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POM
taining 7182 inhabitants, and comprising, according to
the Ordnance survey, 15,951 statute acres. The district
was granted by Jas. I. to Sir Arthur Chichester, then
lord-deputy, and soon after was created a manor under
the name of Manor Chichester. It was then altogether
an extensive forest, some of the oaks of which, when
cut down several years since, measured 29 feet in cir-
cumference. During the unsettled period of 1641 it
was nearly stripped of its timber, and for many years
after remained in a neglected state, until 1770, when
the Rev. James Lowry undertook its management: he
planted a great portion of the demesne, which now ex-
hibits some very fine timber, and bequeathed a sum to
erect the present mansion. In the demesne, which con-
sists of 556 acres, is a small lake, the borders of which
resemble in shape the coast of Ireland, on a scale of
about one foot to a mile. Near it is a very abundant
spring of water, strongly impregnated with carbonic
acid gas. The village, which is small and meanly built,
on the summit of a hill, consists of a square and a long
street, the roadway of which having been cut down in
order to diminish the ascent, has placed the houses on
each side in an unsightly and even dangerous situation.
A court leet and baron for the manor is held here every
three weeks, in which debts to the amount of 40s. are
recoverable: petty sessions are held on the third Wed-
nesday in every month. It is a constabulary police
station, and has a penny post to Dungannon and Ornagh.
Fairs are held on the second Tuesday of every month,
for the sale of cattle; and two annual fairs on June 1st
and Oct. 31st. The eastern and southern parts of the
parish are fertile and well cultivated; the western,
which forms part of the Altmore mountain, and com-
prises nearly 3000 acres, is uncultivated mountain and
bog. Granite, basalt, quartz, limestone, freestone, clay-
slate, iron-stone and coal have been found within its
limits. The principal seats are Pomeroy House, the
fine residence of R. W. Lowry, Esq., already noticed;
Mulnagore Lodge, of Mrs. Stafford; Drummond Lodge,
of J. Suter, Esq.; and the glebe, of the Rev. Thos. Twigg.
The parish was erected in 1775, by an order of council,
at the application of Primate Robinson, by severing 41
townlands from that of Donaghmore: it is a rectory
and vicarage, in the diocese of Armagh, and in the pa-
tronage of the Lord-Primate; the tithes amount to
£389. The glebe-house, built in 1786 at an expense
of £414, supplied by Primate Robinson, and enlarged
in 1793 at a cost of £322 by the then incumbent, has
a glebe of 560 statute acres (of which 145 are irreclaim-
able), valued at £198 per annum, also purchased by the
same Primate: the gross value of the benefice, tithe and
glebe included, is £586. 17. 1½. per ann. The townland
of Gortfad, in this parish, forms part of the glebe of
the rectory of Desertcreight. The church, built in 1775
on a site three miles from the village, is a handsome
edifice, yet, though spacious, it does not afford sufficient
accommodation for the congregation during the summer
months. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part
of the union or district of Donaghmore, and has a
chapel in the village of Pomeroy; where also there is a
meeting-house for Seceders. The parochial school, situ-
ated near the church, was built and endowed with six
acres of land by Primate Robinson, and is supported
by the rector: there are schools at Pomeroy and Lis-
naglees, in connection with the Board of National Edu-
462
POR
cation, in all of which are about 280 boys and 100
girls; also three private schools, in which are 100 boys
and 70 girls, besides two Sunday schools, one support-
ed by the rector, the other by R. W. Lowry, Esq. In
the higher chain of the Altmore mountains are the
ruins of the castle erected by Sir Thos. Norris, in the
reign of Elizabeth, to protect the mountain pass; and
not far distant are the remains of two barracks, erected
during the last century for stations for troops placed
here to put down the bands of robbers that then in-
fested the country.
POOLBOY, a village, in the parish of KILCLOONY,
barony of CLONMACNOON, county of GALWAY, and pro-
vince of CONNAUGHT, 1 mile (S. E.) from Ballinasloe:
the population is returned with the parish. Here are
the ruins of a priory, of which no account is extant;
and a school supported by the Earl of Clancarty. On
the verge of a bog near the village is a strongly im-
pregnated chalybeate spa, noticed in the article on
Kilcloony.
PORT, a parish, in the barony of FERRARD, county
of LOUTH, and province of LEINSTER, 4¾ miles (E.)
from Dunleer, on the eastern coast; containing 809 in-
habitants, of which number, 193 are in the vil-
lage. It comprises, according to the Ordnance survey,
1803½ statute acres of tolerably good land, princi-
pally in tillage. Within its limits is Seafield, the neat
and pleasantly situated residence of H. L. Brabazon, Esq.
It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Armagh, forming part
of the union of Rathdrummin: the rectory is impro-
priate in the Crown. The tithes amount to £145. 9. 4.
the whole of which is received by the vicar, on his
paying an annual quit-rent at the custom-house of
Drogheda of £2. 19. 6., and there is a glebe of three
acres, valued at £5 per annum. In the R. C. divisions
it forms part of the union or district of Dysert. About
290 children are educated in the national school at
Boycetown; the school-house, a handsome and spacious
building, was erected by subscription, to which Sir
Patrick Bellew, Bart., liberally contributed.
PORTADOWN, a market and post-town, and dis-
trict parish, in the barony of ONEILLAND WEST, county
of ARMAGH, and province of ULSTER, 9 miles (N. E.)
from Armagh, and 69 (N. by W.) from Dublin, on the
road from Armagh to Belfast; containing 4906 inha-
bitants, of which number, 1591 are in the town. This
place, anciently called Port-ne-doon, or “the port of the
fortified eminence,” derived that name from an ancient
castle of the M c Canns or M c Canes, who were tribu-
taries of the O’Nials and occupied this very important
station, commanding the pass of the river Bann. The
adjoining lands were, under the name of the manor of
Ballyoran, granted by Jas. I. to William Powell, Esq.,
and afterwards by Chas. I., in the 7th of his reign, to
Prudence Obyns and John Obyns, Esq., who erected a
large mansion in the Elizabethan style for their own
residence, and built 14 houses, in which they settled
fourteen English families. Of the ancient mansion there
is scarcely a vestige, except the gardens, and the avenue,
which is still tolerably perfect. The town, which has
been greatly extended, and the manor, are now the
property of Viscount Mandeville. The former is very
advantageously situated on the river Bann, over which
is a stone bridge of seven arches, connecting it with the
small suburb of Edenderry, in the parish of Seagoe.