Search Railroad Sites For:

Lewis 1842: County Kerry blennerville - castlegregory - dingle - tralee -

contents preface glossary

Blennerville, Co. Kerry

BLENNERVILLE, a small sea-port town, in the parish of ANNAGH, barony of TRUGHENACKMY, county of KERRY, and province of MUNSTER, 1 mile (W.) from Tralee, containing 532 inhabitants. It is situated on the bay of Tralee, and consists chiefly of one street extending from a bridge over a small river wich empties itself into the bay along the road to Dingle, and containing 68 houses, most of which are neatly built and roofed with slate. On the opposite side of the bay is an oyster bed, which with the fishery in the bay affords employment to a portion of the inhabitants. An extensive trade in corn is carried on with the port of Liverpol. Fairs are held on May 9th, Sept 15th, Oct. 25th, and Dec. 19th; and there is a penny post daily between this place and Tralee. The Tralee ship canal, now in progress, will pass under the north end of the bridge and extend to the channel at a place called the Black rock; it is supposed that this work, when completed, will nearly annihilate the trade of Blennerville, which has hitherto been the port of Tralee. A portion of the slob on the east side of the bridge has been lately embanked by Mr. Blennerhasset, of this place. The parish church, a neat modern structire with a square tower, is situated in the town; as are also the Protestant and R. C. shool-houses, and at Curragrague is a school under the traustees of Erasmus Smith's charity. -- See ANNAGH.

Castlegregory, Co. Kerry

CASTLE-GREGORY, a town, in the parish of KILLEINY, barony of CORKAGUINEY, county of KERRY, and province of MUNSTER, 12 miles (W.) from Tralee; containing 970 inhabitants. This town, which is situated on the Connor Hill road from Tralee to Dingle, and on the southern coast of Tralee bay, derives its name from an ancient castle counded by Gregory Hussey, which, in the war of 1641, was garrisoned for the king by its then proprietor, Walter Hussey. After sustaining a protracted assault from Cromwell's forces, the garrison, with their commander, escaped by night to Minard Castle, in the neighbourhood, in which they were besieged by Cols. Le Hunt and Sadler, and blown up by gunpowder laid under the vaults of the castle; there are no remains of this fortress. The town contains 160 houses, the greater number of which are thatched. A patron fair is held on Aug. 15th, which is also a fair for cattle. It is in eontemplation to establish a penny post from Tralee and Dingle. A constabulary police force and a coast-guard have been stationed here; the latter has a detachment at Magharee, and is one of the five stations that constitute the district of Tralee. Petty sessions are held irregularly. The R. C. chapel, a substantial cruciform structure, was erected in 1831; and a school-room is about to be built, the late Rev. T. Fitzgerald, P.P. having bequeathed £30 per annum for educating poor children of the parish. -- See KILLEINY.

Dingle, Co. Kerry

DINGLE, or DINGLE-I-COUCH, an incorporated sea-port, market and post-town, (formerly a parliamentary borough, and a parish, in the barony of CORKAGUINEY, county of KERRY, and province of MUNSTER, 22 miles (W.) from Tralee, and 173 miles (S. W. by W.) from Dublin; containing 6719 inhabitants, of which number, 4327 are in the town, This place was anciently called Dangean-ni-Cushey, or "the castle of Hussey," from a castle built here by an old English family of that name, to whom one of the Earls of Desmond had granted a considerable tract of land in the vicinity. On the rebellion and consequent forfeitures of the Desmond family and its adherents, it was, with divers lands, granted to the Earl of Ormonde, from whom it was purchased by Fitzgerald, Knight of Kerry, who had also a castle in this town. After the destruction of the Spaniards at Smerwick, in 1591, the lord-deputy rested here, where many of his men died from sickness, notwithstanding the supplies brough in by the Earl of Ormonde. Soon after this event, Eueen Elizabeth granted £300 to the inhabitants to surround the town with walls; but in 1600, the sugan Earl of Desmond having been refused admittance into the Knight of Kerry's castle, revenged the affront by setting fire to the town; the Knight subsequently delivered up the castle to Sir Charles Wilmot, who for some time made it his head-quarters. Dingle is the most westerly town in Ireland; it is situated in lat. 52° 10' 30'' and lon. 10° 15' 45'', on the northern coast of the bay of the same name, an inlet from which forms the harbour; and may be called the capital of the extensive peninsula which comprises the entire barony of Corkaguiney. This district is generally supposed to have been colonsied by the Spaniards, who formerly carried on an extensive fishery off the coast, and traded with the inhabitants, who still retain strong indications of their Spanish origin, and some of the old houses are evidently built in the Spanish fashion. The town occupies a hilly slope, and is surrounded by mountains on all sides except that towards the harbour, which here presents the appearance of a lake; the outlet being concealed by a projecting headland. The streets are irregularly disposed, but as there are more than the usual proportion of respectable slated houses, with gardens attached, the town has from a short distance a very pleasing appearance. The number of houses, in 1831, was 699, since which several others have been erected: the inhabitants are well supplied with excellent water; though not lighted, and but partially paved, it has been much improved within the last 20 years, is generally considered a very healthy place of residence, and has an excellent bathing strand. A news-room is supported by subscription. The manufacture of linen was formerly carried on to a considerable extent, and at one time exported in the amount of £60,000 annually; but since the great improvement of cotton manufacture, it has gradually declined, and is now nearly extinct: a small quantity of coarse linen is still made in the town and neighbourhood, and sent to Cork. The present export trade, though not considerable, is increasing: it consists chiefly of corn and butter, of which about 10 cargoes, averaging 200 tons each, are annually sent to England, chiefly to Liverpool. The principal imports are iron, coal, salt, and earthenware. An extensive fishery is carried on in the bay and off the coast, in which about 100 boats, averaging six men in each, are exclusively employed; and which also afords employment to upwards of 1000 persons in curing and conveying the fish to various parts. The greater portion is sent by sea to Cork and Limerick, but a considerable supply is coneyed by land to Tralee and Killarney. The pier, originally built by the corporation, aided by a grant of £1000, in 1765, from the Irish Parliament, was enlarged by the late Fishery Board, and subsequently improved by the customs' department: it has been found beneficial for mercantile and agricultural purposes, as well as the fisheries: vessels of 300 tons' can come up to it. The harbour is well adapted for vessels of moderate burden, but not being discoverable from the sea, is what is nautically termed a "blind" one; it is, however, extremely difficult of access during a strong west wind, and vessels passing by it and running to the eastward are in danger of being lost on Castlemaine bar. The market is on Saturday, and is well supplied with stock and provisions of every description; there are no fairs, the market being considered a sort of weekly fair for cattle and pigs: about 800 of the latter are sent annually to Cork. The market and court-house were erected by the late Knight of Kerry. There are two flour-mills, and an ale and porter brewery in the town; and branches of the National and Agricultural Banks have been lately established. Here are chief stations of the constabulary police and coast-guard; the latter being the head of the district, extending along the coast from the bay of Dingle to Brandon Head, and comprising the stations of Minard, Dingle, Ventry, Ferriter's-Cove, Ballydavid, and Brandon. Dingle is the residence of the inspecting commander. Queen Elizabeth, in the 28th year of her reign, (1585) signed a warrant for the grant of a charter of incorporation to the inhabitants of the town, with privileges similar to the borough of Drogheda, and with a superiority over the harbours of Smerwick, Ventry, and Ferriter's-Creek; but the charter was not actually granted until the 4th of Jas. I. This charter, which is the only one knwon, was granted to the "Sovereign, Burgesses, and Commonalty," from which it would appear that the corporation was then in existence, probably under the authority of the warrant of Elizabeth. The town, however, under the name of Dingle-i-couch, is found among those that sent members to Parliament in the 27th of Elizabeth. The style of the corporation is "The Sovereign, Burgesses, and Commonalty, of the Town of Dingle-i-Couch;" it consists of a sovereign, 12 burgesses (including the sovereign), and an indefinite number of freemen. The officers are a recorder, town-clerk, two serjeants-at-mace, weighmaster, and pound-keeper, none of whom are mentioned in the charter. The sovereign is elected from among the burgesses by the corporation at large, annually on the feast of St. James; but by the charter he may be also elected from the freemen. The charter does not contain any provisions as to the number of burgesses, or the mode of their election; but the number has always been limited to 12, who are elcted for life by the corporation at large. No right of freedom has been recognised, and freemen are elected by the body corporate, without reference to qualification of residence or otherwise. The recorder is elected for life by the corporation; the town-clerk, formerly elected by the whole body, has of late been appointed by the sovereign alone; by whom also the sejeants-at-mace, weighmaster, and pound-keeper are appointed. The borough sent two representatives to the Irish Parliament until the Union, when it was disfranchised, and the entire compenstaion of £13,000 paid to Richard Boyle Townshend, Esq., several other claims having been disallowed. His representative, Lieut.-Col. John Townshend, and Lord Ventry are the principal proprietors of the town; the Earl of Cork has a small portion along the sea-shore. The jurisdiction of the corporation comprises a circle of two Irish miles radius by sea and land, measured from the parish church in the town, and includes the parishes of Dingle, kildrum, Garfinagh, the south part of Cloghane and part of Kinnard; and the admiralty jurisdiction of the sovereign extens as far as an arrow will fly from the harbours of Dingle, Ventry, Smerwick, and Ferriter's-Creek. The sovereign is by the charter the sole justice of the peace within the borough, with power to try all but capital offences; he is also escheator and coroner, and has the exclusive return of writs: but these powers have not been strictly exercised, as the magistrates, coroner, and sheriffs of the county act by courtesy within the corporate limits. The civil court, called "The Tholsel Court of the Borough and Corporation of Dingle," is held every alternate Thursday by the recorder (who is always the sovereign, or deputy-sovereign), and the jurisdiction is stated to extend to please of any amount: the mesne process is by service or attachment of the goods; but the latter process is only issued for debts exceeding 40s. late currency. The recorder also holds a court of conscience for demands under 5s. late currency: the process is by summons. Petty sessions are held by the county magistrates every alternate Friday, into which the criminal jurisdiction of the sovereign (who is also, but not ex officio, a magistrate for the county) has merged. Quarter sessions of the peace were in former times regularly held for the borough, when the vaults of Hussey's castle were used as the town gaol. Within the last half century these sessions have rarely been held; the last was in 1824, when a schedule of tolls and customs was settled by the grand jury. Under the new act, two sessions are to be holden annually here, in April and October. The new bridewell is a small but substantial building, containing two day-rooms, two yards, and six cells. Adjoining the town are some tracts of rocky and indifferent mountain land, called "The Commons," the boundaries of which are not defined; they are occupied indisciminately by the poorer class of inhabitants, by whom some encroachments have been made in the erection of cabins, and the enclosure of small portions of ground for gardens: these are chiefly on the part called Milltown, where about 30 cabins have been built. The parish contains 11,779 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, of which about one-fourth consists of coarse mountain pasture, partly reclaimable; there is a portion of bog, but not sufficient to supply the inhabitants with fuel. Sea-weed is extensively used for manure, and the state of agriculture is gradually improving. Coog building stone is found in the parish. The principal seat in the vicinity is Burnham House, the property of Lord Ventry, and now the residence of his agent, D. P. Thompson, Esq., who has much improved the house and demesne. Burnham is situated on the S. W. side of the harbour (on the border of the adjoining parish of Kildrum), and commands a fine view of the town and harbour of Dingle, and the range of mountains at the foot of which they lie. The other seats are, the Grove, the former residence of the Knights of Kerry, now of J. Hickson, Esq., situated in a finely wooded demesne immediately adjoining the town; Monaree, of the Hon. R. Mullins; Farinikilla, the modern mansion of P. B. Hussey, Esq.; and Balintagart, of S. Murray Hickson, Esq. The living is an impropriate cure, in the diocese of Ardfert and Aghadoe, and in the patronage of Lord Ventry, in whom the rectory is impropriate: the tithes amount to £315, payable to the impropriator, who allows the curate £50 per annum (late currency), and has allotted him the vicarial tithes, amounting to £75, of the neighbouring parish, of which his Lordship has the nomination. Lord Ventry also maintains a chaplain, at a salary of £150 per annum, who is resident in the town, and assists in the performance of the clerical duties. The old church, which was dedicated to St. James, is said to have been built by the Spaniards: it was originally a very large structure. A part of it, called St. Mary's Chapel, was kept in repair until the erection of the present parish church, on the site of the ancient edifice, in 1807: the latter was built by a gift of £1100 from the late Board of First Fruits; it is a plain structure, and, having become too small for the increasing congregation, is about to be enlarged and thoroughly repaired; for which purpose a grant of £317. 17. 4. has been recently made by the Ecclesiastical Board. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union of district, which also comprises the parishes of Ventry, Kildrum, Garfinagh, the south part of Cloghane, Kinnard, and the greater part of Minard. The chapel at Dingle is a handsome and spacious morder edifice, and there are chapels at Ventry and Lispole. Adjoining the chapel at Dingle is a convent for nuns of the order of the Presentation, a branch from that of Tralee, established here in 1829; a neat chapel is attached, which contains a finely and well executed altar-piece of the crucifixion. The parochial school is supported by subscription, and is under the superintendence of the curate. A school for boys, and a school at the convent for girls, have been hitherto chiefly cupported by the parish priest; the girls are gratuitously instructed by the nuns, and are also taught plain and ornamental needlework. A new school-house, for the accommodation of about 500 boys, has been lately erected in connexion with the National Board, by whom two-thirds of the expense of its erection have been defrayed, and the remaining third by subscription: the total expense was about £300. Attached to Burnham House is a school for Protestant female orphans, originally established by Mrs. D. P. Thompson at Tralee, during the cholera (in consequence of the number of female orphans left destitute by that awful visitation), and recently removed to Burnham House. They are received on the recommendation of respectable parties, who guarantee the paryment of £5 per annum for each towards the expense of their board, the deficiency being made up by the patrons: the number is at present limited to 16. The mistress receives from 25 to 30 guineas per annum, from Mr. Thompson, at whose expense, also, the school-house was fitted up and furnished, and who provides the children's clothing. The gross number of children educated in the parish, including three private schools, is 400, of which about 290 are boys and 110 girls. The late Matthew Moriarty, Esq., left a house in Dingle as a dwelling, rent-free, for eight poor widows; it is kept in repair by his representatives, but he inmates have no pecuniary allowance. Here is a dispensary. In the churchyard is a tomb of the Fitzgerald family, with an inscription in Gothic characters, bearing the date 1504. Of the ancient monastery which formerly existed here, as a cell to the abbey of Killagh, near Castlemaine, there are no remains. At Ballybeg, north-east of the town, is a strongly impregnated mineral spring, of a chlybeo-sulphureous nature, but not much use for medicinal purposes; and along the shore of the bay are several caves, in which are often found the beautiful crystallizations called "Kerry stones." From Connor Hill to the north-east of Dingle, on the road to Castle-Gregory, a splendid view, embracing both sides of the peninsula, is obtained. On one side is seen the bay of Dingle, as far as the island of Valentia, with the great Skellig rock in the distance, and the town and harbour of Dingle lying immediately beneath; and on the other side, Brandon bay and several bold headlands. On each side are mountains, with wide and deep valleys intervening, and numerous tarns or small lakes lying in the hollows of the hills.

Tralee, Co. Kerry

TRALEE, a borough, assize, sea port, market and post town and a parish, in the barony of TRUGHENACKMY, county of KERRY, and province of MUNSTER, 58¼ miles (W. N. W.) from Cork, and 151 (S. W. by W.) from Dublin; containing 11,021 inhabitants, of which number 9563 are in the town. Its ancient name, Traleigh, is derived from its situtation near the point at which the river Leigh discharges itself into the broad sandy bay of Tralee; this river, though apparantly so insignificant as to be covered over during its course through the town, is occasionally so much swelled by the winter torrents from the mountains as to cause much inconvenience and at times damage to the inhabitants. The first historical notice of the town is the foundation of a Dominican monastery, in 1213, by John Fitz Thomas, of the Geraldine family, who having been slain with his son Maurice and many of his followers in the battle at Callan against McCarthy More, was interred in it. In 1324, Maurice Fitz Maurice, fourth lord of Kerry, slew Dermot McCarthy in the presence of the judge of assize, for which act he was severely punished. In 1576, the great Earl of Desmond, who claimed the privilege that his palatinate should not be amenable to the jurisdiction of the King's judges, having in vain endeavoured to prevent Sir Wm. Drury, then Lord Justice, from holding the assizes at Tralee, invited him to his castle, where he met him attended by a large body of his followers. The Lord Justice, seeing them advancing towards him in military order, suspected treachery and ordered his attendants to charge them, upon which Desmond and his men fled with the greatest precipitation, leaving his countess to explain the causes of the alarm. In 1579, Sir Henry Davels, who had been sent by the Lord Deputy to summon the Earl of Desmond to join him with his forces against the Spaniards, who had landed at Smerwick, on his return from this mission was assassinated at Tralee by Sir John Desmond, a relation of the earl. In 1600, Sir Chas. Wilmot here routed a party of the Irish with considerable slaughter. At the breaking out of the war of 1641 all the English families in and about Tralee took shelter in the castle belonging to Sir Edw. Denny, to whom it had been granted after the death of the Earl of Desmond, and the forfeiture of his property; and Sir Edward assembled all his tenants for its defence, but being ordered away on another duty he left the newcomers to their own resources, which they exerted so effectually that they kept the beseigers at bay for six months until, being worn out with fatigue and huger, and discouraged by the death of their governor, Sir Thomas Harris, they surrendered. The town was soon after destroyed and the surrounding courty wasted by the Irish, on the approach of Lord Inchiquin, to prevent him from making it his head quarters. It was treated in a similar manner in 1691, on the approach of King William's forces. THe town, which with the surrounding district, is the property of Sir Edw. Denny, contained in 1831, 1354 houess; it is situated near the foot of a range of mountains and about a mile and a half from the bay of the same name, on a site so low as to be occasionally flooded when high spring tides meet the mountain torrents. It consists of an irregular main street, upwards of a mile long, having several streets branching laterally from it on each side; the streets, which are kept in repair by county presentments, are partially paved and flagged, but not lighted; a proposal made to remedy these defects, and to procure the inhabitants a full supply o fwater, under the provisions of the act of the 9th of Geo. IV., c. 82, was rejected by a public meeting convened in 1832, and the town is now provided with water from pumps fitted up by subscription during the prevalence of the cholera. It has been much improved within the last few years by the erection of several good houses, and the formation of a new street, named Denny street, formed on the site of the ancient castle of the Earl of Desmond, at the western extremity of which is the entrance to the castle demesne, which has been lately much improved, and forms a delightful promenade open to the public. The county club and news-room is in this street, and there are two other reading and news-rooms, called the Chamber of Commerce and the Constitutional Club. Races are held at the spa in July or August, and an annual regatta in the bay has been lately established. The barracks, at Ballymullen, about half a mile from the town, and capable of accommodating 17 officers, and 456 non-commissioned officers and privates and 6 horses, with an hospital for 30 patients, form a substantial building, erected in 1810 at an expense of £20,000; they stand in an enclosed area of about 15½ acres. Near the barracks is the brewery of Mr. Bender, also the distillery of Messrs. Newell and Grant, which manufactures upwards of 70,000 gallons of whiskey annually. The estensive ale and porter brewery of Messrs. Cox and Tidmarsh, producing about 2300 tierces annually, and another on a less extensive scale are situated in the town. The markets, which are held on Tuesday and Saturday, are abundantly supplied with meat and vegetables, and with fish from the bays of Dingle and Tralee; there are no regular market-places, and the dealings are carried on in the public streets, to the great inconvenience of the inhabitants; the provost acts as clerk of the market in examining the weights and measures and in correcting abuses and deciding disputes; market jurors are sworn at quarter sessions. The town has an extensive retail trade. Fairs are held on May 3rd, Aug. 4th and 5th, Oct. 9th and 10th, Nov. 7th and 8th, and Dec. 13th. There are branches of the Bank of Ireland and of the Provincial and National Banks in the town. About 15 years since the export of grain was confined to two or three small cargoes annually; there is now a considerable export, which is increasing every year; the chief articles are wheat and oats, the barley being mostly purchased for home consumption; butter is also exported, but not to its former extent; coal and timber are the chief articles imported. The improvements in the trade, commerce, and general appearance of Tralee have been very considerable of late years, and are rapidly progressing notwithstanding the inconvenience arising from the extreme shallowness of the water in the river which prevents the approach of vessels exceeding 50 or 60 tons nearer than Blennerville, about 1½ mile distant, and obliges large vessels to lie at the Samphire islands, off Fenit point, a distance of about five miles. To remedy this defect, a local act of the 9th of Geo. IV., c. 118, was procured, creating a corporate board of commissioners for the purpose of constructing a navigable canal adequate to bring up large vessels to the town. The canal, which is now in progress, commences at Croompane Rockard, near the west end of the town, where there is a basin 400 feet by 150, on the north side of which is to be a quay faced with hen stone; the canal, which proceeds thence to the Balckrock, beyond Blennerville, is to be 74 feet wide and 15 feet deep; the estimated expense is £24,000. When finished, vessels of 300 tons' burden will be enabled to discharge at the quay. The canal commissioners are empowered to impose certain dues on the imports and exports, and on vessels coming into the port; these dues, in 1834, amounted to £600. The amount of the excise duties of the district, for the year 1835, was £11,265. 9. 6. The town is the head station of the coast guard district and residence of the inspecting commander; it comprises the stations of Castlegregory, Kilfinura, Ballyheigne, the Cashen river, and Beale. It is also a chief constabulary police station. The town was incorporated by a charter of the 10th of Jas. I., under the name of "The Provost, Free Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of Tralee;" to consist of a provost, 12 burgesses and a commonalty. The provost, elected annually, is hereby appointed clerk of the market, justice of the peace for the county of Kerry, and judge of a borough court of record. The burgesses are elected for life; the charter declares all the inhabitants of the borough freemen together with such others as the provost and free bufgesses admit; but as the freedom gives no privilege but that of exemption from tolls, it has never been claimed as of right. The charter grants to the borough the right of returning two members to parliament and vests the election in the provost and burgesses; the borough was disfranchised at the Union, but by the act of the 2nd of Wm. Iv., cap. 88, it is empowered to return one member to by elected by the £10 householders, with a restoration of their former right of voting to the burgesses, provided they be resident in the borough or within seven miles of it. The borough is not co-extensive with the parish, but comprises a portion of the country round the town to the extent of about seven miles in circumference. The new electoral boundary, including part of the parish of Ratass, in which are the county gaol and the barracks, comprises an are of 534 statute acres, the limits of which are paricularly described in the Appendix; the provost is the returning officer. He also presides at a court of record, held every Thursday, for personal actions not exceeding five marks, Irish. The assizes for the county of Kerry are held at Tralee; and general sessions of the peace four times in the year; petty sessions are held every Tuesday. The county court-house, erected near the eastern end of Denny street, at an expense of £14,000, is an edifice of great elegance: its fron presents a Grecian portico approached by a noble flight of steps and surmounted with a fine pediment; the main building, which is circular, has the criminal court of justice on the one side, and the civil on the other, separated by the judges' and other chambers in the centre of the building; the county offices are in the rear. The county gaol, situated near the barracks, is a large and substantial building on the radiating principle, consisting of an octangular centre containing the governor's apartments, from which project two lateral wings and one rearward containing wards for the male prisoners; in the front are two detached buildings for female prisoners and debtors, and in the rear another of semicircular form for a chapel; it affords accommodations, with separate beds, for 209 prisoners, and has a treadmill. The parish contains 4393½ statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act; it is intersected by the small rivers Ballymullen and Leigh, which unite just before they fall into the strait or haven at the western entrance of the town. The soil is in general of superior quality and chiefly in tillage; the system of agriculture is gradually improving: it contains some mountain pasture and shallow bog. Limestone and black marble are found within its limits; the materials with which the new court-house was constructed were chiefly raised from a quarry of fine limestone near the castle green which has been since filled up and planted. Sea weed from Tralee bay is in general use for manure. The principal gentlemen's seats in the vicinity are Ballyseedy, the finely planted demesne of Arth. Blennerhasset, Esq., now occupied by Sir Edw. Denny, Bart.; Oak Park, the residence of John Bateman, Esq., situated in grounds well wooded with oak, among which are some trees of singular size and beauty, and open to the public; Belmont, of the Rev. A. B. Rowan; Ballard House, of Fras. Crosbie, Esq.; Spring Lodge, of F. J. Martelli, Esq.; Lower Cannon, of J. Eagar, Esq.; Magh, of W. Seely, Esq.; Chute Hall, of W. Chute, Esq.; Spring Hill, of Capt. Chute; Arbella, of Fras. Peet, Esq.; Plover Hill, of Gen. Gun, Esq.; and Frogmore Lodge, of the Rev. Barry Denny. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ardfert and Aghadoe, and in the patronage of Sir Edw. Denny; the tithes amount to £408. 7. 7. The glebe-house is a large and commodious building adjoining the church; the glebe comprises 11a. 0r. 29p. The church, which was enlarge in 1819 by aid of a loan of £2450 from the late Board of First Fruits, and more recently enlarged and thoroughly repaired by a fund raised by subscription and the sale of the pews, is a large and handsome structure with a square tower surmounted with pinnacles. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also the greater part of the parishes of Annagh, Clogherbrien, and Ratass; the chapel is a spacious and handsome edifice, the entrance to which from the High street is through a fine avenue bordered with trees. A convent for nuns of the order of the Presentation, established about 12 years since, has a small chapel attached to it. There are places of worship for Calvinistic Independents and Wesleyan Methodists. A school, under the superintendence of the incumbent, was built about 12 years since by aid of a grant of £140 from the Lord Lieutenant's fund, and shortly after its erection was placed in connection with the trustees of Erasmus Smith's charity, who allow the master a fixed salary of £20 per ann. and a contingent gratuity of £10; there is also a school for females formerly in connection with the London Hibernian Society, held under the same roof; the salary of the mistress is paid by subscriptions, which average £30 per ann.; the building can accommodate 80 children of each sex, and both schools are under the superintendence of the Protestant clergyman. A male school in connection with the Board of National Education is held in a large edifice, consisting of an upper and lower apartment, each extending the whole length of the building and together affording accommodation for about 800 children. A female free school is connected with the convent of the Presentation by the nuns of which the children are instructed in the elements of useful literature, and in lace making and needle work; it is partly supported by a grant from the same Board. There are five private schools, the number of children instructed in all these schools is about 830. There is also a Sunday school in the town. The county infirmary with a dispensary attached has been established here. The county fever hospital, a substantial modern building forming three sides of a quadrangle, and capable of accommodating 200 patients, is situated in a spacious are in the vicinity. There is also a temporary asylum for the reception of lunatics previously to their transmission to the district lunatic asylum at Limerick. Two asylums for the aged and impotent poor are supported respectively by the Protestant and Catholic inhabitants. A neat row of six almshouses, affording accommodation to 36 poor widoes, was built in 1832 by Dr McEniry, P. P., at an expense of £600; the widoes are selected by the parish priest. The interest of £1000 Irish, bequeathed by Miss Tuomy, of Tralee, who died about 30 years since, is distributed by the parish priest among the poor, generally at Christmas. The only relics of the ancient abbey are some sculptured ornaments which have been built into the fron of the R. C. chapel and of the adjoining school house. At Ballybeggan are the remains of a castle and at the northern outlet are some slight vestiges of the castle of Mac Allistrom or Ellistrom. On the northern shore of the bay, about three miles from the town, is a celebrated chalybeate spring, which has given the name of Spa to a small watering place, that is described under its own head.

Free Web Hosting Since 1996. Join & Become Part of the TrainWeb's Railroad Community.