By Samuel Lewis, 1837
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MACDARA, an island, in the parish of MOYRUS, barony of BALLYNAHINCH, county of GALWAY, and province of CONNAUGHT, 15 miles (S.) from Clifden, on the western coast: the population is returned with the parish. It comprises about 29 statute acres, and contains the ruins of an ancient stone-roofed church or chapel, which is traditionally said to have been the residence of the patron saint of Connemara.
MACETOWN, a parish, in the barony of SKREEN, county of MEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 4 1/2 miles (N. E.) from Dunshaughlin, and near the road from Ratoath to Navan; containing 419 inhabitants It comprises 1572 3/4 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act; the land is of medium quality. It is a chapelry, in the diocese of Meath, forming part of the union of Kilmessan: the rectory is impropriate in the Marquess of Drogheda. The tithes amount to £68, of which £58 is payable to the impropriator, and £10 to the incumbent. In the R. C. divisions it is part of the union or district of Skryne. Here are the ruins of an ancient castle.
MACLONEIGH, a parish, in the barony of WEST MUSKERRY, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 2 miles (S.) from Macroom; containing 1520 inhabitants. It is bounded 011 the north by the river Lee, and comprises 3826 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £2876 per ann.: in some places the soil is deep and loamy, in others inclined to stiff clay, and in others light and friable; about two-thirds of the land are under tillage, and the remainder consists of rough mountain pasture and bog, of which latter there is a considerable portion near the river; agriculture is in a very backward state, the old heavy wooden plough being still used, and much of the land is cultivated with the spade. The seats are Castleview, the residence of P. Ronayne, Esq.; and the glebe-house, of the Rev. R. J. Roothe. It is a rectory, in the diocese of Cork, forming part of the union of Kilmichael: the tithes amount to £250. The glebe-house, a neat mansion, stands on a glebe of 48 acres of good land: the church of the union is in Kilmichael. In the R. C. divisions also it is part of the union or district of Kilmichael: the chapel at Toames is a small neat edifice, erected in 1831. The parochial school is supported by the rector; another school is aided by a bequest of £10 per ann. from the late Mrs. Margaret Browne, of Castleview; and there is a national school at Toames, for which a school-house was built in 1833, at an expense of £90. In these schools collectively about 190 children are educated. The ruins of the old church are situated near the glebe-house; it was a spacious edifice, nearly 80 feet long, of which the gables and south walls are still nearly entire; the doors and windows are of hewn stone, but of rude construction.
MACOSQUIN, or CAMUS-juxta-BANN, a parish, in the barony of COLERAINE, county of LONDONDERRY, and province of ULSTER, 2 miles (S S. W.) from Coleraine, on the road to Dublin; containing 6639 inhabitants. The place derived its latter name, which is the more ancient, from the foundation of a monastery at Cambos or Camus, on the river Bann, by St. Comgal, in 580; and the former, by which it is more generally known, from the Cistercian abbey of St. Mary de Fontana or Macosquin, founded in 1172 by the family of O'Cahan. Both these establishments, of which the former became very celebrated as the resort of numerous pilgrims, continued to flourish till the dissolution, and were granted in 1609 by James I. to the Irish Society, by whom the church of the latter was made parochial The parish, which is chiefly the property of the Richardson family by purchase from the Merchant Tailors' company, is situated on the river Bann, by which it is bounded on the east, and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 17,804 1/4 statute acres, of which 65 3/4 are in the river Bann, and 12,923 are applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £6851. 5. per annum. The land is generally of good quality, in a profitable state of cultivation, and well fenced and drained; there are extensive tracts of bog and mountain, which might be brought into cultivation at a moderate expense. Basaltic stone of excellent quality for building is scattered over the parish, and is quarried for that purpose and for mending the roads; granite, porphyry, and clay-slate are found in the channels of several of the numerous rivulets by which it is intersected; and iron ore is also very abundant, especially in the townland of Drumcroon, but the mines have never been worked in consequence of the high price of coal. There are several gentlemen's seats in the neighbourhood, most of them surrounded with extensive and thriving plantations, which form a conspicuous and interesting feature in a district generally destitute of timber. Of these, the principal are Somerset, the residence of the Rev. T. Richardson; Greenfield, of S. Bennett, Esq.; Ardverness, of R. Bennett, Esq.; Drum-croon, of J. Wilson, Esq.; Dromore, of J. Gamble, Esq.; Ballyness, of Miss Heyland; Castleroe, of Capt. Hannay; Castleroe, the property of Rowley Heyland, of Dublin, Esq., at present untenanted; and Camus House, of Curtis McFarland, Esq. The linen manufacture was formerly carried on to a very great extent, especially in the finer fabrics, and there are four large bleach-greens, capable of finishing 60,000 pieces annually, all of which were in full operation; but the trade has so much declined, that one only is now kept at work by the proprietor, for the humane purpose of affording employment to the numerous families which had settled around them. The salmon fishery, first granted to Sir Arthur Chichester in 1605, and afterwards to the Irish Society, is situated at a place called "the Cutts," to which the tide flows up; but the river Bann, though navigable here, is unavailable to the benefit of the parish, as no vessel can pass under the bridge of Coleraine; the navigation is also prevented by fords, and by the "Cutts," where the great salmon fishery of the Bann is carried on, about a mile from the bridge. The courts leet and baron attached to the manor have not been held for some time; the jurisdiction of the court of Coleraine extends over this parish, and all pleas are now referred to it. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Derry, and in the patronage of the Bishop, but the advowson is claimed by the Richardson family; the tithes amount to £600. The glebe-house was built about 70 years since at an expense of £738. 9. 2 3/4; the glebe comprises 200 Cunningham acres", valued at £200 per annum. The church, a very spacious structure (formerly the abbey church of Macosquin), was new-roofed and repaired in 1826, at an expense of £500, of which one-half was paid by assessment and the other by the incumbent. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Killowen or Coleraine. There are places of worship for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod of Ulster, of the third class, at Englishtown, and with the Associate Synod, of the second class, at Crossgare; also one for Covenanters at Ringrash. About 500 children are taught in the public schools of the parish, of which the parochial school, near the church, is partly supported by the rector; one for girls by the lady of the rector, who gave the school-house; one at Ballywilliam by the Ironmongers' company; one at Castleroe, established by the late F. Bennett, Esq., who, in 1820, endowed it with £10 per annum, charged on the Castleroe estate, built a large and handsome school-house, and directed £5 per annum to be paid to a minister for officiating in it occasionally; it is further aided by a donation from T. Bennett, Esq., who also contributes £3 per annum and a house to a school at Camus; and there is a school built by Mr. Richardson and afterwards endowed by Dr. Adam Clarke with a sum of money left by an English lady to found schools in Ireland, after which it was connected with the Methodists for some time, but has now reverted to the patronage of its original founder. There are also four private schools, in which are about 200 children, and eight Sunday schools. The small remains of the monastery founded by St. Comgal were taken down to build a wall round the burial-ground; among them was a very ancient stone cross having four compartments, in each of which were three of the apostles sculptured in high relief, and profusely ornamented with scrolls and wreaths; it was removed from its socket and now forms a gate pillar in the wall. There was also an ancient font, to which, previously to the removal of the cross, the people resorted in great numbers. Several stone and bronze celts have been found, chiefly in the bogs; also fossilized tubs of butter, one of which, weighing 22 lb., is in the possession of J. Wilson, Esq., of Drumcroon. There are five ancient forts and several artificial caves, one of which, at Ballywilliam, contains five apartments. There are also several strong chalybeate springs in the parish, of which those at Drumcroon and Greenfield contain iron, sulphur, and magnesia in solution, with a considerable portion of carbonic acid gas.
MACRONY, a parish, in the barony of CONDONS and CLONGIBBONS, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 2 miles (N. N. E.) from Kilworth, on the road to Lismore; containing 2786 inhabitants. It comprises 8109 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £3509 per ann.; the land, though in general of an inferior quality, is chiefly under tillage, a large portion of the mountain waste having been lately brought into cultivation; there is a small portion of bog. Limestone raised in the adjoining parish is generally burnt for manure, and slate was formerly worked in the vicinity. The river Araglyn, which separates this parish from Leitrim, winds through a vale covered on both sides with a dense wood of oak, chiefly planted by W. C. Collis, Esq. At the head of the vale, at a place called the Furnace, iron ore was formerly worked to a great extent and smelted on the spot, hut the timber becoming too valuable for fuel, the works were discontinued about 70 years since. There are two small corn-mills on the river employed in grinding oats. Near the Furnace, where the counties of Cork, Tipperary, and Waterford meet, is a station of the constabulary police, supported at the joint expense of the three counties. Castle Cooke, the seat of W. Cooke Collis, Esq., is beautifully situated on the Araglyn, in the midst of his extensive and valuable plantations. The parish is in the diocese of Cloyne; the rectory is impropriate in the representative of Messrs. E. & B. Norcott, and the vicarage forms part of the union of Kilworth; the tithes amount to £460, payable in equal portions to the impropriator and the vicar. In the R. C. divisions also it is part of the union of Kilworth, and has a chapel, a small plain building, at Coolmahon. About 50 children are educated during the summer in a private school.
MACROOM, or MACROMP, a market and post-town, and a parish, in the barony of WEST MUSKERRY, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 24 miles (W. by N.) from Cork, and 145 (S. W.) from Dublin; containing 6137 inhabitants, of which number, 2058 are in the town. This place is said to have derived its name, signifying in the Irish language "a crooked oak," from a large oak tree which formerly grew in the market-square. It appears to owe its origin to the erection of a castle, which, according to Sir Richard Cox, was built in the reign of John by the family of the Carews. This castle subsequently became the property of the McCartys, and was repaired and beautified by Teigue McCarty, who died here in 1565. It was taken in 1602, after a long siege, by Sir Charles Wilmot, just as he was about to draw off his forces to Cork, agreeably to the orders of the Lord-President, who was apprehensive that its owner Dermot McCarty, having made his escape from him, would attempt to cut off the retreat of the besieging army. On this occasion the garrison were compelled to abandon the fortress by the breaking out of an accidental fire, which raged so furiously as to threaten its destruction; and the English forces rushing in, extinguished the flames, and leaving a garrison for its defence, marched directly to Cork. In 1650, the R. C. Bishop of Ross assembled an army of 4000 foot and 300 horse from the western part of the county, to relieve Clonmel, at that time besieged by Cromwell; but on the approach of Lord Broghill with 2000 of the parliamentarian cavalry, the bishop set fire to the castle and concentrated his forces in the park, where being attacked by Lord Broghill they were defeated and their leader taken prisoner. Ireton, being soon afterwards made president of Munster, despatched a party of his forces from Kilkenny to this place, which burned both the castle and the town. In 1691, the garrison was severely pressed by a body of native troops in the service of James II.; but on the approach of Major Kirk with 300 dragoons, they abandoned the siege and retreated with considerable loss.
Macroom till very lately was the joint property of the Earl of Bandon and Robert Hedges Eyre, Esq., and received comparatively but little improvement; but since it became the sole property of the latter gentleman, considerable progress has been made in improving its appearance and the condition of its inhabitants. The town is pleasantly situated in a healthy open vale surrounded by hills of moderate elevation, and enlivened and fertilised by the winding course of the river Sullane, over which is an old bridge of nine arches adjoining the castle; and about a mile below it, where the Sullane receives the waters of the Lany, is another stone bridge of nine arches, about a mile to the east of which it discharges itself into the river Lee. The approaches on every side are through a long line of cabins, of which those to the west of the old bridge have been rebuilt in a neat and comfortable style and roofed with slate. It consists of one principal street, nearly a mile in length, and towards the western extremity having a wider space, in which is the newly erected market-house, forming one side of a square, of which the opposite side is occupied by the hotel and the castle gateway: the inhabitants are supplied with water from springs and public pumps recently erected by subscription. Though troops are frequently stationed here, there is no barrack: the proprietor of the town has offered to Government a sufficient quantity of ground rent-free for the erection of a suitable building for the accommodation of the troops. There are no fixed sources of public amusement, but the town is frequently enlivened by the lovers of field sports and steeple chaces, for which the neighbourhood is celebrated. There are two flour-mills and two tanyards at present in operation; and there were formerly a distillery and saltworks, which have been discontinued. The principal trade is in corn, which is brought into the town daily by the farmers, and purchased on account of the Cork merchants; the quantity sold during the year 1835 exceeded 39,000 barrels. The market is on Saturday, and is abundantly supplied with butchers' meat, vegetables, and provisions at a moderate price; and from January till May there is a weekly market for pigs, many of which are slaughtered here and afterwards sent to Cork. From May till the end of the year, cattle fairs are held on the 12th of every month alternately in the town and at the village of Masseys-town, the property of Massey Hutchinson Massey, Esq., a little to the southwest. Here is a chief constabulary police force, for whose accommodation a handsome barrack has been built. A manorial court for the recovery of debts not exceeding £2 is held every third week before the seneschal, the jurisdiction of which is very extensive, comprehending several parishes in addition to that of Macroom. The quarter sessions for the West Riding of the county are held here in December, and the petty sessions for this division of the barony of Muskerry are held on alternate Tuesdays. The court-house is a neat building of hewn limestone, ornamented with a cornice and pediment supported by two broad pilasters, between which is a handsome Venetian window, and connected with it is a bridewell.
The parish comprises 10,493 1/2 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act; about four-fifths are under tillage, the remainder being rough mountain pasture and bog; the system of agriculture is in a state of progressive improvement; there is little waste laud, except the rocky parts of the mountains, and the bog affords an ample supply of fuel. There are quarries of clay-slate, which is used for building. In the mountains of Muskerry-More, consisting principally of schistose rock, and forming a detached portion of the parish, are several thin strata of freestone of very white colour and good quality; and in a rivulet on the south side is a thin seam of coal, which dips very rapidly. The scenery is richly diversified and in many parts beautifully picturesque, and there are several gentlemen's seats in the parish. Of these, the principal is Macroom Castle, the residence of Robert Hedges Eyre, Esq., who has converted the ancient castle into an elegant modem mansion, in which the old towers have been so perfectly incorporated as to be scarcely distinguishable from the rest of the building. During the alterations, a 32-lb. cannon ball was taken out of the walls. It is a spacious quadrangular structure with embattled parapets, and richly mantled with ivy on the side fronting the demesne, which is bounded on the north by the river Sullane, and extends over a beautifully wooded ridge to the south and west, including a spacious deer-park. Mount Massey, the seat of M. H. Massey, Esq., occupies a conspicuous site above the northern bank of the Sullane, and is beautifully encircled with a grove of fir trees. Rockborough, the seat of T. Mitchel Browne, Esq., is pleasantly situated in a retired spot, about two miles to the west of the town, and is distinguished for the beauty and variety of its scenery, in which wood and water, barren rock, and verdant hill are pleasingly combined. Sandy Hill, the residence of Thos. S. Coppinger, Esq., is pleasantly situated, commanding a fine view of the castle and its wooded demesne. Coolcawer, the residence of W. G. Browne, Esq., is situated about a mile and a half to the south-east of the town, and is embosomed in a richly wooded demesne. Firville, the recently erected mansion of Philip Harding, Esq., is romantically situated at the extremity of a picturesque glen on the northern bank of the Sullane, near its confluence with the Lany; and Coolehane, the seat of Richard Ashe, Esq., also recently erected, is pleasantly situated on the same bank of the river, but at a greater distance from its confluence. Codrum House, the residence of Massey Warren, Esq., and Codrum, of Edw. Ashe, Esq., are also in the parish. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Cloyne, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the tithes amount to £480, and there are six acres of glebe. The church, towards the erection of which the late Board of First Fruits granted a loan of £1000, in 1825, is a small modern edifice in the later English style, with an enriched porch, and is attached to the tower of the ancient structure; it is situated at the western extremity of the town, opposite to the castle and close adjoining the bridge. In the R. C. divisions this parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also part of the parish of Ahieragh: the chapel is a handsome edifice, with a square embattled tower strengthened with buttresses and crowned with pinnacles; and there is also a chapel at Ahieragh. About 400 children are taught in the parochial school, which is supported by R. H. Eyre, Esq., the incumbent, and other Protestant inhabitants; and in a school held in the chapel-yard, aided by the National Board. There are nine private schools, in which are about 380 children; and a dispensary. On the lands of Codrum, about half a mile to the west of the town, is a large stone of clay-slate inserted into a wall on the road side, with the following inscription still legible: D.E.O.C. 1686. H. F. FECIT., implying that Donald, Earl of Clancarty, caused it to be erected. On the same lands are the remains of an encampment, in which is a spacious subterranean cavern, the extent of which has not been ascertained; several pieces of iron and other metal, much corroded, and apparently portions of ancient military weapons, have frequently been found here; the entrance has been lately closed up, to prevent accidents to the cattle. There are two chalybeate springs, one on the lands of Ballyvirane, and the other, which has been recently discovered, on the lands of Cooleanne; the water is similar in its properties to that of Leamington; they are both much used and have been found efficacious in scrofulous and leprous diseases. Sir William Penn, a distinguished admiral, and father of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, in America, was born at Macroom castle.
MACULLY, or MUCKALEE, a parish, in the barony of KNOCKTOPHER, county of KILKENNY, and province of LEINSTER, 7 miles (S. by W.) from Knocktopher; containing 423 inhabitants. It is a rectory, in the diocese of Ossory, and forms part of the union of Kilculliheen: the tithes amount to £106. 0. 10. In the R. C. divisions it is part of the union or district of Slieraugh.
MAGAUNAGH, or MOYGAWNA, a parish, in the barony of TYRAWLEY, county of MAYO, and province of CONNAUGHT, 7 miles (S. W.) from Killala, on the road from Crossmolina to Ballycastle; containing 1981 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the river Awenmore, and comprises 4100 statute acres; the land is light, chiefly under tillage, with some pasture, and great quantities of bog and mountain; limestone abounds. The principal seats are Belleville, the residence of Capt. W. Orme; Glenmore, of W. Orme, Esq.; and Stone-hall, of T. Knox, Esq. It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Killala, forming part of the union of Crossmolina; the rectory is partly appropriate to the precentorship of Killala, and partly to the vicars choral of Christ-Church, Dublin. The tithes amount to £110, of which £35. 10. is payable to the vicars choral, £19. 10. to the precentor, and £55 to the vicar. The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church; the chapel is small and in bad repair. About 70 children are educated in a public and about 10 in a private school.
MAGHAREE ISLANDS. -- See KILLEINY.
MAGHERA, a parish, in the barony of UPPER IVEAGH, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, 2 miles (S. W.) from Castlewellan, on the road from Bryansford to Downpatrick; containing 1514 inhabitants, of which number, 167 are in the village. This parish, which is bounded on the east by a branch of the inner bay of Dundrum, comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 3214 1/4 statute acres, of which 2384 are applotted under the tithe act. The soil is various; in some parts extremely fertile, and in others sandy, with detached portions of marsh and bog; the marshy grounds afford good pasture. The principal seats are Tollymore, that of Mrs. J. Keowen, and Church Hill, of the Misses Montgomery, both handsome residences. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Down, and in the patronage of the Bishop, to whom the rectory is appropriate: the tithes amount to £210, of which £130 is payable to the see, and the remainder to the vicar. The glebe comprises 19 1/4 statute acres, valued at £36 per annum. The church, towards the erection of which the late Board of First Fruits gave £830. 15. 4 1/2 ., in 1825, is a small neat edifice, about a quarter of a mile from the village. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Bryansford, or Lower Kilcoo. About 40 children are educated in the parochial school, which was founded in 1826, by the late J. Keowen, Esq., who built the school-house on the glebe, and endowed it with £5 per ann.; and at Tolly-more is a neat school-house, built and supported by Mrs. Keowen, in which about 50 children are gratuitously instructed and some of the females clothed. There are also two Sunday schools. Near the church are the ruins of the ancient church, of which the western gable and the south wall remain; the beautiful Norman arch at. the western entrance is in good preservation; the windows in the south wall are narrow and of elegant design. Near the new church also are the remains of an ancient round tower, the upper part of which, from the height of 20 feet above the base, was thrown down by a storm in 1704, and lay in an unbroken column on the ground; the doorway, in that portion which is still erect, is towards the east and about 7 feet from the ground. About a mile from the church are the remains of a large cromlech, the table stone of which is supported on three upright pillars; in a narrow lane to the west is an upright stone, 13 feet high and having 5 sides; and in an adjoining field is a large block of granite, capped with a conical stone of grauwacke.
MAGHERA, a market and post-town, and a parish, in the barony of LOUGHINSHOLIN, county of LONDONDERRY, and province of ULSTER, 16 miles (S.) from Coleraine, and 102 (N.) from Dublin, on the mail coach road to Coleraine; containing 14,091 inhabitants, of which number, 1154 are in the town. This place is evidently of great antiquity, and though there is no precise account of the original foundation of an abbey for Canons Regular, said to have been established here at a very early period, yet it is certain that the ancient see of Ardstra or Ardsrath was removed, in 597, to this town, which continued to be the seat of the diocese till 1158, when it was united to the see of Derry, and the cathedral church established in that city. The town appears to have declined rapidly in importance after that period, and few events of historical interest occur, except occasional depredations during the insurrections of the O'Nials, to whom the surrounding territory belonged, and in the war of 1641, during which it was burned by the insurgents under Macdonnell. In 1688, the town, which had scarcely recovered from its former devastation, was assaulted by the Irish adherents of James II., and the inhabitants were compelled to abandon their houses and seek refuge in the city of Derry. During the disturbances of 1798 it enjoyed comparative tranquillity, and has since been gradually increasing in extent and importance. It consists of one long and spacious street, from which several smaller streets branch off, and contains 210 houses, most of which are modern buildings of stone roofed with slate and of handsome appearance; it is a great thoroughfare, and is amply supplied with excellent water. The inhabitants are principally employed in agriculture and in the linen manufacture, which is extensively carried on in the parish; and at Upperlands is a bleach-green, in which about 8000 pieces are annually finished for the English and American markets; there are also numerous corn and flax-mills on the different streams, of which the Moyola forms part of the southern boundary of the parish. The market, on Tuesday, is amply supplied with all kinds of provisions; a market is also held on Friday, chiefly for grain; and there are fairs on the last Tuesday in every month for cattle, sheep, pigs, and pedlery. The market-house, the property of A. Clarke, Esq., of Upperland, is a large neat building, erected in 1833 on a rising ground in the centre of the town; and over it is a spacious room in which the petty sessions are held on alternate Saturdays, and a manorial court monthly, in which debts under 40s. are recoverable. Here is also a chief constabulary police station.
The parish comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 24,791 1/4 statute acres, of which 22,056 are applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £10,650 per annum. The greater portion is good arable and pasture land; there is also some of inferior quality and a very large tract of waste land and bog. The mountain district of the parish is very extensive and abounds with grouse and every other kind of game. The system of agriculture is improved, and the highlands afford excellent pasturage for cattle. The vale of the Moyola and the vicinity of the town are extremely productive; and in the bogs are several fertile spots, called by the country people "islands," which are in a good state of cultivation. Limestone, found on the estate of the Mercers' Company, is extensively quarried, and is productive of great benefit to the neighbourhood. On the plantation of Ulster, the lands of the ancient see of Maghera were confirmed to the Bishop of Derry, and other parts of the parish were also assigned by James I. to the Mercers', Vintners', Salters', and Drapers' Companies of London, who still retain possession of their manors. The principal seats are Maghera House, the residence of A. Clarke, Esq.; Fairview, of J. Henry, Esq.; Rowens Gift, of Capt. Crofton; Upperland, of A. Clarke, Esq.; Clover Hill, of R. Forrester, Esq.; and the glebe-house, of the Rev. J. Spencer Knox. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Derry, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the tithes amount to £1015. 7. 7 1/2. The glebe-house was built in 1825, at an expense of £3077. 6., of which £1278. 2. 2. was a grant from the late Board of First Fruits, and the remainder was defrayed by the incumbent. The glebe comprises 907 3/4 acres, valued at £651. 10. per ann. The church, a neat edifice of stone with a square embattled tower crowned with pinnacles, towards which the same Board granted a loan of £1363. 6. 2 1/2., was erected in 1819; the east window is embellished with stained glass, presented by the lady of the late Bishop Knox. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also the parish of Killelagh and part of that of Termoneeny; the chapel at Lamny is a plain modern edifice, and there is also a chapel at Fallagloon, a handsome building with a campanile turret and bell. There are places of worship for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod of Ulster, of the first and second classes, and for those in connection with the Seceding Synod, of the second class. About 1000 children are taught in 16 public schools, of which the parochial schools, held in a large building near the church, erected in 1821 at an expense of £400, of which £100 was a parliamentary grant and £125 was given by the Mercers' Company, are supported by the rector; a national school at Curran is aided by Lord Strafford; two at Swattragh by the Mercers' Company; and one at Craigadick by the rector and Mr. Clarke. There are also 15 private schools, in which are about 550 children, and three Sunday schools. A voluntary poor fund and a dispensary have been established. The ruins of the old church are highly interesting, and some portions bear marks of very remote antiquity; over the west entrance is a representation of the Crucifixion, rudely sculptured in high relief, with ten of the apostles; and in the churchyard are the tomb and pillar of Leuri, the patron saint, whose grave was opened some years since, when a silver crucifix was found in it, which was carefully replaced. About three miles from the town is Doon Glady, a very large and perfect rath, which gives name to one of the townlands; it is encompassed with treble walls and a trench. There are also several other raths and forts in the parish. Numerous celts, swords, spear heads, and ornaments of bronze and brass, have been found in the parish and vicinity, and are in the possession of the Rev. Spencer Knox, the rector. There are some remains of ancient iron-works, established at Drumconready in the reign of Charles I., and destroyed in 1641; they consist of the foundations of the buildings and heaps of half-smelted ore and charcoal.
MAGHERACLOONY, a parish, in the barony of FARNEY, county of MONAGHAN, and province of ULSTER, 2 1/2 miles (S. W.) from Kingscourt, on the confines of the counties of Louth, Cavan, and Meath, and on the mail coach road from Dublin to Londonderry; containing 8444 inhabitants. On the verge of this parish, at the ford of Bellahoo, a battle was fought in 1539, between the Lord Grey and O'Nial and O'Donell; at the same spot one was also fought by Gen. Ireton. The parish comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 12,952 statute acres (including 336 1/2 under water) principally good arable and pasture land; there are a few detached bogs, and some extensive plantations, but scarcely any waste land. Of late years the land has been much improved by extensive draining and the large quantity of lime used as manure; limestone is abundant in the southern part; coal of indifferent quality is also found. A branch of the river Leggan bounds the parish for about four miles on the south-west: the principal lakes are those of Fea, Feo, Rahans, and Graghlone, besides which there are some smaller. The principal seats are Lough Fea Castle, the residence of Evelyn J. Shirley, Esq., a spacious and handsome structure in the Elizabethan style of architecture, situated in a richly planted demesne, including Lough Fea within its limits; Derry, of S. Pendleton, Esq.; and Coolderry, of G. Forster, Esq. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Clogher, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the rectory is impropriate in Col. Moore. The tithes amount to £1116. 13. 4., of which £686. 13. 4. is payable to the impropriator, and £430 to the vicar. The glebe-house, erected in 1816, cost £941. 10. 9 1/4., of which £323. 1. 7. was a gift, and £415. 7. 85. a loan, from the late Board of First Fruits, the residue having been supplied by the incumbent; the glebe comprises 40 acres, valued at £60 per annum. The church is a neat modern structure, built in 1835, at an expense of £738. 9. 2 3/4., being a loan from the same Board. The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church, and has chapels at Rocks and Corlan; the latter, a spacious oblong structure, 90 feet by 40, was erected in 1825, and has a burial-ground attached: the site was given by E. J. Shirley, Esq., who contributed £25 towards the building. The parochial school is aided by the incumbent; the school-house is a good slated building, erected at an expense of £150, part of which was a grant from the lord-lieutenant's school fund. There are two other schools, to each of which Mr. Shirley contributes £5 per ann., and one under the National Board; also 16 private schools.
MAGHERACROSS, a parish, partly in the barony of OMAGH, county of TYRONE, and partly in the barony of LURG, but chiefly in that of TYRKENNEDY, county of FERMANAGH, and province of ULSTER, 5 1/2 miles (N. by E.) from Enniskillen, on the road to Omagh; containing 5313 inhabitants. It comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 10,452 1/4 statute acres, of which 343 3/4 are in the barony of Omagh, 170 1/4 in Lurg, 71 water, and 7505 are applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £6015. 2. 9. per annum. About 50 acres are woodland, 1500 waste and bog, and the remainder good arable and pasture land; the soil is fertile, the system of agriculture improved, and there is a good supply of peat for fuel. The principal seats are Jamestown, the residence of G. Lendrum, Esq.; Crocknacrieve, of H. M. Richardson, Esq.; and Bara, of the Rev. J. Irwin. A large fair, chiefly for horses, is held on Feb. 12th at Ballina-mallard. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Clogher, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes amount to £328. 4. 2. There is no glebe-house; the glebe comprises 300 acres, valued at £176 per annum. The church is a plain neat edifice in good repair, and was erected about 50 years since. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Whitehall, or Derryvullen; the chapel is a small thatched building. There are places of worship for Wesleyan and Primitive Wesleyan Methodists in connection with the Established Church. About 400 children are taught in the parochial and six other public schools, of which a female school is supported by G. Lendrum, Esq.; and there are five private schools, in which are about 200 children; two Sunday schools, and a dispensary.
MAGHERACULMONY, a parish, in the barony of LURG, county of FERMANAGH, and province of ULSTER, on the road from Ballyshannon to Omagh; containing, with the post-town of Kesh, 6451 inhabitants. This parish is situated on Lough Erne, and, according to the Ordnance survey, comprises, including islands, 18,577 statute acres, of which 3843 3/4 are in Lower Lough Erne, and 9973 are applotted under the tithe act. With the exception of about 1500 acres of mountain or turbary, the land is of good quality and chiefly in pasture; that portion of it which is under tillage produces good crops, and the system of agriculture is improving. There are some quarries of excellent limestone, which are worked for agricultural purposes, and also of freestone of good quality, which is raised for building; and coal is found in the parish, but not worked. Fairs are held at Ederney and Kesh, which see; and petty sessions are also held at the latter place on alternate Mondays. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Clogher, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the tithes amount to £255. The glebe-house was built in 1780, at an expense of £808. 4.; the glebe comprises 374 acres, valued at £326, and 46 acres in the possession of the incumbent, valued at £69, per annum. The church, a plain neat building, was repaired and enlarged by the addition of a gallery, in 1825, at an expense of £276. 18. 5 1/2., for which a loan was granted from the Consolidated Fund. In the R. C. divisions the parish, with the exception of three townlands, forms part of the union or district of Drumkeeran. About 450 children are taught in the parochial and four other public schools; and there are three private schools, in which are about 150 children. In the deer-park of Gen. Archdall are the ruins of some monastic buildings; there are also some remains of Crevenish Castle, near which is a strongly impregnated sulphuric spring, the water of which is similar to that of Harrogate.
MAGHERADROLL, a parish, partly in the barony of LOWER IVEAGH, but chiefly in that of KINELEARTY, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, on the road from Dromore to Saintfield; containing, with the post-town of Ballinahinch (which is separately described), 7530 inhabitants. This parish, according to the Ordnance survey, comprises 12,552 statute acres, of which 6285 are in the barony of Lower Iveagh, and the remainder in Kinelearty; 176 3/4 acres are water, and of the remainder, about two-thirds are land of the richest quality and in the highest state of cultivation; the other portion, though inferior, is still fertile, and there is scarcely any waste land. Slate of excellent quality is found in the townland of Ballymacarne, but not worked. Nearly in the centre of the parish is Montalto, formerly the seat of the Earl of Moira, by whom it was built, and now the property and occasional residence of D. Kerr, Esq.: the mansion is spacious and the demesne extensive. During the disturbances of 1798, a party of the insurgents took up a position in the park, from which they were driven by the king's forces with great loss. The weaving of linen, cotton, and muslin is carried on extensively, and there are two large bleach-greens in the parish. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Dromore, and in the patronage of the Bishop, to whom the rectory is appropriate: the tithes amount to £775. 3. 8 1/2., of which £200 is payable to the vicar, and the remainder to the bishop. The glebe-house, towards which the late Board of First Fruits granted a gift of £400 and a loan of £400, in 1817, is a handsome residence; and the glebe comprises 42 acres, valued at £86 per annum, and some gardens let to labourers at £5 per annum. The church, built in 1830 at an expense of £850 advanced on loan by the same Board, is a neat edifice with a tower and spire, and is situated close to the town of Ballinahinch. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Dunmore, or Maghera-Hamlet; the chapel at Ballinahinch is a large and handsome edifice. There are places of worship for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod of Ulster, of the first class, and with the Seceding Synod, of the first and second classes. About 650 children are taught in seven public schools; the parochial school-house was built in 1824, by aid of a grant from the lord-lieutenant's school fund; and there are six private schools, in which are about 180 children, and six Sunday schools. The late S. M. Johnstone, Esq., bequeathed one-third of the profits of a work entitled the, "Medley," published in 1802, amounting to about £4. 3. 4. per annum, which is annually distributed among the poor at Christmas. There are some remains of the ancient church, about a mile from the town, with a large cemetery, in which are interred several of the ancient and powerful family of the Magennises of Kilwarlin.
MAGHERAFELT, a market and post-town, and a parish, in the barony of LOUGHINSHOLIN, county of LONDONDERRY, and province of ULSTER, 30 miles (N. W. by W.) from Londonderry, and 96 (N. N. W.) from Dublin, on the road from Armagh to Coleraine; containing, with part of the post-town of Castle-Dawson (which is separately described), 7275 inhabitants, of which number, 1436 are in the town of Magherafelt. This place suffered materially in the war of 1641; the town was plundered by the insurgents, who destroyed the church, put many of the inhabitants to death, and carried off several of the more wealthy, with a view to obtain money for their ransom. In 1688 the town was again plundered, but on the approach of the assailants, the inhabitants took refuge in the Carntogher mountains, and subsequently found an asylum in Derry; on this occasion the church, having been appropriated by the enemy as a barrack, was preserved. The town, which is large and well built, consists of a spacious square, from which four principal streets diverge at the angles, and from these branch off several smaller streets in various directions; the total number of houses is 276, most of which are of stone and roofed with slate. The linen manufacture is carried on very extensively by the Messrs. Walker, who employ more than 1000 persons in weaving at their own houses; and nearly 100 on the premises in preparing the yarn and warps; the manufacture is rapidly increasing. There is also a very large ale and beer brewery near the town. The principal market is on Thursday, and is abundantly supplied with all kinds of provisions; great quantities of pork, butter, and flax are exposed for sale. There are also very extensive markets on alternate Thursdays for linen and yarn, which are sold to the amount of £33,000 annually; and a market on Monday for barley and oats, and on Wednesday for wheat. Fairs, which are among the largest in the county, are held on the last Thursday in every month, for cattle, sheep, and pigs. The market-house is a handsome building of hewn basalt, situated in the centre of the square; in the upper part are rooms for transacting public business. The quarter sessions for the county are held here in June and December, and petty sessions on alternate Wednesdays; a manorial court is also held monthly by the seneschal of the Salters' Company, for the recovery of debts under £2; and there is a constabulary police station. The court-house is a commodious edifice, and there is a small bridewell for the confinement of prisoners charged with minor offences.
The parish, which is situated on the river Moyola, comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 8290 1/4 statute acres, of which the greater portion is very good land, and the system of agriculture is improved. The principal substratum is basalt, which, in the townland of Polepatrick, has a columnar tendency; limestone of good quality is abundant, and coal is found in some parts. The principal seats are Millbrook, the residence of A. Spotswood, Esq.; Farm Hill, of Capt. Blathwayt; Glenbrook, of S. J. Cassidy, Esq.; Prospect, of the Rev. T. Wilson; and the glebe-house, of the Rev. T. A. Vesey. Considerable improvements are contemplated, tending greatly to promote the prosperity of the surrounding district. The lands immediately around it belong to the Salters' Company, and are at present leased for a limited term of years to the Marquess of Londonderry and Sir R. Bateson, Bart.; other lands, in the manor of Maghera, belong to the see of Derry; some, in the manor of Moneymore, to the Drapers' Company; some, in the manor of Bellaghy, to the Vintners' Company; and the manor of Castle-Dawson to the Rt. Hon. G. R. Dawson. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Armagh, and in the patronage of the Lord-Primate: the tithes amount to £450. The glebe-house was built in 1787, at an expense of £574. 18., of which £92. 6. 1 3/4. was a gift, and the remainder a loan, from the late Board of First Fruits; the glebe comprises 403a. 2r. 17p. statute measure, valued at £270 per annum. The church, situated in the town, is a handsome edifice built in 1664, enlarged by the addition of a north aisle in 1718, and ornamented with a tower and spire in 1790; it has been recently repaired by a grant of £121. 0. 9. from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also parts of the parishes of Woods-chapel, Desertlyn, and Ballyscullion; the chapel is at Aghagaskin, about a mile from the town. There are places of worship for Presbyterians, in connection with the Synod of Ulster, and Wesleyan Methodists. A free school was founded here by Hugh Rainey, Esq., who, in 1710, erected a school-house, and bequeathed money to purchase an estate for its endowment; the estate was afterwards sold under an act of parliament, subject to an annual payment of £175 Irish currency, with which the school is endowed; it is under the patronage and direction of the Lord Primate and John Ash Reiny, Esq., who resides at the school; 14 boys are clothed, boarded, and educated for three years, and afterwards placed out as apprentices with a premium. About 400 children are also taught in four other public schools, of which the parochial schools are supported by the rector, the Marquess of Londonderry, and Sir Robert Bateson, Bart.; and a female work school by the Marchioness of Londonderry and Lady Bateson, by whom the school-house was built: there are also four private schools, in which are about 130 children. A dispensary and a Ladies' Clothing Society have been established in the town. There are several forts in the parish, but none entitled to particular notice.
MAGHERAGALL, or MARAGALL, a parish, in the barony of UPPER MASSEREENE, county of ANTRIM, and province of ULSTER, 2 1/2 miles (W. by N.) from Lisburn, on the road from Hillsborough to Antrim, and close by the Lagan canal; containing 3102 inhabitants. During the war of 1641, this place was the rendezvous of the insurgent forces, consisting of 8000 men, under Sir Phelim O'Nial and Sir Con Magennis, previous to their attack on Lisburn; whence, after their defeat, they returned to Brookhill, in this parish, then the seat of Sir G. Rawdon, which they burned to the ground, as well as a church, and slaughtered many of the inhabitants of Ballyclough and its vicinity. The parish comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 6555 1/2 statute acres, principally in tillage; the system of agriculture has been greatly improved. In the lower parts the land is generally good, and produces excellent crops, but in the upper part it is inferior. It is stated that the first application of lime, as manure, in the county, took place here, in 1740, at Brook Hill, the residence of J. Watson, Esq. There are about 50 acres of bog, but no waste land. Limestone for building and agricultural purposes is abundant and very good; basalt is also found. The weaving of linen and cotton is carried on for the Lisburn market, and for the manufacturers of Belfast. The principal seats are Brook Hill, the residence of J. Watson, Esq., in whose demesne a small river disappears, and, after passing under the hill, re-appears; and Springfield, of Capt. Houghton. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Connor, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the rectory is appropriate to the see of Down and Connor. The tithes amount to £300, of which £200 is paid to the bishop, and £100 to the vicar, who also receives £46. 4. from Primate Boulter's augmentation fund: there is no glebe-house or glebe. The church was rebuilt in 1830, by a loan of £1000 from the late Board of First Fruits; it is a neat edifice, with a large tower. There are places of worship for Seceders, of the second class, and Wesleyan Methodists. About 270 children are educated in the parochial and two national schools; the former is partly supported by the incumbent, and the school-house was built in 1826, chiefly at the expense of the Marquess of Hertford. There are also five private schools, in which are about 180 children. Remains of the old church, which was destroyed in the civil war, exist near Brookhill, and have been converted into a stable: many human bones have been turned up by the plough; and silver and copper coins of the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., have been found on the estate of Mr. Watson, and are in his possession. In the plantations are two circular forts, in a perfect state, the smaller appearing to have been an outpost to the larger. Opposite to these are several large stones, the remains of a cromlech, here called the Giant's Cave, on ploughing the ground near which, in 1837, several urns were found curiously engraved and containing human bones. The late Commodore Watson was proprietor of Brook Hill, where he resided for a short period before his return to India, where he died of his wounds.
MAGHERA-HAMLET, an ecclesiastical, district, in the barony of KINELEARTY, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, 3 miles (S.) from Ballynahinch, on the road from Dundrum to Dromore; containing 3223 inhabitants. This district, formerly called Templemoile, and sometimes Kilwilk, is situated within a mile of the Ballynahinch baths, and comprises 1844 statute acres, of which 753 are mountainous, and of the remainder, which is tolerably good land, a small portion is rocky pasture: the system of agriculture is improving. There are quarries of good slate, and of building stone, which is raised chiefly for building and for the. roads. Part of the Slieve Croob mountain is within its limits, and in it is the source of the river Lagan, which, after flowing by Dromore and Lisburn, discharges itself into Belfast lough. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Dromore, and in the patronage of the Prebendary of Dromaragh; the stipend arises from the tithes of 1200 acres applotted under the act, amounting to £75, and an augmentation of £23. 2. from Primate Boulter's fund. The glebe-house, towards which the late Board of First Fruits gave £450 and granted a loan of £50, was built in 1830; the glebe comprises 7 acres, bought by the same Board from Col. Forde, for £450, and subject to a rent of £7. 7. The church, a neat edifice with a square tower, situated at the extremity of the district, with a view to accommodate the visitors of Ballynahinch spa, was erected at a cost of £500, wholly defrayed by the late Board of First Fruits, in 1814. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recommended, on the next avoidance of the prebend of Dromaragh, that the townlands now forming the perpetual curacy be separated from the prebend and formed into a distinct benefice. In the R. C. divisions this is the head of a union or district, comprising also the parishes of Magheradroll and Anahilt, and called also the union of Dunmore, in which are two chapels, one at Dunmore in this district, and one at Ballynahinch, in that of Magheradroll. There is a place of worship for Presbyterians in connection with the Seceding Synod, of the third class. About 150 children are taught in a school supported by Col. Forde, who also built the school-house; and there are three private schools, in which are about 200 children, and three Sunday schools. At Dunmore is an extensive deer-park, the property of Col. Forde, encompassed by a wall.
MAGHERALIN, or MARALIN, a parish, partly in the barony of ONEILLAND EAST, county of ARMAGH, but chiefly in that of LOWER IVEAGH, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, l 1/2 mile (S. W.) from Moira, on the river Lagan, and at the junction of the roads from Armagh to Belfast, from Moira to Lurgan, and from Banbridge to Antrim; containing 5058 inhabitants. Here stood the monastery of Linn Huachuille, (one townland in the parish being yet called by that name), the remains of which are by some thought to be the massive walls on the north side of the churchyard; it was founded by St. Colman, or Mocholmoc, who died in 699. The ancient palace of the bishops of Dromore was close to the village, on the site now occupied by the parochial school; the last prelate who resided in it was the celebrated Jeremy Taylor. The parish contains, according to the Ordnance survey, 8293 1/2 statute acres, of which 486 1/4 are in the county of Armagh, and the remainder in the county of Down. The lands are all in tillage, with the exception of a proportion of meadow and about 200 acres of exhausted bog, which latter is fast being brought into cultivation: the system of agriculture is improved. Here are extensive quarries of limestone and several kilns, from which lime is sent into the counties of Antrim, Armagh, and Down; this being the western termination of the great limestone formation that rises near the Giant's Causeway. There are also good quarries of basalt much used in building, which dresses easily under the tool; and coal and freestone are found in the parish, but neither has been extensively worked. A new line of road has been formed hence to Lurgan, a distance of 2 1/2 miles, and an excavation made through the village. An extensive establishment at Springfield, for the manufacture of cambrics, affords employment for 250 persons; and at Milltown a bleach-green annually finishes upwards of 10,000 pieces for the English market. The principal seats are Grace Hall, the residence of C. Douglass, Esq.; Drumnabreagh, of M. Stothard, Esq.; Newforge, of Cosslett Waddell, Esq.; Springfield, of J. Richardson, Esq.; Kircassock, of J. Christie, Esq.; and the rectory, of the Rev. B. W. Dolling. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Dromore, forming the corps of the precentorship of Dromore, in the patronage of the Bishop. The tithes amount to £453. 1. 7., exclusively of a moiety of the tithes of four townlands in the parish of Donaghcloney amounting to £17. 19.; the gross value of the precentorship, tithes and glebe inclusive, is £684. 17. There is an excellent glebe-house on a glebe of 66 acres, valued at £138. 12. 0. per annum. The church is an ancient edifice, having a tower and low spire, and has lately been repaired at a considerable expense; it was long used as the cathedral of Dromore, and the bishop's throne yet remains in it. In the R. C. divisions this parish and Moira form the union or district of Magheralin and Moira, in each of which there is a chapel.
About 280 children are educated in four public schools, of which the parochial school in the village is aided by an annual donation of £10 from the incumbent; the school-house is large and commodious, with a residence for the master, and was erected at an expense of £350. There are also schools at Rampark and Grace Hall, the former built and supported by C. Douglass, Esq., and the latter, for females, by Mrs. Douglass. In six private schools about 220 children are educated. The late Mr. Douglass, of Grace Hall, made a charitable bequest for clothing the poor in winter; and there are some minor charities. A sulphureous chalybeate spring on the lands of Newforge, is said to equal in efficacy the waters of Aix-la-Chapelle.
MAGHERALLY, a parish, in the barony of LOWER IVEAGH, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, 3 miles (E.) from Banbridge, on the road to Downpatrick; containing 3189 inhabitants. This parish, called also Magherawley, comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 5243 3/4 statute acres, of which 22 1/2 are water, and the remainder, with the exception of about 150 acres of bog, good arable and pasture land; the soil is fertile, and the system of agriculture improving. The principal seats are Tullyhenan, the residence of J. Lindsay, Esq.; and the glebe-house, of the Rev. M. Sampson. Many of the inhabitants are employed in weaving linen for the manufacturers at Banbridge. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Dromore, the rectory forming part of the union of Aghaderg and of the corps of the deanery of Dromore, and the vicarage in the patronage of the Bishop. The tithes amount to £190. 14. 6., of which £60. 10. is payable to the dean, and £130. 4. 6. to the vicar; the gross revenue of the benefice, including tithes and glebe, and an augmentation from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners of £31. 8. 0., is £191. 12. 6. The glebe-house was built in 1780, at an expense of £276. 18. 5 1/2 ., of which one-third was a gift from the late Board of First Fruits, and the remainder paid by the incumbent; the glebe comprises 20 acres, valued at £30 per ann., held under the see of Dromore at 5s. per annum. The church, a small but handsome modern edifice with a tower and spire, towards which the late Board of First Fruits gave £276. 18. 5 1/2 ., is situated on an eminence. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Tullylish. There is a place of worship for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod of Ulster, of the second class. About 160 children are taught in the parochial school, built in 1828, and now in connection with the New Board of Education; since that period schools have been established at Corbet, Ballymoney, and Mullaghfernaghan. There are also three private schools, in which are about 260 children. Numerous forts are scattered over the parish, but they are rapidly disappearing in consequence of the advancement of agriculture.
MAGHERAMESK, a parish, in the barony of UPPER MASSEREENE, county of ANTRIM, and province of ULSTER, 1 mile (N. N. E.) from Moira, on the road to Belfast; containing 1700 inhabitants. In this parish was the fortress of Innisloghlin, the strong hold of the O'Nials, supposed to have been built to defend the frequently contested pass of Kilwarlin, over which Spencer's bridge, now connecting the counties of Down and Antrim, has. been erected. It was the last refuge of Hugh, Earl of Tyrone, and was besieged in 1602 by Sir Arthur Chichester and Sir H. Danvers, to whom it was surrendered on the 10th of Aug.; upon this occasion, great quantities of plate and valuable property fell into the hands of the victors. The parish, which is bounded on the west by Lough Neagh, comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 3149 1/2 statute acres of good arable land in an excellent state of cultivation; the system of agriculture is highly improved, and there is neither waste land nor bog. Trummery House, for many years the residence of the Spencer family, is now only a farm-house. The weaving of linen and cotton is carried on here for the manufacturers of Belfast, and many persons are employed in the extensive limestone quarries; at Megabuy hill has been found a gypsum of superior purity, resembling talc. The summit level of the Lagan canal from Lough Neagh to Belfast is in the parish.
The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Connor, united from time immemorial with the vicarages of Aghagallen and Aghalee, and in the patronage of the Marquess of Hertford, in whom the rectory is impropriate. The tithes amount to £128. 4., of which £29. 4. is payable to the impropriator and the remainder to the vicar; the glebe-house and the glebe, which comprises 13 statute acres, valued at £16. 5. per ann., are in the parish of Aghalee; the gross value of the benefice, tithes and glebe inclusive, is £334. 5. The church of the union is at Aghalee. There is a place of worship for the Society of Friends, a national school in which are about 60 children, and a private school in which are about 30. Of the ancient fortress of Innisloghlin there is scarcely a vestige: the ground was occupied by a farmer, who, in 1803, levelled the bulwarks, filled up the intrenchments, and left only a small fragment of the castle standing; in levelling the ground were found many cannon balls, several antique rings of gold, and various other valuable articles. In the townland of Trummery, between Lisburn and Moira, are the extensive ruins of the ancient parish church; close to the western gable of which were the remains of one of the ancient round towers, about 60 feet high and of the same diameter throughout, with a conical roof of stone; it was levelled with the ground in 1828, and nothing but the scattered fragments remain. Adjoining these ruins is a doon or rath nearly perfect.
MAGHEROSS. -- See CARRICKMACROSS.
MAGILLIGAN. -- See TAMLAGHTARD.
MAGLASS, a parish, in the barony of FORTH, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 6 miles (S.) from Wexford, on the road to Bridgetown and Kilmore; containing 1012 inhabitants. The parish comprises about 3250 acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and chiefly under tillage; the state of agriculture has been much improved, and the practice of winter feeding partially adopted. At a short distance from the village is a large windmill for grinding corn. The seats are Silverspring, the residence of John Nunn, Esq.; Thornville, of John Lloyd, Esq.; Ballycogley, of N. Barrington, Esq.; Mount Pleasant, of the Misses Harvey; and Little Mount Pleasant, of Mr. Mullay. The parish is in the diocese of Ferns; the rectory forms part of the union of Gorey and the corps of the deanery of Ferns; and the vicarage, part of the union of Killinick. The tithes amount to £185. 7. 8 1/4., of which £55. 7. 8 1/4. is payable to the rector, and the remainder to the vicar; and there are two small glebes, comprising together about 7 acres. In the R. C. divisions it gives name to the union or district, which also includes the parish of Ballymore, and has a chapel in each parish. The chapel at Maglass, a large plain building, is supposed to stand on the site of an ancient monastery, the remains of which, as well as those of a castle that immediately adjoined it, were used in the erection of the chapel. Near it is a school of about 70 children held in a house given rent-free by C. A. Walker, Esq., and chiefly supported by the proceeds of an annual subscription dinner. At Ballycogley are the remains of a castle, consisting of a large square tower, three sides of which are covered by a single ivy-tree of extraordinary growth: it is said to have formerly belonged to the Wadding family, was forfeited in the civil war of Charles I., and granted by Chas. II. to the ancestor of N. Barring-ton, Esq., the present proprietor. The remains of the old church have been partly enclosed as a cemetery for the Harvey family; but of the ancient monastery and castle of Maglass, between which tradition states that a subterraneous communication existed, there is not a vestige.
MAGOURNEY, a parish, partly in the barony of BARRETTS, but chiefly in that of EAST MUSKERRY, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, on the road from Cork to Killarney; containing, with the parish of Kilcoleman, and the post-town of Coachford, 2397 inhabitants. This parish is bounded on the south by the river Lee, over which is a stone bridge at Nadrid; and intersected by the river Dripsey, a mountain stream which falls into the former at the Dripsey paper-mills, in the adjoining parish of Mattehy, and over which also is a bridge of stone on the new road to Macroom. The land, with the exception of about 150 acres of bog and waste, is of good quality and in a state of excellent cultivation; the system of agriculture has been greatly improved under the auspices of the resident gentry, and more especially of Messrs. Colthurst, Good, and P. Cross, who have been extensively successful in raising green crops. Stone of good quality is quarried for building and for mending the roads, which throughout the district are kept in excellent repair. The principal seats are Dripsey House, the residence of J. H. Colthurst, Esq.; Myshell, of Dr. Barter, whose demesne of 200 acres, formerly an unprofitable waste, has, since 1826, been reclaimed and brought into a state of high cultivation; Nadrid, of H. O'Callaghan, Esq.; Classis, of H. Minhear, Esq.; Carhue, of J. Rye Coppinger, Esq.; Beechmount, of Dr. Godfrey; Abbeville, of -- McMahon, Esq.; Broomhill, of H. Cross, Esq.; Shandy Hall, of P. Cross, Esq.; Lee Mount, of T. Golloch, Esq.; River View, of Mrs. Welstead; Old Town, of S. Crooke, Esq.; Rock Grove, of J. Good, Esq.; the glebe-house, of the Rev. H. Johnson; and Green Lodge, of R. Coppinger, Esq. At Coachford a sub-post-office to Cork and Macroom has been established; petty sessions are held monthly at Dripsey, and fairs at Nadrid on Jan. 1st and Oct. 10th. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Cloyne, united perpetually to the vicarage of Kilcoleman, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes, including those of Kilcoleman, which has merged into this parish, amount to £684. The glebe-house, towards the erection of which the late Board of First Fruits contributed a gift of £100 and a loan of £1350, in 1812, is a handsome residence; the glebe comprises 73 acres. The church, a handsome structure, was enlarged in 1818, for which purpose the same Board granted a loan of £200, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recently granted £224 for its repair. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Aghabologue; the chapel, a neat and spacious edifice, is situated at Coachford, where there is a national school. A small parochial school is aided by the rector; and there is also a private school. In Dripsey demesne are the ruins of the church of Kilcoleman, and of the ancient castle of Carrignamuck, which belonged to the McCarthys and was built in the 15th century by the founder of Blarney castle; it is situated on a rock on the bank of the Dripsey, and is surrounded with trees, forming an interesting feature in the picturesque scenery of the parish.
MAGOWRY, a parish, in the barony of MIDDLETHIRD, county of TIPPERARY, and province of MUNSTER, 4 miles (S. E.) from Killenaule; containing 456 inhabitants, and comprising 1707 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act. It is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Cashel, forming part of the union of Killenaule: the tithes amount to £100. In the R. C. divisions also it is part of the union or district of Killenaule.
MAGUIRE'S-BRIDGE, a market-town, in the parish of AGHALURCHER, barony of MAGHERASTEPHENA, county of FERMANAGH, and province of ULSTER, 2 1/2 miles (N. W.) from Lisnaskea, on the road to Fintona; containing 854 inhabitants. It is situated on Maguire's river, here crossed by a bridge which gives name to the town, and consists of one street comprising about 200 houses, and containing a R. C. chapel, meeting-houses for Presbyterians and Methodists, and a dispensary. It has a penny post to Lisnaskea. The market is on Wednesday; and fairs are held on the first Wednesday in each month, and on Jan. 17th, the third Wednesday in May, July 5th, and Oct. 2nd. It is a station of the constabulary police. The R. C. chapel is a large building, erected in 1822 at an expense of £800; it is lighted with pointed windows, and the altar is embellished with a painting. Attached to the chapel is a school. The seats in the vicinity are Drumgoon, the residence of R. Graham, Esq.; Green Hill, of Major Irvine; Abbey Lodge, of J. Macartney, Esq.; and Aghavea, of the Rev. T. Birney.
MAHONAGH, or CASTLEMAHON, a parish, in the Glenquin Division of the barony of UPPER CONNELLO, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTER, 2 miles (S. E.) from Newcastle; containing 3846 inhabitants. This parish is intersected by the river Deel, and the road from Newcastle to Charleville: it comprises 12,262 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, which are in part very good, though some are cold, wet, and stiff, being chiefly pasture and meadow, constituting several large dairy farms; around the village is some good land tolerably well cultivated. The marshy land consists chiefly of exhausted bog, all reclaimable by drainage. The soil rests on a substratum of limestone, excellent quarries of which are worked at Shauragh and near the village. The village, which consists of 24 small houses, is on the eastern bank of the Deel, over which there is a good stone bridge. The principal seats are Mayne, the residence of Bryan Sheehy, Esq.; and Ballymakillamore, of Godfrey Massey, Esq. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Limerick, and in the patronage of the Earl of Devon: the tithes amount to £500; and there is a glebe of 13 acres at Castlemahon, and another of 8 acres adjoining the old churchyard of Aglish. The Protestant parishioners attend the church of Newcastle. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, called Castlemahon, comprising this parish and Corcomohide, in which union there are three chapels, situated at Castlemahon, Foughanough or Feohonagh (both modern buildings), and a new chapel, erected in 1836 on the road-side between Newcastle and Drumcolloher, at an expense of £600. Darby O'Grady, Esq., gave £10 towards the belfry. About 50 children are educated in a national school; and there are three private schools, in which are about 150 children. The ruins of a massive square tower, about 30 feet high, exist near Castlemahon and give name to that village. Near it is a curious circular building, with a high conical roof of stone; it was a strong fortress, erected about 1490 by the Fitzgeralds. Not far from this are the remains of the ancient church. At Mayne are traces of ancient buildings, supposed to have been ecclesiastical, though their present appearance indicates that it was a military position; they most probably formed a strong hold of the Knights-Templars, and were therefore partly military and partly ecclesiastical. There is a churchyard at Aglish, but no vestige of the church, which was sometimes called Aglish na Munni.
MAHONSTOWN, a village, in the parish of DULEEN, barony of UPPER KELLS, county of MEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 2 miles (N. W.) from Kells; containing 32 houses and 182 inhabitants.
MAINE, a parish, in the barony of FERRARD, county of LOUTH, and province of LEINSTER, 5 3/4 miles (N. E. by N.) from Drogheda; containing 360 inhabitants. It is situated on the eastern coast, and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 1060 3/4 statute acres of excellent, land, principally under tillage; there is no bog. It is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Armagh, forming part of the union of Termonfechan: the tithes amount to £90, and there is a glebe of 6 acres, valued at £9. 16. 10 1/2. per annum. In the R. C. divisions it is part of the union or district of Clogher. About 60 children are taught in a private school. The ruins of an ancient church exist here.
MAINHAM, a parish, in the barony of IKEATHY and OUGHTERANY, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER, 1 1/2 mile (N.) from Clane, on the road from Celbridge or Maynooth to Naas; containing 738 inhabitants. It is chiefly under tillage, but contains some good pasture land: the soil is fertile and the system of agriculture improving; the potatoe crops are universally drilled. Fuel is obtained in abundance, and at a very moderate expense, from a valuable tract of bog in the parish. It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Kildare, forming part of the union of Clane; the rectory is impropriate in the representatives of Lord Falcon-berg; the tithes amount to £124. 4. l 1/2. In the R. C. divisions the parish belongs to the union or district of Clane; the only chapel is the domestic chapel belonging to the R. C. college at Clongowes Wood, an extensive establishment under the superintendence of the members of the Society of Jesus, for the education of young men of the R. C. religion in every department of classical and polite literature; the building, a noble castellated mansion beautifully situated in an extensive and richly wooded demesne, is described under the head of CLANE. About 120 pupils are educated in it.
MALAHIDE, a maritime post-town and a parish, in the barony of COOLOCK, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER, 2 1/2 miles (E.) from Swords, to which it has a sub-post-office, and 7 miles (N.) from Dublin Castle; containing 1223 inhabitants, of which number, 294 are in the town. The manor and castle were granted, in 1174, by Hen. II., to Richard Talbot, the common ancestor of the Earls of Shrewsbury and Lords of Malahide, who accompanied that monarch into Ireland; and have continued in the possession of his descendants from that period to the present day, through an uninterrupted succession of male heirs. This grant was subsequently confirmed to him by John, afterwards King of England, who also conferred on him various privileges and the advowson of the church of "Mullahide Beg", which he immediately assigned to the monks of St. Mary's abbey, Dublin. In 1372, Thomas Talbot was summoned to parliament by the title of Lord Talbot; and in 1375, the harbour of this place appears to have been of such importance that the exportation of unlicensed corn, and the departure of any of the retinue of William de Windsor, Chief Governor, from this port were prohibited under severe penalties. Edw. IV., in 1475, granted to the family a confirmation of the lordship, with courts leet and baron, and appointed the lord of Malahide high admiral of the seas with full power to hold a court of admiralty and to determine all pleas arising either on the high seas or elsewhere within the limits of the lordship. Sir Richard Edgecombe, who was sent by Hen. VII. into Ireland to administer the oath of allegiance to the nobility and chieftains there, after the suppression of Lambert Simnel's attempt to gain the crown, landed from England at this port, in 1488, and was entertained at the Castle, and afterwards conducted by the Bishop of Meath to Dublin; and in 1570, Malahide was enumerated by Hollinshed among the principal post-towns of Ireland. In the parliamentary war the castle was besieged and taken by Cromwell, who resided here for some time, during which he passed sentence of outlawry upon Thomas, Lord Talbot, and gave the castle and the manor to Miles Corbet, who retained possession of them for seven years, till, on the Restoration, the Talbot family regained possession of their estates.
The town is situated on a shallow inlet of the Irish Sea, between Lambay island, to the north, and Ireland's Eye and the promontory of Howth, to the south; it has a pleasing and sequestered character, and contains many handsome cottages, chiefly occupied by visitors during the bathing season and in some instances by permanent residents. In the centre is a well of excellent water, arched over and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The trade of the town, never very extensive, received a great check from the privileges granted to the port of Dublin in the 16th century. The cotton manufacture was introduced here on an extensive scale in the last century by Col. Talbot, father of the present proprietor; but, though the Irish parliament granted £2000 for the completion of the requisite machinery, it was ultimately abandoned. The same gentleman, in 1788, procured an act for the construction of a navigable canal at his own expense, for the conveyance of the imports of this place, through Swords to Fieldstown, for the supply of the surrounding districts, to which they were at that time sent wholly by land carriage; but this undertaking was also unsuccessful. The principal trade at present is the exportation of meal and flour, and the importation of coal from Whitehaven and Scotland, of which, on the average, about 15,000 tons are annually imported. There is a small silk-factory, and the inhabitants derive some advantages from the fishery off the coast, and from an exclusive property in a bed of oysters, which are sent to Dublin in considerable quantities, and are much esteemed. The inlet of Malahide is 4 miles north from Howth, and extends four miles up the country; it is dry at low water, but at high water, vessels drawing not more than 10 or 11 feet may enter the creek and lie afloat in the channel. At the entrance is a bar, having only one foot at low water, and the channel is divided by a gravel bank called Muldowney; both the channels are narrow and tortuous, and are of dangerous navigation without the assistance of a pilot. The town is one of the nine coast-guard stations constituting the district of Swords, and also a constabulary police station. Near it is the Castle, generally called the Court of Malahide, the seat of the Talbot family, a quadrangular building of irregular form and height, situated on a limestone rock of considerable elevation, and commanding a fine view of the town and bay. The original buildings have been much improved and enlarged by Richard, Lord Talbot de Malahide, the present proprietor; the principal front is embattled, and the entrance defended by two circular towers. The interior contains numerous superb apartments, of which the most curious is one called the oak chamber, wainscoted and ceiled with native oak richly carved in scriptural devices and lighted by a pointed window of stained glass. To the right of this chamber is the grand hall, a spacious and lofty room with a vaulted roof of richly carved oak, lighted by three large windows of elegant design, and having a gallery at the south end. To the left of the hall is the drawing-room, a stately apartment, richly embellished, and containing some very valuable paintings, among which is an altar-piece in three compartments, painted by Albert Durer, and originally placed in the oratory of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Holyrood House. There is in the castle a very large collection of portraits of royal and distinguished personages, among the latter of which are several members of the Talbot family, also paintings by the most celebrated masters of the Italian and Flemish schools. The demesne is extensive and richly embellished with groups of stately trees and plantations, and the gardens are tastefully laid out and kept in fine order.
The parish is of very small extent, comprising only 1070 statute acres: the soil is fertile and the system of agriculture improving. The strand abounds with marine shells in great variety, and with sea-reeds, which, in conjunction with the carex arenaria, grow profusely. There are quarries of black, grey, and yellow limestone; and on the south of the high lands, towards the sea, lead ore has been found. There are several handsome seats and pleasing villas, of which the principal are La Mancha, the residence of M. M. O'Grady, Esq., M.D.; Sea Mount, of K. C. French, Esq., from which is a view of Lambay island, the hill of Howth, and the bay of Dublin, with the Dublin and Wicklow mountains; Sea Park Court, of W. Cosgrave, Jun., Esq., commanding a fine view of Malahide creek and bay; Gaybrook, of the Rev. F. Chamley; Mill View, of Capt. Ross, R. N.; and Auburn Cottage, of M. A. Dalton, Esq. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Dublin, and in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of St. Patrick's, Dublin, by whom it is endowed with the whole of the tithes of the rectory (which is appropriate to the economy fund), amounting to £120. The glebe, in the adjoining parish of Swords, comprises 8 acres of cultivated land. The church was erected in 1822, at an expense of £1300, of which £900 was a gift and £300 a loan from the late Board of First Fruits, and £100 a gift from Lord Talbot de Malahide; it is a neat edifice, in the later English style, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recently granted £112 for its repair. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Swords; the chapel is a neat edifice. About 140 children, are taught in two public schools. Contiguous to the castle are the remains of the ancient church, for ages the place of sepulture of the proprietors of the castle: it consists of a nave and choir, separated from each other by a lofty pointed arch nearly in the centre of the building; the east window is large and enriched with geometrical tracery, and over the western end is a small belfry thickly covered with ivy, beneath which is a window of two lights, ornamented with crocketed ogee canopies; the whole is shaded by chesnut trees, of which the branches bend over the roofless walls. Of the ancient monuments, only one decorated altar-tomb of the 15th century is remaining, bearing the effigy of Lady Matilda Plunkett, wife of Richard Talbot. Adjoining the church are the ruins of a chantry anciently attached to it; and on the lands of Sea Park is a martello tower. This place gives the title of Baron Talbot de Malahide to the family of Talbot.
MALIN, a village, in the parish of CLONCHA, barony of ENNISHOWEN, county of DONEGAL, and province of ULSTER, 3 miles (N.) from Carn, to which it has a penny post: the population is returned with the parish. It is situated at the extremity of a creek of Strabreagy bay, on the road from Londonderry to Malin Head, and comprises 28 well-built modern houses, in the form of a square: at the east end is a large bridge leading towards Carn and Culdaff. Malin Hall, the residence of J. Harvey, Jun., Esq., is situated a little above the village in a well-planted demesne, which forms a great ornament in this bleak neighbourhood. Malin has a patent for a market on Tuesday, not now held, but there are fairs, principally for the sale of cattle and sheep, on Easter-Tuesday, June 24th, Aug. 1st, and Oct. 31st, which are well attended. It is a constabulary police station; and petty sessions are held on alternate Wednesdays. The parish church of Cloncha was erected here in 1827; it is a neat edifice, in the early English style, with a square tower surmounted with pinnacles. The male and female parochial schools were built by J. Harvey, Esq., and there is a female work school. Here was formerly a conventual church, the only remains of which are a heap of stones; and there are numerous vestiges of antiquity and natural curiosities in the neighbourhood, which are described under Cloncha.
MALLARDSTOWN, a parish, in the barony of KELLS, county of KILKENNY, and province of LEINSTER, 2 miles (E.) from Callan, on the road to Thomastown; containing 547 inhabitants. It is partly bounded on the north by the King's river, and comprises 2490 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act. Here is an extensive flour-mill, worked by Mr. Wm. Phelan. Mallardstown, the property of Silver Oliver, Esq., is now the residence of G. Helsham, Esq. It is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Ossory, forming part of the union of Kells: the tithes amount to £171. 1. 8. In the R. C. divisions it is part of the union or district of Callan.
MALLOW, a borough, market-town, and parish, partly in the barony of DUHALLOW, but chiefly in that of FERMOY, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 17 miles (N.) from Cork, and 127 3/4 (S. W.) from Dublin; containing 9804 inhabitants, of which number, 7099 are within the limits of the borough, including the recently added suburb of Ballydaheen, and 5229 in the town. This place was anciently called Malla, Moyalla, and Moyallow, of which its present name is only a modification. Though the town has little claim to antiquity, yet the seigniory, which is independent of both baronies, formed part of the territories of the great Earl of Desmond, who erected a noble castle here on the northern bank of the Blackwater, which commanded the pass of that river. After the rebellion of the Earl in the reign of Elizabeth, during which this place was the centre of the operations of the English forces, the Queen was advised to fortify this castle for the defence of the ferry, where the troops were frequently detained for many days. In 1584, the castle and the manor were granted by the Queen to Sir Thomas Norris, Lord-President of Munster; they afterwards passed by marriage with the daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas to Major-Gen. Sir John Jephson, Knt., of Froyle, in the county of Hants, and have since continued in the occupation of his descendants. In 1612, James I. confirmed these possessions to Dame Elizabeth Jephson, Sir John being then living, with the grant of a court baron and power to determine pleas to the amount of 40s.; also the privilege of a market and two fairs, with the power of appointing a clerk of the market, and of licensing certain tradesmen. In the same year the town, which had greatly increased and was strengthened with a second castle on the north side, called Castle Garr, or "the Short Castle," was incorporated and made a free borough; and on the breaking out of the war in 1641, besides its two castles, it contained 200 houses occupied by English settlers, of which 30 were strongly built and roofed with slate. On the 11th of February, 1642, the insurgent forces under Lord Mountgarret entered the town, on which occasion Capt. Jephson entrusted the strong castle of Mallow to the custody of Arthur Bettesworth, with a garrison of 200 men, an abundant supply of arms and ammunition, and three pieces of ordnance. Castle Garr was also defended by Lieut. Richard Williamson, who, after sustaining repeated assaults, in which he lost most of his men, and several breaches had been made, agreed to surrender upon honourable terms. After he had left the fortress, finding that the insurgents were not inclined to observe the terms of capitulation, Lieutenant Williamson seized a sword, and, with the rest of his party, resolutely fought his way through their . ranks and retired into Mallow Castle, which had been maintained with better success by Bettesworth. The insurgents, during their stay at this place, chose as their commander Garret Barry, who had served under the King of Spain; and on the 15th of February, a party of them attacked the fortified mansion of Mr. Clayton, in the immediate vicinity, but did not succeed in taking it till after a sanguinary conflict in which 200 of their number were killed and many wounded by the garrison, which consisted only of 24 men, whom, on taking the place, they put to the sword. The castle of Mallow was assaulted and taken by the Earl of Castlehaven, in 1645, and was nearly reduced to ruins. When the kingdom was threatened with invasion by France, in 1660, it was, from its advantageous situation, commanding the chief pass of the Blackwater, considered to be of such importance, that a presentment for its repair was made by the grand jury of the county; but the proposal could not be entertained, as the law allowed presentments only for bridges, causeways, and roads. After the battle of the Boyne, Major Geo. S'Gravenmore having advanced from Tipperary with 1100 horse and two regiments of Danish foot, sent Col. Doness, on the 13th of Sept., 1689, to burn the bridge of Mallow, and to survey the castle; the Colonel, on his return reported that there were 100 Protestant families in the greatest alarm and danger from McDonough, one of James the Second's governors of counties, who was assembling forces for the purpose of plundering and burning the town. On this intelligence S'Gravenmore sent 100 horse and 50 dragoons for their protection; and McDonough, on his approach to the town with . nearly 4000 men, was suddenly attacked in the great meadow near the bridge, by the Danish horse, routed, and pursued with great slaughter on both sides of the river. The loss of the Irish, on this occasion, is stated at 500 killed, while on the side of their opponents neither a single man nor a horse was wounded; S'Gravenmore subsequently made this town his head-quarters previously to the siege of Cork.
The town is finely situated on the northern bank of the river Blackwater, about a mile below its confluence with the Clydagh, in a vale enclosed on the south side by a chain of mountains, but more open on the north, and on both sides richly wooded. It consists chiefly of one main street on the mail coach road from Cork to Limerick, near one extremity of which was Castle Garr, on the site of which is now a modern house; and at the other is Mallow Castle, commanding the river, over which is a stone bridge of eleven arches, connecting the town with the suburb of Ballydaheen, on the opposite bank. Within the last few years the town has been greatly enlarged and much improved; several spacious houses have been built, a new street has been opened to the north of the main street, and the latter has been lengthened by the addition of several respectable private houses at its western extremity. Most of the houses in this street have a projecting square window on the first floor, which has a singular but not unpleasing effect; the principal footpaths are flagged, though the streets are not paved; and the inhabitants are amply supplied with excellent water. The total number of houses, including the suburb of Ballydaheen, was, in 1831, 996, of which number 426 are slated and the remainder thatched; they are generally well built, and the town has, on the whole, a handsome and cheerful appearance. The beauty of its environs, and the tepid mineral waters for which Mallow is celebrated, had made it a place of fashionable resort, during the summer months, and the number of gentlemen's seats in the immediate vicinity had rendered it a desirable place of residence, long before it attained its present importance as a place of trade. The Mallow Club, consisting of an unlimited number of the resident gentry of the town and neighbourhood, elected by ballot as proprietary members, was established here several years since on a very liberal scale. The club-house, situated in the principal street, contains billiard, card, supper, and reading rooms; the latter, which contains also a good library for reference, is open to strangers. There is also a public subscription news-room on a smaller scale. The members of the Duhallow hunt hold their meetings here, and are distinguished for their superior pack of foxhounds. Races are held annually in September on a course about two miles to the east of the town; and balls and concerts occasionally take place, under the patronage of the neighbouring gentry, in the new and spacious assembly-rooms attached to the principal hotel. The military depot, formerly established here, was discontinued on the formation of a larger establishment at Fermoy, but there are still infantry barracks for 7 officers and 103 non-commissioned officers and privates. The mineral waters, in their properties, resemble those of Bristol, but are much softer; one of the tepid springs was at a very early period in repute as a holy well, dedicated to St. Peter, but they were all neglected for medicinal use till the earlier part of the last century. The principal spring is on the north-eastern side of the town, where it rises perpendicularly in a powerful stream from the base of a limestone hill that shelters it on the east. There is another spring called the Lady's well, also warm and of the same quality, though not covered in or used. The water of the spa has a mean temperature of 70° of Fahrenheit, rising in summer to 72° and falling in winter to 68°; it is considered as a powerful restorative to debilitated constitutions, and peculiarly efficacious in scrofulous and consumptive cases, for which the spa is much frequented by persons of fashion from distant parts of the country, being the only water of the kind known in Ireland. The spa house was built in 1828, by C. D. O. Jephson, Esq., M.P., the present lord of the manor and principal proprietor of the town: it is in the old English style of rural architecture, and contains a small pump-room, an apartment for medical consultation, a reading-room, and baths; the whole fitted up in the most complete manner for supplying, at the shortest notice, hot and cold salt-water, vapour, and medicated baths. The approach to the spa from the town is partly through an avenue of lofty trees along the bank of an artificial canal, affording some picturesque scenery; it is in contemplation to form an approach from the north end of the new street, winding round the brow of the hill and through the Spa glen, the present outlet from the lower part of the town being inconveniently narrow. There are no public promenades; but the excellent roads leading through the environs, which abound with scenery of a richly diversified character, afford a variety of pleasant walks; and a road nearly five miles in circuit, called the Circular Drive, which has been made along the southern bank of the river Blackwater, crossing Clydagh bridge in a westerly direction, and returning by the navigation road on the north side, affords excellent opportunities for equestrian excursions. Through a great portion of its length this road is shaded on both sides with rows of lofty trees, and the whole line presents an uninterrupted succession of elegant seats and tastefully embellished demesnes. The season usually commences in May, and terminates in the beginning of October, during which period there is a considerable influx of company; and it is probable that, as the improvements around the Spa are continued, advantage will be taken of the many eligible sites which the vicinity affords for the erection of pleasant lodging-houses.
The inhabitants carry on an extensive and lucrative trade with the opulent and populous districts in the neighbourhood, importing most of their articles of general consumption direct from England. There are in the town and its immediate vicinity three soap and candle manufactories, three tanyards, three flour-mills, of which those belonging to Messrs. W. and K. Brady and Messrs. Molloy and Co., are worked by the river Clydagh, and produce each about 10,000 barrels annually; the extensive brewery and malting establishment of Owen Madden, Esq.; two lime and salt works, and a small manufactory of blankets and flannel, with a dyeing and pressing-house. Branches of the Provincial and Agricultural Banks have been recently established in the town. The projected railway from Dublin to Valencia will, if carried into effect, pass close to the town. About 40 years since, about 3f miles of a line of canal, intended to connect the Duhallow collieries with the sea, was cut and may still be traced adjoining the road to Kanturk, thence called the "navigation road." The principal market is on Tuesday, when large quantities of corn are bought by agents for the Cork merchants; there is a second market on Friday; and butter, celebrated for the sweetness of its flavour, and eggs are brought for sale daily. Fairs are held on the 1st of January, the day before Shrove-Tuesday, May 11th, July 25th, and Oct. 28th, for general farming stock; the January fair is chiefly for pigs, of which more than 2000 were sold in 1836. The marketplace has been recently erected, at the sole expense of Mr. Jephson; it occupies an area 75 yards in length and 50 yards in width, and contains markets for butchers' meat, pigs, sheep, potatoes, and general provisions.
The town received its first charter of incorporation from James I. in 1612, and though a new charter was granted by James II., it was acted on during only a very short period, and the original charter was revived. By that charter the corporation consisted of a provost, twelve burgesses, and a commonalty; the provost was chosen from the burgesses at Midsummer, and sworn into office at Michaelmas; and vacancies in their body, as they occurred, were filled from the commonalty by a majority of the burgesses, by whom also the freemen were admitted by favour: vacancies in the office of provost were to be filled within 15 days, and in that of the burgesses in 7 days. The provost was clerk of the market, and the corporation had power to make bye-laws, to have a mercatory guild, and a common seal: to appoint two serjeants-at-mace and other officers; and to hold a court of record every Friday, for the determination of pleas to the amount of five marks. Probably from the peremptory necessity of filling up vacancies within so short a period, the corporation soon fell into disuse, and it has now ceased to exist. The charter also conferred the privilege of returning two members to the Irish parliament, who for a long time previous to the Union were, after the extinction of the charter, elected by the freeholders of the manor, by whom also the member returned to the Imperial parliament since the Union was elected till the 2nd of Wm. IV.; till which period also the freeholders of the manor had a vote both for the town and for the county. The act of the 2nd of Wm. IV., cap. 88, extended the right of election to the £10 householders, the right of the 40$. freeholders not occupying houses of that value to expire with their lives. The number of registered electors is about 300. A new boundary for electoral purposes has been drawn round the town, including the village of Ballydaheen, and comprising an area of 350 statute acres, of which the limits are minutely detailed in the Appendix; the seneschal of the manor is the returning officer. The manor extends over that part of the parish of Mallow lying north of the Blackwater (except a small portion in the barony of Duhallow), and over part of the parish of Mourne Abbey, on the south side of the river, comprising the townlands of Quartertown and Gortnacraggy; the seneschal holds a court baron every third Wednesday, for the recovery of debts under 40s., and a court leet twice in the year, for the regulation of the markets and the appointment of bailiffs. Quarter sessions for the East Riding of the county are held in April, and petty sessions are held every Tuesday by the county magistrates. A new court-house and bridewell have been erected, the former a handsome building of hewn limestone fronting the market-place, and ornamented with broad pilasters supporting a cornice and pediment; the latter, a commodious and well-arranged building, is at the rear of the court-house. A constabulary police force is stationed in the town.
The parish comprises 8622 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £9067 per annum; the land is chiefly in pasture, and that part of it which is under tillage is fertile and in a high state of cultivation. In the vicinity of the town are quarries of limestone of a superior quality, which are worked to a considerable extent for supplying the neighbourhood with lime. Within a circuit of 5 miles from the town are not less than 50 gentlemen's seats. Mallow Castle, that of C. D. O. Jephson, Esq., is at present being rebuilt in a style more appropriate to the extensive and beautiful demesne in which it is situated: the prevailing character of the building is the Elizabethan; several of the offices are finished, and the whole, when completed, will be a spacious and elegant mansion. The Castle grounds are richly wooded and laid out with great taste; the walks are shaded by fine avenues of stately trees, which intersect the demesne; and though in a retired situation, the grounds afford some pleasing scenery, especially an opening which displays a picturesque cottage, and a fine sylvan view on the banks of the Blackwater. This demesne has been described by Arthur Young, Esq., as one of the best fermes ornee in the kingdom. The other seats in the immediate vicinity are Bally Ellis, formerly the residence of Lord Ennismore, and now of A. G. Creagh, Esq.; Beareforest, lately the residence of R. De la Cour, Esq.; Dromore, of A. Newman, Esq.; Rock-forest, of the representatives of the late Sir James L. Cotter, Bart.; Quartertown, of H. Croker, Esq.; Longueville, of Col. Longfield; Waterloo, of H. Longfield, Esq.; Castle Kevin, of E. B. Thornhill, Esq.; Carrig, of W. H. Franks, Esq.; Annabella, of R. H. Purcell, Esq.; and Firville, of R. Akins, Esq. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Cloyne, and in the patronage of C. D. O. Jephson, Esq.; the tithes amount to £600. The old church was dedicated to St. Anne; the present church, towards the erection of which the late Board of First Fruits granted a loan of £3500, in 1818, was built on a site presented by the Jephson family: it is a handsome structure, in the later English style, with a tower and well-proportioned spire; an organ has been lately erected by subscription, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have proposed to grant £20 per ann. to the organist. Adjoining the church are the remains of the ancient edifice, of which the tower and the greater portion of the walls are standing. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also the parish of Rahan and a small portion of that of Mourne Abbey; the chapel, a large and substantial edifice, is in the town. There are also places of worship for Independents and Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists; attached to that for Independents is a library of about 500 volumes. About 200 children are taught in four public schools, and there are eleven private schools, in which are about 350 children. The parochial school was built at an expense of £300, defrayed by subscriptions aided by a grant from the Lord-Lieutenant's school fund; the infants' school was established in 1834 and is supported by subscription; a school is supported by the Independents, who have also an asylum for a few poor persons of their congregation; and a national school is about to be established. The county infirmary, to which is attached a dispensary, is a neat plain building at the east end of the town; it has at present accommodations for 14 patients, but is capable of containing 30. In the year ending Jan. 5th, 1836, 350 patients had received relief in the infirmary, and 2067 from the dispensary. A fever hospital is about to be erected, and in the mean time a temporary wooden building is appropriated to that use. A charitable loan fund has been recently established, which has a capital of nearly £500, distributed in loans varying from 5s. to £5. The late R. McCartie, Esq., of Mount Ruby, bequeathed the interest of £250, charged on that estate, for distribution among the Protestant poor annually at Christmas. The present church, the ruins of the ancient edifice, and the R. C. chapel, being situated on the south side of the town, are seen to great advantage from the bridge; between them and the river is a broad expanse of meadow, which being occasionally inundated has always a verdant appearance. Mallow Castle and its richly wooded demesne are also most favourably seen from this point of view; and the bridge itself forms a conspicuous and interesting feature in "the distant view of the town. On the lands of Quarter-town, on the south side of the Blackwater, and about a mile to the west of the town, is a chalybeate spring subject to be overflowed by the river; and there is another at Beareforest, about half a mile to the south.
MALUSK. -- See MOLUSK.
MANFIELDSTOWN, or MOUNTFIELDSTOWN, a parish, in the barony and county of LOUTH, and province of LEINSTER, 2 1/2 miles (W.) from Castle Bellingham, on the river Glyde; containing 1061 inhabitants, of which number, 182 are in the village. According to the Ordnance survey, it comprises 2417 3/4 statute acres, in general of excellent quality, and nearly all under tillage: there are about 50 acres of bog; the system of agriculture has much improved. The village, which is neat, consists of 28 houses. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Armagh, and in the patronage of the Lord-Primate: the tithes amount to £271. 9. 8 1/2.; and the gross revenue of the benefice, tithes and glebe inclusive, is £283. 9. 85. The glebe comprises two acres, on which some cabins have been built, forming part of the village. The church is a very ancient structure in good repair. There is a R. C. chapel, and a parochial school, in which about 40 boys and 10 girls are taught; the master receives £10 per annum from the incumbent.
MANISTER, or MONASTER-NENAGH, a parish, partly in the baronies of COSHMA and PUBBLEBRIEN, but chiefly in the barony of SMALL COUNTY, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTER, 2 miles (N. E.) from Croom, on the road from Limerick to Charleville, by way of Athlacca; containing, with the district of Grange, 2800 inhabitants. This place, called anciently Kilmargy, derives its present name from the foundation of a monastery by O'Brien, king of Munster, in 1151, in fulfilment of a vow previously to the battle in which he defeated the Danes, who, in 1148, had encamped round their strong fortress of Rathmore; and which took place on the plains of Kilmargy, the site of the present ruins. This establishment, which was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and amply endowed by its founder with the advowson and tithes of Kilmargy and other parishes, was appropriated to Cistertian monks from the abbey of Mellifont, and became eminent for its sanctity and its wealth; its abbot obtained a mitre from the Pope and had a seat in the great councils of the kingdom. The abbey was frequently plundered by the Danes; and in 1307, Gerald, Earl of Desmond, with his sous and several nobles who were on a visit to the abbot, was suddenly surprised by O'Brien, of Thomond, who took the earl, his sons, and the nobles prisoners, put his retainers to the sword, and destroyed a considerable portion of the monastery. In 1579, Sir John Fitzgerald, brother of the Earl of Desmond, assembled here a force of 2000 Irish and Spaniards, headed by Father Allen, legate of the Pope, and assisted by the abbot of the monastery, who were attacked on the plains of Nenagh by Sir William Malby, at the head of 150 cavalry and 600 infantry, and defeated with great slaughter. The Earl of Desmond, who had witnessed the battle from a hill about a mile distant, on perceiving the result of the conflict, retired into his strong castle of Askeaton; among the slain was found the body of the legate, with the consecrated banner grasped firmly in his hand. During this engagement the Irish and Spanish soldiers took shelter in the abbey, which was greatly injured by the fire of the English cannon; the refectory and cloisters were destroyed, and the surrounding walls were rased to the ground. The monastery, though it never recovered its original importance, existed till the dissolution, and with all its possessions was granted by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Henry Wallop, who fitted up the choir for a parochial church. During the various disturbances of more modern times, this place has been also the scene of much violent contention.
The parish, which is intersected by the river Commogue, comprises 5456 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act; about one-third of the land is under tillage, and the remainder meadow and pasture, which . being low ground is frequently overflowed by the river, and is sometimes, for several of the winter months, under water; the soil is fertile, and the system of agriculture improved. Near the extremity of the parish is a tract of bog of about 200 acres, mostly exhausted. The principal seats are Abbeyville, the residence of R. White, Esq.; Manister House, of J. Heffernan, Esq.; Fort Elizabeth, of the Rev. J. Croker; and Castle Ivers, of R. Ivers, Esq. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Limerick; Lord Southwell, in whom the rectory is impropriate, claims the patronage and the tithes of the vicarage also, and allows the incumbent a stipend of £14 late currency: the tithes amount to £138. The Protestant parishioners attend the church of Ballycahane. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the unions or districts of Bruff and Fedamore; there are two chapels. About 140 children are taught in three private schools. The remains of the ancient monastery are situated on a flat limestone rock, on the eastern bank of the river, and consist chiefly of the walls and gables of the church, which is 176 feet in length and divided near the centre by a stone screen separating the choir from the nave; the former was lighted by a triple lancet window of lofty dimensions at the east end, and above the ceiling, which was richly groined, is a chamber in the roof, of the same dimensions as the choir, to which was an ascent by a private staircase from the altar through the wall of the north aisle. The nave is separated from the aisles by ranges of square pillars, which appear to have been encased, and there are some small remains of the south transept, and a small chapel of very elegant design. The prevailing character is that of the early English, but the present remains are inadequate to convey any just idea of the former grandeur of this once sumptuous and extensive monastery. About a mile to the south-east of the abbey are the ruins of the castle of Rathmore, built by the Earl of Desmond, in 1306, on the site of the ancient Danish fortress; it was garrisoned by the Irish and Spaniards at the battle of Manister, in 1579, but was abandoned on the retreat of Sir John Fitzgerald; on the retreat of Sir William Malby it was again taken possession of by the Earl of Desmond's forces, who were afterwards expelled by Sir George Carew; and soon after it was suffered to fall into ruin. The remains occupy a gentle eminence, commanding extensive views over a fertile country, and form a conspicuous and interesting object for many miles round.
MANNIN, an island, in the parish of KILCOE, Western Division of the barony of WEST CARBERY, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 8 miles (W.) from Skibbereen, on the south-western coast; containing 15 inhabitants. It is situated near the head of Roaring Water bay, immediately off Kilcoe Castle, and comprising about 29 statute acres of good arable land. -- See KILCOE.
MANOR-CONYNGHAM, a village, in the parish of RAYMOCHY, barony of RAPHOE, county of DONEGAL, and province of ULSTER, 4 miles (E. N. E.) from Letterkenny, on the road to Londonderry: the population is returned with the parish. This place, which consists of one street, is situated on the banks of Lough Swilly, and contains the parochial church, a neat structure; and meeting-houses for Presbyterians and Seceders, both of the second class. It has a penny post to Letterkenny and Strabane. Fairs on the 6th of Jan. and the 6th of every alternate month have been lately established, for the encouragement of which the landed proprietors give small premiums to the owners and buyers of the best farming stock, yarn, flax, &c., exhibited for sale.
MANOR-HAMILTON, a market and post-town, partly in the parish of KILLASNETT, barony of ROSS-CLOGHER, but chiefly in that of CLONCLARE, barony of DROMAHAIRE, county of LEITRIM, and province of CONNAUGHT, 22 miles (N.) from Carrick-on-shannon, and 102 1/4 (N. W.) from Dublin, on the road from Enniskillen to Sligo; containing 1348 inhabitants. The manor was granted to Sir Fred. Hamilton, in the 16th of Charles I., with extensive privileges, including courts leet and baron, and a court of record every three weeks, power to appoint a seneschal to hold pleas of all debts, with view of frankpledge, to have waifs and strays and privilege of free warren, and to determine causes and contracts to the amount of £1000. The castle, situated on a gentle eminence near the town, was by far the largest, strongest, and most handsome in the county: it was erected in the reign of Elizabeth by Sir F. Hamilton (from whom the place derives its foundation and name), and is 105 feet in length, 90 in breadth, and about 40 feet high, each of the stories being beautifully quoined and corniced with hewn stone: it is surrounded by a strong wall, defended by four bastions, one at each corner, and the stone of which it is built has a singularly glittering appearance, from the micaceous particles which it contains. The surrounding land is remarkably fertile; the picturesque scenery affords interesting rides and views. The town forming one long street, consists of 233 houses, mostly thatched; the Earl of Leitrim, who is proprietor of it, has built a spacious and handsome market-house in the centre, having a large square at the back with ranges of slated buildings for provisions. There is a sessions-house, in which sessions are held quarterly, and petty sessions on alternate Thursdays: attached to it is a bridewell. The market is on Thursday, and there are fairs on May 8th, July 1st, the first Thursday in August, and Oct. 7th; also on the first Thursday (O. S.) in Nov., and on the 12th of every other month; they are chiefly for cattle, and rank among the most important in the county. Here is a constabulary police station. Near the town are Skreeny, the seat of Lieut.-Col. J. J. Cullen; Rockwood, of Capt. H. F. Cullen; Hollymount, of Simon Armstrong, Esq.; Glenboy, of Lewis Algeo, Esq.; and Larkfield, of J. O'Donnell, Esq. The church is a neat building with a handsome spire, erected about 30 years since. There is a R. C. chapel; and places of worship for Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists. A loan fund has lately been established, having a capital of £1000; a school is supported by a bequest of the late J. J. Masterson, Esq.; and here is a dispensary.
MANOR-HAMILTON Union. -- See CLONCLARE.
MAPASTOWN, or MAPLESTOWN, a parish, in the barony of ARDEE, county of LOUTH, and province of LEINSTER, 2 1/2 miles (N. N. E.) from Ardee, on the road to Dundalk; containing 458 inhabitants. This parish, which is the estate of Charles Cobbe, Esq., of Newbridge, county of Dublin, is situated on the river Glyde, which is crossed by a bridge, and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 1446 1/4 statute acres of good arable and pasture land: the system of agriculture is rapidly improving. It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Armagh, forming part of the union of Charlestown or Philipstown; the rectory is impropriate in the Hon. Baron Foster. The tithes amount to £107. 19. 2., of which £9. 13. is paid to the vicar, and the remainder to the impropriator. The church is in ruins. In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of Ardee.
MAPERATH, a village, in the parish of DULEEN, barony of UPPER KELLS, county of Meath, and province of LEINSTER, 2 miles (N. W.) from Kells; containing 157 inhabitants. It is situated on the road from Kells to Moynalty, and comprises 31 houses.
MARALIN. -- See MAGHERALIN.
MARGARET'S (ST.), a parish, in the barony of COOLOCK, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER, 5 3/4 miles (N.) from Dublin, on the old road to Naul, and about a mile from the mail coach road from Dublin to Ashbourne; containing 325 inhabitants, of which number, 96 are in the village. A fair is held on July 30th and 31st for the sale of horses and cattle. The principal seats are Dunbroe House, the residence of Miss Giles; Newtown, of Mrs. Stock; Newtown House, of B. Shew, Esq.; Harristown House, of P. Brennan, Esq.; Harristown, of J. Moore, Esq.; Kingstown House, of J. Shew, Esq.; and Barberstown House, of M. Brangan, Esq. In ecclesiastical arrangements it is a chapelry, in the diocese of Dublin, forming part of the benefice of Finglas and the corps of the chancellorship of St. Patrick's, Dublin: the composition for tithes is included in the amount for Finglas. The church is in ruins. Over the door of a small adjoining chapel is a Latin inscription purporting that it was built by Sir John Plunkett, formerly chief justice of the king's bench in Ireland. In the R. C. divisions the parish also forms part of the union or district of Finglas and has a neat chapel in the village, in which is also a national school. About a mile distant are the ruins of Dunsoghly castle, consisting of a tower, still roofed, and the remains of a large hall, or dining-room, and kitchens: the tower is vaulted at the bottom, and it had three stories; the floors of the two upper stories have fallen in, but the room of the principal floor is in tolerable repair: the view from the top is very extensive. The ancient family of Plunkett originally owned this property, which now belongs to Mrs. Cavenagh, who inherits it through her grandfather. Adjoining the ruins are the remains of a private chapel, over the doorway of which is a tablet of freestone, exhibiting the emblems of the crucifixion, in high relief, with the letters and date I. P. M. O. 6. S. 1573, at the bottom. Mr. B. Shew, on planting an elevated spot in his grounds, a few years since, discovered a great quantity of human bones, supposed to be some of those who fell in the various skirmishes which at different periods have taken place in this district. Near the chapel is a tepid well, or bath, dedicated to St. Bridget, said to contain lime, muriate of soda, nitrate of kali and sulphur, but the last in only a small proportion.
MARGARET'S (ST.), a parish, in the barony of FORTH, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 1 mile (S. E.) from Broadway, on the south-eastern coast; containing 112 inhabitants. It comprises 440 1/2 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, chiefly the property of G. W. Nunn, Esq. It is an impropriate cure, in the diocese of Ferns, endowed with the small tithes, and forming part of the union of Tacumshane (also called the union of Kilscoran) and the corps of the chancellorship; the rectory is impropriate in the Earl of Portsmouth. The tithes amount to £48. 1. 9., of which £15. 5. 11. is payable to the impropriator, and the remainder to the incumbent. In the R. C. divisions it is part of the union or district of Lady's Island.
MARGARET (ST.), or RAVEN, a parish, in the barony of SHELMALIER, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 5 1/2 miles (N. E.) from Wexford, on the coast road to Gorey; containing 920 inhabitants. It comprises 1807 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act; sea weed is generally used for manure, and turf is obtained on the shore at low water. The southern part of the parish consists of a range of sand hills, extending nearly two miles from north to south, and terminating in the headland called Raven Point, which forms the northern side of the entrance to Wexford harbour: the bar of the latter commences at this point. Inside the sand hills is an extensive cockle bed, and westward of this is the small island called Breast. At Curracloe is a station of the coast guard, forming part of the district of Gorey: the fishery off the coast here affords employment to some of the inhabitants. It is stated that for £300 a canal could be cut from Curracloe, which is occasionally resorted to for sea-bathing, to the north-east point of Wexford harbour, and thus afford a direct communication by water between the town of Wexford and the coast. At Kilmacoe is the seat of Cadwallader Waddy, Esq. The parish is in the diocese of Ferns, and is a rectory, forming part of the union of Ardcolme; the tithes amount to £37. 17. 4. In the R. C. divisions it is included in the union or district of Castlebridge, and has a chapel at Kilmacoe. About 30 children are educated in a private school. The ancient church, which stood near the shore, was washed away many years since; it is supposed that the sea has encroached nearly a quarter of a mile upon this coast within the last half century. There was an old castle at Curracloe, which was taken down a few years since.
MARHYN, MAURHIN, or MARHIR, a parish, in the barony of CORKAGUINEY, county of KERRY, and province of MUNSTER, 5 1/2 miles (W. N. W.) from Dingle, on the southern shore of Smerwick harbour, on the western coast; containing 978 inhabitants. It comprises 5568 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, of which a considerable portion is in tillage, and the remainder consists of coarse pasture and bog. Some of the inhabitants are employed in the fishery of the bay. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Ardfert and Aghadoe, episcopally united, in 1669, to the vicarage of Donquin, together constituting the union of Marhyn, in the patronage of Lord Ventry, in whom the rectory is impropriate: the tithes amount to £75, payable in equal portions to the impropriator and the vicar; and the entire tithes of the benefice to £75. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Keel, or Terreter. About 100 children are taught in two private schools. The ruins of the church still remain in the burial-ground, which is generally used. On the hill of Ballyneanig is a druidical circle, and at a short distance to the south-east are two large upright stones; in the vicinity are the remains of a stone cell of great antiquity, also an old castle built by one of the Desmond family, afterwards the residence of the Moriarties; and on the destruction of the sand banks at Ballyneanig, some years since, vestiges of an ancient encampment were discovered.
MARKETHILL, a market and post-town, partly in the parish of MULLAGHBRACK, and partly in the district of KILCLUNEY, barony of LOWER FEWS, county of ARMAGH, and province of ULSTER, 5 1/2 miles (E.) from Armagh, on the mail coach road to Newry, and 60 miles (N. by W.) from Dublin; containing 1043 inhabitants, and comprising 195 houses. It consists of one principal street, from which two others diverge, and is situated in the midst of a fertile country, the extensive demesne and splendid castle of Gosford, the property of Viscount Gosford, adding greatly to its beauty. Two miles to the south-west is the Vicar's Cairn, or Carricktole, commanding a most extensive and beautiful view. Dean Swift in his writings notices a favourite spot here, which he named Draper's Hill; it is now within Lord Gosford's demesne. This is a thriving town, having more than doubled its inhabitants and houses within the last ten years; it has an excellent market on Friday, and a fair on the third Friday in each month for cattle and pigs: petty sessions are held every Friday, and quarter sessions for the county, alternately with Ballybot, in a neat sessions-house. The staff of the Armagh militia is at this town; among their muniments is deposited the stand of colours taken by them from the French at Ballynamuck, in 1798. It is a constabulary police station; and here is a small prison, with separate cells for males and females. There are large meeting-houses for Presbyterians of the Synod of Ulster and the Associate Synod, and one for Wesleyan Methodists, also a national school and a dispensary. -- See MULLAGHBRACK.
MARLFIELD, or ABBEY, a village, in the parish of INNISLONNAGH, barony of IFFA and OFFA EAST, county of TIPPERARY, and province of MUNSTER, 2 miles (W. S. W.) from Clonmel; containing 1123 inhabitants. It is situated near the river Suir, and is the property of J. Bagwell, Esq., whose elegant mansion stands in a well-planted demesne. Within the last twenty-five years "it has become a respectable village; many of the inhabitants are employed in a very extensive distillery, conducted by Messrs. John Stein and Co.
MARLINSTOWN, a parish, in the barony of FERRARD, county of LOUTH, and province of LEINSTER, l 1/2 mile (S. E.) from Dunleer, on the coast road from Drogheda to Dundalk; containing 202 inhabitants. It comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 758} statute acres, the greater portion of which is under tillage, and the remainder affords excellent pasture; the soil is fertile, the system of agriculture improved, and the lands are all in a state of profitable cultivation. The surrounding scenery is pleasingly varied; and in the parish is Rokeby Hall, the property of Sir Richard Robinson, Bart., now in the occupation of the Count de Salis, a spacious mansion, situated in a well-planted demesne commanding some very interesting views; the house contains a fine collection of paintings by some of the old masters. The parish is in the diocese of Armagh; it is a vicarage, forming part of the union of Dunany the rectory is impropriate in -- Hall, Esq. The tithes amount to £70. 9. 1., of which £40. 19. 2 is payable to the impropriator, and £29. 9. 11. to the vicar. About 60 children are taught in a private school.
MARMULLANE, or PASSAGE, a parish, in the barony of KERRYCURRIHY, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, on the western shore of the estuary of the Lee, opposite the Great Island; containing, with the greater part of the post-town of Passage-West (which is separately described), 1639 inhabitants. This parish is bounded on the west by the liberties of the city of Cork, and on the south by Monkstown; it comprises 534 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £937 per ann., which, with the exception of about 4 or 5 acres of woodland, are arable and pasture, generally good land, though light and rapidly absorbing moisture; good crops of corn are produced, though the land is principally devoted to dairy farms; agriculture is rapidly improving under the spirited exertions of J. Roberts, Esq., a large landed proprietor, who has introduced the Scottish system of husbandry and the most improved agricultural implements, at a great expense. The interesting character of the scenery, and the numerous beautiful views over the river and the adjacent islands, have rendered this parish very attractive for genteel families, whose pleasure grounds and demesnes occupy much of the land Among the principal seats are Pembrook, that of T. Parsons Boland, Esq.; Ardmore, of J. Roberts. Esq.; Grove Hill, of J. C. Irvine, Esq.; Rockenham, of Noble Johnson, Esq.; Greenmount, of E. K. Percy, Esq.; Horse Head, of Samuel Lane, Esq., an elegant mansion in the Tudor style of architecture, situated amidst beautiful scenery; and the glebe-house, of the Rev. R. Lloyd; besides which there are numerous villas, cottages, &c., principally occupied during the summer months by merchants and other inhabitants of Cork. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Cork, and in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter, to whom the rectory is appropriate: the tithes amount to £69, granted by the dean and chapter to the perpetual curate. The glebe comprises 8 acres; the glebe-house was built, in 1813, by aid of a gift of £450 and a loan of £50 from the late Board of First Fruits. The church, situated in the town of Passage, was a small edifice, built in 1684, but it was considerably enlarged in 1808, at the expense of the dean and chapter, aided by local contributions; it is, however, much too small, and is about to be replaced by one which will afford better accommodation to the increasing population. In the R. C. divisions the parish, with Monkstown and part of Carrigaline, forms the union or district of Passage: the chapel is a neat edifice, built in 1832. About 110 children are educated in the parochial schools and in a school in connection with the R. C. chapel; and in five private schools are about 113 children.
MARSHALSTOWN, a parish, in the barony of CONDONS and CLONGIBBONS, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 2 1/2 miles (W. by S.) from Mitchelstown, on the road to Kildorrery; containing 2566 inhabitants. The parish comprises 6760 statute acres, as rated for the county cess, and valued at £4391 per ann.; it includes a large tract of bog. Limestone abounds and is burnt for manure, and the state of agriculture is slowly improving. The gentlemen's seats are Killee Castle, the residence of -- Montgomery, Esq.; and Castle Eugene, of E. O'Neill, Esq., M.D. Part of the Earl of Kingston's extensive demesne of Mitchels town is also within its limits. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Cloyne, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the rectory is impropriate in John Nason, Esq. The tithes amount to £330 per ann., payable in equal portions to the impropriator and the vicar: there is a glebe of about 3 acres. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Mitchelstown, and has a chapel at Marshalstown. About 100 children are educated during the summer in two private schools. The ruins still remain of what are called "James's churches."
MARTIN'S (ST.). -- See MAUL'S (ST.).
MARTRY, a parish, in the barony of LOWER NAVAN, county of MEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 5 1/4 miles (N. W.) from Navan, on the road to Kells, and on the river Blackwater; containing 1128 inhabitants. It comprises 3705 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, the land being of medium quality and nearly equally divided between tillage and pasture; and it includes a portion of a large bog, which extends into three of the adjoining parishes: there are several quarries of stone. Allanstown, the seat of W. H. Waller, Esq., is a handsome mansion, situated in a well-planted demesne of about 700 plantation acres, including a deer-park. In the demesne is Faughan hill, the summit of which being planted, forms a conspicuous object as seen from the south-east through a vista in the wood. The parish is in the diocese of Meath: the rectory formerly belonged to the priory of the Knights of St. John at Kilmainham, and in 1615 was granted in fee to Patrick Barnwall; it is now impropriate in Dominick Reilly, Esq.; the vicarage forms part of the union of Ardbraccan. The tithes amount to £178. 6. 8., of which £120 is payable to the impropriator, and the remainder to the vicar. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Ardbraccan, or Bohermean. A small school for females is supported by Mrs. Waller.
MARYBOROUGH, an incorporated market and post-town, (formerly a parliamentary borough), and a parish, in the barony of EAST MARYBOROUGH, QUEEN'S county, and province of LEINSTER, 10 1/2 miles (W.) from Athy, and 40 (S. W.) from Dublin, on the road to Roscrea and Limerick; containing 5306 inhabitants, of which number, 3223 are in the town. This place derived its importance and its name from the erection of the ancient territory of Leix, by act of parliament of the 7th and 8th of Philip and Mary, into the Queen's county, of which it was constituted the county and assize town, and was called Maryborough in honour of the queen. The town appears to have been selected for this purpose both from its central situation and its proximity to a strong fortress, which had been recently erected to retain in obedience to the English crown this portion of the country, which had been reduced by the Earl of Sussex. In 1570, Queen Elizabeth granted to the inhabitants a charter of incorporation, which conferred upon them all the privileges enjoyed by those of Naas, Drogheda, and Dundalk, together with a market on Thursday; and in 1635, the corporation obtained from Chas. I. a grant of two fairs. On the breaking out of the war in 1641, this was one of the places held by the confederate Catholics; it was seized by Owen Roe O'Nial in 1646, but was subsequently retaken by Lord Castlehaven; and in 1650, the fortress was taken by the parliamentarian troops under Cols. Reynolds and Hewson, by whom it was entirely demolished. The town, which is situated on a river tributary to the Barrow, contains 508 houses, irregularly built and of indifferent appearance; the streets are narrow and inconvenient, badly paved, and the inhabitants are indifferently supplied with water from want of pumps. There are barracks for a company of infantry, a handsome range of buildings. A considerable trade is carried on in flour, for the manufacture of which there are three mills, and in the neighbouring districts the woollen manufacture was formerly carried on to a very great extent. The market is on Thursday; and fairs are held on Jan. 1st, Feb. 24th, March 25th, May 12th, July 5th, Sept. 4th, Oct. 26th, and Dec. 12th, for cattle, horses, pigs, and pedlery. Under the charter of Elizabeth the corporation consisted of a burgomaster, two bailiffs, and an indefinite number of burgesses and freemen, assisted by a town-clerk, serjeant-at-mace, and inferior officers. The burgomaster and bailiffs were to be annually elected on Michaelmas-day from the burgesses, by a majority of their number, by whom also vacancies in that body were filled up and freemen admitted only by favour. The burgomaster and bailiffs were by the charter compelled to take the oaths of office before the constable of the fort or castle of Maryborough, which office, though now a sinecure, is still retained: or, in his absence, before the burgesses and commons of the borough; the former is justice of the peace within the borough, and, with the two bailiffs, escheator, clerk of the market, and coroner. The town-clerk is also serjeant-at-mace, billetmaster, and weigh-master, to which offices he is appointed by the burgomaster. By the charter the corporation continued to return two members to the Irish parliament till the Union, when the franchise was abolished. The borough court, which had jurisdiction to any amount, has been discontinued for more than 40 years; and in 1829 the members of the corporation had so diminished in number, that no legal election of officers took place, although the townspeople took upon themselves to elect a burgomaster, bailiffs, and other corporate officers; and in 1830, one burgess and two freemen of the old corporation held a meeting, at which the former was elected burgomaster by the latter, who were also elected bailiffs by the former; the townspeople also elected the same number of officers, without any legal authority in either case. The civil business of the borough is transacted at the quarter-sessions for the county, which are held here in April and October; the assizes for the county are also held here at the usual periods, and petty sessions weekly before the county magistrates. There is a neat and commodious court-house; part of the old gaol adjoining it has been converted into offices for the county business, and it is proposed to fit up the remainder as a police barrack and a bridewell. The town is the head-quarters of the constabulary police of the county, for which it is the depot. The county gaol and house of correction was completed in 1830, and cost £18,500: it is a spacious and well-arranged edifice on the radiating plan, consisting of a central building of three stories, which contains the kitchen, the governor's apartments, with a board room, and a chapel for both Protestants and Catholics; and four radiating wings, each divided into two parts, thus forming eight wards, four for male criminal prisoners, two for male debtors, one for female criminal prisoners, and one for female debtors. Attached to each are day and work-rooms and airing-yards: there are also an infirmary, nine solitary cells and a tread wheel, used for raising water; the prison is heated by stoves. A school is opened in each ward, and the rules of prison discipline, according to the most improved system, are strictly observed. The District Lunatic Asylum for the King's and Queen's counties and those of Westmeath and Longford is established here; it was erected at an expense, including the purchase of land and furniture, of £24,172. The building stands in the middle of an enclosed area of 22a. 12r. 7p., handsomely laid out and planted for the recreation of the patients and the use of the establishment, and presents a front of hewn limestone, raised from quarries in the neighbourhood, extending 365 feet. It is composed of a central building, containing the governor's residence and other apartments connected with the management of the institution, and having the kitchen, laundry, baths and other out-offices in the rear. From the centre branch out the wings, containing corridors, sleeping-rooms, day-rooms, and working-halls; there are four corridors, &c., for each sex, all admirably constructed and of easy access for the purpose of superintendence. Water for culinary purposes is conveyed by pipes from a rivulet that passes through the enclosed area, and each corridor is furnished with an ample supply of the purest water from a never-failing spring which issues from a neighbouring limestone rock. The building, which is capable of accommodating from 150 to 160 patients, is now nearly full, and an enlargement of it is in contemplation: the average expense of each patient for the year 1836 was £16. 12. 7., on the gross expenditure, which is defrayed by the several counties in proportion to the number of patients sent hither from each. The county infirmary, situated near the lunatic asylum, and opened in 1808, consists of a large building of three stories, each traversed from end to end by a corridor communicating with eleven wards, capable of accommodating five patients each. The funds are derived from parliamentary grants, county presentments, (limited to £1400 per ann.) subscriptions and fines at petty sessions. The number of patients admitted in 1836 was 868; the expenditure, £990. The dispensary, connected with the infirmary, afforded relief to 8650 extern patients.
The parish, also called Borris, comprises 5465 statute acres of good land, of which about 200 acres adjoining the town were formerly a common, which was enclosed at the union, one-half being divided between Lord Castlecoote and Sir John Parnell, Bart., and the remainder distributed equally among the 13 freemen, reserving a small rent for the widows of freemen, and since that period no freemen have been elected. The soil is fertile and the system of agriculture improved. A remarkable natural bank, called the Ridge, passes across the union for nearly six miles without interruption, and with a few small chasms near Tullamore, for nearly twenty-five miles, extending into King's county; it is in some parts not more than 100 feet wide at the base, and slopes gradually towards the summit, which is from 20 to 30 feet in breadth; it appears as if formed by the ebbing and flowing of water, and in some places separates the uplands from low coarse grounds, of which nature, in some places, the lands on both sides of it partake. A fine well, which is held in great veneration by the peasantry, issues from it near Woodville, about a mile from Maryborough. The principal seats in the vicinity are Shane House, the residence of Tho. Kemmis, Esq.; Lamberton Park, of the Hon. Justice Moore; Sheffield, of Major Cassan; Woodville, of F. Thompson, Esq.; the Heath House, of M. J. O'Reilly, Esq.; New Park, of the Rev. Thos. Harpur; Portrane, of W. Woodroffe, Esq.; Cremorgan, of L. Moore, Esq.; Broomfield, of Robt. Onions, Esq.; Ballyknock, of J. Cassan, Esq.; Rathleix House, of W. Clarke, Esq.; Rock View, of R. Graves, Esq.; and Millbrook, of H. P. Delaney, Esq. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Leighlin, episcopally united, in 1721, to the rectory and vicarage of Kilcolemanbane and the vicarage of Straboe, and in the patronage of the Bishop. The tithes amount to £392. 6. 1 3/4.; the glebe, in the parish of Kilcolemanbane, comprises only one acre; and the gross value of the benefice is £667. 16. 4 1/2 . The church, towards the erection of which the late Board of First Fruits gave £500, was built about the beginning of the present century, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners are about to have it new roofed and thoroughly repaired. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also the parishes of Straboe, Kilcolemanbane, Dysartenos, Killeny, Kilmurry, and Kilteale. The chapel in the town is a spacious and handsome edifice, not yet completed; on the outside of the front are busts representing the heads of the four evangelists. There are also chapels at the Heath and Rathenisca; and there is a convent of the Presentation order in the town, consisting of a superioress and 16 professed nuns, who devote themselves to the gratuitous education of poor girls, of whom an average number of 200 attends the school. The Wesleyans and Calvinists have places of worship in the town. The parochial school-house was built at an expense of £250, of which £150 was raised by subscription and £100 granted from the Lord-Lieutenant's school fund. About 600 children are taught in the parochial and in a national school; there are also six private schools, in which are about 100 children. A Temperance Society has been established very lately. The remains of the old church still exist; there is also an extensive and very old burial-ground on the ridge adjoining it, and several raths in various parts. The only remains of Maryborough castle are a portion of a bastion and the walls; some ruins of Castle Clonrear still exist. Maryborough gives the title of Baron, in the English peerage, to W. Wellesley Pole, next brother of Marquess Wellesley; this nobleman is the present constable of the fort and castle.
MARY'S (ST.), or LADY'S ISLAND, a parish, in the barony of FORTH, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 5 a mile (S.) from Broadway, on the road to Carnsore Point; containing 239 inhabitants. On the subdivision of the territories acquired by Strongbow, it became the property of Rodolph, son of Milo de Lamporte (ancestor of the Lamberts of this county), who built a strong castle on the peninsula in Lough Tay, or Lady's Island lake, which is traditionally said to have been the object of several hostile attacks. Cromwell, immediately after his landing in the bay of Rosslare, in 1649, sent a party to reduce it, to which it at once surrendered. On this occasion a convent of Augustinian friars, which had been founded about 200 years before, was plundered, and the fraternity refusing to bear arms against their country, put to the sword. The remains of the fortress, of which all that was destructible by fire was consumed, consist principally of a square tower, supposed from its materials to be of more recent date than the original castle, which was built of compact rude granite from a small island in the lake. In the village, which consists of a few neat and comfortable cottages, fairs are held on Aug. 15th and Sept. 8th. The lake abounds with a variety of wild fowl, and was formerly frequented by a species of bittern, called the Proud Stork. It is an impropriate cure, in the diocese of Ferns, forming part of the union of St. Iberius: the rectory is impropriate in L.V. W. Richards, Esq., to whom the tithes, amounting to £30. 15. 4 1/2., are entirely payable, and who allows £2 per annum for the clerical duties. In the R. C. divisions it is part of the union or district of Lady's Island, comprising also the parishes of St. Iberius, Carne, St. Margaret's, and Tacumshane, and containing the chapels of Lady's Island and Faithe; the former is a large cruciform structure, rebuilt in 1807, and adjoining it, is a national school, in which about 70 children are educated; the latter is in the parish of Tacumshane.
MARY'S (ST.), county of WEXFORD. -- See NEW ROSS.
MARY'S DE FORE (ST.), or BEATAE MARIAE DE FORE, a parish, in the barony of DEMIFORE, county of WESTMEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 4 miles (E.) from Castlepollard, on the road to Kells; containing 1217 inhabitants. It comprises 1624 1/2 statute acres of good land, mostly under tillage, though there is much bog: limestone is found here. On the north it is in part separated from Meath by Lough Bawn, which, though pent up by high hills, is of considerable breadth; it is remarkable for having most water in summer; no stream emerges from it, and it abounds with large pike and eels. On the opposite side the parish reaches to Lough Lene, and the small Lough-a-Deel. Here is Glenidan, the residence of -- Blandford, Esq. It is a curacy, in the diocese of Meath, forming part of the union of Rathgraff: the rectory is entirely appropriate to the vicars choral of Christ-Church, Dublin, to whom the tithes, amounting to £159.14.7., are wholly payable. In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of Fore. There is a school at Glenidan, and another at Camberstown, the former aided by a bequest of the late Col. Monk; in these schools 98 boys and 50 girls are taught. Ruins of the mansion of Carrick exist; and there are several large raths in different parts of the parish.
MASON ISLAND, in the parish of MOYRUS, barony of BALLYNAHINCH, county of GALWAY, and province of CONNAUGHT, 15 miles (S. E.) from Clifden: the population is returned with the parish. This island is situated upon the western coast, near the entrance to Ard bay, and contains 61 acres. Some distance from it are the Skird rocks, which lie halfway between the west end of Arranmore island and Slyne-head, 13 miles N. N. W. from the Arran lighthouse, and about two leagues from the mainland. They are the most remarkable on this part of the coast, and serve as a land-mark to point out the adjoining harbours; they are about one mile in length, N. E. and S. W., the most western being the highest and most remarkable. The principal rock is always above high water, and a shoal about two cables' length wide extends half a mile to the east of it.
MASSEREENE, a village, in the grange of MUCKAMORE, barony of LOWER MASSEREENE, county of ANTRIM, and province of ULSTER, contiguous to the town of Antrim; containing 319 inhabitants. This place is situated on the Six-Mile-water, by which it is separated from Antrim; and though now only a small village, forming a suburb to that town, it is the head of, and gives name to, one of the largest and most fertile baronies in the county. In 1426, a priory for Franciscan friars was founded here by one of the O'Nial family, which, in 1621, was granted by James I. to Sir Arthur Chichester, Baron of Belfast. The village contains 70 houses, and commands a fine view of the castle of Antrim, on the opposite side of the river. The whole western extremity of this district is washed by the waters of Lough Neagh, and comprises a large tract of fertile land in a very high state of cultivation, together with Massereene deer-park, which is enclosed with a stone wall five miles in circumference. Near the village, on the shore of the river, is a very copious chalybeate spring, strongly impregnated with iron, sulphur, muriate of soda, and fixed air, which has been found highly beneficial in chronic diseases; and on the shore of Lough Neagh is a lofty cliff, called Martin's bank, from which issue several saline springs, so powerfully impregnated as to deposite crystallised salt in large quantities, by the natural evaporation caused by the heat of the sun; no attempt has hitherto been made to establish any salt-works at this place, which does not appear to have attracted an adequate degree of attention. Massereene gives the title of Viscount to the family of Foster, of Antrim Castle.
MASSYTOWN, a village, in the parish of MACROOM, barony of WEST MUSKERRY, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, adjoining the town of Macroom, and containing 547 inhabitants. It contains about 70 small houses and is situated on the western bank of the river Sullane, which here propels large flour-mills. Monthly fairs for general farming stock and pedlery are held alternately in the village and town.
MATTEHY, or MATHEA, a parish, in the barony of BARRETTS, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 8 miles (W.) from Cork, on the road to Tralee; containing 2156 inhabitants. It comprises 12,160 statute acres, of which 11,399 are applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £6645 per annum. The surface is diversified, moderately well cultivated, and fertile, producing excellent crops. A new line of road has been opened through the parish. On the river Dripsey, which flows through it, are the extensive paper-mills belonging to Messrs. Magnay and Co., affording employment to from 70 to 100 persons, in the manufacture of large quantities of paper for the English market; the buildings are of handsome appearance, and situated in a deep and well-wooded glen. There are also flour mills. It is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Cloyne, forming part of the union and corps of the prebend of Inniscarra: the tithes amount to £513. 14. 3. The church having been in ruins for several years, the parishioners resort to that of Inniscarra, which has been recently rebuilt in a more central situation, for the general convenience of the union. In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of Inniscarra, and has a small chapel. There is a private school, in which about 160 children are instructed.
MATTHEW'S (ST.), county of CORK. -- See TEMPLEBREADY.
MATTHEW'S (ST.), county of DUBLIN. -- See RINGSEND.
MAUDLINTOWN, a parish, in the barony of FORTH, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 3/4 of a mile (S. by E.) from the court-house of Wexford: the population is returned with the parish of St. Michael's of Feagh. By an inquisition taken in the 8th of James I., it appears that there was an hospital for lepers here, governed by a master, keeper, or prior, who, with the brethren and sisters, had, in the 19th of Rich. II., acquired and appropriated to themselves and successors in perpetuity, contrary to the statute of mortmain, 120 acres of land in Maudlintown and Rochestown, with the tithes of the parish of Ballyvalloo, &c. The parish is situated on the western shore of the harbour of Wexford, and its south-eastern part forms a continuation of the suburb called "The Faithe :" it comprises 1320 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, partly under tillage, and partly occupied by the rugged tract of the trap formation, called the White Rocks. The brewery and malting-house of Mr. Philip Whitty are in this suburb; and within the limits of the parish is Rockland Hall, the seat of W. Talbot, Esq. (father of the Countess of Shrewsbury), situated near the shore of the harbour, of which and of the bay it commands an extensive view. For civil purposes this parish has merged into that of St. Peter's, Wexford. It is a rectory, in the diocese of Ferns, forming part of the union of St. Patrick's, Wexford: the tithes amount to £90. 7. 3 1/2. In the R. C. divisions it is part of the union or district of Wexford. The ruins of the old church, dedicated to St. Maud, still exist.
MAUL'S (ST.), a parish, within the liberties of the city of KILKENNY, county of KILKENNY, and province of LEINSTER: containing 1335 inhabitants, and comprising 309 statute acres. It is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Ossory, entirely appropriate to the see: the tithes amount to £50, payable to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of St. Canice.
MAYNE, or MOYNE, a parish, in the barony of FASSADINING, county of KILKENNY, and province of LEINSTER, 4 miles (N. W.) from Kilkenny, on the river Dinan; containing 633 inhabitants, and comprising 1636 statute acres. At Conahy is a quarry of flag stone, of which some of the strata are thin and used for roofing, but the stone is more generally used for hearths and flooring. Here is a station of the constabulary police. Jenkinstown, the handsome seat of G. Bryan, Esq., is situated in a highly cultivated tract of country near the river Nore: the demesne, which contains about 300 plantation acres, is finely wooded. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Ossory, partly impropriate in the corporation of Kilkenny, but chiefly forming the corps of the prebend of Mayne in the cathedral of St. Canice, Kilkenny, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes amount to £104, of which £13. 16. 11. is payable to the impropriators, and the remainder to the rector; and there is a glebe of 95 acres near the ruins of the old church. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Conahy, comprising also parts of the parishes of Kilmacar, Coolcraheen, and Odogh, and three detached townlands of Burnchurch. A new R. C. chapel, a commodious edifice, is now being erected near Jenkinstown; at which place is a school under the patronage of Major Bryan, held in a neat building erected by the Major at an expense of £300.
MAYNE, county of LOUTH. -- See MAINE. MAYNE, a parish, in the barony of DEMIFORE, county of WESTMEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 3 miles (N. W.) from Castle-Pollard, on the road to Granard; containing 2366 inhabitants. A religious establishment is said to have been founded here by St. Fechan of Fore. The parish is bounded on the south by Lough Derveragh, and on the west by a vast tract of bog, through which the river Inny takes its course: it comprises 5669 1/4 statute acres of tolerably good land, which is chiefly under an improving system of tillage. The surface is finely varied; and there are quarries of both black and grey limestone. From the village of Coole, roads extend across the bog and river, by a float or ferry. Fairs are held at Coole on May 20th and Nov. 20th. The principal seats are Pakenham Hall, the residence of the Earl of Longford; Coolure, of the Hon. Admiral Sir T. Pakenham; Turbotstown, of Gerald Dease, Esq.; Lakeview, of W. Smyth, Esq.; and Gaulstown, of Hubert De Bourgh, Esq. The parish is in the diocese of Meath; the rectory is impropriate in the Marquess of Westmeath; the vicarage forms part of the union of Rathgraff; and there is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Vicar. The tithes amount to £204. 18. 5 1/2., of which £91. 1. 7. is paid to the impropriator, and the remainder to the vicar, out of which the latter pays £55. 7. 8. to the perpetual curate, who also receives £6. 6., the value of 3 acres of glebe, and £37 from the trustees of Primate Boulter's fund. The glebe-house was built in 1812, by aid of a gift of £450 and a loan of £50 from the late Board of First Fruits. The church is a neat building, in excellent repair, erected in 1806, by aid of a gift of £500 from the same Board. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, also called Turbotstown, comprising this parish and that of Faughley, or Faughanstown, in each of which is a chapel. The parochial schools are aided by annual grants from the Pakenham family, and Lord Longford has given a house and an acre of land; a school at Turbotstown is chiefly supported by the Dease family: in these schools about 126 children are taught. There are also two private schools, in which are about 86 children; and a Sunday school. A small well in a bog is resorted to by great numbers of the peasantry: and there are remains of an old castle at Williamstown. On the lands of Mayne stand the ruins of the ancient church.
MAYNOOTH, or LARAGHBRYAN, a market and post-town, and a parish, in the barony of NORTH SALT, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER, 11 miles (N. by E.) from Naas, and 11 3/4 (W.) from Dublin; containing 2622 inhabitants, of which number, 2053 are in the town. This place obtained its ancient celebrity from having been at a very early period one of the principal seats of the Kildare branch of the Fitzgerald family, of whom John, the sixth Earl of Kildare, erected a magnificent castle here in 1426. Earl Gerald Fitzgerald, who died in 1513, founded a college adjoining the town for a provost, vice-provost, five priests, two clerks, and three choristers, which received the especial confirmation of William, Archbishop of Dublin, in 1518; the Earl also rebuilt the church of St. Mary, at this place. During the insurrection of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald in the reign of Hen. VIII., the castle was besieged by a considerable force under Sir Wm. Brereton, by whom it was taken through the treachery of that nobleman's foster brother, after a fortnight's defence. In the reign of Edw. VI. it was, with the other estates of that nobleman, which had been confiscated in the former reign, restored to Gerald, the eleventh Earl, soon after his marriage with the daughter of Sir Anthony Browne. In the reign of Chas. II. it obtained the grant of a market and two fairs; and in the last century the town was entirely rebuilt by its noble proprietor, the late Duke of Leinster. It is situated on a small stream called the Lyall water, which falls into the river Liffey at Leixlip Castle, about four miles distant; on the great north western road from Dublin to Galway, and in the centre of a rich grazing district, skirted on the east by the luxuriant plantations of the Carton and Castletown demesnes. The town consists of one principal street, at one extremity of which is the avenue leading to Carton, the magnificent seat of the present Duke of Leinster, and at the other the Royal College of St. Patrick, the area in front of which is ornamented on one side by the ivy-mantled tower of the parish church, and on the other by the stately ruins of the ancient castle. Although the situation is on a leading thoroughfare, the town is placed between the stages and consequently derives no benefit from it; and the only advantage resulting from the Royal Canal, which passes close to it, is the supply of coal for the inhabitants. The patent for the market is still in force, but no market is held; there are fairs on the 4th of May, Sept. 19th, and Oct. 9th, for cattle, sheep, and pigs. A constabulary police station has been established here; and the Christmas and Midsummer quarter sessions for the eastern division of the county are held in a neat court-house.
In 1795, an act was passed by the Irish parliament to remove the difficulty of procuring suitable education for young men intended for the Roman Catholic ministry, which had arisen from the entire suspension of all intercourse with their former places of study, in consequence of the breaking out of the late continental war. The trustees appointed under that act fixed upon Maynooth as the most eligible spot for the erection of a college, as well on account of its retirement, as of the liberal offer of the late Duke of Leinster of a house and 54 acres of land adjoining the town, on a lease of lives renewable for ever, at the annual rent of £72. In October, 1795, the college was opened for the reception of 50 students, and the Rev. Dr. Hussey appointed first president; the progress of the establishment was at first very slow, for want of sufficient accommodation, but in a few years the number of students was increased to 70, and soon after to 200. With a view of rendering the institution, which originally was intended exclusively for the education of the Roman Catholic clergy, more extensively useful, the trustees appropriated a portion of the additional buildings to the reception of lay students; but the different mode of discipline for the two establishments being found, after a few years, to make the latter an inconvenient appendage, it was discontinued in 1817, and that part of the building was assigned to an additional number of clerical students. Considerable additions have since been made to the buildings, and they are now capable of accommodating 450 students; which number, though much less than required for the Roman Catholic population of the kingdom, is still much greater than the funds at the disposal of the trustees will enable them to support and educate free of all expense. The college is principally supported by parliamentary grants, which for the first 21 years averaged £8000 per annum, and since that time have been £8928. Several donations and bequests have also been made for its support by private individuals, of whom the late Lord Dunboyne, formerly Roman Catholic Bishop of Cork, and who afterwards conformed to the Established Church of England, bequeathed the whole of his property to the trustees of this college for its further support; this bequest was afterwards a subject of litigation, but the suit was compromised, agreeably to the act of 1808, by the annual payment of £500 to the college. Thirty burses have been founded in the college, of which six, of £30 per ann. each, were instituted by the late Dr. O'Sullivan; and others are temporarily established by the Roman Catholic bishops, to provide for the wants of their respective dioceses. The late Mr. Keenan also bequeathed £1000 for the foundation of a professorship of the Irish language. The parliamentary grants and private endowments being still inadequate to the gratuitous maintenance and education of so large a number of students, several are admitted as pensioners, paying for their entire board at the rate of £21 per annum, and also as half-pensioners, paying only half that annual sum; each free student pays also an entrance fee of eight guineas, and each pensioner four guineas, which several payments make up the deficiency. The number of free students is 250, of which the provinces of Armagh and Cashel send 75, and those of Dublin and Tuam 50, each, who are appointed by the Roman Catholic bishops, at yearly meetings of all young men in their respective dioceses who are intended for the ministry, and after due examination send such as are the best qualified to the college, where they are admissible at 17 years of age. This establishment, which is designated the Royal College of St. Patrick, Maynooth, is under the superintendence of seven visitors, of whom the lord-chancellor, the chief justices of the King's Bench and Common Pleas, and the chief baron of the Exchequer, are visitors ex officio; the other three, at present the Earl of Fingall, and the R. C. Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, are elected by the trustees: also a board of seventeen trustees, a president, vice-president, dean, junior dean, and bursar; and the literary departments are entrusted to a first, second, and third professor of dogmatical and moral Theology, a professor of Sacred Scripture and Hebrew, a professor of Natural Philosophy; a professor of Logic, Metaphysics and Ethics; a professor of Rhetoric and the Belles Lettres; a professor of Greek and Latin; a professor of English Rhetoric, and French; and a professor of Irish. The executive branch is confided to the president and the vice-president, who, in the absence of the president, has the entire inspection of the whole institution, assisted by the dean and junior dean, whose office is similar to that of the proctors in the English colleges; these officers, together with the three divinity professors, the professor of Sacred Scripture, and the prefect of the Dunboyne establishment, form the council, which is assembled by the president. The professors are elected by the trustees, after due examination by the council, who separately give their suffrages in writing to the president, by whom they are sealed in presence of the council and delivered to the trustees at their next meeting. The senior students, who are those on the Dunboyne foundation, are limited to 20, to be taken from the four provinces in the same ratio as the free students generally; they are appointed by the president and council, with a view to their becoming professors in the college, or holding important situations in the church; they receive each £60 per annum from the bequest of Lord Dunboyne, augmented by £646 per annum from parliament. The students wear gowns and caps both within and without the college. The buildings form three sides of a quadrangle, comprising various lecture-rooms, a refectory, library, and a chapel, with apartments for the president, masters, and professors. The library contains about 10,000 volumes, to which a considerable addition has been recently made by the late Dr. Boylan, formerly professor of the English and French languages in this college, and afterwards superior of the Irish college in Rome.
The parish comprises 7740 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act ;the soil is in general a stiff clay, and very productive; a considerable portion of the land is in pasture for fattening stock for the Dublin market, and for exportation. Carton, the seat of the Duke of Leinster, situated about a mile from the town, is a spacious and magnificent structure, consisting of a centre with a handsome portico supporting a pediment, in the tympanum of which are the family arms, and connected with wings by an elegant corridor on each side; the interior contains many noble apartments, and in addition to numerous family portraits, a collection of paintings by the first artists. The park, which is very extensive, is beautifully diversified with scenery of graceful and pleasing character; in one part of it is a stately pillar, and in another a tower, from which a fine view is obtained of the surrounding country. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Dublin; the rectory constitutes the corps of the prebend of Maynooth in the cathedral church of St. Patrick, Dublin; both are in the patronage of the Duke of Leinster. The prebend was instituted by Archbishop Luke, in 1384, at the request of Maurice Fitzgerald, Lord of Ophaly, reserving to himself and his heirs the right of presentation. The gross income of the prebend is £55. 7. 8. per ann.; the tithes, amounting to £369. 4. 7 1/2., are paid to the vicar. The church is an ancient structure, supposed to have been originally built by Gerald, Earl of Kildare, as an appendage to the college founded by him in 1516: it was thoroughly repaired and modernised in 1774 by the late Duke of Leinster; the massive square tower of the ancient church still retains its original character. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms the head of the union or district called Maynooth and Leixlip, comprising those two parishes and that of Taghadoe, in each of which is a chapel; that of Maynooth is a very plain building, but a new chapel on a larger scale has been commenced, which, when completed, will be a handsome structure. A dispensary is entirely supported by the Duke of Leinster. In the vicinity are the ruins of the old church of Laraghbryan.
MAYO (County of), a maritime county of the province of CONNAUGHT, bounded on the east by the counties of Sligo and Roscommon, on the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south by the county of Galway. It extends from 53° 28' to 54° 21' (N. Lat.), and from 8° 25' to 10° 5' (W. Lon.); and comprises an area, according to the Ordnance survey, of 1,355,048 statute acres, of which 871,984 are cultivated land, 425,124 are unprofitable mountain and bog, and 57,940 are under water. The population, in 1821, amounted to 293,112; and in 1831, to 367,956.
At the period when Ptolemy wrote, the Nagnatae were the inhabitants of the whole of the county, with the exception of a small portion of its southern extremity, into which the Auterii, who were settled in the northwest of Galway, had penetrated. The city of Nagnatae, together with the rivers Ravius and Libnius, is supposed by some to have been in this county, but others fix its site in the adjoining county of Sligo. M. Vaugondy's map of ancient Connaught, published by Mac Geoghegan, furnishes the following names of the territories which composed it, and of their respective baronies; Irrosdomnion, being the barony of Erris; Calrigiamuighe-murisk-in-Amalgaid, and Hy-Fiachra-Aidhne, Tyrawley; Coranne, Gallen; Con-macne-Quiltola, Clanmorris and Kilmain; Kierrige de Lough Nairn, Costello; Hymalia or Umaille, Murrisk. In Speed's Theatre of Great Britain, published in 1676, the names of the territories, which appear to be taken from those of the ruling septs, commencing from the most northern, are Arras Dondenell, O'Dondey, O' Mac Philben, Mac William Burck, Carew Mac Ville Uterhday, O'Males, Mac Jordan, baron of Exeter, near which territory is noted the forest of Kellelon, and the barony of Akill, being the only baronial division mentioned. In the brief description annexed to the map it is stated "that Mayo, in the Roman Provincial called Magee, is replenished both with pleasure and fertility, abundantly rich in cattle, deer, hawks, and plenty of honey." O'Conor's map of Ireland, which professes to give the names and locations of the settlers at the commencement of the 17th century, mentions only the names of Mac William Burke, Jordan, Mac Philip, Mac Costello or Nangle, Dillon, and Fitz-morris.
The ancient chronicles state that at the commencement of the 4th century the whole of Connaught was taken from the Firdomnians, a branch of the Firbolgs, who had held it till that time under the Milesians. The remote situation of the county has prevented it from being much noticed in the annals of the different revolutions which have since occurred. Shortly after the English invasion, De Courcy entered the province; but it does not appear that he penetrated far westward, having been driven out after a severe defeat by Cornelius Mommoigi and Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick. Roderic O'Conor, the last of the independent sovereigns of Ireland, died in the monastery of Cong, on the verge of this county, in 1198; after which its history presents a blank until, in consequence of the assassination of William de Burgo, third Earl of Ulster, to whose ancestor, Hubert de Burgo, the greater part of the province, including this county, had been granted by King John, Edmond de Albanach or the Scot, one of his kinsmen, ancestor to the earls of Mayo, renounced his allegiance to the English government, threw off the English dress, adopted the language and apparel of the native Irish, and assumed the title of Mac William Oughter, or "the further" to distinguish himself from another member of the family who had acted in the same manner in the more southern regions of the province, and had called himself Mac William Eighter, or "the nearer." The county remained in an unsettled state, nearly independent of British rule, until the time of Elizabeth, in the eleventh year of whose reign the whole province, which had hitherto been divided into the two counties of Connaught and Roscommon, was made shire ground, and the boundaries and subdivisions of this portion of it were defined, at which time it took its present name from the village and monastery of Maio, situated on a river which falls into Lough Carra. The Mac Williams still continued to exert a powerful control, for the annals of the town of Galway inform us that, in consequence of the disturbed state of the country in the neighbourhood of that town, numbers of Galway people took refuge with Mac William Oughter in Mayo, and were the founders of the several respectable families of Galway name which still hold large estates there. When Sir Henry Sidney, lord-deputy, visited Galway in 1575, several of the Galway exiles returned and applied to him for protection; and Mac William Oughter himself submitted by oath and indenture. This Mac William was father to the celebrated Grace O'Malley, better known in the romantic history of the times by the name of Grana Uile: she, however, was so far from being led to submission by her father's example, that it was deemed necessary to send a body of troops to storm her castle of Carrick a-Uile, near Newport; but so spirited was the defence made by this singular woman, that the assailants, instead of accomplishing the object of their expedition, narrowly escaped being taken prisoners, which would have been inevitably attended with loss of life. In 1586, the province was again visited, for the purpose of confirming it in the habits of English law, by Sir Richard Bingham, who held a session at Donemony, in this county. One only of the de Burgos, Thomas Roe, held out on this occasion against the royal authority, in a castle in one of the islands in Lough Mask, within sight of the governor. The under-sheriff, who was sent to reduce him to obedience, was wounded in the attempt, as was Thomas Roe himself, who died of his wounds. Two others of the de Burgos were afterwards executed for sedition and for conspiring against Bingham's life. The composition then agreed upon by , the people was 10s. per annum for every quarter of land containing 120 acres. According to the return of a jury on this occasion, the county comprised 1448 quarters, whereof 248 were exempted; the rest paid £600 per annum and contributed 200 foot and 40 horse for general hostings within the province, at their own expense, when required, and 50 foot and 15 horse for general service throughout Ireland. Before Sir Richard quitted the country, he had taken all the de Burgos into protection by an order from the government, but, on his going to Dublin, they were instigated, through the promise of assistance from the Scotch, to revolt again, on which he proceeded to Ballinrobe, where, having uselessly spent several days in endeavouring to bring them back to their duty, he hanged their hostages, marched to Ballintubber, and sent out his kerne and foot-soldiers into the woods and mountains with such success, that he forced them all to submit in a few weeks, and drove away a booty of between 4000 and 5000 head of cattle, after which he defeated a body of 2000 Scots that had landed near Sligo to give them assistance. A third journey was made into Connaught in 15S9, by Sir Wm. Fitzwilliams, lord-deputy, who then received the submissions of O'Flaherty, William the blind Abbot, and others of Mayo and Tyrconnell.
Although the county was visited with a large share of the confiscations consequent on the termination of the war of 1641, and on the restoration of the Stuart family, no remarkable event connected with that period occurred within its limits; neither was it internally agitated by the military movements in the subsequent war between the rival kings in 1688, and its political aspect presents a perfect blank until the year 1798, when its tranquillity, which had remained undisturbed during the dreadful internal struggle that convulsed the north-eastern and south-eastern extremities of the island in the earlier part of that year, was broken by the unexpected appearance of a small French squadron on its northern coast, which landed near Killala a force of about 1100 men under General Humbert. The town, which was nearly defenceless, was taken after a trifling resistance; the bishop of Killala, with his family, was made prisoner; arms were distributed to all the country people who chose to accept them; and the invading army, thus reinforced by a numerous but disorderly body of auxiliaries, proceeded to Ballina, whence the garrison fled on its approach. It thence advanced to Castlebar through mountain defiles deemed impassable, and therefore left unguarded: here it was opposed by General Lake with 6000 men, but, after a very short resistance, the British army gave way on all sides, and left the enemy completely masters of the country. Thence the French general proceeded by Foxford and Collooney, where his advance was checked for a short time by the gallantry of a small detachment under Col. Vereker, and marched by Dromahaire and Manor-Hamilton in Leitrim, till, having crossed the Shannon at Ballintra, his further progress was prevented by the main army of the British under the Marquess Cornwallis, to whom he surrendered, after a short resistance, at Ballinamuck. Castlebar, when evacuated by the French, was re-occupied by the British troops, who defended it successfully against an attack of a body of 2000 insurgents. Killala, which was still possessed by the latter under the command of a few French officers, was then attacked and taken by storm, with the loss of between 400 and 500 of its defenders, after having been 30 days in their possession. This scene of blood terminated by a court-martial, by which several of those most forward in having had recourse to French assistance were consigned to military execution. The year 1820 was marked by very serious disturbances in this and the neighbouring county of Galway, arising from abuses in the levying of taxes, and county and parish rates: the insurgents took the name of Ribbonmen, and kept the country in alarm for some time by their nocturnal depredations, but were finally suppressed by the power of the law. Two years afterwards it suffered from famine, owing to a failure of the potatoe crop; but the horrors of so dreadful a visitation were much relieved by the prompt and liberal contributions which were forwarded on the first intimation of the extent of the calamity from every part of England, through a committee sitting in London.
This county is partly in the dioceses of Elphin and Achonry, but chiefly in those of Killala and Tuam. For purposes of civil jurisdiction it is divided into the baronies of Burrishoole, Carra, Clanmorris, Costello, Erris, Gallon, Kilmain, Murrisk, and Tyrawley. It contains the incorporated market and assize town of Castlebar; the market and post-towns of Ballina, Ballinrobe, Crossmolina, Clare, Foxford, Ballaghadireen, Swinford, and Newport-Pratt; the sea-port, market and post-towns of Westport and Killala; the small sea-port of Belmullet; and the post-towns of Cong, Hollymount, and Ballyglass: the largest villages are those of Baal or Ballagh, Ballycastle, Rathlacken (each of which has a penny post), Minola, and Shrule. It sent four members to the Irish parliament, two for the county, and two for the borough of Castlebar; but since the Union its sole representatives in the Imperial parliament have been the two members returned for the county at large. The county constituency consists of 301 £50, 277 £20, and 747 £10 freeholders and leaseholders; and 15 £50 and 10 £20 rent-chargers; making a total of 1350 registered voters. The election takes place at Castlebar. It is included in the Connaught circuit: the assizes and general quarter-sessions are held at Castlebar, where the county prison and court-house are situated; quarter-sessions are also held at Ballinrobe, Westport, Clare, and Ballina, each of which towns has a court-house and bridewell. The local government is vested in a lieutenant, a vice-lieutenant, 32 deputy-lieutenants, and 124 magistrates; besides whom are the usual county officers, including four coroners. There are 46 constabulary police stations, having in the whole a force of a chief and sub-inspector, a paymaster, 9 chief and 42 subordinate constables, and 208 men, with 13 horses. Under the new arrangements of the constabulary police act, the residence of the chief inspector, and the headquarters of the police force of Connaught, are at Ballinrobe, and occupy the cavalry barrack there, in which all the young men and horses for the service of the province are to be trained. Along the coast there are 18 coast-guard stations, 6 in the district of Westport, having a force of 6 officers and 52 men; 6 in that of Bellmullet, with 3 officers and 37 men; and 6 in the district of Killala, with 6 officers and 50 men: each district is under the control of a resident inspecting commander. The county infirmary, at Castlebar, is supported by a government grant of £100 and by Grand Jury presentments of £500 per annum. The district lunatic asylum is at Ballinasloe, and there are dispensaries at Westport, Galway, Ballyhaunis, Cong, Erris, Ballina, Gallen, Carra, and Burrishoole, maintained by subscriptions and Grand Jury presentments in equal portions. The amount of Grand Jury presentments, for 1835, was £27,051. 14. 7 1/4., of which £6025. 3. 2 1/4. was for the repairs of roads, bridges, &c.; £9457. 9. 6 1/2. for the public buildings, charities, officers' salaries, and incidents; £5565. 7. 9. for the police, and £6003. 14. l 1/2. for repayment of advances made by Government. In the military arrangements the county is included in the western district, and contains seven barrack stations, two for artillery and infantry at Castlebar, one for infantry at Ballaghadireen, two for cavalry and infantry at Ballinrobe, and one for infantry at each of the towns of Westport and Foxford, affording in the whole accommodation for 52 officers and 1104 non-commissioned officers and men, with 99 horses.
The surface of the county varies extremely, from the bleak and rugged mountain to the fertile plain. The baronies to the east of the lakes, and part of Tyrawley, are champaign and productive. In the flat country bordering on Loughs Mask and Carra there are many miles of rocky ground which at a distance appears like an immense sheet of white stone, but on a nearer approach is found to consist of layers of projecting rock in parallel lines, rising from one to three feet above the surface, like flag-stones pitched in the ground upon their edges, and all, however varying in shape, size, or relative distance, having the same direction: fissures of great depth are found in some of their narrowest interstices. The northern part of Tyrawley barony is level and adorned with numerous villas and country seats. In travelling south from Kilcummin head the land by degrees swells into hills, the tops of which are covered with heath, while the sides and valleys are green and remarkably fertile: these hills gradually change their character to that of the bleak and barren mountain which stretches in a continuous tract sixty miles long and seven miles broad, from Erris in the west to the Ox mountains of Sligo, in the contrary direction. In this range no variety meets the eye from Nephin to Westport, except in the glen of Bohedon and the extensive woods that sweep along the windings of the Colnabinna river, the banks of which are fringed with verdure of exquisite hue. The western part of the county is overspread with an immense mass of mountain and bog, very difficult of access: the central parts of this wild country are occupied by a range of lofty mountains, commencing at Nephin and extending in a north-western direction to Knocklettercuss, and in a western to Achill island: this great mountain chain divides the country into two parts ; that between its western base and the sea is covered with bog, as is also the greater part of the eastern division; besides which all the gentle acclivities and mountain summits are covered with a thin stratum of black bog. No arable ground occurs in these districts except in the narrow valleys of the rivers and in irregular patches along the shore. There is another range of mountain commencing at Dunfeeny bay and stretching along the northern coast to Broad haven, beyond which the peninsula of the Mullet is flat and capable of cultivation, except where covered with sand. The northern coast is particularly wild, and the rocky cliffs which extend along its whole length are generally perpendicular, and in some parts the surface of the land at top overhangs the sea; their average height is 400 feet. In many places the edge of the cliff is the highest point of the land, so that the water which falls from the surface within 20 yards from the brow flows southerly from the sea. Along the high bold coast to the west, as far as the Stags of Broadhaven, are caverns extending a great way under the surface, and vaulted overhead with immense flags. One of the most remarkable of these is nearly opposite the Stags, near Dunkechan; it extends several hundred yards under the land, is roofed with stone, and wide enough to admit several boats to enter abreast, which may be done in calm weather. But the greatest natural curiosities of this county are the caves of Cong, on the confines of the county of Galway, through which the superfluous waters of Lough Mask take their subterraneous course to Lough Corrib. Nephin, 2640 feet in height, is, in magnitude and form, extremely grand, its summit being generally enveloped in clouds: it is situated at the extremity of an immense bog, in the centre of which is Lough Conn, and is separated from the rest of the great chain by the deep glen of Kilnabreena. Its form, when viewed from the south or east, is conical, the sides steep, frequently rocky and rugged, but the summit rounded and covered with alpine plants. The regularity of its northern face is interrupted by a deep ravine, the precipitous sides of which disclose the internal structure of the mountain. From the western side of the glen of Kilnabreena rises the mountain of Berreencurragh, 2290 feet high, similar to Nephin, but more irregular and rugged. Nephin Beg, another mountain in the same range, and of similar formation, is but 1846 feet high. The mountains which form the western part of the great chain are also more rugged and have peaked summits, particularly Maam, Thomoish, and Croughletta. The ridge of the Barnagee mountains lies south of Nephin: their northern side is extremely steep and abrupt. Three passes, about two miles distant from each other, lead through them to the plain country in the south; the central and most important of these is called the pass of Barnagee. Through it the French force penetrated unexpectedly in 1798, in its march from Ballina, in consequence of which the king's troops were taken by surprise at Castlebar and routed. The other passes are that of Mosbrook, near Lough Conn, and Glan Island on the side of Westport. The summit of the central pass, which is a very long and steep hill, commands a fine view of Castlebar and the adjoining plain, with Croagh Patrick rising in the distance. The whole of the district south of the valley from Lough Conn to Newport, except the space occupied by the mountains of Barnagee, is thickly interspersed with hills of different forms; those lying between Lough Conn and Loughs Carra and Mask stretching in accordance with the line between the former and latter lakes; those proceeding to Clew bay taking their direction to the sea. The remarkable peak of Croagh Patrick, or the Reek, rises from the southern shore of Clew bay to an elevation of 2530 feet, embracing from its summit a magnificent prospect of the neighbouring bays and islands, with the amphitheatre of Erris, Burrishoole and Connemara: this mountain may be divided into two parts; the base, composed of a group of undulating flat-topped hills rising to a considerable height; and the Reek, which towers above them in the form of a cone. The romantic fables of the country have fixed on this as the spot from which St. Patrick drove all the venomous reptiles of the island into the sea: it is still a favourite place for devotional rites. The southern part of the barony of Murrisk rises into steep mountains, of which Muilrea, the highest in Connaught, has an elevation of 2733 feet.
The lakes are numerous, and several are of large size: the principal lie in a direction north and south from the borders of Galway to Killala. A small part of the northern portion of Lough Corrib is considered as belonging to the county: this lake is navigable, unless in very dry seasons, for boats of from 10 to 20 tons to its most northern extremity at Cong, a distance of about 30 miles from the sea. A narrow isthmus of high and rocky land, about two miles across, here separates it from Lough Mask. This latter lake is 10 miles long by 4 broad, with two arms about a mile distant from each other, stretching into Joyces' country, the larger projecting four miles, the lesser three: the lake is navigable up the Ballinrobe river, within l 1/2 mile of Ballinrobe town. The gillaroo trout, which is remarkable as having a gizzard larger than that of a turkey, but never any roe, is found in it: both red and white trout are also taken. The water of Lough Mask is 36 feet above the summer level of Lough Corrib; and the former pours the whole of its redundant waters into Lough Corrib, through numerous subterraneous caverns, beneath the isthmus above noticed: from these caverns the water emerges in numerous fountains near the village of Cong, whence it flows in a rapid stream, turning several powerful mills, until it mingles with the waters of the lower lake. Lough Carra is a very picturesque sheet of water, seven miles long by three broad, studded with woody peninsulas and islands: this lake assumes an appearance not observable in other collections of fresh water, its colour being greenish while that of others is invariably blue; a peculiarity attributable to the shallowness of its water, which covers a bed of pale yellowish marl. Lough Dan, the next in order, is much smaller than any of the others in the range: it is also called Castlebar lake, because its eastern extremity is close to the town of that name. Lough Conn is a fine piece of water, fifteen miles long by five broad, interspersed with islands on which are ruins of castles and of monasteries, and having its borders fringed with woods and ornamented with mansions and villas: it communicates with the towns of Foxford and Crossmolina, and stretches within two miles of Ballina, and ten of Killala. At the southeastern extremity of Lough Conn is Lough Cullen, sometimes called the Lower Conn: it is separated from the lake of that name by a narrow strait, over which a bridge named Pontoon bridge was built, on the formation of the new mail line to Sligo. An extraordinary phenomenon is visible here in the alternate ebbing and flowing of these lakes: the water is seen sometimes rushing with great force through the channel beneath Pontoon bridge into Lough Cullen, while at others it runs with equal force from this lake into Lough Conn, and this is often observable when the waters of the upper lake are much swollen by floods from the mountains, while the lower lake, or Lough Cullen, is the natural outlet of the whole of this immense volume of water. The shores of both lakes being composed in many places of a fine red sand, the line of high water mark can be distinctly traced several inches above the water, and then in the space of an hour, without any apparent cause, the water rises again to the higher level in the one lake, while it is low water in the other: numerous unsatisfactory conjectures have been stated relative to this extraordinary fact. Besides the lakes now mentioned there are many others; the principal are Upper and Lower Lough Aile, Lough Urlor, Lough Samore, Lough Skye, Beltra Lake, Kerramore Lake, and other smaller lakes near Foxford, Manilla, Ballinrobe, Shrule, Annagh, Ballyhaunis, Ballagh, and Kinturk. In this county, like that of Galway, there are numerous turloughs, which in winter and wet seasons cover large tracts of land, and at other times afford excellent pasture.
The coast is indented by numerous bays. The mouth of the Moy forms its north-eastern extremity: this river is inaccessible to large vessels on account of its bar, on which there is but three feet of water. Killala bay admits vessels of ten feet draught only at spring tides, but small vessels can proceed as far as the abbey of Moyne. Two miles north from Killala is the low peninsula called Kilcummin head, on which the French effected their landing in 1798. On the western side is the village of Inniscroan, the best fishing-place on the coast; and near it is a peninsula called Ross, between the inlets of Killala and Rathbran, which is curiously indented by the sea at high water. Dunfeeny bay is of little importance for nautical purposes, but is remarkable for an insulated rock called Downpatrick head, the perpendicular cliff of which affords five distinct sections of the horizontal strata of its formation. From this bay westward the coast is a precipitous cliff for many miles, confining within its interior an extensive uncultivated bog; this lofty formation continues to Broadhaven, a bay seven miles in breadth at its mouth, by four or five in depth: it has two principal arms, the eastern of which receives two considerable rivers: the best entrance to the haven is less than half a mile in width, and the inlet within it winds for nearly seven miles to the isthmus which connects the flat and sandy, yet fertile, peninsula of the Mullet with the main land. Broadhaven is merely a fishing station, where open boats only are used: flat fish is abundant. The northern end of the peninsula is precipitous and rugged; and near it is the narrow and rocky cove of Portnafranka. Its south terminates with the point of Saddle head, a considerable hill of red granite, which opens into Blacksod bay, a spacious haven with good shelter and water sufficient for any number of ships, which penetrates inland for several miles, until it meets the isthmus of Bellmullet, by which it is separated from Broadhaven. Clew bay forms a noble and well-sheltered expanse of inland water, fifteen miles long and seven broad: its entrance is screened through one-third of its breadth by Clare island; and the inner or eastern extremity is occupied by a vast multitude of small islets, which, with the adjoining creeks and inlets, form a variety of safe road-steads and harbours capable of admitting vessels of every class. These islands are composed of a deep loamy soil on a limestone substratum; many of them are accessible by foot passengers at low water.
The towns of Newport and Westport are built at the inner ends of two of those inlets, and are provided with quays, to which vessels of ten feet draught may approach at high water. The islands and channels on the Westport side of the bay are protected by a very singular natural breakwater of shingle and boulder stones, which stretches from the entrance of Westport harbour to the southern shore under Croagh Patrick. There are in this line of beach six navigable openings, the most important of which, leading to Westport, is marked by a small lighthouse built by the Marquess of Sligo. Clew bay possesses many picturesque and attractive features. Among the most striking are the lofty conical peak of Croagh Patrick, the lofty mountains of Erriv and Benabola on the south; those of Nephin and Cartinarry, together with the hills of Achill, on the north: on the east are the flourishing ports above named, with the fine domain of the Marquess of Sligo; and in the west Clare island, rising majestically to check the fury of the Atlantic. The southern horn of this bay is called Bui Naha, or the Yellow head, whence the shore is wild and uninteresting, until it reaches Killery bay. This bay, which separates the counties of Mayo and Galway, penetrates eleven miles into the interior between steep and lofty mountains, and is uniformly about half a mile in breadth, being throughout an excellent harbour for large ships, though occasionally subject to squalls from the hills. Off the coast are numerous islands, the most remarkable of which, exclusively of those in Clew bay, are Achill and Achill-beg, Clare, Caher, Innisbofin, Innis-hark, Innisturk, Darilan or O'Darilan, Ox, Inniskeamore, Inniskeabeg, Cahir, Innisdallow, Ballybeg, Innisgort, Innisbeg, Innistegil, Annagh, Barnach, Inniskeragh, Eagle island, and Innisglore. Many of them are large and thickly inhabited. Eagle Island, situated off the Mullet, and about one league south-west from Erris, or Urres Hea, has two lofty lighthouses, erected in 1836.
The soil in the champaign country is chiefly a dark brown sandy and gravelly loam on a limestone bottom; in some parts it is light and moory. In the districts in which bog prevails are ridges of limestone gravel, called escars, in some places three miles long, 1/4 of a mile broad at the base, and from 30 to 60 feet high: they spontaneously produce many varieties of trees, which seldom attain any size, in consequence of their exposure when young to the cattle. The rocky pastures in which oak and hazel brushwood grow spontaneously are excellent for fattening. The tendency to produce rich grass also shews itself in many parts of the mountainous regions. On passing the junction between the primary and secondary rocks, a striking improvement in the appearance of the verdure is observable; some of these secondary hills contain limestone, and the water is so strongly impregnated with this mineral, that calcareous depositions are found in large quantities on their banks. The sand along the shores of Broadhaven and Blacksod bay is mostly silicious; yet with a slight manuring of sea weed, it produces excellent barley and potatoes. In these districts the inhabitants are much annoyed by the drifting sand, which is reduced to such a degree of comminution, as to penetrate even into the works of watches. Marly gravel, the substratum of all the hills, was found, when removed for the purpose of covering roads, to change the growth of the spot it fell on from heath to grass; the discovery of which quality led to its liberal use in reclaiming the summits of hills and moory tracts hitherto nearly unprofitable.
Wheat is grown in the southern and champaign parts; potatoes, oats, barley, and flax in the more elevated districts. But the greater portion of the latter division is under pasture, as the grass is found to be suitable for rearing young cattle, though it is not rich enough to fatten them. The farms in the grazing districts are in size from 100 to 500 acres. The general term of a lease is one life, or 21 years; a non-alienation clause is common; and latterly another has been occasionally introduced, by which a stipulated allowance is to be made to the tenant out of the reserved rent, for every acre of land reclaimed. The manures are limestone gravel, especially for reclaiming bog and mountain; limestone, which is very general, and used wherever a supply of fuel for burning it can be had; composts of bog mould and farm manure; and, near the sea-coast, shell-sand and weed. Paring and burning is very prevalent, notwithstanding the penalties inflicted on the practice by act of parliament; the land, when so treated, produces tolerable crops for a few years, but is afterwards barren for a considerable length of time. When burning has been repeated three or four times, it has been found necessary to renovate the soil by a coat of bog mixed with earth or farm rubbish. In reclaiming bog, which is done by limestone gravel to the thickness of an inch, or by white marl, it is observed that when the heath dies, as it does in about three years, daisies and white clover shew themselves, indicating that the land is fit for tillage. The plough is an implement little used in the boggy and mountainous parts; the long narrow spade, which supplies its place, is called a "loy." In Erris a spade of still more unusual construction is found to answer best in light sandy soils: it consists of two iron blades, each about three inches broad, with a space of an inch and a half between them, fixed on a two-forked shaft like two loys. The old and clumsy agricultural implements are rapidly giving way to those of a more improved description; the slide car is nearly extinct even in the mountains. Yet still the cottiers' implements are mostly limited to the spade and sickle, and the manure is carried to the field and the produce to market in wicker panniers on horses' backs or on the shoulders of women. In general, the ploughing is too light and the sowing too late in the season, hence the harvest of every kind of crop requires the farmer's attention simultaneously. Wheat is cultivated to some extent, but potatoes and oats are the main crops; green crops are more frequent than formerly: flax is raised only on the headlands or corners of a field for domestic use. The most favourite breed of horned cattle is a cross between the old Leicester and the native stock; but the native cow is still preferred in the upland districts. The sheep are not equal to those of the adjoining counties. In the mountains a useful hardy race of horses is found; in the lowland districts the horses are remarkably good for the saddle and of superior action. Pigs do not enter into the rural economy of the small farmer to the same extent as in other counties. Dairies are neither numerous nor extensive, the rearing of young cattle being the more general occupation. The fences are dry stone walls formed by collecting the numerous loose stones off the land, but in Clanmorris and Kilmaine they are good ditches faced with quicksets. Draining and irrigation are little practised, though the soil and the command of water is favourable to both. So late as 1675, the county was well wooded, and had then three extensive forests, at Barnagee, Cappough, and Liscullen; but even the vestiges of these have been swept away, and the last extensive wood of the county, that of Glanmurra, on the shores of Killery bay, was felled in the winters of 1778 and 1779. Natural oaks grow also on all the hills in the Barnagee mountains, and are kept down only by the browsing of the cattle. It has also been ascertained that bogs of an altitude too great to admit of profitable cultivation are capable of producing timber by planting and fencing. The most remarkable range of woods at present is round the base of Croagh Patrick mountain, following the windings of the Brackloon river. The Marquess of Sligo has planted to a large extent and with great prospect of remuneration in the neighbourhood of Westport. In general the baronies of Tyrawley, Burrishoole, Gallen, and Costello, are nearly bare of timber; in Murrisk it abounds, chiefly on the Marquess of Sligo's property, as also in Clanmorris, which exhibits some woods of fine full-grown timber: but in Carragh the plantations are few.
The whole of the mountains in this county are of primary formation; but rocks of secondary formation are frequently found overlaying the primary at the base of the mountains. The secondary formation on the northern range is red sandstone covered with slate clay, which alternates with floetz sandstone; as also, limestone alternating with slate clay: to the south is the old red sandstone covered with floetz limestone. A line drawn from the southern shore of Achill and continued along the southern base of Coraan mountain, would very nearly pass along the junction of the primary and secondary formations. The primary rocks pass by a narrow isthmus between the secondary rocks at Castlebar, to the shore of Clew bay, and join the primary range, which commences at Croagh Patrick and proceeds thence into Joyces' country. No secondary rocks are met with between Achill head, on the west coast, and Balderric on the north. Near this latter point the secondary formation commences, and continues without interruption along the coast by Downpatrick, Killala, and Sligo to Ballyshannon. From the junction at the sea shore near Balderric, the edge of the primary country takes a direction nearly south to Croghan mountain, at the base of which, in the bed of the Owenmore, the old red sandstone appears overlaying mica slate. From Croghan the junction of the rocks may be traced to the northern base of Nephin, and thence, crossing Lough Conn, it proceeds along the northern base of the range of primary mountains from Foxford to Ballysadare. The great mountain chain, commencing at Nephin and extending in a north-western direction by the valley of the Owenmore to Coraan mountain, is entirely composed, except at Nephin Beg, of mica slate and granular quartz rock. Nephin mountain, the strata of which are fully disclosed by the fissures already noticed, is formed of mica slate, of very variable proportions. The stratification is for the most part nearly vertical, but very irregular. The composition of Nephin Beg is very similar to that of the larger mountain. The western part of the county between Achill head and the north coast is for the most part a low plain of bog on a bottom of mica slate, backed by mountain ranges of quartz rock. In the island of Achill the rocks are chiefly quartz; in the adjoining peninsula of Coraan, conglomerate sandstone. In the peninsula of the Mullet the country is mostly covered with silicious sand. On the western shore, where the rocks are visible, they are more crystalline than the mountains on the east. Upon the whole, this part of Erris much resembles the islands of Col and Tirey in the Hebrides. At Dunfeeny bay, the alternating beds of sandstone and clay-slate are covered by almost innumerable alternations of thin beds of black shale and black limestone. Many of the beds of black shale contain balls of clay iron-stone; some so carbonaceous as to soil the fingers very much, and to emit a dense black smoke when thrown on the fire. The old red sandstone at the base of Croghan mountain is covered by a series of rocks of slate clay and floetz sandstone alternating; and though no beds of coal have been discovered, there is reason to think that those series belong to that formation; the existence of this mineral is also shewn by a variety of indications in the mountains of Derinkee, near Westport. The iron-ore, the sandstone, the ochre (which is found in abundance and of good quality) and the ferruginous scum on the lakes and rivers, all seem to point out its existence there: in Slieve Carne, in Clanmorris barony, there are also many indications of coal. The character of the limestone which alternates with the clay-slate along the north-eastern coast, from Balderric to Ballyshannon, is very peculiar: the beds rarely exceed two feet in thickness; some are of a dull black colour and contain no marine remains; others are almost wholly composed of muscle shells. Iron-ore is found in abundance on the lands of Cross, in Erris, and at Tallagha in the same barony: it is also met with in abundance in the bed of Clonoure river, and in the Deel river, where it is found in small lumps of a beautiful red colour. Iron-works formerly erected by Sir George Shaen, near the Mullet, and more lately on the Deel by Mr. Rutledge, were discontinued from the want of fuel. Manganese is abundant in several parts, but the richest deposits are in the neighbourhood of Westport and in the vale of the Owenmore; clay fit for porcelain and every other description of earthenware is found in inexhaustible beds, and cargoes of the finer sorts are shipped for England. Fullers' earth and pipe clay are also abundant and very good; clay for bricks abounds in every barony. Slate quarries on an extensive scale have been worked near Westport; freestone of a good colour, very compact and easily wrought, is abundant in several places; and grey marble, beautifully marked and susceptible of a fine polish, is plentiful in the barony of Murrisk: excellent hones are procured in the hill of Bocca.
Linen is extensively manufactured, chiefly in the cabins of the poor, many of which, particularly in the mountainous districts, are furnished with a loom: the cloth is generally sold grey, and sent elsewhere to be bleached, although there are two extensive bleach-greens near Westport, and another at Turlough. At Ballyclare is a very extensive manufactory of linens, unions, diapers, and sheetings: friezes, flannels, and woollen stockings are made in all parts; the chief markets for the sale of them are Castlebar and Westport. A manufacture of straw-plat for hats and bonnets has been introduced: kelp is made in large quantities on all parts of the coast. The increasing demand for grain, chiefly oats for Liverpool, aided by the establishment of corn-buyers in the sea-ports, has given rise to a considerable export trade, for which Killala, Ballina, Newport, and Westport are the chief marts.
Along the whole coast are remarkably fine fishing banks: the principal, extending between Innisbofin and Achill, is abundantly supplied with all kinds of white fish, particularly mackarel, gurnet and herring. North of Achill head is a sand-bank stretching to Blacksod bay, affording turbot and other flat fish, in the greatest abundance. Beyond this lies the Inniskealing bank, extending eight leagues to sea: it is usually fished from May to August. The great sun-fish bank, so called from being frequented by the sun-fish or basking shark during spring, is about thirty miles off the coast, and is supposed to be a ridge of elevated submarine land extending from the Blasquets in Kerry to Erris head. The best season for the fishery is during the last week in April or first in May: the fish come hither from the north, and are seen from Tory island to the Blasquets. In fine weather they shew themselves in the morning and evening, in considerable numbers, and are easily assailable, but at this season the uncertainty of the weather and the heavy swell often baffle the fishers. Should a fine day or two occur, from thirty to forty may be killed; but on the death of a few, the rest retreat suddenly to the south, being warned off, the fishermen say, by the smell of the blood: should any stragglers remain, they are so lean as to be scarcely worth killing. They are taken with a harpoon so constructed as to keep fast hold when it has penetrated the body of the fish. The animal, before it is disturbed, lies quietly on the surface, making no effort to escape till pierced to the quick. Many fish, however, are struck without effect, in which case the spears and line are lost. Indeed, the whole appears to be an unprofitable business: the outfit of the number of boats engaged in it cannot be estimated at less than £2000 in the season, to compensate for which, the value of the fish caught even in a favourable year, has never been above £1500; the loss of time of so many people at an important agricultural season should also be included in the estimate. The fishing is now chiefly followed by the few decked vessels that can stand out waiting for good weather. The whole fishing trade, with this exception, is carried on in open boats: not a single decked vessel is employed between Killala and Newport, or between Westport and Galway, and but few half-decked. The deficiency is owing partly to the poverty of the district, partly to the want of harbours, without which decked vessels cannot load or unload; and partly from the construction of open boats being most convenient for carrying on the coasting trade in turf, in which those residing on the shores are engaged in the intervals between the fishing seasons: the number of boats both for sailing and rowing is very great. The northern coast of Connaught is scantily supplied with harbours: the principal are those of Killala and its vicinity. The greater part of Killala bay is a good turbot bank; and round fish abound under Kilcummin head and the deep cliffs to the westward; the village of Inniscroan is accounted the best station. The whole western coast is, however, furnished with numerous bays, inlets, and coves of every description for the reception of the fishing craft. Killery harbour is known to be one of the best fisheries for herring ;but this branch has been much crippled by the restrictions of the fishery laws. Herrings have been known to set in to some of the bays in vast shoals, yet, from the want of salt, they were left to rot on the shore in heaps; and the wretched fisherman, whose little stock had been expended in fitting out his sea equipage, witnessed his own ruin with abundance apparently within his grasp. To obviate this calamity, salt is now stored at Clifden, Westport, and Bellmullet. The white fishery commences in Lent; spiller lines are used from Ash-Wednesday: the bait for cod and haddock is the slug found in the strand: muscles and whilks are unknown, as are crabs and scollops. Great numbers of turbot come into Killala bay in August, appearing to follow the sand eel found in great abundance in the strand. Mackarel comes in June and July, at first in shoals which refuse the bait and are taken by the seine; but in August they separate and draw near the shore, when they are caught by hand-lines baited with sand eel. The white fish caught at sea are principally cod, haddock, and ling. Pollock is caught at all seasons round the headlands. The deep sea fishing commences in May, when small-fish bait begins to be plentiful: the herring fishery commences in May and continues till August, but further out this fish is found at all seasons and of large size: the winter fishing is carried on from November to Christinas. In spring the in-shore fishers apply themselves to tillage and to the manufacture of kelp. The salmon fisheries are numerous and important: that of Ballina is the best in Ireland except Coleraine. There are also very valuable fisheries at Belclare, Louisburgh, and Killery, where vast quantities of salmon are annually taken, and there are smaller fisheries at Westport, Newport, and Burrishoole.
No rivers of any importance rise in the county or pass through it. The Moy, which separates it from Sligo, after receiving the waters of Loughs Cullen and Conn, flows in a broad stream by Ballina into the bay of Killala. The bar has deep water after great floods, but is dangerous from its liability to shift. A few years since it was passed by vessels drawing 14 feet water; it is now often fordable in dry summers: sloops, however, ascend within a mile of Ballina. It has been proposed to form a lock at Belleek castle, by which vessels of heavy burden might come up to the town, if a passage were cut through the limestone ledges that obstruct the navigation, and measures are in progress to effect this object. The Blackwater, which for a short distance forms the boundary between Mayo and Galway, has an underground course for three miles near Shrule; after its re-appearance it falls into Lough Corrib. The Aile, which is navigable for boats of six feet draught for a distance of five miles from Lough Mask, also disappears for some time, after having sunk under a stratum of limestone. The Castlebar river is navigable from Lough Conn for the distance of four miles: the Lung, which flows into Lough Carra, admits boats from the lake, which ascend the river about three miles. The other rivers are little more than mountain streams: the principal are the Owenmore, falling into Blacksod bay, and remarkable for the great quantity of water it sometimes carries from the mountains; the Deel, the Robe, the Erriv, and the Carnamart.
The greater part of the county to the west of the lakes was nearly destitute of roads previously to 1798. No way existed of travelling through Erris but on foot; or if a horseman attempted the journey, he required the aid of six or eight guides on foot to cast the horse at every swamp, fasten his legs and haul him over by ropes. The journey from Ballina to the coast could not be accomplished in less than three days, and if the rivers were swollen required a much longer time. The expense for guides, in money and refreshments, was more than that now required for a carriage and post-horses from Castlebar to the Mullet, a distance of 56 miles, which may be performed in a day. A carriage road has been made along the banks of the Owenmore: one branch proceeds from Castlebar, another from Crossmolina; the former is level and well laid out, the latter labours under the defects of the old country system. After passing the mountains, a new line branches off to Bellmullet and thence along the western side of Blacksod harbour. Other lines of road are in progress from the same point to the western side of Broadhaven, others to Coraan and Achill: by the former a communication will be opened to the north coast and Killala; the latter unites with a new line, also in progress, from Newport to the extremity of Achill. A new and level line of road has also been made from Killala to Ballina, Foxford, and Swinford, by which the produce of the interior of the country may be conveyed to these sea-ports. A new and very excellent line has been made from the head of the Killeries to Westport, being a continuation of the level line from Clifden through the wilds of Connemara and Joyces' country, thus opening a direct communication between Castlebar, Westport, and these districts of Galway. A new and excellent, mail line has been opened between Castlebar and Ballina, crossing the narrow channel between Lough Conn and Lough Cullen, by Pontoon bridge: another line has been opened from Killala, round the northern coast.
There are four ancient round towers in the county, at Killala, Turlogh, Meelick, and Baal or Ballagh. Monasteries were numerous and of high repute for sanctity and wealth. The principal were Burrishoole, Ballintubber, or Tubberpatrick, Ballynasmall, Urlare or Orlare, Ballyhaunis, which was inhabited by a fraternity of friars in 1641, Cross, Strade, Ballinrobe or De Roba, Mayo, which was afterwards the see of a bishop and gave name to the county, Ballina, Crossmolina, Moyne, Rathbran or Rafran, Rosserick and Bofin, in the island of Innisbofin. Among the military antiquities the most ancient is that at Downpatrick or Dunbriste, built on a neck of land forming a cliff three hundred feet high projecting into the sea; about the same distance in the sea stands a rugged perpendicular rock of equal elevation with that on the main land, of a triangular shape, contracting gradually from a large base, to the summit, where it is about sixty yards round, and on which are the ruins of a building: the strata and indentations of surface in the cliff on the main land and in the insulated rock correspond in shape and colour: near the extremity of the neck of land a strong grouted wall has been built across the point from sea to sea. The appearance of the whole indicates that the island was at one period attached to the main land, and was dissevered from it by some convulsion of nature. The name, Dunbriste, which signifies "the broken rock," confirms this supposition. It is a place of peculiar veneration; the people resorting to it do penance around several stone crosses on Good Friday, at which time a priest is in attendance. Rockfleet castle, a small square building on the shore, about three miles west of Newport, is said to have been built by the celebrated Grace O'Malley already mentioned, who was so singularly attached to the sea that all her castles were erected on the shore; and tradition states that when she slept on shore the cable of her own barge was always fastened to her bedpost. Ballylahen castle, in Gallen barony, was built by one of the Jordan or Dexter family, who also built ten others for his ten sons; they are all small square buildings with very few contracted windows, a description applicable to most of the castellated structures which are numerously scattered throughout the county. Inver castle, on the eastern side of Broad-haven, was the principal fortress in Erris, and seems to have been a structure of great extent and strength; many ruins of inferior note are to be seen in this barony. The castle of Ballinglen, built in a valley of the same name in Tyrawley, has on its top an altar, which gives to that part of the building the name of the altar-room. Deel castle, built by the Burke family, stands roofed and entire within four miles of Ballina, on the estate of the late Col. Cuff. In Castle island, in Lough Conn, are the ruins of a fort in which O'Conor is said to have confined his brother, after depriving him of sight, for having rebelled against him. Portnakally castle, about a mile from Downpatrick, is remarkable only for the total want of windows, although the walls yet standing are upwards of twenty feet high. The other remains of castles are not marked by any features sufficiently important to entitle them to particular notice; they were chiefly built by the Burkes, the Barretts, and the Jennings. The modern mansions of the nobility and gentry are noticed in their respective parishes.
The condition and appearance of the peasantry differ much in different parts. In the districts about Westport and Newport the people were formerly in comfortable circumstances, uniting the occupations of farmer, weaver, and fisherman; but for several years the change in their circumstances for the worse has been very great, which has been attributed to the decline in the linen trade, the subdivision of farms, and early and improvident marriages. The peasantry, particularly in the pasturing districts, where extensive farms are held in common, live in villages; detached cabins are sometimes to be met with; their habitations are built in some parts of uncemented stone, in others of sods or mud, on a stone foundation; they are roofed chiefly with bog timber, which is never of sufficient size to furnish rafters except for the smallest cabins: the price of foreign timber prevents its general use. Their cabins hence have an appearance even more miserable than those in other parts of Ireland. In the mountainous districts, and on the borders of the bog, the habitations are peculiarly wretched, indicating the greatest poverty. In Gallen the houses are built of dry walls dashed with mortar, and have generally a chimney and two partitions, besides a recess called a hag, sunk in the side wall opposite the fire, which contains a bed, and is screened by a straw mat hung up for a curtain. The fuel is universally turf; the food, potatoes, oaten bread, milk, and herrings; and the clothing, chiefly a dark-coloured frieze manufactured by themselves, with thicksets and cotton occasionally. The women were formerly clothed in home-made stuffs, flannels, and friezes, and, like those of Galway, the short jacket and petticoat was of red flannel or frieze; the jacket has in most instances given way to a cotton gown, but the deep crimson petticoat is still worn throughout the greater part of the county. The Irish language is generally spoken by the old inhabitants, but young people almost everywhere speak English, and many of the children, even in the mountain districts and along the sea shore, are unacquainted with the Irish language. Every village has its code of laws established by the inhabitants: differences which cannot be accommodated in this manner were referred to the proprietor of the estate, or his agent; but now they are generally carried to the sessions; this rude system of village law is said to give rise to much strife and pertinacious litigation. A place is shewn near Dunmore town, in Addergoole parish, where, after a violent fall of rain accompanied with a dreadful and unusual noise, the workmen at a turbary perceived the bog, to the extent of ten acres, floating after them till it spread over a piece of low pasture which it entirely covered to the extent of thirty acres. Mayo gives the titles of Earl and Viscount to the Burke family.
MAYO, a parish, partly in the barony of KILMAINE, but chiefly in that of CLANMORRIS, county of MAYO, and province of CONNAUGHT, 6 miles (N. by E.) from Hollymount, on the road from Ballinrobe to Claremorris; containing 3121 inhabitants. Here was formerly a town of some note, famous for its university. St. Colman, having resigned the Benedictine cell of Lindisfarne, in Northumberland, and returned into Ireland, A.D. 665, founded an abbey here, in which he placed some English monks who accompanied him, from whom it was called Magio-na-Sasson, or "Mayo of the English, or Saxons." St. Gerald and St. Adamnan severally succeeded St. Colman in the abbacy; and St. Segretia, the sister of St. Gerald, presided over a nunnery here. The abbey was destroyed by lightning in 778, burned by the Danes in 818, 908, and 1169, and plundered in 1204 by William de Burgo: at the dissolution its possessions were granted to the burgesses of Galway. The parish comprises 11,467 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £6249 per annum. The land is of very good quality, though under an inferior system of tillage, and there is good pasturage for sheep: several bogs are being reclaimed. There are many limestone quarries of a good description. A fair is held at Brize, on Aug. 11th, for horses, cows, and sheep. The principal seats are Browne Hall, the occasional residence of Lord Oranmore; Brize, the residence of A. Coghlan, Esq.; and the glebe-house, of the Rev. T. Townsend. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Tuam, and in the patronage of the Archbishop: the tithes amount to £240. The glebe-house was erected, in 1826, at an expense of £830 late currency, of which £461. 10. 9 1/4. was a loan, and £92. 6. 1 3/4. a gift, from the late Board of First Fruits; the glebe comprises 25 acres, valued at £37. 10. per annum. The church is a small plain edifice, built about the year 1811, at a cost of £553. 16. 11., a gift from the same Board. The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church; the chapel is near the ruins of the old monastery. Four private schools afford instruction to about 190 children. Here are three ancient castles where human bones are frequently dug up. The once celebrated abbey evinces, by its ruins, its former splendour. According to tradition, Alfred the Great was educated, and one of his sons buried here. There are curious remains of ancient intrenchments.
MEATH, a maritime county of the province of LEINSTER, bounded on the east by Dublin and the Irish Sea; on the north by Louth, Monaghan, and Cavan; on the west by Westmeath; and on the south by the King's county, Kildare, and Dublin. It extends from 53° 23' to 53° 55' (N. Lat.), and from 6° 13' to 7° 19' (W. Lon.); and comprises an area, according to the Ordnance survey, of 567,127 statute acres, of which 561,527 are cultivated land, and 5600 unimproved mountain and bog. The population, in 1821, amounted to 159,183; and in 1831, to 176,826.
The Eblani, whose territory also extended over Dublin and Kildare, are mentioned by Ptolemy as being settled in this county. According to the native divisions it formed part of one of the five kingdoms into which Ireland was partitioned, and was known by the name of Mithe, Methe, Media or Midia, perhaps from its central situation. Other writers, however, derive its name from the Irish Maith or Magh, a "plain," or "level country," a derivation indicative of its natural character. It was afterwards divided into two parts, Oireamhoin, or "the eastern country," which comprehended the portion now known by the name of Meath; and Eireamhoin, or "the western country," comprehending the present counties of Westmeath and Longford, with parts of Cavan, Kildare, and the King's county. The prince of East Meath was O'Nial, hereditary chieftain of Caelman or Clancolman, who is distinguished in the native annals by the name of the southern O'Nial. The district surrounding the hill of Taragh was originally called Magh-Breagh. On this hill, called also Teamor, from Teaghmor, "the great house," was held the general assembly of the states of the kingdom, which met triennially, from a very early period to the end of the sixth century. Here was preserved the Labheireg, or "stone of destiny," on which the monarchs of Ireland were placed at their inauguration, and which, after having been removed to Scotland, was carried away by Edw. I., among the other trophies of his victory, to Westminster, where it still remains. From this hill, which St. Patrick chose as the most appropriate place for promulgating the object of his mission, the Christian religion spread itself rapidly over every part of the island. The numerous religious institutions founded by that apostle and his immediate disciples throughout the surrounding districts, attest the rapid progress and permanence of the new doctrine. This part of Ireland suffered severely by the invasions of the Danes. In 838, Turgesius, king of that nation, sailed up the Boyne, and after making the country the scene of unexampled devastation, in which the persons and property of the Christian clergy were principal objects of persecution, he fixed here his seat of government. The erection of the numerous raths scattered over the county is attributed to him and his followers; one of them, of peculiar extent and strength, in the immediate neighbourhood of Taragh, is said to have been his chief place of residence. After his assassination by Melaghlin, king of Meath, the Danes who escaped a similar fate, after a continued struggle for more than a century, were totally defeated at Taragh in 980. Yet the frequent destruction of monasteries and towns recorded in the annals of the religious houses afford melancholy proof that, though unable to regain their former dominion, this ferocious and warlike people were powerful enough to disturb the tranquillity of the country by their frequent predatory incursions.
After the arrival of the English, Hen. II. granted to Hugh de Lacy the whole of the ancient kingdom of Meath, to hold by the service of 50 knights. De Lacy shortly afterwards divided the greater portion of this princely grant among his principal followers, giving to Gilbert Nangle the territory of Morgallion; to Jocelyn, son of Gilbert, Navan, Ardbraccan, and their dependencies; to Adam Pheipo, the district and manor of Skreen; to Robert Misset, the lands of Lune; and to Gilbert Fitz-Thomas, Kells. From these grants, and from their first possessors having been created barons by the lord of the palatinate, who exercised the rights of sovereignty, the divisions were called baronies, which term ultimately became the general name for the great divisions of counties. The new occupants were not permitted to enjoy undisturbed the possessions thus acquired. Roderic O'Conor, King of Ireland, at the head of a large army, suddenly entered Meath, and laid siege to Trim, which was saved by the rapid approach of Raymond le Gros, then celebrating his marriage with Strongbow's sister in Wexford. The county also suffered about the same time from the incursions of the Irish of Ulster, and from an invasion of Melaghlin, King of Meath, who took and demolished Slane Castle, after its governor, Richard Fleming, had been killed in its defence. On the death of Hugh de Lacy, who was assassinated at Dermagh or Durrow, in the King's county, by one of his own dependants, Meath descended to his son Walter. King John spent some time in this county during his abode in Ireland, and tradition says that he held a parliament at Trim, which is very doubtful, as there are no traces of its proceedings. A tomb in which one of this king's daughters is said to have been interred was shewn in the abbey of Newtown, near Trim. About the year 1220, Meath was almost ruined by the private quarrels of Hugh, Earl of Ulster, and William Marshall. Walter de Lacy having died in 1234 without male issue, his princely possessions descended to his two daughters, the wives of Geoffrey de Geneville and Theobald Verdun. In the reign of Henry VIII., the extensive church property in the county fell into the hands of the king on the dissolution of the monasteries; and towards the close of the same reign Con O'Nial, King or Prince of Ulster, invaded Meath and pillaged and burned Navan in his progress; to prevent a recurrence of this calamity a cess of 3s, 4d. was laid on every ploughland in the county, to be applied towards enclosing Navan with a wall. In the 34th year of the same king's reign, the division of the county into Meath and Westmeath took place. During the reign of Elizabeth the county was in a state of great wretchedness and destitution, as appears from the report made by Sir Henry Sidney, in 1576, in which he says "that, of the 224 parish churches then in the diocese, the walls of many had fallen; very few chancels were covered, and the windows and doors were spoiled. Fifty-two of these churches, which had vicars endowed, were better maintained and served than the others, yet but badly: 52 of the residue, which belonged to particular lords, though in a better state, were far from well." In the year 1798 a large body of insurgents, who had posted themselves on the hill of Taragh, were routed with considerable loss by a detachment of the King's troops and yeomanry.
The county is partly in the diocese of Armagh, partly in that of Kilmore, but chiefly in that of Meath. For purposes of civil jurisdiction it is divided into the baronies of Upper Deece, Lower Deece, Demifore, Upper Duleek, Lower Duleek, Dunboyne, Upper Kells, Lower Kells, Lune, Morgallion, Upper Moyfenrath, Lower Moyfenrath, Upper Navan, Lower Navan, Ratoath, Skreen, Upper Slane, and Lower Slane. It contains the disfranchised borough, market, assize, and post-town of Trim; the disfranchised borough of Duleek; the disfranchised boroughs, market, and post-towns of Kells, Navan, and Athboy; the market and post-town of Slane; and the post-towns of Ashbourne, Clonard, Clonee, Crossakeel, Dunshaughlin, Enfield, Nobber,and Oldcastle. The principal villages are Carlanstown, Dunboyne, Mornington, Ratoath, and Rathmolion. The county sent 14 members to the Irish parliament, two for the county, and two for each of the boroughs of Athboy, Duleek, Kells, Navan, Ratoath, and Trim. Since the Union its representation has been confined to the two members for the county: the election is held at Trim. The constituency, as registered at the close of Hilary sessions, 1836, was 581 £50, 260 £20, and 781 £10 freeholders; and 48 £20 and 198 £10 leaseholders; making a total of 1868 registered electors. It is included in the Home circuit: the assizes are held at Trim, in which town the county gaol and court-house are situated; and there are sessions-houses and bridewells at Navan, Kells, and Dunshaughlin. The Easter and October general quarter sessions are held at the two latter towns, and the Hilary and Midsummer sessions at Trim and Navan. The local government is vested in a lieutenant, 19 deputy-lieutenants, and 105 other magistrates, aided by the usual county officers, including two coroners. The district lunatic asylum is in Dublin; the county infirmary at Navan; there are fever hospitals at Kells and Navan; and dispensaries at Crossakeel, Oldcastle, Clonard, Moynalty, Raddingstown, Kentstown, Stamullen, Trim, Maher, Duleek, Kells, Balliver, Julianstown, Athboy, Dunboyne, Slane, Agher, Kilmainham Wood, Drumconrath, Wilkinstown, Kilmore, and Skreen. There are 46 constabulary police stations, having in the whole a force of an inspector, a paymaster, a stipendiary magistrate, 7 officers, 54 constables, 279 sub-constables, and 9 horses. There are two coast-guard stations belonging to the S words district; one at the, mouth of the Boyne, the other on the Nanny water. The amount of Grand Jury presentments for 1835 was £25,783. 4. 3 1/2., of which £475. 16. 10 1/2. was for the roads, bridges, &c., of the county at large; £9475. 17. 2 1/2. for the roads, bridges, &c., of the several baronies; £7914. 8. 10. for public buildings, charities, officers' salaries and incidents; £6280. 5. 11 1/2 for the police, and £1636. 15. 5. for repayment of advances from Government. In the military arrangements the county is included in the eastern district, and contains three barrack stations, one for cavalry at Navan, and two for infantry at Trim and New Inn; affording in the whole accommodation for seven officers, 163 non-commissioned officers and men, and 50 horses.
From the level aspect which the general surface exhibits the only considerable elevations being the hills of Loughcrew in the western extremity of the county, there is not much romantic scenery; yet many parts, particularly in the vicinity of the larger rivers, present prospects of tranquil beauty. The small part of the county which borders on the sea, between the mouth of the Boyne and the Delvan, contributes as little to its scenic beauties as to its commercial advantage; the character of the line of coast being that of a shelving strand, with little depth of water and no opening adequate to admit large vessels. The prevailing character of the soil is a deep rich loam, resting on a substratum of limestone, and the earth has been found, at the depth of four feet, in many places, equal in quality to that on the surface; so that when the farmer finds his fields beginning to be unproductive, he has only to plough somewhat deeper, and turn up a proportion of mould previously untouched. In the undulating districts the soil is a light earth upon a stiff clay bottom, beneath which a vein of limestone gravel of irregular depth is frequently discovered; but otherwise an impervious substratum of ochreous clay runs to a considerable depth. In the northern part the soil on the hills is generally a dry gravelly clay, from 12 to 18 inches deep, but in the intervening valleys there is a deep rich loam. The herbage of the hills is remarkable for fattening sheep, and that of the low lands equally noted for feeding cattle. The district stretching along the shore is composed of a very light soil chiefly of sand, with little vegetative power, and yielding little but bent grass. The quantity of bog is small in proportion to that of the general surface, and very unequally distributed. Lough Sheelin forms a small part of the county boundary towards Cavan; Church Island in that lake belongs to Meath. The Blackwater opens out into a fine expanse of water near Kells.
Farms are of every size from 2 acres to 3000: the small holders generally keep their land in tillage, and even many of the largest farms have but little meadow or pasture: yet, there are many large grazing farms, and some of the proprietors consider pasturage to be the most profitable system of agriculture. On the banks of the Boyne and Blackwater, the land is mostly in demesne or pasture; to the east of Navan, most of the land is under tillage, and toward the western border of the county it is nearly if not altogether so. The farmers who hold from 50 to 100 acres are a very industrious class, working harder and faring little better than the common labourer. In the treatment of the soil the general principle, arising from the great depth of vegetable mould, is, that the deepest ploughing is the best tillage: the turning up of fresh earth possessing vegetative powers hitherto dormant is deemed to act as powerfully as the application of manure on the surface. This process, to be effective, must be done by degrees, not turning up the utmost depth to the surface at once, but penetrating deeper from year to year, so as to allow the new earth to be gradually and moderately blended with that already subjected to cultivation. Instances have occurred of the luxuriance of the soil being so great that the labour and expense employed upon the first few crops was useless, the plant running wholly into straw and lodging: the same richness produces an abundance of weeds, so that he who keeps his land most free, and at the same time friable and pulverised, is deemed the best farmer, and most of them proceed no farther in the improvement of their grounds. A summer fallow is considered absolutely necessary, at stated periods, to eradicate weeds effectually, every attempt to cleanse the ground by green crops proving utterly inefficient.
The succession of crops for rich ground is potatoes for two seasons, followed by three crops of oats, and after a season's fallow, wheat for one crop, again followed by three crops of oats and a fallow: when land has been exhausted by bad management, the fallow is resorted to every fourth year. The crops commonly cultivated are, wheat, oats, barley, bere, rye, clover, flax, and potatoes. Considerable benefit is thought to arise from a change of seed even between neighbouring baronies; and the use of a pickle either of water saturated with salt, of chamber-lye, or of quicklime and water mixed thinly together, is universally deemed essential to the securing of the expected wheat crop. Flax is generally sown in small patches for domestic use, but seldom cultivated largely for sale. The crops less common are turnips, vetches, rape, peas (both grey and white), beans, cabbage, and a little chicory. Turnips are only met with on the farms of gentlemen who unite tillage with grazing, and are sown mostly for feeding sheep. The culture of vetches has been long partially practised, particularly in the neighbourhood of Drogheda, being chiefly used as winter-feeding for the working horses, for which purpose they are cut before the plant is quite ripe, and made up and given as hay. Grey peas have also been sown for many years, throughout the county, upon poor gravelly soils and sometimes upon clay: they are invariably allowed to run to seed, and then pulled with a crooked stick, bound in sheaves, and housed when dry, to be either threshed at leisure and the straw used as litter, or given to horses without being threshed, particularly in those parts where meadow is scarce. The barony of Duleek is almost the only district in which beans form part of the staple crop, and even there they are raised in small quantities only. Cabbages, chiefly the large flat Dutch, are found to succeed well; but the expense of transplanting and the difficulty of protecting them from depredations have excited great prejudice against their general introduction.
The quantity of land applied to green crops and artificial grasses is comparatively small, in consequence of the vast tracts of natural grasses of the most productive kind; the depth and richness of the soil, and its tendency to moisture without being absolutely wet, causing it to throw up a sward of nourishing verdure unequalled in other parts; hence it is that grazing is so generally followed. All the old pastures produce natural grasses of the best kinds: graziers seldom direct their attention to procuring artificial kinds, from an impression that after three years the land will revert to its natural coating, though covered with other kinds when laid down. The dry warm gravelly soils spontaneously throw up a luxuriant herbage of white clover, and lands of a clayey nature, when drained and manured with limestone gravel, exhibit a similar tendency. As cattle are considered to thrive best on grounds that produce the greatest variety of grasses, the main object of the farmer, when about to lay down land, is to procure the greatest variety of seeds of the best quality; others sow white and red clover mixed in equal quantities, without any hay-seed, from an opinion that the land thus treated will throw up its natural grasses more luxuriantly the third or fourth year, than if sown with hay-seed. The marshes of Rosmin and Emla, on the Borora, are the only wet lands of sufficient extent to claim special notice, though there are others of smaller size scattered through the county, which, being mostly improved by draining, are chiefly applied to rearing young cattle. Those of Rosmin and Emla are nearly in a state of nature, and are covered with water during winter from the overflowing of the river: in summer they throw up an immense crop of grass, which is greedily consumed by horses. The land held by small farmers is badly fenced, but on the lands of the gentry and large farmers, the fences are formed of quicksets after the English method. From ten to twelve years after being first made, the hedge is either cut down or plashed and laid. Wall fences are very rare, though stone-faced ditches are not uncommon. The kinds of manure in most common use are stable dung, ditch-scourings, limestone gravel, marl, and lime. Meadows are manured either immediately after being mown or during the frosts of winter. Coal ashes are used as a top-dressing on clay meadows with good effect, as also are marl and limestone gravel. Much attention is paid to the breed of black cattle both for the butcher and the dairy; the art of fattening cattle is an object of principal attention with most farmers. Early in May the graziers open their pastures for the stock to be fattened; for feeding is their principal object, as land bears too high a rent to admit of its being applied to raise stock: the cattle, after being bled, are turned out till they become fit for the butcher, when they are sent to the Dublin market, or sold at the neighbouring fairs. There are several graziers who fatten from 300 to 500 cows during the season, besides bullocks and sheep. A few sheep, generally pets, are occasionally pastured among the neat cattle, but the practice is condemned as injuring the "proof" of the beast, because sheep devour the sweetest grass, and it is the ultimate object of the grazier to obtain a character for fattening proof beasts that will "do well," a term applied by butchers to animals possessing a considerable quantity of inward fat. Beasts purchased in May are often fattened and sold before Christmas, otherwise they are fed during winter with turnips, potatoes, and hay. Where distilleries are near, the bullocks are fattened on the potale and grains: these animals attain an uncommon degree of fatness, and are preferred by the butchers on account of their superior weight in proportion to their size; but their beef, though juicy, is not well-flavoured: it eats dry, and the fat melts before the fire or in the pickling tub. There are a few dairies of considerable extent, but the butter made in them is held in little estimation. Most of the farmers who occupy from 80 to 100 acres keep a few milch cows, the produce of which, after supplying the family, is sold; yet, from the want of nourishing green food in winter and spring, they cannot supply the market with milk and butter during the season they bear the highest price. Where potale can be procured, milk is plentiful but of inferior quality. Few calves are reared on these farms: those that are brought up are fed on new milk for the first fortnight, and then on hay water, thick milk, and other substitutes. The draught horses most prized are of a light, active, yet stout breed, being a cross between the saddle and waggon horse: the number kept for agricultural purposes is in the proportion of one to ten acres. Most of the saddle horses are brought hither from Roscommon, Galway, and Sligo. Little attention is paid to the breeding of sheep. Pigs are not so general as in most other counties. Orchards and gardens are seen around some of the smaller farm-houses and cabins. Bees are kept in large numbers in several districts, and poultry is most abundant and cheap.
Though the quantity of natural wood is very small, ground being considered too valuable for the purposes of grazing or tillage to he enclosed for woodland, yet the plantations about noblemen's and gentlemen's seats are very extensive. The old woods around Bective, Lismullen, and Ardbraccan are very large and valuable: and from the numerous ornamental plantations throughout every part of the county except the west, and from the number of timber trees planted as hedge-rows, the country in general has a very furnished appearance, much resembling the county of Worcester or Hereford in England. Oak timber is scarce; hut beech, elm, ash, poplar, sycamore, and alder are so abundant that, after supplying the local demand, much is sent to other counties: there are several nurseries of considerable extent and many osieries of from two to ten acres each, the produce of which is mostly worked at home and the remainder is bought by the Dublin basket-makers. The quantity of waste ground in this county is extremely small. Commons are in general attached to the corporate towns for the use of the inhabitants. In consequence of the small quantity of bog compared with the extent and population of the county, fuel is extremely scarce, and the poor suffer much from the want of it. Some large proprietors, in order to relieve their tenants and to prevent depredations upon their fences and plantations, are particularly careful to have their ditches sown with French furze. The deficiency of fuel is also supplied by the importation of coal, chiefly from Drogheda, by the Boyne navigation. In the neighbourhood of that town,and along the line of navigation, the labourer often stipulates for a ton of coal in part payment, and, when near bogs, the turf is sometimes drawn home for him by his employer.
The county forms part of the great limestone field of Ireland, that mineral constituting its general substratum, except in its northern part, where the clay-slate formation is found; in the western, where basalt is found mixed with the clay-slate, in some places rising in bare rocks, in others scattered over the surface in detached masses; and on the line of sea-coast, which is formed of transition rock. At Ardbraccan the limestone is of a fine white grain, capable of being worked into any form. The beds lie horizontally, and are of considerable thickness: the stone is susceptible of a high polish, assuming a grey tinge when finished, though appearing white under the chisel: tombstones and doorcases made of it are sent to a great distance. The seam of rock extends to the Blackwater, but the quarries opened in other parts do not afford blocks of such scantling as at Ardbraccan. The works are also much impeded by the difficulty of keeping the quarries free from water. In Slane barony there is a fine quarry of vitrescent stone, which makes excellent flagstones, but does not take a high polish. It has been conjectured that coal exists in the same barony, in consequence of the appearances that present themselves where the edges of mineral strata are laid open by the washing away of the surface soil; but the position of the layers presents difficulties that have hitherto prevented the search from being prosecuted with any prospect of success. A vein of copper has been found near the banks of the Boyne, the analysis of which gave 21 parts of copper from 120 of ore; but the difficulty of keeping the workings clear of water has prevented it from being profitably explored. At Knock, in Morgallion barony, is an argillaceous clay containing a portion of iron, and adapted for the coarser kinds of earthenware; and there is a vein of potters' clay, of superior quality, at Dunshaughlin. Petrifactions are found in the caverns and fissures of the limestone districts, and some very brilliant spars and crystals in the Nanny water, particularly near the Diamond rock. Fossils of various kinds have also been discovered in the limestone caverns and in several of the small bogs. The fossil remains of moose deer were discovered a few miles from Kells, imbedded in marl beneath a bog, within an enclosure of circular form, which is conjectured to have been used for entrapping the animals: the remains were very numerous. Three heads of deer with uncommonly large horns were also found imbedded in the earth at Dardistown; they are supposed to have belonged to animals of the moose deer kind.
The manufactures of the county are small and unimportant, except for domestic consumption. The weaving of sacking and sheeting employs a good many hands, particularly on the borders of the county towards Drogheda; the yarn is mostly brought from the northern counties. Near Navan is a mill for the manufacture of coarse paper; the straw plat and bonnet trade is carried on more or less in the principal towns; coarse pottery, bricks, flat and pan tiles, &c., are made in and around Knock; there are tanneries in all the larger towns; flour-mills on a very large scale are numerous on the Boyne and Blackwater, where vast quantities of flour are annually manufactured; there are distilleries and breweries in Navan and other places; cider is made, but of inferior quality.
The principal river is the Boyne, which, rising in the county of Kildare, enters that of Meath at Clonard, and flowing eastward divides it into two nearly equal parts, passing in its course, which is by no means rapid, through some very beautiful sylvan scenery. Its estuary forms the harbour of Drogheda, above which town its navigation is carried on sometimes in the bed of the river, and sometimes by artificial cuts, to Slane, and thence up to Navan, which is 15 miles above Drogheda. The Blackwater, next in size and importance, rises in Lough Ramor in Cavan, and flowing by Kells unites with the Boyne at Navan. The Athboy, Knightsbrook, and Kilmessin are all tributaries to the Boyne, as is also the Mattock, which is the boundary between Louth and Meath; the Borora is tributary to the Blackwater; the Nanny water, rising near Navan, takes an eastern course through the romantic glen at Diamond rock, and thence to the sea; the Delvan, which separates the counties of Dublin and Meath, is a small and otherwise insignificant stream.
The most remarkable relics of antiquity of the earliest ages are two ancient round towers, one at Kells, and another in the churchyard of Donoughmore near Navan. At New Grange, near Slane, is a very remarkable tumulus, in which is an artificial cavern of some extent and singular construction. Near Dowth are a Druidical circle and the remains of a cromlech. Vestiges of Danish monuments are very numerous; the most remarkable is a rath near Taragh, supposed to have been the residence of the Danish king, Turgesius; the raths of Odder, Rameven and Ringlestown, are in the same neighbourhood: they have all been planted. Six of the ancient instruments called corabasnas were found by persons digging in a park near Slane, in 1781: the corabasna was of a complex form, consisting of two circular plates of brass connected by a spiral wire, which produced a jingling noise when the plates were struck by the fingers; it was used for the purpose of keeping time. Two splendid torques of pure gold were found near Taragh, in 1813, and are now in the possession of the Duke of Sussex. Bracelets or collars, being solid rings of pure gold of very ancient and rude workmanship, were found near Trimleston Castle, in 1833; the largest weighed 12 ounces avoirdupois. The ruins of abbeys, priories, convents, and other monastic edifices, are numerous through every part of the county, and still more numerous are the names of others now only discoverable by some local name, or traceable in historic records. The ruins of the old monastery of Duleek, said to be the first monastic edifice built of stone and mortar in Ireland, presents some curious and extraordinary traces of rude architecture. At Bective are extensive and picturesque ruins of the wealthy abbey of that name; at Clonard was an abbey of Canons Regular, a convent, and also a cathedral, but nothing now remains except the font of the latter; at Colpe, Newtown, Slane, and Trim, were also abbeys of Canons Regular, all now in ruins; at Killeen and Kilmainham Wood were commanderies of Knights Hospitallers; at Ratoath and Skreen were priories of the Augustinian Eremites; at Eirk, near Slane, was an hermitage; at Trim a priory of Crutched friars ;on the Holy or Church island, in Lough Sheelin, was an abbey of Grey friars; Kilmainham-beg and Teltown belonged to the Dominicans; all have long since fallen into ruins. The monasteries of which no ruins remain are those of Ardbraccan, Ardceath, Ardmulchan, Ardsallagh, Athboy, Ballybogan, Beaumore near Colpe, Beaubeg, Calliagh, Cloonmanan, Disert-tola, Donaghmore, Donneycarney near Colpe, Donoughpatrick, a priory of the Virgin Mary and the Magdalen Hospital at Duleek; abbeys at Dunshaughlin, and Indenen near Slane; a house of Regular Canons, an hospital of St. John the Baptist, and a chantry, all at Kells; a house of Regular Canons and a nunnery at Killeen; an abbey at Navan, on the site of which the cavalry barrack is now built; priories at Odder and Rosse, south of Taragh; an abbey of Regular Canons and a chantry at Skreen; a monastery of Grey Friars, on the site of which the sessions-house at Trim stands; a nunnery, a Greek church, and a chantry at Trim; Dominican friaries at Kilberry, Lismullen, and Dunshaughlin; besides several others now existing only in name. Columbkill's house, a stone-roofed cell, said to be one of the oldest stone-built houses in Ireland, is still traceable at Kells; in which town there are also several stone crosses, one in particular of beautiful workmanship. In the cemetery at Castlekieran, in which are the ruins of a small church, is also a very fine stone cross richly sculptured.
The county also retains many remains of its ancient military structures, of which the most celebrated in the records of remote antiquity is Taragh, already noticed. Whatever may have been its ancient splendour, as set forth in the poetry of the native bards and in the chronicles of annalists, little now is discoverable corresponding with their highly wrought descriptions. Considerable remains of circular earthworks still exist, but of the palaces and places of scientific study said to have been situated here, there are no traces. The oldest fortress upon record erected after the arrival of the English was that of Kells, built by de Lacy, but of which there are now no vestiges: the same nobleman built the castles of Clonard, Killeen, and Delvin; and the erection of Trim castle is attributed by some to him, but it is more generally thought to have been raised about the year 1220 by one of the Pypart family: its extent and strength, as indicated by its ruins even at the present day, prove that it was designed to be a position of primary importance for the defence of the palatinate; and from the date of its erection to the termination of the war of King William III., its destinies are interwoven with many of the historical events of the times: the ruins overhang the Boyne, presenting an aspect of much grandeur. The other ancient castles of which the ruins are still considerable were those of Scurlogstown, Dunmoe, Athlumney, and Asigh. Liscartin and Athcarne castles have been fitted up as residences; and several other ancient castles have been preserved by being converted into mansion-houses, among the finest of which is Slane, the property of Marquess Conyngham, and celebrated as being the abode of Geo. IV. during the greater part of his stay in Ireland in 1821. Contiguous to it, but on the other side of the Boyne, is Beaupark, the modern and elegant seat of Gustavus Lambert, Esq.: the two demesnes are so connected in their locality that each enjoys the full benefit of the scenic beauties peculiar to the other. The modern mansions of the nobility and gentry are noticed in the description of the parishes in which they are respectively situated. The residences of the gentry of small landed property and of the beneficed clergy are numerous and indicative of a high state of improvement. Until of late years the houses of the proprietors and of the cultivators of the soil exhibited a more marked disparity than could be seen in any other part of Ireland; the tenements of the working farmers who hold from 20 to 100 acres presented an appearance of great wretchedness, and the cabins of the labourers or cottiers were still more deficient of comfort; but this characteristic, though not entirely removed, has been considerably diminished by the improvement made in the dwellings. The lower classes suffer much from the want of fuel, which, as already remarked, is very scarce in many parts, and the low rates of wages prevent the possibility of providing a stock of sea coal to meet the exigencies of winter. Yet the peasantry in general are endowed with a disposition so well inclined to look on the bright points of the prospect before them, that under the depressing difficulties through which they have to struggle during life, they enjoy every momentary festivity with delight and animation. The English language is spoken throughout every part of the county, and the peasantry in some of the districts possess an originality nowhere else found in Ireland, particularly in the plains stretching from the boundary of Kildare near Maynooth, by Ratoath, Duleek, and to the banks of the Boyne, where a colony called the Fingael or Fingal settled in the 9th century, whose descendants to this day remain a distinct race, retaining many of the peculiar habits, manners, and customs of their forefathers. At Castlekieran is a remarkably fine spring, the origin of which tradition attributes to the miraculous powers of St. Kieran: it is much frequented on the first Sunday in August by persons seeking a remedy for various diseases. At Summerhill is a chalybeate spa, but not of much strength or medicinal efficacy. The waters of the mineral springs of Kilcriew and Nobber are said to be serviceable in obstinate cutaneous complaints. At Knock is another chalybeate spring, formerly in much estimation from its successful use in cases arising from debility; but the opinion of its efficacy has been for some time declining, and it is now but seldom visited. Meath gives the title of Earl to the Brabazon family.
MEATH (Diocese of). This diocese was originally formed by the union of several small sees, of which the principal were Clonard, Duleek, Kells, Trim, Ardbraccan, Dunshaughlin, Slane, and Foure, all of which, except Duleek and Kells, were consolidated at the celebrated synod held by Cardinal Paparo in 1152, and the episcopal seat fixed at Clonard. The sees of Duleek and Kells were afterwards annexed; and the united diocese, which took its name from the. ancient province of Meath, was placed under the superintendence of Idunan, who flourished towards the close of the 11th century. The first prelate after the English invasion was Eugene, who was advanced to the see in 1174, and a short time before his death, in 1194, assumed the title of Bishop of Meath, which has ever since been retained. Simon Rochfort, his immediate successor, founded an abbey for Augustinian canons at Newtown, near Trim, to which he removed the episcopal see, where it remained till the reign of Hen. VIII.; and Thos. St. Leger, who was consecrated in 1287, extended the possessions and the privileges of the diocese. Alexander de Balscot, who was consecrated in 1386, was appointed Lord High Treasurer of Ireland by Edw. III., and filled many important stations under Rich II.; his immediate successor, Edward Dantsey, was made Lord-Deputy to Sir John de Grey, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. John Pain, who was made bishop in 1483, preached the sermon and proclaimed the title of Lambert Simnel, at his coronation in Christ-church, Dublin, for which he received a pardon in 1488; and on the arrival of Sir Richard Edgecombe to settle the country after Simnel's defeat, he attended that officer on his landing at Malahide, and was employed by him to proclaim the king's pardon to all who should return to their allegiance. In the reign of Hen. VIII., the episcopal seat was removed to the church of St. Mary's abbey at Ballymore, near Lough Seudy, in the county of Westmeath, but it appears to have remained there for a short period only, and not to have been subsequently established in any particular locality, nor has there been for a long time either dean, chapter, or cathedral church. In 1568, the see of Clonmacnois was annexed to this diocese by act of parliament. In 1621, the celebrated James Ussher was consecrated Bishop of Meath, which dignity he held till 1624, when he was translated to the archbishoprick of Armagh. The bishop of Meath ranks next to the four archbishops; the other bishops, excepting only the bishop of Kildare, take precedence according to the date of their consecration.
The diocese is one of the ten which constitute the ecclesiastical province of Armagh, and comprehends part of the counties of Kildare, Longford, and Cavan, a large portion of King's county, and the greater part of the counties of Meath and Westmeath; extending from the sea to the river Shannon, 80 miles in length and 20 in breadth; comprising an estimated superficies of 663,600 acres, of which 750 are in Kildare, 4300 in Longford, 9400 in Cavan, 102,000 in King's county, 324,400 in Meath, and 222,750 in Westmeath. The lands belonging to the see comprise 29,269 statute acres, of which 20,266 are profitable land; and the gross revenue of the bishop, on an average of three years, ending Dec. 1st, 1831, amounted to £5220. 10. 6. The bishop was anciently elected, and the affairs of the diocese are still transacted, by a synod, consisting of an archdeacon and all the beneficed clergy of the diocese; the common seal is annually deposited in the hands of one of the members by vote of the majority; there is also a dean of Clonmacnois, collated by the bishop. The consistorial court is held at Navan, and consists of a vicar general, two surrogates, a registrar, deputy-registrar, a proctor of office, and three other proctors; the registrar is keeper of the records, which are preserved in the court-bouse of Navan, and of which the earliest is dated in 1712. The total number of parishes in the diocese is 220, comprised in 105 benefices, of which 47 are unions of two or more parishes, and 58 single parishes; of these, 24 are in the patronage of the Crown, 22 in lay patronage, and the remainder in that of the bishop or incumbents. The total number of churches is 100, and there are six other episcopal places of worship, and 89 glebe-houses. The episcopal palace is near Navan, in the parish of Ardbraccan.
In the R. C. divisions the diocese, with the exception of one parish in that of Kilmore and a few in that of Ardagh, is nearly co-extensive with the Protestant diocese; and is one of the eight bishopricks suffragan to the archiepiscopal see of Armagh. It comprises 64 parochial benefices or unions, and contains 156 chapels, which are served by 124 clergymen, of whom 64 are parish priests, and 60 coadjutors, or curates. The parochial benefices of the bishop are Mullingar and Kells, in the former of which he resides. The cathedral, at Mullingar, is a handsome and spacious edifice, in the later English style, and was consecrated Aug. 15th, 1836, by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Cantwell, assisted by the R. C. Archbishop of Tuam and the dignitaries and clergy of the diocese.
MECASQUIN. -- See MACOSQUIN.
MEELICK, county of CLARE. -- See KILLELY.
MEELICK, a parish, in the barony of LONGFORD, county of GALWAY, and province of CONNAUGHT, 2 1/4 miles (S. E.) from Eyrecourt; containing 1643 inhabitants. This parish, which is also called Milick, is situated on the river Shannon, and comprises 3404 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act. O'Madden, dynast of the adjacent country, founded a monastery here for conventual friars on a beautiful site surrounded in winter by the outspreading waters of the Shannon. In 1203, William de Burgo made it a garrison for his troops; and at the dissolution it was granted to Sir John King, who assigned it to the Earl of Clanrickarde. In the village is a station of the constabulary police. It is in the diocese of Clonfert; the rectory is partly appropriate to the see, and partly to the archdeaconry; and the vicarage forms part of the union of Dononaughta. The tithes amount to £97. 16. 11 1/4., of which £27. 13. 10 1/4. is payable to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, £33. 4. 7 1/2. to the archdeacon, and the remainder to the vicar. In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of Eyrecourt; there is a convent of Franciscans, with a chapel attached, which is open to the public.
MEELICK, a parish, in the barony of GALLEN, county of MAYO, and province of CONNAUGHT, 4 miles (N. W.) from Swinford, on the road to Castlebar; containing 3493 inhabitants. This parish is bounded by the river Moy on the north-west, and by the Geesten on the south-west, and comprises 7843 statute acres of good arable and pasture land, with some bog. The land is principally in tillage, and the system of agriculture improving. Here is a coal mine, not worked at present; there are very fine stone quarries, the produce of which is used both for building and repairing the roads. The principal seats are Oldcastle, the residence of J. Bolingbroke, Esq.; and Newcastle, of A. C. O'Malley, Esq. It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Achonry, forming part of the union of Kilconduff; the rectory is impropriate in the representatives of the late Roger Palmer, Esq. The tithes amount to £246. 14. 7., one-half of which is payable to the impropriator, and the other to the vicar. In the R. C. divisions it is part of the union or district of Kilconduff; the chapel was built in 1835, on an acre of ground given as a site by J. Bolingbroke, Esq.; attached to it is a school. There are two private schools, in which are about 700 children. The celebrated round tower of Meelick is perfect, with the exception of the roof, and is in a state of good preservation. In the Oldcastle demesne is a well, the water of which is impregnated with sulphur and iron, and is efficacious in scorbutic cases. Numerous gold and silver coins, of the reigns of the Edwards and Henrys, have been discovered here from time to time.
MEIGH, an ecclesiastical district, in the barony of UPPER ORIOR, county of ARMAGH, and province of ULSTER, 4 miles (S. W.) from Newry, on the road from Dublin to Belfast; containing 7164 inhabitants. This district was formed in 1830, by separating some townlands from the parish of Killevey. Agriculture is improving, and the waste land consists of bog or mountain, which is well adapted for the growth of trees. A great part of the mountain was planted by Jos. Foxall, Esq., who was the first to commence the improvements on Slieve Gullion, which are still being carried on to a great extent by Powell Foxall, Esq., who has formed a road halfway up the mountain, on an inclination of one in twenty feet. There are some quarries of a fine description of granite, also one of a hard flag-stone, which is used for building; and from the existence of very strong chalybeate springs it is supposed that iron might be found. There are two corn-mills, and some linen, diaper, frieze, and drugget are manufactured. Petty sessions are held on alternate Mondays. The principal seats are Killevey Castle, the residence of Powell Foxall, Esq.; Heath Hall, of J. Seaver, Esq.; Carrickbrede, of A. Johnston, Esq.; and Hawthorn Hill, of Hunt Walsh Chambre, Esq. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Armagh, and in the patronage of the Rector of Killevey, who receives the tithes of Meigh, which are included with those of Killevey: the curate's income is £75 per annum, paid by the rector. The church is a neat edifice, built of granite in the castellated style: it has a handsome porch, ornamented with minarets, and the battlements are coped with hewn stone; it was erected in 1831, at an expense of £1200, of which £900 was a gift from the late Board of First Fruits, and the rest was defrayed by subscriptions of the landed proprietors. In the R. C. divisions this district forms part of the two unions or districts of Meigh and Killevey, and has chapels at Cloghog, Drominter, and Ballinless. There are two schools under the Board of Education, a private school, and a dispensary. At the foot of Slieve Gullion are the extensive ruins of a nunnery, which is said to have been founded by St. Dareria, or Monenna, sister of St. Patrick, and abbess of Kilsleve, who died in 517; her festival is celebrated on the 6th of July. At the dissolution, it and the twelve surrounding townlands were granted to Sir Marmaduke Whitchurch, ancestor of the Seaver, Foxall, and Chambre families, who are now in possession of the lands of the manor of Kilsleve or Killevey. Near it is a cave, or subterraneous passage, communicating with the abbey.
MELINA. -- See MILLENAGH.
MELLIFONT, a parish, partly in the barony of UPPER SLANE, county of MEATH, and partly in that of FERRARD, county of LOUTH, and province of LEINSTER, 4 miles (N. W.) from Drogheda, near the road to Ardee, by way of Collon; containing, with the parish of Tullyallen, 3964 inhabitants. This place derived its chief celebrity from the foundation of a monastery in 1142, by Donough McCorvoill or Carrol, Prince of Uriel, for Cistercian monks sent over by St. Bernard from his abbey of Clairvaux, and of which Christian O'Conarchy, the first abbot, was, in 1150, consecrated Bishop of Lismore. In 1157 a great synod, at which the Archbishop of Armagh, then apostolic legate, and many princes and bishops were present, was held here for the consecration of the church, on which occasion, among numerous munificent benefactors, Devorghal, wife of Tiernan O'Rourk, Prince of Breffny, who afterwards died here in seclusion, presented 60 oz. of gold, a chalice of the same metal for the high altar, and furniture for nine other altars in the church. The ample endowments of the abbey were confirmed by charter of Hen. II., and by King John, who augmented its possessions; and in 1347 and 1349, Edw. III. greatly extended its possessions and privileges; he granted to the abbot the power of life and death within his territories, and the liberty of acquiring a burgage holding in the town of Drogheda, for the residence of the abbots during the sittings of parliament and other great councils. In 1471 and 1472, parliament disannulled the grants, rent-charges, annuities, leases and alienations made by the late Abbot John. In 1540, Richard Conter, the last abbot, resigned the monastery into the King's hands and received a pension of £40 per ann. for life. After the dissolution, the monastery and its revenues, at that time valued at £315. 19., were, on account of the difficulty of defending these possessions against the incursions of the native Irish, granted to Sir Gerald Moore, who converted the abbey into a baronial residence and place of defence. Though situated so near the border of the English pale, the place maintained itself in security against all the attacks of the Irish, till, in the war of 1641, it was besieged by a strong body of the insurgents, when the garrison, consisting only of 15 horse and 22 foot, made a vigorous defence, in which they killed 120 of the enemy, and on their ammunition being exhausted, forced their way through the besiegers and retreated to Drogheda in safety, with the exception of 11 men who were intercepted and put to the sword. The castle was plundered by the insurgents, who, taking advantage of the absence of Lord Moore with his troop of 66 horsemen for the protection of Drogheda, desolated the place and put the servants to death. Mellifont continued for some time after to be the chief residence of the Moore family, till the Earl of Drogheda removed to Monastereven, now Moore abbey, in the county of Kildare, since which time this once magnificent pile of building has become a heap of ruins.
The parish is situated in a beautiful small valley intersected by the Mattock rivulet, which flows into the Boyne; the land is fertile and in good cultivation. Near the ruins of the abbey is a large flour-mill, worked by water which flows under the ancient gateway, and turns four pairs of stones. It is an impropriate curacy, in the diocese of Armagh, forming part of the union of Tullyallen; the rectory is impropriate in the Marquess of Drogheda. In the R. C. divisions it is also part of the union or district of Tullyallen. The ruins of the ancient abbey, for which this parish is chiefly celebrated, consist principally of the lofty gateway leading into the area of the abbey grounds, and a massive square tower carried up on one side to a considerable height, and forming a strong protection against the frequent assaults to which the place was exposed; it is connected with the rock by a wall, affording entrance only through a low circular archway. Within the area are the elegant remains of St. Bernard's chapel, the splendid doorway of which, a highly enriched and deeply receding pointed arch in the most elaborate style of Norman embellishment, has been removed. The interior of the chapel is plainly groined with arches springing from columns on the side walls with ornamented capitals, and lighted with an east window of two lights, enriched with delicate tracery, and with three windows of similar design on each side. The baptistry, an octagonal building of great beauty, has only four of the walls remaining, each resting on an arch of graceful form and richly moulded; the roof is wanting, but within are the corbels on the walls from which the arches sprung for its support; above the roof of this building was a reservoir of water, from which every part of the monastery was supplied. There are also the foundations of a spacious quadrangular building, probably the cloisters; and near the summit of the hill is a large cemetery, with some remains of a church, apparently of a much later date; there are numerous fragments of richly sculptured pillars scattered over the site, and though these very interesting ruins afford but an imperfect idea of the original grandeur of this celebrated monastery, they present in their details many of the richest specimens of architectural embellishment to be found in any part of the country.
MENLOUGH, or MINLA, a village, in the parish of KILLASCOBE, barony of TYAQUIN, county of GALWAY, and province of CONNAUGHT, 3 1/2 miles (S. W.) from Castlebar, on the road from Monivae to Castle-Blakeney; containing 230 inhabitants. A market is held here, and black marble is found but not worked. The castle was lately destroyed by lightning, and is now in ruins.
MERRION (OLD), a village, in the parish of ST. MARY'S, DONNYBROOK, in the half-barony of RATHDOWN, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER, 3 miles (S. E. by S.) from the General Post-Office, Dublin: the population is returned with the parish. It is situated on the south side of the bay of Dublin, the strand of which is here crossed by the Dublin and Kingstown Railway. Here are several neat villas occupied during the summer months by visitors resorting hither for the benefit of sea-bathing, for which purpose the fine broad and firm strand at this place is well adapted; and in the immediate vicinity are several handsome seats, commanding fine views of the bay of Dublin. The principal are Elm Park, the residence of Joseph Watkins, Esq.; Bloomfield, of Thos. Ord Lees, Esq.; Merrion Castle, of Fras. Low, Esq.; and Merrion Hall, of R. Davis, Esq. In the vicinity are also the extensive nursery grounds of Messrs. Simpson, from the dwelling-house in the centre of which is obtained a fine view of the hill of Howth and the sea, and there is a pleasing drive through the grounds from the Rock road to the road to Donnybrook. In the demesne of Merrion Castle are the ivied ruins of the old castle from which it derives its name; and at the village is an old burial-ground, still generally used.
MEALIFFE. -- See MOYALIFFE.
MECKARKY. -- See MOYCARKEY.
MEVAGH, or MOYVAGH, a parish, in the barony of KILMACRENAN, county of DONEGAL, and province of ULSTER, 14 miles (N. by W.) from Letterkenny; containing 4794 inhabitants. This parish comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 21,026 1/2 statute acres, of which 382 1/2 are water, and 18,393 are applotted under the tithe act; the greater part of the land is poor, a small portion only being considered very good. There is a great quantity of bog and waste land; the latter consists of large tracts of sand thrown up by the sea. Lead has been discovered but is not at present worked. It is situated on Mulroy bay, and within its limits is the peninsula of Rossgul, bounded on the west by Sheephaven, on the north by the ocean, and on the east by the arm of the sea called Mulroy: in the centre this peninsula rises into great elevations, and near the shore presents a stunted verdure. The harbour of Mulroy, by the line of coast, is 5 miles to the west of Lough Swilly; it has water sufficient for the largest ships, and is well sheltered, but part of the channel is narrow and difficult. On the 14th of every month a fair is held in Glen; and petty sessions are held on alternate Saturdays. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Raphoe, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes amount to £375; the glebe, about two miles from the church, comprises 184 1/4 statute acres, valued at £30 per ann., of which 25 1/4 acres are arable, and the remainder rocky pasture and mountain, with the exception of 2 1/4 consisting of streets and commons. The church is in good repair; it was built about 160 years since. The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church: the chapel is a good slated building. About 230 children are educated in four public schools, of which the parochial school is aided by an annual donation from Col. Robertson's fund; and in three private schools are about 130 children: there are also three Sunday schools. At the time of Pynnar's survey, a strong bawn of lime and stone, sixty feet square, with flankers, stood here; and there were 23 British families, capable of mustering forty-two fighting men.
MEW ISLAND. -- See COPELAND ISLANDS.
MICHAEL'S (ST.), or TEMPLEMICHAEL,a parish, partly in the county of the city of CORK, but chiefly in the barony of BARRYMORE, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 5 miles (N.) from Cork, on the old road to Ballyhooly; containing 529 inhabitants. This parish comprises 2109 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act and valued at £755 per ann.; of these, 1305 acres are in the barony of Barrymore, and the remainder in the county of the city. The land is principally in tillage, and, though stony, produces good crops; there is neither bog nor waste land. The substratum is entirely clay-slate, and there are some quarries of hard compact stone used for building and for repairing the roads. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Cork, constituting the corps of the prebend of St. Michael in the cathedral of St. Finbarr, Cork, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the tithes amount to £129. 10.7. Divine service is performed at present in the school-house at Carrignavar, where a church is about to be built. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Glanmire, or Dunbollogue; the chapel, to which a school is attached, is a small plain edifice. The parochial school at Carrignavar is supported by J. McCarthy, Esq.
MICHAEL'S (ST.) a parish, in the barony of FORTH, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER; 6 miles (S. S. E.) from Wexford, on the road to Rosslare; containing 93 inhabitants. This small parish, which is situated on the southern extremity of Wexford Harbour, comprises only 564 1/2 statute acres, chiefly under an improved system of cultivation. Some of the inhabitants are engaged in the herring fishery during the season, this part of the harbour being frequented by boats from various places engaged in that pursuit. The only seat is Bushville, the residence of Chas. Jacob, Esq., the principal proprietor of the parish. It is an impropriate cure, in the diocese of Ferns, forming part of the union of Killinick: the rectory is impropriate in Caesar Colclough, Esq. Of the tithes, amounting to £27. 16. 6., two-thirds are payable to the impropriator, and the remainder to the curate. There are no remains of the church, but the old burial-ground is still used.
MICHAEL'S (ST.) of FEAGH, a parish, in the barony of FORTH, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, immediately without the walls of the town of Wexford; containing, with the parishes of Maudlintown and Killilogue, 2377 inhabitants. This small parish, which, as applotted under the tithe act, contains only 135 statute acres, forms the south-eastern suburb of the town, and is mostly occupied by fishermen and small shopkeepers. Within its limits is Cromwell's Fort, the northern extremity of a rugged tract called the White Rocks, whence Cromwell fired on the town in 1649: it is now being quarried and affords an abundant supply of good building stone. Immediately adjoining is the residence of the Rev. Zachariah Cornock, to which it gives name. The Wexford Barracks are also within the limits of the parish. It is an impropriate cure, in the diocese of Ferns, forming part of the union of St. Patrick's, Wexford: the rectory is impropriate in Caesar Colclough, Esq., of Tintern Abbey. The tithes amount to £11.9.9., of which £2.7. 0 is payable to the impropriator, and the remainder to the curate. In the R. C. divisions it is also in the union or district of Wexford. The ruins of the old church still remain.
MIDDLETOWN, a market-town and district parish, in the barony of TURANEY, county of ARMAGH, and province of ULSTER, 2 miles (S. S. W.) from Tynan, to which it has a penny-post, and on the high road from Armagh to Monaghan; containing 5145 inhabitants, of which number, 735 are in the town. This place owes its present prosperity to Dr. Sterne, a former bishop of Clogher, who in the latter part of the last century bequeathed the then village of Middletown, eight townlands in this parish, and five in the adjoining parish of Donagh, in the county of Monaghan, to trustees (incorporated by an act of the Irish parliament passed in 1772), who have expended considerable sums for the benefit of the tenantry in general, and in the erection of a market-house, school-house, dispensary, and fever hospital at Middletown. The town consists of two streets crossing each other at right angles, and contained, in 1831, 160 houses, which number has been since increased to 187: several of the houses are large and well built. An extensive distillery, with machinery on an improved principle, was established here in 1831, by Mr. Matthew Johnston: it produces annually about 80,000 gallons of whiskey, and consumes on an average 1500 barrels of malt, and 12,000 barrels of raw grain. The distillery has caused the establishment of markets for grain on Wednesday and Saturday, and there is a market on Thursday for provisions. Fairs are held on the first Thursday in each month, for horses, cattle, and pigs. Here is a station of the constabulary police, and petty sessions are held on alternate Wednesdays.
The district parish, which was formed in 1792, by disuniting 33 townlands from the parish of Tynan, comprises 7339 statute acres; it contains a considerable portion of bog, that supplies abundance of fuel; coal is supposed to exist, and there is a quarry of good stone, the produce of which is applied to building purposes. The land on one side of the town is low, flat, and marshy, and on the other hilly and tolerably good; and there are several lakes, which discharge their waters into that of Glaslough, in the county of Monaghan. The Ulster canal, now in progress from Lough Erne to Lough Neagh, will pass through the parish. The principal seats are Ashfort, the residence of H. Harris, Esq., and Chantilly, of the Rev. James Mauleverer. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Armagh, and in the patronage of the Rector of Tynan, who allows a stipend of £50 to the curate, together with the glebe, comprising 54 statute acres, and valued at £56. 5. 3. per annum. The glebe-house, a neat mansion called Chantilly, was built by aid of a gift of £450, and a loan of £50 from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1812. The church, a plain but commodious building, was erected in 1793. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms a separate district under the name of Upper Tynan: the chapel, a plain building, is at Ashfort, about a quarter of a mile from the town. There are two places of worship for Presbyterians of the Seceding Synod, one of the third class in the town, and one of the second class at Drumhillery. The school at Middle-town was founded in 1820, by the trustees of Bishop Sterne's charity, who have endowed it with about £70 per ann.; and the school at Drumhillery was built and is chiefly supported by the Earl of Caledon: in these, and in the parochial school at Crossdall, about 250 children are educated. There are also six private schools, containing about 160 children; and six Sunday schools. Bishop Sterne's trustees are now establishing schools at Feduff and Tullybrick; also an infants' school in the town. The fever hospital is a neat edifice, built in 1834, containing 4 wards with accommodation for 16 patients; and the dispensary, with a residence for the physician, is a handsome building in the Elizabethan style: both are entirely supported by the bishop's trustees. Midway between Middletown and Keady are the ruins of the ancient castle of Crifcairn, of which the western portion only remains: the walls are 9 feet thick and about 66 feet high, and there are the remains of some arches that appear to have been turned on wattle or basket work. Several traditions respecting this castle prevail among the peasantry. Ardgonnell castle, the ruins of which also exist, was built by the O'Nials, and its last occupant was Sir Phelim O'Nial, the first commander of the Irish at the breaking out of the war of 1641.
MIDLETON, an incorporated market and post-town, and a parish, in the barony of IMOKILLY, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 13 miles (E.) from Cork, and 137 1/2 (S. W.) from Dublin; containing 6599 inhabitants, of which number, 2034 are in the town. This place, called anciently Chore Abbey and Castrum Chor, derived both its origin and ancient name from the foundation of a Cistercian monastery, in 1182, by Barry Fitzgerald, who placed in it monks from the abbey of Nenay or Magio, in the county of Limerick. The abbey, from its situation near a ford, was called the "abbey of St. Mary de Chore ;" and the village which afterwards arose near it was for the same reason called Bally-na-Chore, (now Ballinacurra), or "the town on the ford," which, previously to the incorporation of the town, was also the name of the parish. The present town, deriving its name from its situation on the road from Youghal to Cork, at a nearly equal distance from each place, is pleasantly situated at the head of the vale of Imokilly, in a healthy and fertile country, screened by lofty hills and embellished with handsome seats; and on an inlet of the north-eastern angle of Cork harbour, which is navigable for vessels of 300 tons' burden to Ballinacurra: it consists principally of one main street, from the centre of which another branches off to the east, and contains 247 houses, most of which are uniformly built and of handsome appearance. The inhabitants are amply supplied with excellent water from springs; and there are two rivers, the Avannachora, or Midleton river, which bounds the town on the west and falls into the inlet about a mile below it; and the Rocks-borough river, which skirts its southern part and flows into the former. Both rivers abound with salmon and trout, and over each is a handsome stone bridge. Great improvements have been made since the year 1824, and others are in progress; several new buildings have been erected in the town and along its approaches, and a new line of road has been opened, forming a handsome western entrance. There are two news-rooms; and races are held in February. In addition to the traffic which this place derives from its situation on a great public thoroughfare, it possesses, by means of its creek from Cork harbour, which extends to the rear of the town, all the advantages of a sea-port. At Bailick, about a quarter of a mile below the town, are very commodious quays, accessible to vessels of 300 tons' burden, which may lie alongside and load and unload in security; also some extensive store-houses, where coal, timber, iron, slate, and other heavy goods are landed and warehoused: and within a mile of the town is the convenient port of Ballinacurra. At both these places are very spacious stores for grain, and large quantities of wheat and oats are annually shipped for Liverpool and Bristol. The port of Ballinacurra is a member of that of Cork, and a deputy-water-bailiff is placed there to collect the dues claimed by the Harbour Board, and the Foundling hospital of that city. An attempt to introduce the woollen manufacture was made some years since by Marcus Lynch, Esq., a merchant of Cork, who erected spacious buildings, which he furnished with requisite machinery for conducting it on a very extensive scale. The enterprise, however, was not attended with success, and the buildings and site were purchased by government for £20,000 and converted into a military station, chiefly for regiments preparing for embarkation. On the breaking up of this latter establishment, the premises became the property of Lord Midleton, from whom they were purchased, in 1825, by Messrs. Murphy and Co., who converted them into a very extensive distillery and malting establishment, at present producing 400,000 gallons of whiskey annually, and affording employment to 180 persons. On the Midleton river are the distillery and malt-works of Messrs. Hackett, erected in 1824, producing annually 200,000 gallons of whiskey, and employing 60 persons. On the same river are the boulting-mills of Messrs. Allin, which have been much enlarged, and are now, in addition to their water-power, worked by a steam-engine, erected in 1835; they manufacture about 3000 bags of flour annually. There are also two very large breweries and two extensive malting establishments. The produce of these several works is exclusively for home consumption, and the amount of duty paid to Government by their proprietors collectively exceeds £100,000 per annum. At Bailick are the extensive lime-works of G. Swayne, Esq.; and within two miles of the town are Milltown mills, lately erected by Messrs. Swayne and Leech, at an expense of £3000, and manufacturing annually 12,000 barrels of fine" flour. The market is on Saturday, but, from its proximity to the markets of Cork and Youghal, is confined chiefly to the sale of butchers' meat, poultry, dairy produce, and potatoes. The chartered fairs are on May 14th, July 5th, Oct. 10th, and Nov. 22nd; and two fairs recently established are held on Feb. 14th and Sept. 10th. The market-house is a handsome building, surmounted by a turret, in which is the town clock, and crowned with a cupola; it was erected in 1789, and is the property of Viscount Midleton, who is lord of the manor; the lower part contains the shambles, weigh-house, and accommodations for the market; and the upper part contains an elegant assembly-room, and council-chambers for the use of the corporation; but they are now used principally as news-rooms. A chief constabulary police force is stationed in the town.
The town received a charter of incorporation from Chas. II., in the 22nd of his reign, dated June 10th, 1670, which granted to Sir John Brodrick, Knt., that his estate should be constituted the manor of Midleton, with a seneschal, a court baron, and a court of record with jurisdiction within the manor to the amount of £200; and that the town, with the castle and lands of Castle-Redmond and Corabbey, part of the said manor, should be a free borough and corporation, under the designation of the "borough and town of Midleton." By this charter the corporation consists of a sovereign, two bailiffs, twelve free burgesses, and an indefinite number of freemen, assisted by a recorder, town-clerk, and other officers. The sovereign, who is a justice of the peace within the borough, and the two bailiffs, are annually chosen from the burgesses by a majority of that body, by whom also freemen are admitted by favour only. The recorder, who is also town-clerk and seneschal of the manor, is appointed by the lord of the manor. The limits of the borough comprise an area of 100 acres encircling the town. Under the charter the corporation continued to return two members to the Irish parliament till the Union; when the borough was disfranchised. The manorial court of record, formerly held by the seneschal every three weeks, for the recovery of debts not exceeding £200 late currency, has not been held since 1832. The general quarter sessions for the East Riding of the county are held here in June and November. The court-house is a neat and commodious edifice of hewn limestone, situated at the western entrance into the town; and adjoining it is a small but well-arranged bridewell.
The parish, which is also called Castra-na-chore, comprises 5320 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act ; the soil, though in some parts light, is fertile, and the system of agriculture greatly improved; there is neither waste land nor bog. The substratum is generally limestone, which is quarried for agricultural and building purposes; and the surrounding scenery is pleasingly diversified, and in many points highly picturesque. The principal seats are Cahirmore, the property of Lord Midleton, at present occupied by his lordship's agent, T. Poole, Esq.; Bally-Edmond, the residence of R. Courtenay, Esq.; Broomfield House, of D. Humphreys, Esq.; Killeagh Farm, of W. Welland, Esq.; Charleston, of the Rev. R. Deane Freeman; Ballinacurra Lodge, of T. H. Rumley, Esq.; and Lake View, of S. Fleming, Esq. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Cloyne, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the tithes amount to £897. 16. 7. The glebe-house, a large and handsome residence, is pleasantly situated; and the glebe comprises 15 acres of good land. The church, erected in 1823 at an expense of £3000, a loan from the late Board of First Fruits, is a handsome structure, in the later English style, with an embattled tower crowned with pinnacles, and surmounted by a light and elegant spire, erected after a design and under the immediate superintendence of Messrs. Pain: it was recently repaired by aid of a grant of £202 from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. In the churchyard is a mausoleum of grey marble, in the Grecian style, having in front a pediment resting on two lofty pillars, between which is a tablet of white marble, inscribed to Charles Brodrick, D.D., Archbishop of Cashel, and formerly rector of the parish, fourth son of George, Viscount Midleton; and to his wife, the Hon. Lady Brodrick, second daughter of R. Woodward, D.D., Bishop of Cloyne, by their seven surviving children. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also the parishes of Ballyspillane, Inchynebacky, Mogeeshy, and Ballyouteragh; the chapel, near the eastern extremity of the town, is a spacious edifice, and there is also a chapel at Ballintoretis. A convent of nuns of the order of the Presentation has been recently completed; it is a handsome building on the road to Ballinacurra, and consists of a centre and two wings, one of which forms the domestic chapel, and the other a school-room for girls, who are gratuitously taught by the ladies of the convent. This is one of the institutions of that order, for the erection of which Miss Gould, a sister in the Presentation convent of Doneraile, bequeathed £10,000. A college was founded here, in 1709, by Lady Elizabeth Villiers, afterwards Countess of Orkney, who endowed it with lands in the baronies of Kinnalea, Kerrycurrihy, and Carbery, in this county, vested in trustees, with power to appoint the master. These estates were let by the trustees in perpetuity at a reserved rent of £200 per ann., of which £100 is paid as a salary to the master; in this school have been educated several eminent men, among whom was the Rt. Hon. John Philpot Curran; it is now a seminary of very high character. Nearly 500 children are taught in four public schools, of which the parochial male and female schools are supported by Lord Midleton, who provided both school-rooms, and a residence each for the master and mistress, and by the rector. There are a dispensary and a fever hospital, the latter a handsome building. At Bailick are some remains of Castle Redmond, built by Redmond Fitzgerald, or Fitz-Edmund in the reign of Hen. VIII., and in which the last R. C. Bishop of Cloyne, prior to the Reformation, was born. There are at Cahir-more some remains of the castle built, in 1579, by R. Fitzgerald, or Barry, from which the seneschal of Imokilly was driven out by Capt. Raleigh, in 1580, and obliged to take refuge in Chore abbey, which was formerly in the churchyard of Midleton, whence he was also compelled to retreat by the same assailant. The abbey, which was a stately edifice of great strength, was built by the Knights Templars in 1298, and the last remains of it were taken down to afford a site for the present church. At Coppingerstown are the ruins of a castle of the Fitzgeralds; on the south side of the town are some very slight remains of an hospital, founded by Edw. I. at Ballinacurra are the ruins of the old parish church, and at Ballyannan are the remains of the mansion built by the first Lord Midleton. A large belt and the horns of a moose deer were found in a bog on Lord Midleton's estate; and on Killeagh Farm were found numerous silver coins of the reign of Elizabeth. Midleton gives the title of Viscount to the family of Brodrick.
MILESTOWN, a village, in the parish of KILSARAN, barony of ARDEE, county of LOUTH, and province of LEINSTER, 1/4 of a mile (S.) from Castle-Bellingham, on the mail road to Dublin; containing 23 houses and 108 inhabitants.
MILLBROOK, a village, in the parish of LOUGHCREW, barony of DEMIFORE, county of MEATH, and province of LEINSTER. 1 mile (S. W.) from Oldcastle, on the road to Kells; containing 9 houses and 50 inhabitants. Here are the mills and residence of W. Henry, Esq.
MILLENAGH, or MELINA, a parish, in the barony of BALLAGHKEEN, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 7 miles (E.) from Enniscorthy, and on the coast road from Wexford to Dublin; containing, with the town of Oulart (which is separately described), 1201 inhabitants. During the disturbances of 1798 this place was the scene of a severe action between a party of the North Cork militia and the insurgents, who had encamped on Oulart Hill. The parish comprises 3983 1/2 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and chiefly in tillage. The principal seat is Island, the residence of Wm. Bolton, Esq. It is an impropriate curacy, in the diocese of Ferns, annexed, under an act of the 4th of Geo. IV., to that of Kilmuckridge: the rectory is impropriate in Capt. Villars Hatton, R. N., who allows £6 per ann. and a glebe of 28 acres for the performance of the clerical duties. The tithes amount to £212. 9. 11. In the R. C. divisions the greater part of the parish is within the union or district of Oulart, where the chapel is situated, and the remainder is in the district of Blackwater. About 100 children are educated in three private schools.
MILLFORD, a village, in the parish of KILBOLANE, barony of ORRERY and KILMORE, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 5 1/2 miles (S. W.) from Charleville; containing 25 houses and 181 inhabitants. The river Deel, which runs through the village, abounds with trout and pike. There is a patent for four fairs, but they are not now held. Here is the R. C. chapel for this part of the district of Freemount; also a national school. In the vicinity are several seats, noticed under the head of Kilbolane.
MILLSTREET, a market and post-town, in the parish of DRISHANE, barony of WEST MUSKERRY, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 29 1/4 miles (N. W.) from Cork, and 155 (S. W.) from Dublin, on the road from Cork to Killarney, and on that from Mallow to Kenmare; containing 1935 inhabitants. Before 1736, the place consisted only of an inn, a mill, and five small cabins: it has now one long street, with several smaller ones diverging from it, and contains 312 houses, the greater number of which, though small, are neatly built. It is situated on the south side of the Blackwater, amidst the lofty mountains of Muskerry, and derives its principal support from being a great thoroughfare. A small market is held every Thursday, during the winter season, chiefly for pigs; and fairs are held on the 1st and 12th of March, June, Sept., and Dec., for the sale of cattle, horses and pigs. An ale and porter brewery was established here in 1835, which produces 1000 tierces annually; and there are extensive flour-mills, which have proved very advantageous to the farmer in encouraging the growth of wheat. Here is a small court-house, in which petty sessions are held on alternate Mondays; connected with it is a small bridewell. It is a constabulary police station; and there are large barracks for 6 officers and 100 men, where a detachment of infantry has been kept ever since the riots of 1822. The parish church of Drishane stands on an eminence above the town; it is a handsome edifice, built in 1798 at the expense of J. Wallis, Esq., of Drishane Castle, the owner of the eastern part of the town; the western part, called Coomlagan, belongs to McCarty O'Leary, Esq. Here is also a R. C. chapel, which, being small and inconvenient, is about to be rebuilt upon a larger scale. The male and female parochial school is supported by H. Wallis, Esq., and the vicar; and a school is about to be established in connection with the new R. C. chapel. The scenery around the town is exceedingly interesting, and in its vicinity are several elegant residences, noticed in the article on DRISHANE.
MILLTOWN, a village, partly in the parish of TANEY, but chiefly in that part of the united parishes of ST. PETER and ST. KEVIN, which is in the barony of UPPERCROSS, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER, 2 1/2 miles (S.) from Dublin, on the road to Dundrum and Enniskerry; containing 673 inhabitants. It is situated on the river Dodder, and numerous dilapidated buildings testify that it was formerly an important place. A starch and glue mill is in operation, and the woollen mills, which were established 35 years since, for the manufacture of low-priced cloths, employ about 60 persons, under Mr. Morris Harnett. The Dodder, after heavy rains, being swelled by mountain torrents, overflows its banks and sometimes does considerable damage. The neighbourhood is adorned with many respectable residences, from several of which splendid views of the bay and city of Dublin are obtained, as well as of the Wicklow mountains: among them are Milltown Park, the residence of G. Russell, Esq.; Fairyland, of W. C. Hogan, Esq.; Nullamore, of W. H. Flemyng, Esq.; Rich View, of the Rev. S. W. Fox; Richmond House, of J. Somers, Esq.; South Hill, of J. Elliott, Esq.; Richmond Park, of W. McCann, Esq.; Brook-field, of J. Smith, Esq.; and the residence of the Misses Hunt, partly the repaired edifice of Milltown Castle. Here is a R. C. chapel, also a dissenting place of worship for Independents; and in that part of the village which is in Taney parish there is a school. Milltown gives the title of Earl to the family of Leeson.
MILLTOWN, a village, in the parish of DINGLE, barony of CORKAGUINEY, county of KERRY, and province of MUNSTER, 3/4 of a mile (W.) from Dingle, on the road to Ventry; containing 24 houses and 160 inhabitants.
MILLTOWN, a market and post-town, in the parish of KILCOLEMAN, barony of TRUGHENACKMY, county of KERRY, and province of MUNSTER, 14 miles (S.) from Tralee (by Currens), and 158 miles (S. W. by S.) from Dublin, on the mail road from Tralee to Cahirciveen; containing 1427 inhabitants. It is situated near the river Mang or Maine, which flows into the harbour of Castlemaine, and is navigable for vessels of 100 tons to within a mile of the town. In 1831 it contained 260 houses, together with the parochial church, R. C. chapel, bridewell, dispensary, and school: it has a sub-post-office to Tralee and Cahirciveen. A patent for a market and two fairs was obtained by John Godfrey, Esq., ancestor of the present proprietor, Sir John Godfrey, Bart., whose seat, Kilcoleman Abbey, immediately adjoins the town. The market, which is for corn and potatoes, is on Saturday; and fairs are held on April 26th and 27th, June 23rd and 24th, Aug. 23rd and 24th, and Dec. 15th and 16th, for general farming stock: the market-house is an old building. At Rhapogue is a quay; a considerable quantity of corn is annually exported, and coal, salt, and other articles are imported. The bridewell is a neat building, consisting of two day-rooms, two yards, and six cells. A constabulary police force is stationed in the town, and petty sessions are generally held once a fortnight. The church is a neat edifice, with a square pinnacled tower. In the R. C. divisions Milltown is the head of a union or district, comprising the parishes of Kilcoleman and Kilbonane, each containing a chapel: that of Milltown is a handsome and spacious modem building, with an ornamental belfry of hewn stone; there is also a meeting-house for Wesleyan Methodists. In the school-house, which is built in the cottage style, about 120 children of both sexes are educated at the expense of Sir John and Lady Godfrey; and her ladyship, assisted by a loan from a London Society, affords employment in spinning, weaving, &c., to several of the poorer class. The late Rev. T. Fitzgerald, P.P., of Milltown, bequeathed £4000 to the R. C. bishop of Kerry and his successors, the interest of which is to be applied partly to the establishment and support of schools, and partly in clothing and feeding the poor in the parishes of Kilcoleman and Kilbonane; and £1000 is to be applied in like manner for the benefit of the parish of Killeiny. A large school is accordingly to be built in each parish, and placed under the National Board. The ruins of the ancient abbey, situated in Sir John Godfrey's demesne, are described under the head of KILCOLEMAN.
MILLTOWN-PASS. -- See KILTOOM.
MILTOWN, a village, in the parish of DERRYAGHY, barony of UPPER BELFAST, county of ANTRIM, and province of ULSTER; containing 22 houses and 107 inhabitants.
MILTOWN, barony of LOWER DUNLUCE, county of ANTRIM. -- See BALLYWILLIN.
MILTOWN, a village, in the parish of KILBRIDE-PILATE, barony of FARTULLAGH, county of WESTMEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 4 3/4 miles (W. by S.) from Kinnegad, on the road from Dublin to Athlone; containing 11 houses and 62 inhabitants. It is a station of the constabulary police, and contains the parochial R. C. chapel.
MILTOWN-DUNLAVAN, a parish, in the barony of UPPERCROSS, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER, 2 miles (S. by W.) from Dunlavan; containing 712 inhabitants. This parish is an isolated portion of the barony, south of Ballymore-Eustace, and wholly enclosed within the counties of Kildare and Wicklow. In ecclesiastical concerns it is not known as a parish, but is considered as forming part of the union of Dunlavan.
MILTOWN-MALBAY, a post-town, in the parish of KILFARBOY, barony of IBRICKANE, county of CLARE, and province of MUNSTER, 23 miles (W.) from Ennis (by Ennistymon), and 134 1/2 (W. S. W.) from Dublin, by way of Limerick; containing 133 houses and 726 inhabitants. It is situated near the western coast, and contiguous to the great recess which, from its dangerous shore, is called the Malbay. Owing to the exertions of the late Mr. Morony, this place, since the commencement of the present century, has risen from a mere hamlet to be a fashionable bathing-place; and among the houses, which are in general neatly built, are several of a superior description, occupied as bathing-lodges during the season. Near Spanish Point (so called from part of the Spanish Armada having been wrecked there in the reign of Queen Elizabeth) is the hotel, forming with its out-offices a handsome and extensive range of building. It was erected, in 1810, by a company, consisting of the Morony family and other gentlemen, and, besides the usual accommodations of an hotel, contains hot and cold baths, billiard-rooms, and a spacious assembly-room; it commands extensive views of the Atlantic, and adjoins the bathing strand, which is considered one of the best on the western coast: attached is stabling for nearly sixty horses. Though devoid of wood, the fine sea views, the elevation of the land and the dryness of the soil, together with the excellent roads in the vicinity, combine to render this place agreeable; and it is in consequence frequented during the bathing season by fashionable visitors from various parts of the country, for whose amusement races are occasionally held. Fairs are held on Feb. 1st, March 9th, May 4th, June 20th, Aug. 11th, Oct. 18th, and Dec. 9th, for general farming stock. Quarter sessions are held here in June; petty sessions weekly on Thursday; and a court for Lord Egremont's manor of Moih Ibrickane monthly, for the recovery of small debts: near the town is a station of the constabulary police. Here are the parish church and the R. C. chapel of the district, which, together with the seats in the vicinity, are noticed under the head of Kilfarboy. At Freagh, on the coast, is a natural curiosity called the "Puffing Hole," which spouts water with great force to a considerable height, and when the sun shines forms at each emission a beautiful iris. At Cassino, in the vicinity, is a chalybeate spa.
MINARD, a parish, in the barony of CORKAGUINEY, county of KERRY, and province of MUNSTER, 5 miles (E. S. E.) from Dingle, on the road to Tralee; containing 1474 inhabitants. It is situated on the northern side of the bay of Dingle: near the shore are the ruins of Minard castle; which was built by one of the Knights of Kerry. It was defended in 1650 by its proprietor, Walter Hussey, against the parliamentary forces under Cols. Le Hunt and Sadler, who, finding that they could not make much impression on the castle by cannonading it from a fortification, said to have been erected for that purpose (and of which the remains still exist), sprung a mine in the vaults beneath, and blew it up. The parish comprises 4922 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, of which 2790 acres are arable land, and the remainder consists of coarse mountain pasture, mostly reclaimable: good building stone is found in several places. Sea-weed and sand are in general use for manure; and the bogs being nearly exhausted, turf for fuel is brought from the coast of Iveragh, on the opposite side of Dingle bay. The bay abounds with a variety of fish, but the fishery is here attended with much trouble and danger, the adjacent coast for several miles consisting of precipitous rocky cliffs, and there is but a single narrow creek, in which only one boat can land at a time: many of the fishing boats are obliged to bear for this creek when the wind blows from the south or west; and it has been suggested that a quay or pier could be constructed near Minard Castle for about £200, that would prove of great service as a place of refuge for these boats in hard weather and be a great encouragement to the extension of the fishery, in which at present only a few boats belonging to this district (and those of an inferior description) are engaged. Some time since the peasantry, under the superintendence of Capt. Eagar and the Rev. Dr. Foley, P.P., changed the course of a small river running into the bay, that would always keep a passage clear, and with the aid of a pier would enable boats to approach at any time of the tide: great destruction of property and loss of life have occurred on the bar of Inch, at the inner part of the bay, for want of such a shelter as that proposed. At East Minard is a station of the coast-guard; and adjoining the ruins of the castle is Minard, the seat of Capt. Fras. Eagar. The parish is in the diocese of Ardfert and Aghadoe: the rectory is partly impropriate in Lord Ventry, but chiefly in the Earl of Cork; and the vicarage forms part of the union of Ballinacourty or Kilflyn. Of the tithes, amounting to £170, one-sixth is payable to Lord Ventry, one-third to the Earl of Cork, and the remainder to the vicar. In the R. C. divisions it is included in the union or district of Dingle: at Lispole is the chapel, in which a school is held. There are no remains of the old church, but the burial-ground is still used. At Parknafulla are several ancient gravestones inscribed with Ogham characters, and supposed to mark the burial-places of persons who at a remote period were suddenly attacked and slain by a neighbouring clan. On Glin mountain is a pile of large stones, where, according to tradition, the chiefs of former times dispensed justice: this spot -commands an extensive view of the bay and the surrounding mountains. In several places are wells having a ferruginous appearance.
MINISH, or MOYNISH, an island, in the parish of MOYRUS, barony of BALLYNAHINCH, county of GALWAY, and province of CONNAUGHT, 15 miles (S. E.) from Clifden, on the western coast: the population is returned with the parish. It forms one side of Ard bay, and comprises about 650 statute acres of land, besides a large tract of shaking bog and pastureable mountain, the property of -- French, Esq.: its extensive shore abounds with sea-weed, which was formerly converted into kelp, but is now chiefly used for manure. The harbour of Ard bay is only frequented by fishing smacks, the sound between this island and that of Cruanakarra being only fit for small craft. At the mouth of the harbour, one mile north-east from Cruanakarra, and half a mile west from Macehead, is a shoal called Lebros, which is dry at low spring tides.
MINOLA, a parish, in the barony of CARRA, county of MAYO, and province of CONNAUGHT, 8 miles (N. N. W.) from Hollymount, on the road from Castlebar to Claremorris; containing 2200 inhabitants, of which number, 450 are in the village. The land is excellent, and principally under tillage; there is a considerable portion of bog, and within the limits of the parish is the small Lough Carramore. The village comprises 35 houses, and has a patent for fairs. The parish is in the diocese of Tuam, and is a rectory and vicarage, forming part of the union of Ballagh: the tithes amount to £140. In the R. C. divisions also it is part of the union or district of Ballagh. There are three private schools, in which are about 390 children. Slight remains of the castle of Minola are visible.
MITCHELSTOWN, a market and post-town, in the parish of BRIGOWN, barony of CONDONS and CLONGIBBONS, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 24 1/4 miles (N. by E.) from Cork, and 101 (S. W.) from Dublin, on the mail coach road to Cork; containing 3545 inhabitants. This place formed part of the extensive possessions of the White Knight, otherwise called Clongibbon, from whom part of the barony derived its name, and who was descended by a second marriage from John Fitzgerald, ancestor of the illustrious houses of Kildare and Desmond. The White Knight erected here a castle, which was reduced by the insurgents in 1641, but was retaken by the English, and was afterwards besieged by the Earl of Castlehaven, to whom it surrendered in 1645. Margaret Fitzgerald, who was sole heiress of the White Knight, married Sir William Fenton, and their only daughter conveyed this portion of the estates by marriage to Sir John King, who was created Baron Kingston by Chas. II., in 1660, and was ancestor of the present Earl of Kingston. The town is situated on the declivity of a hill, washed at its base by the small river Gradogue, which is here crossed by a stone bridge, and falls into the river Funcheon within the demesne of Mitchelstown Castle. It consists of two principal streets, called respectively George-street and Cork-street, of which the latter is the chief thoroughfare, and the former is terminated by the church at, the southern extremity, and at the other leads into a spacious and handsome square, the north side of which is occupied by the extensive buildings of Kingston College; on the east side is a large and handsome hotel, which contains a news-room, supported by subscription; and immediately opposite is the entrance to the demesne of Mitchelstown Castle. The principal streets, which are parallel with each other, are intersected at right angles by four smaller streets; the total number of houses, in 1831, was 535, most of which are well built and of respectable appearance; the square and principal streets are paved, but the footpaths are not flagged. The inhabitants are amply supplied with water raised by pumps in various parts of the town; of these, one in King-square, of superior construction, worked by machinery and enclosed with an iron railing, was erected by the Earl of Kingston in 1825. Great improvements have been made under the auspices of the Earl of Kingston, who is proprietor of the town; a new road to Lismore has been completed, and a continuation of the line to Limerick is about to be opened, which will give to an extensive, fertile, and improving district facilities of access to the market of Mitchelstown; the former line, by diminishing to within 14 miles the distance to the river Blackwater at Lismore, now affords the advantage of water conveyance for coal, culm, timber, and other articles at a moderate charge. A very considerable trade is carried on in corn, butter, and pigs, which last are purchased in great quantities chiefly by merchants from Cork, Youghal, and Limerick. A large tanyard and currying concern has been established in the town; and at Gurrane, on the river Funcheon, is an extensive bleach-green, with flax and tucking mills, and machinery for carding and spinning wool, to which a power-loom for the manufacture of blankets has been lately added by the proprietors, Messrs. J. and F. Atkins. A branch of the National Bank has been established in the town. The market is on Thursday, and is amply supplied with corn, butter, pigs and sheep, and with provisions of all kinds; the corn is chiefly bought on commission. Fairs for cattle, sheep, pigs, and various kinds of merchandise, are held on Jan. 10th, March 25th, May 23rd, July 30th, Nov. 12th, and Dec. 2nd; a fair called the Brigown fair is also held on the 6th of December. The market and court-house, situated in Cork-street, a very neat and well-arranged building, was erected in 1823, at an expense of £3000, by the Earl of Kingston, and occupies part of an area called the Market-square. A chief constabulary police force is stationed in the town; and in the immediate vicinity are the barracks, a neat range of building, adapted for 3 officers and 72 non-commissioned officers and privates. Petty sessions are held in the court-house every Wednesday; and a court for the manor of Mitchelstown, formerly held every third Monday, for the recovery of debts not exceeding 40s., is now held occasionally in the upper part of the market-house. Its jurisdiction extends over the parishes of Brigown, Marshalstown (with the exception of the Killee estate), Mologga, Farihy, Nathlash, and Kildorrery, in the county of Cork, and Kilbehenny and Ballylander, in the county of Limerick.
The parish church, situated at the south end of George-street, is an elegant structure of modern erection, in the later English style, with a lofty embattled tower surmounted by a beautiful and finely proportioned octagonal spire, and is seen to great advantage from King-square through the vista of George-street. The R. C. chapel, situated on an eminence above the market-house, is a handsome cruciform edifice, in the later English style of architecture, and flanked in the front with two octangular towers surmounted by cupolas; it is embellished with a window of elegant design, and strengthened at the angles with buttresses terminating in pinnacles. Kingston College, a handsome and extensive range of building, was partly erected during the lifetime of its founder, James, Lord Kingston, who endowed it with £25,000, to be vested in trustees, consisting of the Archbishop of Cashel and the Bishops of Cloyne, Waterford, and Limerick, to be appropriated, after the completion of the buildings, to the maintenance of a chaplain, 12 poor gentlemen, and 18 poor gentlewomen, with preference to such as have been tenants on the Kingston estates. The chaplain, whose duty it is to read morning and evening prayers daily, to preach a sermon every Sunday morning, and to administer the sacrament at Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas, has a stipend of £120, with a house and garden; and the inmates, who must be members of the Established Church, receive each £40 per annum, and have a house and garden between every two. The buildings consist of 16 dwelling-houses, with a chapel in the centre of the range, beneath which is the vault of the Kingston family. The fever hospital, to which a dispensary is added, was built in an airy and healthful situation to the south-east of the town, at the expense of Lord Kingston, in 1823; it contains four wards and 13 beds. A portion of the residue of a fund collected in London for the relief of the poor during the famine in Ireland, amounting to £569, was borrowed at 2 1/2 per cent. from the loan committee of Cork, and is appropriated as a loan fund for the relief of the poor of the town and neighbourhood.
Mitchelstown Castle, the splendid seat of the Earl of Kingston, is a noble and sumptuous structure of hewn stone, in the castellated style, erected after a design by Mr. Pain, of Cork, at an expense of more than £100,000. The buildings occupy three sides of a quadrangle, the fourth being occupied by a terrace, under which are various offices: the principal entrance, on the eastern range, is flanked by two lofty square towers rising to the height of 106 feet, one of which is called the White Knight's tower, from its being built on the site of the tower of that name which formed part of the old mansion; and at the northern extremity of the same range are two octagonal towers of lofty elevation. The entrance hall opens into a stately hall or gallery, 80 feet in length, with an elaborately groined roof, richly ornamented with fine tracery, and furnished with elegant stoves of bronze, and with figures of warriors armed cap-a-pie; at the further extremity is the grand staircase. Parallel with the gallery, and forming the south front and principal range, are the dining and drawing-rooms, both noble apartments superbly fitted up and opening into the library, which is between them: the whole pile has a character of stately baronial magnificence, and from its great extent and elevation forms a conspicuous feature in the surrounding scenery. Near the Castle is a large fish-pond, and from a small tower on its margin, water is conveyed to the baths and to the upper apartments of the castle, and across the demesne to the gardens, by machinery of superior construction. The gardens are spacious and tastefully laid out; the conservatory is 100 feet in length and ornamented with a range of beautiful Ionic pilasters. The demesne, which comprises 1300 statute acres, is embellished with luxuriant plantations, and includes a farming establishment on an extensive scale, with buildings and offices of a superior description, on the erection of which more than £40,000 was expended; it is in contemplation to erect an entrance lodge, on the model of Blackrock castle, near Cork. It is estimated that the castle, with the conservatories, farm, and the general improvement of the demesne, has cost its noble proprietor little less, if not more, than £200,000. About half-way between this town and Cahir are the magnificent caverns which, from their being visited by persons generally making this place their head-quarters, are sometimes called the Mitchelstown caverns ; they are situated in the parish of Templetenny, in the county of Tipperary, under which head they are described.