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vessels of the aggregate burden of 10,300 tons entered
inwards, and 299 of the aggregate burden of 17,643 tons
cleared out, as connected with the coasting trade. The
amount of duties paid at the custom-house for that
year was £2059. 18. 6.; but much of the timber being
imported for the use of the copper mines, the greater
part of the duty was returned. The number of vessels
registered as belonging to the port is 99, of the aggre-
gate burden of 6426 tons. The custom-house is at
Castle-Townsend, a distance of 10 miles from this place.
The jurisdiction of the port extends from Galley Head,
on the east, to Mill Cove on the west, and includes the
creeks or harbours of Bearhaven, Bantry, Crookhaven,
Baltimore, and Castle-Townsend, together with all rivers,
bays, and creeks within its limits. The harbour is si-
tuated about seven miles (E. by N.) from the south-west
point of Cape Clear, and is convenient for shipping
bound either eastward or westward. The pier, though
small, is a great accommodation to the fishermen as a
landing-place on the mainland, for the fishery of Cape
Clear; and a small quayage is collected for keeping it
in repair. There are neither fairs nor markets. A coast-
guard station has been established here, which is one of
the nine that constitute the district of Skibbereen. The
parish church, a new and handsome building with a
lofty square tower, is situated in the village: it was
erected in 1819, and forms a very conspicuous and beau-
tiful feature in the landscape, as seen from the harbour.
A school-house for male and female children was built
at the expense of Lord Carbery in 1832: and there
is a dispensary for the benefit of the inhabitants of the
numerous islands in the bay. The ruins of the castle,
on the summit of a lofty rock over the pier, and com-
manding every part of the harbour, are extensive and
beautifully picturesque.—See TULLAGH.
BALTINGLASS, an ancient borough, market, and
post-town, and a parish, in the barony of UPPER TAL-
BOTSTOWN, county of WICKLOW, and province of LEIN-
STER, 32 miles (W. S. W.) from Wieklow, and 38 miles
(S. S. W.) from Dublin; containing, with the town of
Stratford-on-Slaney, 4110 inhabitants, of which num-
ber, 1670 are in the town of Baltinglass. This place,
according to most antiquaries, derives its name from
Baal-Tin-Glas, signifying, according to common accep-
tation, “the pure fire of Baal,” and is thence supposed
to have been one of the principal seats of druidical
worship. At the time of the English invasion it formed
part of the inheritance of the Kings of Leinster; and
about the year 1148, or 1151, Diarmit Mac Murchad
O’Cavanagh, the reigning monarch, founded here a mo-
nastery for Cistertian monks, in the church of which he
was afterwards interred. Among the most distin-
guished benefactors to this establishment, which be-
came a mitred abbey, was John, Earl of Morton,
afterwards King of England; and among its abbots was
Albin O’Molloy, one of the most zealous advocates of
the Irish clergy, in opposition to the overbearing alle-
gations of Giraldus Cambrensis. The monastery was
frequently plundered by the mountain septs of the
O’Byrnes and the O’Tooles; and in 1314 the abbot ob-
tained from the English government permission to hold
a conference with the chiefs of those formidable septs,
who in the deed for this purpose are designated “Irish
Felons,” in order to recover “the goods and chattels
of which he had been robbed, or a full equivalent for
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the same.” The monastery was suppressed in 1537, and
with its extensive possessions, including the castle and
manor of Baltinglass, was granted, in 1541, to Thomas
Eustace, Lord Kilcullen, whom Hen. VIII. created Vis-
count Baltinglass. In the reign of Elizabeth a parlia-
ment was held here, in which was passed an act render-
ing every kind of inheritance forfeitable for high treason,
emphatically called the statute of Baltinglass. James,
the third Viscount Baltinglass, and his four brothers,
having joined in the great Desmond insurrection, were
convicted of high treason; and their estates being con-
fiscated under this statute, were granted by Queen
Elizabeth to Sir John Harrington. The manor is now
the property of Henry Carroll, Esq., of Ballynure 3 and
the castle, with the town and other considerable property
in the neighbourhood, is in the possession of the Earl
of Aldborough. During the disturbances of 1798, the
insurgents, after their defeat in the county of Wexford,
stationed themselves in the mountains of this neigh-
bourhood, and continued for some time to commit
outrages on the peaceable inhabitants of the surround-
ing country.
The town is pleasantly situated in a romantic vale
watered by the Slaney, over which is a stone bridge of
three arches connecting those parts of it which are on
the opposite banks of the river. It consists of four
principal streets, with two or three others of less im-
portance, and in 1831 contained 256 houses: it is amply
supplied with water from springs, and, from its situation
on the great road from Dublin, by Tullow, to Wexford,
enjoys a considerable traffic. There are infantry bar-
racks for one officer, and 25 non-commissioned officers
and privates: and a constabulary police and a peace
preservation force are stationed in the town. The ma-
nufacture of linen, woollen, and diaper was formerly
carried on here extensively; there are two bleach-greens
in the town in full operation, and an extensive flour-mill.
There are also some extensive cotton and calico-printing
works at Stratford-on-Slaney. A market and fairs were
granted, in 1617, to Sir Thomas Willmott by Jas. I.
Chas. II., in 1663, granted by charter a market, to be
held on Friday, and two fairs for three days each in May
and September, to Sir Maurice Eustace, with the tolls
thereof; and four more fairs were granted, in 1763, to
John, Lord Baltinglass, by a patent which also contains
a grant of a market on Tuesday, not held, and of the
tolls and customs of the markets and fairs to his lord-
ship. The market is on Friday; and the fairs are held
on Feb. 2nd, March 17th, May 12th, July 1st, Sept. 12th,
and Dec. 8th. Until within the last few years the tolls
and customs were received, by the corporation, but the
collecting of them has been discontinued.
The town was incorporated by charter of Chas. II. in
the 15th year of his reign (1663), under the designation
of the “Sovereign, Burgesses, and Free Commons of the
Borough of Baltinglass.” The corporation consists of
a sovereign, twelve burgesses, a recorder and town-clerk,
a serjeant-at-mace, and a clerk of the market. The
sovereign is elected annually by and from the burgesses,
on the Monday next after the feast of St. John the Bap-
tist, and sworn into office on the Monday after Michael-
mas-day; he has power to appoint a deputy from among
the resident burgesses, by consent of a majority of that
body; the sovereign or deputy is a justice of the peace
within the borough during the year of office, and the