Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

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appearance. The tenants of the Marquess of Clauri-
carde in this neighbourhood, who have their land on
reasonable terms, and are in comfortable circumstances,
testify a growing taste for improving the cultivation of
their farms.
POTTERCHA, a village, in the parish of KILSKYRE,
barony of UPPER KELLS, county of MEATH, and pro-
vince of LEINSTER; containing 22 houses and 124
inhabitants.
POULLADOUGH, a village, in the parish of KIL-
LERERAN, barony of TYAQUIN, county of GALWAY, and
province of CONNAUGHT, 6 miles (S. E.) from Tuam, on
the road to Ballinasloe: the population is returned with
the parish.
POWERSCOURT, a parish, in the barony of
RATHDOWN, county of WICKLOW, and province of
LEINSTER, 3 miles (W. S. W.) from Bray, on the road
from Dublin, through the Scalp, to Roundwood; con-
taining, with the town of Enniskerry (which is separately
described), 4375 inhabitants. This place, which in the
ecclesiastical records is called Stagonil, and in other
authorities Templebeacon, takes its present name from
the De la Poer family, to whom it was conveyed by
marriage with the daughter of Milo de Cogan, one of the
followers of Strongbow, who built a castle here to protect
his territories from the incursions of the mountain septs
of the surrounding district. The castle was, in 1535,
surprised and taken by the Byrnes and O’Tooles, but
was soon recovered by the English and subsequently
granted by Hen. VIII. to a branch of the Talbot family,
from whom it was taken, in 1556, by the Kavanaghs
and garrisoned with 140 of that sept; but after an obsti-
nate resistance it was taken by Sir George Stanley, and
the garrison were sent prisoners to Dublin, where 74 of
them were executed. In 1609, Jas. I. granted the castle
and all the lands of Fercullen, with the exception of
1000 acres of the parish, now belonging to the Earl of
Rathdown, to Sir Richard Wingfield, ancestor of the
present Lord. Powerscourt, as a reward for his services
in suppressing a rebellion in Ulster raised by Sir Cahir
O’Dogherty and Sir Nial O’Donell, in 1608, of whom
the former was killed in the field, and the latter made
prisoner in his camp: the lands were soon afterwards
erected into a manor, and in 1618 the proprietor was
created Viscount Powerscourt.
The parish, which is situated on the confines of the
county of Dublin, and intersected by the Dargle river,
comprises 20,800 statute acres, of which 7853 are fertile
arable land, 5635 are of inferior quality, and 7312 are
mountain. The surface is beautifully diversified, and
richly embellished with handsome seats, highly culti-
vated demesnes, luxuriant plantations and wooded emi-
nences, finely contrasting with the rude grandeur of
rugged masses of rock rising majestically from the nar-
row glens, and the loftier elevation of the surrounding
mountains. Powerscourt, the splendid seat of Viscount
Powerscourt, is a spacious mansion of hewn granite with
two fronts, one consisting of a centre with a portico
supporting a pediment, in the tympanum of which are
the family arms, and of two wings, each terminating
in an obelisk supporting the crest; the other front has
at each extremity a circular tower, surmounted by a
cupola and ogee dome. The interior contains many
stately apartments, among which are a noble hall, 80
feet long and. 40 feet wide, richly decorated; a spacious
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ball-room of equal dimensions, with galleries on each •
side, supported on lofty fluted columns, and sumptu-
ously embellished; the floor is of chesnut wood highly
polished and inlaid, and the whole displays much
beauty of arrangement and elegance of decoration.
In this room King Geo. IV. was entertained at dinner
by the late Viscount; the splendid chair of state pro-
vided for his use on that occasion is still preserved.
There are some splendid paintings lately brought over
by the present Viscount, and a handsome octagonal
room entirely wainscoted with cedar. The demesne, to
which the principal entrance is through a lofty and
handsome gateway on Enniskerry hill, comprises 1250
acres, of which 500, constituting the home demesne,
lie around the mansion, 550 in the deer-park, and
the remainder on the north side of the Dargle, which
belongs to his lordship. From the terrace in front
of the mansion is a fine view down a romantic glen,
enclosed by impending mountains, among which the two
Sugar Loaves are conspicuous, and terminating with
the rugged outline of Bray Head; and in every part
of the demesne, which is richly embellished with stately
timber and flourishing plantations, the scenery is replete
with beauty and grandeur. The Glen of the Waterfall,
to which the approach is through the deer-park, is em-
bosomed in mountains clothed almost to their summit
with woods of oak; emerging from these the cataract
is seen in all its picturesque grandeur, precipitating
its waters in an unbroken volume from a height of
more than 300 feet, with scarcely any interruption from
projecting crags, into a chasm at its base between lofty
detached masses of rock. When not augmented by con-
tinued rains, the sheet of descending water is clear and
transparent, and the face of the precipice is distinctly
seen; but after heavy falls of rain it descends with tu-
multuous violence, and the whiteness of the foam forms
a striking contrast with the dark foliage of the sur-
rounding woods. A slippery path beneath impending
rocks leads to the summit of the precipice, from which
the view downwards to its base is awfully terrific. The
scenery here is wildly romantic; a picturesque wooden
bridge over a stream that runs from the foot of the
waterfall leads to a banqueting-room commanding a fine
view of the glen. The stream in this part of its course
is called the Glenistorean, but meeting on the outside of
the deer-park with another from Glencree, it takes that
name, and after flowing through a succession of richly
cultivated demesnes assumes the appellation of the
Dargle river on its approach to the celebrated glen of
the same name. The entrance to the upper end of this
very remarkable glen is about a quarter of a mile from
Enniskerry, and to the lower end about two miles from
Bray. The glen itself is about a mile in length, en-
closed on both sides with towering precipices clothed to
their summits with woods of oak, darkening the narrow
vale at their base, and occasionally broken by stu-
pendous masses of bare and rugged rock, which rise
perpendicularly through the luxuriant foliage. Confined
between its rugged bounds, and obstructed in its course
by fragments of loosened rocks, the Dargle river rushes
through the glen with all the noise and impetuosity of a
torrent; on a ledge of overhanging rock a small Moss
House has been placed, affording a.limited view of the
scenery, which is seen in all its varieties from numerous
winding paths commanding in succession its most inter-