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BAL
MEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 4 miles (N.) from
Nobber; containing 14 houses and 83 inhabitants. Here
is a plain R. C. chapel, which it is in contemplation to
rebuild.
BALLINCALLA, or BALLINCHOLLA, a parish,
partly in the barony of Ross, county of GALWAY, but
chiefly in that of KILMAINE, county of MAYO, and pro-
vince of CONNAUGHT, 2 miles (S. W.) from Ballinrobe,
on the road to Cong; containing 3031 inhabitants.
It comprises 7102 statute acres, as applotted under
the tithe act: about one-half of the land is under
tillage, one-fourth is pasture, and the remainder waste
mountain and bog. A fair is held at Lough Mask,
on the 20th of September. It is a rectory and
vicarage, in the diocese of Tuam, and forms part of
the union of Kilmolara: the tithes amount to £328.
The glebe-house of the union is situated here, and
was erected by aid of a gift of £400 and a loan of
£398 from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1819: the
glebe comprises 20 acres. In the R. C. divisions it is
part of the union or district called the Neale. There is
one pay-school, in which are about 30 males and 15
females. On the borders of Lough Mask are some
remains of an old castle.
BALLINCLARE, a small hamlet, in the parish of
BALLINACOURTY, barony of CORKAGUINEY, county of
KERRY, and province of MUNSTER, 8 miles (E. by N.)
from Dingle, on the road to Tralee; containing 13
houses and 88 inhabitants. Fairs are held on May 1st
and Oct. 4th, chiefly for cattle and pigs.
BALLINCOLLIG, a post-town, in the parish of
CARRIGROHANE, barony of BARRETTS, county of CORK,
and province of MUNSTER, 5¼ miles (W.) from Cork,
and 130½ miles (S. W.) from Dublin, on the road from
Cork to Macroom; containing 875 inhabitants. This
place is chiefly distinguished as a military depôt, and
for its extensive gunpowder-mills, formerly carried on
under the superintendence of Government, but, after
having been for some years discontinued, recently pur-
chased by the present proprietors, and now in full
operation. The artillery barracks form an extensive
quadrangular pile of buildings, having in the eastern
range the officers’ apartments, and on the western side
an hospital and a neat church, built in 1814, in which
divine service is regularly performed by a resident chap-
lain. The buildings contain accommodation for 18
officers and 242 non-commissioned officers and privates,
and are adapted to receive eight field batteries, though
at present only one is stationed here, to which are
attached 95 men and 44 horses: in the centre of the
quadrangle eight gun sheds are placed in two parallel
lines, and near them are the stables and offices; within
the walls is a large and commodious school-room. Im-
mediately adjoining the barracks, and occupying a space
of nearly four miles in extent, are the gunpowder-mills,
16 in number. At convenient distances are placed the
different establishments for granulating and drying the
gunpowder, making charcoal, refining sulphur and salt-
petre, making casks and hoops and the various ma-
chinery connected with the works; the whole, commu-
nicating with each other, and with the mills, by means
of small canals constructed for facility of carriage, and
for preventing such accidents as might occur from other
modes of conveyance. In appropriate situations, and
adjoining these establishments, are the residences of the
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different persons superintending the works; and at the
eastern extremity of the ground, but at a considerable
distance from the mills, are two ranges of comfortable
cottages for a portion of the work-people, now tenanted
by 54 families, which obtain a comfortable livelihood.
The number of persons employed is about 200, and the
quantity of gunpowder manufactured annually is about
16,000 barrels. The police depôt for the province of
Munster is situated here; the men are drilled till they
become efficient, and then drafted off to the different
stations in the province. There is a R. C. chapel, to
which is attached a school. To the south of the town,
and on a limestone rock rising abruptly from the sur-
rounding meadows, are the remains of Ballincollig castle,
of which one of the towers is in tolerable preservation.
—See CARRIGROHANE.
BALLINCUSLANE, a parish, in the barony of
TRUGHENACKMY, county of KERRY, and province of
MUNSTER, 4½ miles (S. E. by S.) from Castleisland;
containing 4700 inhabitants. The parish, which is
situated on the west bank of the river Blackwater, and
on the confines of the county of Cork, is intersected by
the old and new roads from Castleisland into that
county, the latter being the road to King-William’s-
Town, now in progress at the expense of Govern-
ment. It comprises 37,118 statute acres, as applotted
under the tithe act, a large portion of which consists of
rough mountain pasture and bog, which is mostly re-
claimable: the arable land is of good quality, and
limestone is found in abundance near Ardnagragh, and
is used principally for manure. The only gentlemen’s
seats are Derreen, a lodge belonging to J. Bateman, Esq.,
and Mount-Eagle, the sporting residence of C. G. Fair-
field, Esq., who, with Col. Drummond, are proprietors
of one-sixth of the seigniory of Castleisland, and have
made considerable improvements by planting, draining,
and the construction of new roads. The living is a
rectory, in the diocese of Ardfert and Aghadoe, and
till lately was one of the four that constituted the union
of Castleisland, in the patronage of the Proprietors of
that seigniory; but the union has been divided into
three separate livings, confirmed by act of council in
1836: the tithes amount to £460, 12. 7. Divine ser-
vice is regularly performed at Derreen; but it is ex-
pected that a church will be built in the parish. In the
R. C. divisions the parish, with the exception of a small
portion attached to Knocknagashel, forms part of the
union or district of Castleisland; the chapel, a plain
but commodious building, is situated at Cordel, near
Ardnagragh. A school-house has been lately built near
Mount-Eagle, for 120 children; and there are six pri-
vate schools, in which about 100 boys and 50 girls are
educated. At Ardnagragh are the ruins of Desmond’s
chapel, with a burial-ground attached, now called Kil-
nananima; here the remains of “The Great” Earl of
Desmond (who was slain in 1583) were interred. Near
this spot are the ruins of Kilmurry castle, which was
taken by Col. Phaire, of Cork, in 1650: this and the
castles of Kilcushnan and Bally-Mac-Ad am, situated
within half a mile of each other, were inhabited by three
brothers named Fitzgerald, of the Desmond family, be-
tween whom such enmity subsisted that none of them
would suffer the others to pass unmolested through his
lands.
BALLINDANGAN.—See CROSSBOYNE.