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NEW
rites; and under a cairn of stones here was discovered
a kistvaen, containing human bones, some of which
appeared to have been burnt.
NEWCASTLE, a parish, in the barony of NEW-
CASTLE, county of WICKLOW, and province of LEIN-
STER; containing, with the post-town of Newtown-
Mount-Kennedy (which is separately described), 4517
inhabitants, of which number, 130 are in the two villages
of Upper and Lower Newcastle. The parish was a por-
tion of the ancient territory of Crioch-Cualan, or Hy-
Briun-Cualan, and the centre of the eastern or maritime
portion of the Byrnes’ country, and part of the Rane-
lagh, a district that, for more than two centuries, has
given the title of viscount to the family of Jones. It
takes its name from the castle built at a very early
period after the English settlement, to protect the
colony here from the molestations of the septs of the
O’Tooles and the Byrnes, by whom that part of the
county of Wicklow was then possessed. It became a
principal military station and the chief town of the Eng-
lish on the eastern side of this tract of country, long before
the erection of the town of Wicklow into a borough,
or of the county into shire ground. In old records it is
called Novurn Castrum M c Kynegan; and in a grant of
tolls for repairing the walls of the city of Emly, made
in the 31st of Edw. I., a similar grant to this town for
three years, and for the same purpose, is quoted. In
130S the castle was repaired by Piers Gaveston, the
unfortunate favourite of Edw. II., when lord-lieutenant
of Ireland. That the English held this castle and manor
for a long time after by a very precarious tenure, ap-
pears from the fact that one of the clauses of the articles
of submission made by Byrne to Thomas of Lancas-
ter, lord-lieutenant in the reign of Hen. IV., was a
covenant that the king should quietly enjoy the manor
of Newcastle; and in an official document in the reign,
of Elizabeth, several of its townlands are described as
being the inheritance of Pheagh and Phelim Mac Teige
Hugh Byrne, the latter of whom was then the senior
chieftain of the Ranelagh sept of the Byrnes, and in
that character was present at the parliament held in
Dublin in 1585. The manor was vested in the crown
in the reign of Chas. I., and after the restoration was
parcelled out among several patentees under the Act
of Settlement. Cromwell is said to have besieged the
castle in his march upon Wexford. In the reign of
Chas. II. it was a large town, consisting of several
streets, all of which were burned in one night by an
incursion of the Irish from the mountains, under Pheagh
O’Toole. A large portion of the castle is still to be
seen on an artificial moated mount. Near the north
end of the village are the vestiges of a strong building,
said to have been the gaol and court-house, and near it
are the remains of two other castles; a large sewer was
also lately discovered, in which were found many can-
non balls and skeletons.
The parish, which is bounded on the mountain side
by the river Vartrey and is intersected by the low road
from Bray to Wexford, and by the mail road from Dub-
lin to Wexford, contains 14,535 statute acres. For
civil purposes it is divided into two parts; the Upper,
including the town of Newtown-Mount-Kennedy and
the hamlet of Monaleen, containing 3118 inhabitants;
the Lower, including the two villages and the hamlet
of Leabeg, 1399 inhabitants. A large portion of the
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shore on the eastern side of the parish is subject to
inundations from the sea, and in the middle of it is
an opening into which the tide rushes with great vio-
lence, rendering the whole of the neighbouring low
land a continuous marsh; the land here is intersected
with deep artificial trenches, called sluygs, cut to
prevent the floods from injuring the cultivated land.
The western limit of the parish is formed by a
range of hills extending from Dunran to Drumbawn,
between which and the sea is a fine tract of rich soil,
highly cultivated, thickly planted, and studded with
numerous mansions, villas, demesnes, and parks. The
general substratum is clay-slate: the soil in the lower
lands is a strong rich loam of some depth, producing
barley and oats of the first quality; that of the upper
lands varies from a light and dry to a shingly soil, which,
when dressed with lime or marl, yields good crops of
oats. Some of the finest veal and earliest lamb brought
to the Dublin market is reared here. The long white
early potato, called Bangors, is extensively cultivated.
The salt marsh of Cooldross, formed by the opening to
the sea already noticed, is much esteemed for its salutary
effects in recovering surfeited horses. Adjoining the
marsh is a bog, the peat of which, when wrought into
a compost, makes excellent fuel: much turf is also
brought from the mountains and known by the name
of slane turf, from the implement used in cutting it.
The lower village is situated two miles (S. S. E.) from
Newtown-Mount-Kennedy. The upper or church vil-
lage occupies a gradual ascent commanding a fine view
of the sea, which bounds an intervening prospect of
rural scenery, the effect of which is much increased by
the ruins of the old castle and the simple and neat
modern edifice of the parish church. Fairs are held on
April 1st, July 10th, Sept. 1st, and Dec. 6th. There is
a coast-guard station at Five-mile point belonging to the
district of Glyn. The parish contains several elegant
seats, besides those described as being in the imme-
diate vicinity of Newtown-Mount-Kennedy. Among
the finest is Woodstock, the residence of Lord Robert
Ponsonby Tottenham, Bishop of Clogher; the mansion
is a large square building, in the centre of an extensive
and finely wooded demesne, commanding an extensive
prospect bounded by the sea: it was a favourite resi-
dence of Marquess Wellesley, during his first vice-royalty.
Of the numerous other seats and villas, that add so much
to the charms of this delightful district are Mount John,
the seat of Graves Chamney Archer, Esq.; Killadree-
nan, of Alderman Chas. P. Archer, commanding an
extensive sea view, with that of the entrance of the beau-
tiful glen of Dunran; Seamore Lodge, of John Leonard,
Esq., which enjoys a fine view of the Sugar-loaf moun-
tains and Bray Head; Lower Newcastle, of James Jones,
Esq., in the grounds of which are the remains of an
old fortification, called the Garrison; Upper Leabcg, of
John Gray, Esq.; Leamore, of John Smith, Esq., com-
manding a view of Wicklow Head, with its two lights;
Cooldross, of W. Webster, Esq.; Lower Leabeg, of W.
Ashenhurst, Esq.; and Kilmullen, of Thos. Halbert, Esq.
The parish comprises two livings, a lay rectory and a
vicarage, in the diocese of Dublin and Glendalough:
the rectory is in the patronage of Gerard Macklin, Esq.;
the vicarage, in that of the Archbishop. The tithes
amount to £621. 11. 7½., of which £288. 9. 2½. is pay-
able to the Rev. R. Macklin, £55. 12. 8. to Earl Fitz-
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