annesley, Esq. A writer in the Dublin Penny Journal says, '* In our memory, the last fragments of the Culdean buildings," the establishment of St. Columba, ** were pulled down, and the habitable part of the Augustinian monastery, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, was levelled to the earth." The remuns of one of the other monasteries, situated within the primate's demesne, were very extensive about the middle of last century, but have been reduced to some tolerably preserved arches and intervening pieces of walL

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 135

Wexford's banking frenzy, 1800-1804

Wexford · town · Wexford · 1800–1804

Between 1800 and 1804, the small town of Wexford had no fewer than seven banks despite a population of only 8,326. Five failed quickly, one gave up business, and two replacements soon also failed; only the Messrs. Redmond bank, the earliest in Wexford, conducted business honourably and was among the last private banks in Ireland.

Read the passage

Read off the scanned page by machine, so a word here and there is misread. Kept as the reading produced it, not corrected.

Previous to 1783, all banks in Ireland were private, and issued notes without control or responsibility; from 1783 till 1821, the Bank of Ireland, a chartered company, enjoyed an exclusive circulation of its notes in Dublin, and 60 Irish, or 63 English, miles around ; and, in 1821, joint stock banks, with an unlimited number of partners, were legalized beyond the bounds of the Bank of Ireland. The singularly disastrous history of Irish banking during the first and the second of these periods is thus glanced at by Mr. G. L. Smyth : — " Previously to the year 1783, the standard grievances with all Irish writers on Political Economy, were two in number, — that there were none but private bankers in Ireland, who issued notes without restraint or responsibility,— and that the disparity of exchanges with England involved ruinous losses to Irish commerce. To these causes, by common consent, were the great runs upon the banks, and the £uluree of 1720, 1745, 1760, and 1770, ascribed. We have, therefore, during the first stage, the fixed producing causes, and the sum of the consequent evils, in four panics, during a term of sixtythree years, and the failure of some seven or eight banks. In the second stage, comprising a term of forty years, we have the same complaints of excessive paper money, and still more adverse exchanges ; and a series of panics which left only four banks out of fifty, not bankrupt, or averse firom business. Instead of mitigating, therefore, the monopoly of the Bank of Ireland increased and aggravated the mercantile convulsions of the country. Strange and improbable as the principal incidents in the history of banking in Ireland must appear, antecedent to the chartering of the national establishment in 1783, they are infinitely surpassed in wildness and inconsistency by the chance-medley produced by subsequent events. Not only before the bank was chartered, but even before the suspension of cash payments, the business of banking in Ireland was principally confined to Dublin. There were not, in 1797, more than half-a-dozen banks* in the south of Ireland, and none in the north or west ; but after that year almost every place had its bank, and every conceivable mode and device for circulating money was resorted to. For instance, Wexford, a small town, which, even in 1821, had a population of only 8,326 inhabitants, and a proportionably limited trade, had, between the years 1800 and 1804, no less than seven banks. The fiitc of such commercial establishments will be conjectured at once : — five failed rather quickly, and one gave up business. Two new ones immediately started, to fill the vacuum thus created, which soon after shared the fete of their predecessors. Of the whole number, only one, that of the Messrs. Redmond, conducted business with honour and profit. It was the earliest of the Wexford banks, and about the last private bank that existed in Ireland. New Ross, again, a smaller town than Wexford, and more than twenty miles from it, had four banks, only one of which was standing in 1812, and even that afterwards gave way. Similar instances, in abundance, are to be cited in various other places, but the repetition would be tiresome. The wild growth of these mushroom establishments has been already given in detail from the Commons' Report of 1804, which shows that eleven b^ks, in 1800, had become twenty- three in 1601 ; twenty-nine in 1S02; thirty, in 1803; and fifty, in 1804. In 1812, ^Ir. Wakefield published his Political Survey of Ireland, and stated that, of the fifty banks in 1804, there then remained only nineteen extant. One adverse circumstance or other had swept away the rest. Notwithstanding this sharp warning, new speculators had rushed into the field with as little prudence as fear, so that, notwithstanding the fidlure of thirty-one out of fifty banks, between 1804 and 1812, only six years, there were still thirty-three bimks open in 1812. These adventurers resorted to expedients of all kinds for the purpose of forcing a trade. They supplied small traders with their notes, and used to pay a premium to get them into circulation. The bankers themselves were in the habit of attending markets and fairs like so many hucksters, each putting off his own commodity as best he might. Their fevourite issue was not promissory notes, but post biUs, at ten days' sight, which, being generally unaccepted, were paid, if at all, at convenience. But the mischief did not rest with the multitude of bankers. Besides the fifty private firms already spoken of, there were as many as 295 petty dealers and chapmen, grocers, spirit-dealers, apothecaries, and shopkeepers of all sorts, inundating the country with a species of I. 0. U., called silver money, which was a direct violation of the law, and ranged, in nominal amount, from threepence-halfpenny to ten shillings. This fraudulent paper was principally spread over the south and south-west of Ireland, which further suffered under an enormous distribution of- forged notes, the unlettered population being, IB that respect, easily imposed upon. In 1810 the circulation of the Bunk of Ireland rose to more than /3,000,000, and there was a panic ; in 1820 it exceeded 1*5,000,000, and there was another

Internet Archive parliamentaryga00unkngoog, Chapter 57

The Parliamentary gazetteer of Ireland

The stories, best first

Algerine raid on Baltimore, 1631

Battle of Aughrim, 1691

Abbot Albin O'Molloy's controversy with Giraldus Cambrensis

Ballycastle piers and coal trade destroyed by the sea

Grianan of Aileach: ancient stone fortress of northern kings

Treasure discovery at Ballybeg Abbey by blacksmith Supple

Third Viscount Baltinglass and the Desmond Rebellion

Banagher bridge and Shannon fortifications

Baltimore borough charter and corporation history

Ballymahon named for Mahon's 960 victory over Feargal

Ballycastle founded as Castlestown by the M'Donnells

Battle of Affane (1564): Butler vs Fitzgerald

Earl of Aldborough expands Baltinglass town, 1768-1780

Lynches and Twomeys faction battle at Ballyvourney, 1816

Massacre at Ardglass ancient parish church

Artane Castle and the murder of Archbishop Allen

Askeaton Castle blown up by garrison, 1580

Baltinglass Abbey foundation and royal burial

O'Dempsey castle at Ballybrittas destroyed by Cromwell

Sir Thomas Crook leases Baltimore from O'Driscoll

Baltimore village: ancient Druid retreat and name Dunashad

Ancient fort at Annahilt, O'Neil's 1641 retreat

Ballybough village: vitriol works and Jewish cemetery

Banada Augustinian friary ruins

Carmelite friary at Ardee destroyed by Edward Bruce 1315

De Ginckle storms Athlone across the river ford, 1691

Galway paid O'Briens of Arran wine tribute

Great traditional battle at Ballymoon, 908

O'Driscoll castle vestiges at Baltimore

Ballylinch Castle and the Grace family of Kilkenny

Baltinglass Castle and parliament

Battle of Aughrim: St. Ruth slain, Irish routed to Loughrea

Arigna ironworks and O'Reilly brothers' enterprise

Baltimore fisheries and trade, 1830s

Humbert's surrender at Ballinamuck, 1798

Knights Templar church ruins and Tory Hill lake

Richard Boyle founds Bandon-Bridge on a wilderness site

St. Gobnata's image, holy well and pilgrim stone at Ballyvourney

Baltinglass Abbey ruins and later grants

Colonel Phaire, Cromwellian governor and regicide at Grange

Ardfert: ancient capital and declining borough

Ballincollig Castle: Barrett stronghold and garrison history

Ballingarry castle: last English garrison in the civil war

Ballyboggan Augustinian priory ruins on the Boyne

Ballyragget Castle and Lady Margaret Fitzgerald

Baltimore Harbour: a capacious landlocked haven

Baltinglass town charter and borough limits

Bandon as Protestant stronghold in the 1641 rebellion

Battle of Antrim, 7 June 1798

Battle of Arklow, 1798

Burial of Brian Boru's remains at Armagh Cathedral

Buried village and chapel revealed at Ballyvaston

Dominican abbey of Aghaboe, founded by Florence Fitzpatrick

French forces under Humbert seize Ballina, 1798

Galway Bay as the former lake Loch Lurgan

Goldsmith's Auburn at Lishoy hamlet

Moravian colonists at Gracehill improved local agriculture

Simon Jordan's defence of Jordan's Castle, 1598-1601

Teampull-na-feartagh (Church of Miracles)

Wexford's banking frenzy, 1800-1804