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THE
the vicarages of Desert and Taghboy, constituting the
union of Tessaragh or Mount-Talbot, in the patronage
of the Bishop; the rectory is impropriate in the Incor-
porated Society. The tithes amount to £103. 1. 6½., of
which £41. 4. 7½. is payable to the society, and the
remainder to the vicar: the gross tithes of the benefice
are £138. 9. 2. The church is a plain neat Gothic
building, erected in 1766 at an expense of £415, a gift
from the late Board of First Fruits; the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners have recently granted £390 for its
repairs. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head
of a union or district, comprising also part of the parish
of Taghboy; there is a chapel at the Four Roads,
a small thatched house in bad repair. There are two
schools aided by subscriptions, in which about 50 chil-
dren are taught; and four hedge schools, in. which are
about 400 children. Here are some ruins, supposed to
be those of a religious house.
TESSAURAN, a parish, in the barony of GARRY-
CASTLE, KING’S county, and province of LEINSTER, 2
miles (N. by W.) from Cloghan, on the road to Shannon-
Bridge; containing 5587 inhabitants. This parish is
situated between the river Shannon and the greater
Brosna river, which latter runs into the former at its
southern extremity: it comprises 5184 statute acres of
arable land, and upwards of 1600 acres of red bog.
Limestone is quarried both for building and agricul-
tural purposes; and great facility is afforded by the
Shannon and the Grand Canal for the conveyance of
agricultural produce to Dublin and Limerick. Petty
sessions are held on alternate Tuesdays at Belmont.
The seats are Moytown, the residence of Col. L’Estrange;
Belmont, of Robert Baker, Esq.; Kilcummin, of Wm.
L’Estrange, Esq.; and Hunstanton, of Major Carlton.
The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of
Meath, united by act of council in 1804 to the vicarage
of Farbane, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the
tithes amount to £200, and there is a glebe of 114
acres of profitable land, valued at £256. 10. per ann.;
there is also a glebe of 282 acres (exclusive of bog) in
the parish of Farbane: the gross value of the benefice,
including the glebes, amounts to £876. 19. 2. per ann.
The glebe-house was built in 1812 by the present in-
cumbent, at an expense of £2119. The church is a
neat edifice, built in 1806 by aid of a gift of £500 Irish
currency, from the late Board of First Fruits, and
enlarged in 1831 by private subscription, aided by a
loan of £300 British, from the same Board; on this
occasion Col. L’Estrange contributed £80. In the
R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or
district of Farbane; the chapel at High-street is a plain
building of recent erection. In the national school at
High-street, which is aided by £6 per ann. from a local
fund, and a female school at Moytown, supported by
Mrs. L’Estrange, about 90 children are educated; and
there are two private schools, in which are about 130
children, and a Sunday school. A loan fund has been
established for the benefit of the industrious poor. Of
the abbey founded here about the commencement of the
sixth century, and of which St. Trena was abbot, not a
vestige exits. The old churchyard, which for the last
two centuries has been the burial-place of the L’Estrange
family, is still used.
THAMPHELIM.—See KILLARE.
THERANADROMMON.—See KILNAMARTRY.
621
THO
THOMASTOWN, a parish, in the barony of EAST
OPHALY, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER,
3 miles (N. by W.) from Kildare, on the road to Rathan-
gan; containing 139 inhabitants, and comprising 823
statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act. The
living is a rectory, in the diocese of Kildare, episcopally
united to the rectories of Dunmany and Pollardstown,
and in the patronage of the Duke of Leinster: the
tithes amount to £58. 1., and the gross tithes of the
union to £208. 1. The glebe house was erected in 1828,
by aid of a gift of £450 and a loan of £120 from the
late Board of First Fruits, and a gift of £200 from the
Duke of Leinster; the glebe comprises S acres. The
church is a small handsome building in the Gothic
style, erected in 1827 by a gift of £900 from the same
Board, and to the repairs of which the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners have lately granted £234. A parochial
school, in which about 20 children are taught, is entirely
supported by the rector; the school-house is a neat
slated building.
THOMASTOWN, an incorporated market and post-
town, (formerly a parliamentary borough), and a parish,
in the barony of GOWRAN, county of KILKENNY, and
province of LEINSTER; 21 miles (N.) from Waterford,
and 59 (S. S. W.) from Dublin, on the mail coach road
to Waterford; containing 3054 inhabitants. This place,
situated on the river Nore, and on the southern border
of the county, was anciently called Grenan; it took its
present name from Thomas Fitz- Anthony Walsh, Senes-
chal of Leinster, one of the earliest English proprietors
in Ireland, who built a castle here, and made the town
a free borough. By the Irish it was called Bally-Mac-
Andon, signifying “Fitz-Anthony’s town;” and from
its situation at the head of the navigable channel of the
Nore, it became at an early period a place of consider-
able trade and an important military station; it was
surrounded with walls, and most of its buildings were
castellated. The present town, in 1831, contained 527
houses, most of which are neatly built. Over the river
Nore is a handsome stone bridge of five arches, built in
1792, at each end of which is an ancient square tower,
formerly connected with the fortifications by which the
town was surrounded. A very considerable trade was
formerly carried on, and the town was the commercial
depot for the county of Kilkenny; flat-bottomed boats
of an aggregate burden of 11,000 tons were constantly
employed in conveying goods from this town, besides
many others which did not belong to it; but the river
is now choked up with deposits of sand. Inistioge
has become the head of the navigation of the Nore, and
the boats employed on the river at this place do not
exceed an aggregate burden of 150 tons; the goods are
now conveyed on Scotch cars by land from Waterford
to Kilkenny. The improvement of the navigation of the
Nore would tend greatly to the revival and extension of
the trade of the town, and to the development of the
resources of the county, which is rich in marble, coal,
culm, slate, and limestone, for which, in addition to its
agricultural produce, it would afford facilities of convey-
ance to the neighbouring ports. It has been estimated
that the clearing of the channel of the river, which
would open the navigation from New Ross to this town
for flat-bottomed steam-boats of 70 tons’ burden, might
be accomplished at an expense of £12,000, and effect,
by a reduction of the charges for freight and the dis-