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with numerous beautiful and richly planted seats, and
presents a great variety of picturesque rural scenery.
Petty sessions are held in the village every Wednesday:
it is a metropolitan police station, and has a dispensary;
a fair is held in it on the 10th of July. Near the bridge
is a woollen factory, which employs about 100 persons;
there are also paper and corn mills near it, which are
worked by the waters of the Dodder and the Cruagh river,
that form a junction here: at Rathgar are extensive
calico print-works. The small villages of Roundtown
and Templeogue are in the parish: in the latter are the
ruins of a church with a small burial-ground still used
as a cemetery attached to it. Archbishop Alan states,
in his “Repertorium Viride,” that the church was a
chapel appendant to the church of Kilmesantan without
the marches or pale; that it was built on the hither side
of the Dodder, as being a safer place to hear divine
service in during times of war; and that from its late
erection it had the name of Templeogue, which signifies
“New Church,” given to it. The castle, now the pro-
perty of the Marquess of Ely, is a large and stately
mansion in the centre of a fine and thickly planted
demesne, the principal entrance to which is a very beau-
tiful gateway, built in the style of a Roman triumphal
arch, besides which there is a very lofty pointed Gothic
gateway leading to the village: the entrance to the
house from the terrace on which it stands is by a por-
tico of eight Doric columns which support a dome
painted in fresco with the signs of the zodiac: the great
hall is ornamented with a number of ancient and
modern busts on pedestals of variegated marble, and has
three windows of stained glass, in one of which are the
arms of the Loftus family. The collection of family
portraits and paintings by the old masters has been
removed, in consequence of a determination to take the
building down and to divide the demesne into a number
of small plots for the erection of villas. The other more
remarkable seats, besides those described in the articles
on Roundtown and Rathgar, are Ashfield, the residence
of Sir W. C. Smith, puisne baron of the Exchequer;
Beaufort, of R. Hodgens, Esq.; Landscape, of H. O’Cal-
laghan, Esq.; Whitehall, of W. P. Matthews, Esq.;
Newtown, of John Kirby, Esq., LL.D., M.D., in the
grounds of which there are some very fine evergreens;
Rathfarnham House, of the Rev. H. M c Clean; Bolton
Hall, of P. Jones, Esq.; Barton Lodge, of W. Conlan,
Esq.; Sallymount, of J. Watson, Esq.; Edenbrook, of
E. Conlan, Esq.; Ballyroan, of A. Reilly, Esq.; Brook
Lodge, of R. Hutchinson, Esq.; Mount Browne, of Mrs.
Johnson; Old Orchard, of P. Larkin, Esq.; Ballyhill,
of the Rev. G. Browne; Butterfield House, of J. Wright,
Esq.; Nutgrove, of P. Jones, Esq.; Washington Lodge,
of the Rev. J. Burnett; Fairbrook, of Thos. Murphy,
Esq.; Rusina, of B. Brunton, Esq.; Old Orchard House,
of J. Sweeny, Esq., and Whitehall, of T. Laffan, Esq.,
an out-ofiice of which is built in the shape of a pottery
furnace, with a winding flight of steps on the outside to
the top, whence there is a commanding prospect of the
surrounding country.
The parish comprises 2724 statute acres. It is a
rectory, in the diocese of Dublin, and one of the parishes
which constitute the archdeaconry of Dublin: the tithes
amount to £315. The church is a plain building of
rough stone with hewn stone quoins, of very plain
outward appearance, but fitted up within very neatly:
VOL. II.—497
RAT
in it is a mural tablet to the memory of Barry Yelver-
ton, first Lord Avonmore, whose remains are in the
cemetery, as are also those of the late Archbishop
Magee. The church was enlarged and a tower and
spire added to it, in 1821, at a cost of £900, being a loan
from the Board of First Fruits, and the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners have lately granted £270 for its repair.
In the R. C. divisions this is the head of the union or
district of Rathfarnham, Crumlin, and Bohernabreena,
comprising the parishes of Rathfarnham, Crumlin, Tal-
laght, Cruagh, and Whitechurch. There are large
chapels at Rathfarnham, Crumlin, and Bohernabreena,
the last in the parish of Tallaght: near the first-named
is a good house for the priest. Near the village is a
convent of nuns of the order of Loretto: the building
is a large brick mansion, which had been the seat of the
late G. Grierson, Esq. The sisterhood have a boarding
school for young ladies and also superintend a free
school of upwards of 100 children, which is aided by
the Board of National Education; the pupils receive
a suit of clothes annually. Attached to the nunnery is
a small chapel very elegantly fitted up: the sisterhood
have lately purchased the convent of the nuns of St.
Clare at Kingstown. The parochial school is aided by
an annual donation from the archdeacon of Dublin; a
school for hoys in connection with the R. C. chapel is
supported by subscriptions and a charity sermon; an-
other school is in connection with the London Hibernian
Society. Wilkes, the celebrated comedian, was a native
of this parish.
RATHFEIGH, or RATHFAYGTH, a parish, in the
barony of SKREEN, county of MEATH, and province or
LEINSTER, 8 miles (S.) from Slane, on the mail road
from Dublin by Slane to Londonderry; containing 385
inhabitants. This parish comprises 2897 statute acres,
as applotted tinder the tithe act; the land is of in-
different quality and mostly in tillage. It is a rectory,
in the diocese of Meath, forming part of the union of
Skryne or Skreen: the tithes amount to £180, and
there is a glebe of 2 acres, valued at £5. 10. per annum.
In the R. C. divisions also it is part of the union or
district of Skryne: there is a chapel at Rathfeigh.
About 40 children are educated in a private school.
The ruins of the church still remain.
RATHFRILAND, a market and post-town, partly
in the parish of DRUMBALLYRONEY, but chiefly in that
of DRUMGATH, barony of UPPER IVEAGH, county of
DOWN, and province of ULSTER, 16½ miles (W.) from
Downpatriek, and 57¼ (N.) from Dublin, on the mail
road from Newry to Downpatrick; containing 200.
inhabitants. This town was founded, soon after the
Restoration, by Alderman Hawkins, of London, to
whom, in acknowledgment of his very important ser-
vices during the parliamentary war, Chas. II. granted
the whole of the extensive manor, which is now the
property of his lineal descendant, Gen. Meade. The
benevolent alderman, at his own cost, provided food,
clothing, and lodging for 5000 Protestant royalists, who,
during the calamitous progress of the war, had fled to
London for protection; collected in England £30,000
for the purchase of corn, wearing apparel, and other
necessaries for the support of such as had not been able
to effect their escape; and, with the assistance of a few
of his friends, raised the sum of £45,000 for the public
service and the use of the king. The town is situated
3 S