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PAR
and two for Wesleyan and Whitfield Methodists;
that of the Wesleyans, erected in 1820, is a hand-
some building with a well-executed pediment of hewn
stone. The walls and steeple of the old church are
still standing; on the latter is a sculpture in stone
of the arms of Sir L. Parsons, to whom the town
was granted in 1620, and who died in 1628, impaled
with those of his lady, Anne Malham. There are
about 20 schools in the town and parish, four of which
are free schools. The parochial school for boys is
aided by an annual donation from the rector, as is also
an infants’ school; a male and female school is aided
by an annual donation from E. Synge, Esq., and a
female parochial school is supported by subscription:
in all these there are about 400 children; and 15
private schools give instruction to 350 boys and 250
girls: there is also a Sunday school, Many curious
relics of antiquity have been found in the neighbour-
hood of this parish, a collection of which, consisting
of swords, spears, skeins, celts, and the Barnaan
Cuilawn, found at Glankeen, are in the possession of
Mr. Cooke, who has also a number of the brass
tokens already noticed. Some instances of extraordi-
nary longevity have been recorded; one person is
named who lived to the age of 114 years. At Clon-
bela, about 2½ miles from the town, is a mineral spring.
Lord Oxmantown, who devotes much time and thought
to studies connected with astronomy and other branches
of science, has a laboratory in which he has constructed
machinery for polishing the largest specula for teles-
copes, by means of which he constructed a 25-feet re-
flector, the great speculum of which is 3½ feet in diame-
ter. It stands on the lawn in front of Birr castle, and
is moved by machinery somewhat similar in principle to
that of Herschel’s celebrated telescope, but simpler in
construction, which also is the invention of his lordship.
Mr. Cooke has here a seven-feet reflector, which is
equatorially mounted on a cast-metal pillar in a very
simple manner. Some documents and MS. accounts
relative to the wars of 1641 and 1688 are in the pos-
session of the Earl of Rosse. A history and descrip-
tion of Parsonstown was published in 1826: the work
is anonymous, but is supposed to have been written
by Tho. L. Cooke, Esq.
PARSONSTOWN, a parish, in the barony of FER-
RARD, county of LOUTH, and province of LEINSTER, 4
miles (S. E.) from Dunleer; containing 257 inhabitants.
It is situated on the eastern coast, and, according to the
Ordnance survey, comprises 524 statute acres, some of
which is good land, but the remainder consists of a cold
tenacious clay. It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Ar-
magh, constituting part of the union of Dunany; the
rectory is impropriate in the Marquess of Drogheda:
the tithes amount to £48. 12., of which £29. 7. is pay-
able to the impropriator, and £19. 5. to the vicar. In
the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district
of Rathdrummin, or Clogher.
PARTICLES (The), a parish, in the barony of
COSTLEA, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUN-
STER, 5 miles (S.) from Kilmallock, on the road to Kil-
dorrery: the population is returned with the several
parishes of which it formerly was part. This place de-
rives its name from particles or parts of several religi-
ous foundations of which it was formed; these are
the townlands of Down Gadmond, Down Innish, Cha-
VOL. II.—457
PAS
pel Martel, and Ineycahal, which, prior to the Re-
formation, belonged respectively to the abbeys of But-
tevant, Kilmallock, Manister-Nenagh, and Adare, to
which they were given at a very early period by
the family of O’Kelly, or O’Hely. The village of
Glenasheen, in this parish, was built by a colony of
Palatines brought hither in 1769, by the late Silver
Oliver, Esq., from Lord Southwell’s settlement at Rath-
keale, by whom also the surrounding country was
greatly improved. The descendants of these colonists
are still in possession of their farms; but these have been
so frequently subdivided, that the tenants are becoming
very poor. The parish is situated among the Castle
Oliver mountains, and extends northward to within three
miles of Kilmallock; it comprises 8278 statute acres;
the soil is fertile, being based on a substratum of lime-
stone, which is also found in round nodules and burnt
into lime both for agricultural and building purposes.
The principal seats are Sunville, near the hill of Ard-
patrick, anciently belonging to the Godsall family, now
the property and residence of E. Sayers, Esq.; and
Bettyville, the residence of J. Austen, Esq. Castle
Oliver, anciently called Castle-na-Doon, originally the
residence of the Roche family, afterwards of the family
of Fitzharris, became, after the Restoration, the property
of the Olivers, from whom it takes its present name; it
now belongs to R. O. Gascoigne, Esq., of the county of
York, whose bailiff resides in it. The estate, including
the demesne and park, comprises 20,000 acres; but the
building is in a very dilapidated state, and the whole
much neglected. At Sunville is a very extensive flour-
mill, with machinery of the most improved description,
producing 3000 barrels of flour annually, and affording
employment to a part of the inhabitants, of whom the
rest are wholly employed in agricultural pursuits. A
constabulary police force is stationed in the village.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Lis-
more, instituted in 1835, and endowed with £75 per
annum by the dean and chapter of Limerick, to whom
the rectory was appropriated by charter of Chas. II., in
1674, as part of the economy fund of the cathedral: the
tithes amount to £323. 5. 4½. Divine service is regu-
larly performed in a building attached to the police
station at Glenasheen. In the R. C. divisions the parish
forms part of the union of Kilfinnan. The parochial
school is supported by the dean and chapter, assisted by
Miss Betty Oliver. On the summit of the high grounds
of Chapel Martel is a circular enclosure, having the
appearance of a military station, within which it is said
that a converted Dane founded a chapel and afterwards
gave it, with the adjoining lands, to the abbey of Butte-
vant. From the summit of the hill above the village of
Glenasheen is a very interesting prospect, embracing
every county in Munster; on one of the smaller hills in
the centre of the group is a small gateway tower, erected
by the late Silver Oliver, Esq.
PASSAGE (EAST), a small maritime town, in that
part of the parish of KILL-ST.-NICHOLAS which is
within the county of the city of WATER FORD, in the
province of MUNSTER, 6 miles (E.) from Waterford,
to which it has a penny post; containing 306 inhabit-
ants. When Perkin Warbeck abandoned the siege
of Waterford, in 1497, he embarked at this place
for Cork. A fort here, which commanded the passage
up the harbour, was taken in 1649 by a party of
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