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NEN
of Ireland, with lands for the maintenance of thirteen
beds for strangers: after the dissolution of religious
houses, the building and its possessions were granted by
Elizabeth, in the fifth year of her reign, to Oliver Grace.
In the reign of Hen. III., a member of the Butler or of
the Kennedy family founded a Franciscan friary in the
town, which was one of the richest foundations belong-
ing to that order in the kingdom: it was finally leased
by Elizabeth to Robert Collum for a term of years. In
1550, O’Carroll burned both the town and the friary,
but the garrison saved the castle. In 1641, it was taken
by the Irish under Owen Roe O’Nial, from whom it was
afterwards wrested by Lord Inchiquin. Ireton, in his
march against Limerick in 1651, invested the town and
compelled the garrison to surrender at discretion. In
the war of 1688, it fell into the hands of Anthony Car-
roll, an active leader under Sarsfield, who made it the
centre of his operations, until compelled to abandon it
on the approach of a force under Gen. Leveson, when he
burned the town in his retreat.
The town stands on a stream to which it gives name,
that descends from the Keeper mountain to Lough
Derg. It consists of four streets meeting in the centre.
The market for corn and cattle, which is well attended,
is held on Thursday: fairs are held under a grant by
Hen. VIII. to the Butler family, on April 24th; May
29th, July 4th, Sept. 4th, Oct. 10th, and Nov. 1st. The
first fair held here was called Eanaugh Airoon, that is
“a Fair in Ormond.” General sessions are held twice
a year, and petty sessions weekly: there is a court-
house for the meetings of the magistrates; also an
old bridewell, consisting of 3 day-rooms, 9 cells and 2
yards. Application is about to be made to procure an
act of parliament to make Nenagh an assize town. It
is the residence of a stipendiary magistrate, and a chief
constabulary police station. A seneschal’s court for the
manor was formerly held here. A fever hospital and
dispensary are maintained in the usual manner: three
physicians attend the former in monthly rotation, at a
salary of £25 each. There is a small library of works of
a religious and charitable tendency. An infantry barrack
has been built on an eminence at the east end of the
town, on the principle of a field fortification, with ac-
commodations for a field-officer, 12 commissioned officers,
208 non-commissioned officers and privates, and 4
horses, with hospital accommodation for 21 patients
and a magazine. The ruins of the old castle, commonly
called “Nenagh Round,” on one side of Castle-street, con-
sist of a lofty and massive circular donjon, or keep, with
a yard attached, surrounded by high walls, which were
originally flanked by four circular towers, and entered
by a gate with a portcullis: the building appears to be of
the age of the first Anglo-Norman proprietor. A brewery
is carried on in the town; and at Tyone, in its imme-
diate vicinity, is a flour-mill, from which large quanti-
ties of flour are sent to Dromineer, the nearest steam-
boat station on the Shannon, about five miles distant.
There is also a small stuff manufactory. The town
is supplied with water from wells, and is neither paved
nor lighted. Near it, on the Dublin road, is a spring of
excellent water, with a covering of masonry, on which
are inscribed these words: “Erected by voluntary con-
tribution, to commemorate the unparalleled benevolence
of the English nation to the poor of Ireland at a season
of extreme distress. A.D. 1822.” The fee of the land
423
NEW
in and about the town, amounting to 500 acres, is vest-
ed in the Holmes family.
The town is in a populous and well-cultivated dis-
trict, in which are a considerable number of resident
gentry. The seats in its immediate vicinity are Rich-
mond, the residence of R. Wells Gason, Esq.; Salisboro
of T. Poe, Esq.; Riverston, of John Bennett, Esq.;
Smithfield, of Capt. Boucheir; Willington, of W. Smith-
wick, Esq.; and Brook Watson, of F. Watson, Esq.
The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of
Killaloe, united by act of council, Feb. 16th, 1798, to
the rectory and vicarage of Knigh, and in the patronage
of the Bishop: the tithes amount to £350, and the
gross tithes of the benefice are £636. 3. 1. The glebe-
house was erected by a loan of £1200 from the late
Board of First Fruits, in 1812; there are two glebes in
the union, together containing 18a. 3r. The church,
which is in the town, is a plain structure, built by a
loan of £1300 from the same Board, in 1809; and the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners have lately granted £101
for its repair. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the
head of a union or district, comprising this parish and
that of Lisbunny; it contains one chapel, situated in
the town, where is also a meeting-house for Wesleyan
Methodists, and another for Independents. There are
a parochial free school, a school under the trustees of
Erasmus Smith’s charity, and one under the Board of
National Education, in which are about 290 boys and
150 girls. There are also six private schools, in which
are about 170 boys and 80 girls.
NEWBAWN, a parish, partly in the barony of
BANTRY, but chiefly in that of SHELMALIER, county of
WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 6 miles (S. E.)
from New Ross, on the road to Wexford: containing
1618 inhabitants. During the disturbances of 1798, the
insurgents encamped on Carrigburn hill, in this parish,
for a few days before the battle of New Ross, and re-
mained there until the evening of the 4th of June, when
they marched to that town, leaving some prisoners
(among whom were a few Catholics) in the barn belong-
ing to the mansion of Scullabogue, which is situated at
the foot of the rocky hill. Some fugitives from the field
of battle perceiving that the day was lost, in order to
escape the carnage of that desperate conflict, hurried back
to Carrigburn under pretence of bringing orders from
the commander-in-chief to put the prisoners to death,
which being believed, the barn was set on fire, and the
prisoners, with the exception only of one or two, perished
in the flames. The mansion has never been occupied
by the proprietor, Lieut.-Gen. Browne Clayton, since it
became the scene of this memorable tragedy; but a neat
cottage, called Carrigburn Cottage, has been fitted up as
a summer residence for the family. Carrigburn is a re-
markable rocky eminence, chiefly composed of hard flint,
rising abruptly from an extensive plain to a height of
about 2000 feet above the level of the sea, and command-
ing from its summit an extensive prospect of the sur-
rounding country and of the Irish sea, studded along the
coast of Wexford with several islands, among which the
Saltees are the most conspicuous. The parish com-
prises 7316 statute acres, chiefly in tillage, and well cul-
tivated. It is a rectory, in the diocese of Ferns, form-
ing part of the union of Adamstown, and the corps of
the archdeaconry: the tithes amount to £360. 4. 8.
In the R. C. divisions it is the head of a union or dis.