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and contains a chapel. There are five pay schools, in
which are about 270 boys and 97 girls. There are some
considerable remains of Ballynaclash castle, situated on
an eminence; and at Temple-Bric is a vast insulated
rock, about 40 yards from the shore, on which are traces
of an ancient building supposed to have been the resi-
dence of O’Bric, chief of the southern Decies. A
species of hawk, remarkable for great strength and
courage, formerly frequented this rock, and is still
occasionally seen.
BALLYLARKIN, a parish, in the barony of CRA-
NAGH, county of KILKENNY, and province of LEINSTER,
1¾ mile (S. W.) from Freshford; containing 243 inha-
bitants. It is situated on the road from Freshford to
Johnstown, and comprises 4733 statute acres, of which
£1370 are applotted under the tithe act and valued at
£1090 per annum: the lands are arable and pasture in
nearly equal portions. The living is a vicarage, in the
diocese of Ossory, and in the patronage of the Dean
and Chapter of St. Canice, Kilkenny, to whom the rec-
tory is appropriate. The tithes amount to £92. 6. 1¾.,
of which £61. 10, 9¼. is payable to the appropriators,
and the remainder to the vicar. There is neither church,
glebe-house, nor glebe: the Protestant inhabitants at-
tend divine service at Freshford church. In the R. C.
divisions the parish forms part of the union or district
of Freshford. Here are the ruins of a castle, once the
seat of the Shortall family, which for a long time was of
great note in this county.
BALLYLENNAN, a parish, in the barony of SHEL-
MALIER, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER,
5 miles (S. W. by S.) from Taghmon; containing 733
inhabitants. This parish is situated on the high road
from Wexford to Duncannon Fort, and is separated on
the east from the barony of Bargy, and on the south-
east from the barony of Shelburne, by a navigable
stream called indifferently the Bannow or Scar river.
It comprises 2460 statute acres, as applotted under the
tithe act, of which about 60 acres are woodland, and
the remainder chiefly under tillage. The soil is generally
light, with the exception of some very rich land near
the Scar river, the mud of which supplies abundance of
manure; the system of agriculture is good, and still
improving; and the dwellings of the peasantry, which
are cleanly and cheerful, afford striking indications of
industry and comfort. At the mouth of the Scar river,
in Bannow bay, is a small quay for landing limestone
and manure, which are brought from the peninsula of
Hook, on the other side of the bay of Fethard, in boats
of about 15 tons burden. Rosegarland, the elegant seat
of F. Leigh, jun., Esq., though to all appearance a mo-
dern mansion, is incorporated with some of the walls,
and occupies part of the site of an Anglo-Norman for-
tress, originally quadrangular and flanked at the oppo-
site angles with massive square and round embattled
towers, of which latter, one has been raised by the pre-
sent proprietor to the height of 60 feet, commanding
a luxuriant and extensive prospect over the numerous
rich demesnes with which this part of the country is
ornamented. The gardens and pleasure grounds are
tastefully laid out; in the former, which comprise seven
acres, are four Portugal laurels of extraordinary growth,
planted in the form of a square at the distance of 1¾
yard asunder, and extending their foliage over an area
of 65 yards in circumference; the latter are adorned
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with some fine timber, and a branch of the Scar winds
through them, adding much to the beauty and fertility
of the demesne. This is an impropriate curacy, endowed
with the small tithes., in the diocese of Ferns, and forms
part of the union of Horetown; the rectory is impro-
priate in the Earl of Portsmouth. The tithes amount
to £174. 6. 6½., of which £114. 6. 6½. is payable to the
impropriator, and £60 to the rector of Horetown. The
remains of the church have been converted into a mau-
soleum for the family of Leigh. In the R. C. divisions
it is within the liberty of Tintern, and with Clongeen is
known as the parish of Rosegarland.
BALLYLINAN, a village, in the parish of KILLEBAN,
barony of BALLYADAMS, QUEEN’S county, and province
of LEINSTER, 3 miles (S. W.) from Athy, on the road to
Castlecomer; containing 94 houses and 533 inhabit-
ants. In the strata of the neighbouring lands are nu-
merous marine exuvice; and some valuable coal mines,
called the Wolf-Hill and Mordulah collieries, are worked
by steam-engines recently erected. Great quantities of
fine flag-stones were formerly raised on the adjoining
townland of Boley; but on the discovery of similar
quarries near Carlow, more conveniently situated for
conveyance by canal, they were abandoned. Stones con-
taining a large proportion of iron are found on the lands
called Iron Park; but no works have been yet esta-
blished. The village is a constabulary police station,
and has a penny post to Athy. Fairs are held in it on
Jan. 11th, Feb. 10th, May 10th, Sept. 2nd, and Nov, 26th;
and petty sessions every Saturday. To the north is
Rahin, the seat of Lieut.-Col. Weldon, a handsome man-
sion surrounded by thriving plantations; and at a short
distance are the luxuriant woods of Gracefield Lodge,
the seat of the ancient family of Grace, whose old man-
sion has been taken down and replaced by an elegant
villa in the later English style, from a design by Mr.
Nash, completed in 1817; the grounds have been taste-
fully embellished, and the approach from the Kilkenny
side presents some beautiful and interesting mountain
scenery. In the village are the ruins of an old church,
near which some ancient coins have been dug up; and
on the Marquess of Lansdowne’s estate of Luggaghcur-
ran, in the vicinity, are the remains of a cromlech, con-
sisting of five upright pillars about 4½ feet high, and a
table stone 8½ feet long, 7 wide, and 2½ feet in thickness.
On the highest point of the Boley hills, and near the
woods of Gracefield, is Dundrom, an extensive earth-
work consisting of a vast mound, the summit of which
is 130 yards in diameter, enclosed by a high bank, and
surrounded at the base by a fosse 30 feet wide at the
bottom. Within the enclosure is a well of fine water,
and from the mound is a view of uncommon extent.
This post was occupied by a party of the insurgents in
1798.—See KILLEBAN.
BALLYLINCH, a parish, in the barony of GOWRAN,
county of KILKENNY, and province of LEINSTER, 1
mile (N.) from Thomastown; containing 298 inhabit-
ants. It forms part of the estate of Mount Juliet, and
comprises 165 statute acres. It is a vicarage, in the
diocese of Ossory, and is included in the union of
Burnchurch; the rectory is a sub-denomination forming
part of the Mount Juliet demesne. The tithes amount
to £96, and are payable to the incumbent. In the R. C.
divisions it is comprehended in the union or district of
Thomastown.