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BRA
a handsome mansion on the demesne, which commands
some fine and extensive views; Humphreystown, of W.
Cotton, Esq., the demesne of which is tastefully laid out
and planted; Willmount. of W. Dunbavin, Esq., com-
manding an extensive view of the surrounding country;
and Stormount, of W. Brown, Esq., from which also is
a fine view, including the mansion and demesne of
Russborough. There are also two shooting lodges, one
at Kilbeg, belonging to W. Brady, Esq., and one at
Marfield, the property of Robert La Touche, Esq. It is
a vicarage, in the diocese of Dublin, and is part of the
union of St. Mary Blessington, or Burgage; the rectory
is appropriate to the corps of the treasurership in the
cathedral church of St. Patrick, Dublin. The tithes
amount to £181. 10., of which £110 is payable to the
treasurer, and the remainder to the vicar. In the R. C.
divisions it is included in the union or district of Black-
ditches, which comprises the whole of this parish and a
part of Blessington; there are chapels at Blackditches
and in the small village of Lacken, both of which are in
this parish. A school-house, with apartments for a
master and mistress, was built at the expense of Lieut.-
Col. Smyth; there are eight hedge schools, in which are
about 145 boys and 114 girls. There is an ancient
cemetery at Baltiboys, and another at Templepooda.
BOYTONRATH, or LAGINSTOWN, a parish, in
the barony of MIDDLETHIRD, county of TIPPERARY,
and province of MUNSTER; containing 331 inhabitants.
It comprises only 935 statute acres, as applotted under
the tithe act; and is a rectory, in the diocese of Cashel,
entirely appropriate to the vicars choral of the cathedral
church of St. Patrick, Cashel, who pay a stipend of
£2. 15. 4½. per ann. to the clergyman of the adjoining
parish for the performance of occasional duties: the
tithes amount to £35. There are two pay schools, in
which about 80 boys and 40 girls are taught.
BRABAN.—See PREBAN.
BRACKHILL, a village, in the parish of KILCOLE-
MAN, barony of TRUGHENACKMY, county of KERRY, and
province of MUNSTER, 1 mile (N. E.) from Milltown:
the population is returned with the parish. It is situated
on the road from Milltown to Castlemaine, of which
latter it may be considered a suburb, being connected
with it by Castlemaine bridge.
BRACKLINTOWN, a village, in the parish of
CLONBERN, half-barony of BALLYMOE, county of GAL-
WAY, and province of CONNAUGHT; containing 41 inha-
bitants.
BRANACH ISLES.—See ARRAN.
BRANDON.—See CLOGHANE.
BRANNICKSTOWN, a parish, in the barony of
NAAS, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER,
adjoining the post-town of Kilcullen, and containing
272 inhabitants. This parish comprises 800 statute
acres, 72 of which are plantations in gentlemen’s de-
mesnes, 19 are artificial water, about 10 are waste, 19
are bog, and the remainder arable and pasture land in
nearly equal portions; the bog is well adapted for gra-
zing in the summer and autumn. It forms part of the
impropriate or perpetual curacy of Kilcullen, in the dio-
cese of Dublin.
BRAY, a market and post-town, and a parish, in the
half-barony of RATHDOWN, county of WICKLOW, and pro-
vince of LEINSTER, 14 miles (N.) from Wicklow (by the
sea road), and 10 (S. E. by S.) from Dublin; containing
221
BRA
3509 inhabitants, of which number, 2590 are in the town.
This place derives its name, originally Bre or Bree, signify-
ing a “hill” or “headland,” from the precipitous pro-
montory of clay slate and quartz, called Bray Head, which
rises immediately on the south of the town to an elevation,
of 807 feet above the level of the sea, and from the sin-
gular indentation of its summit forms a well-known land-
mark to mariners. The manor, or lordship, of Bray, with,
all the territories of the O’Tooles, was granted, in 1173,
by Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, lord-deputy,
to Walter de Riddlesford, one of the earliest of the
Norman adventurers, to be held of the Crown by three
knights’ service, to be performed at Dublin. This
grant, together with the seigniory of Castledermot and
extensive privileges, was confirmed to him by John,
Lord of Ireland, who subsequently granted him an an-
nual fair to be held at Bray, with free warren and other
privileges. Among the earliest notices of this place is
the record of a grant of a burgage, with a portion of
arable land, to the abbey of St. Thomas, near Dublin,
by the same Walter de Riddlesford, whose estates, on
failure of male issue, were at his death divided between
two coheiresses; and in 1215 the abbot of St. Thomas
obtained a grant of all the lands held by Walter de Rid-
dlesford in fee, in the town of Bray, at a yearly rent of
3 and a fine of 60 marks. The town was frequently
assailed by the mountain septs of the O’Byrnes and
O’Tooles, to whose territories it was contiguous, and
who, on the 16th of April, 1316, destroyed the castle;
but they were on the same day attacked and defeated by
Edmond Le Boteler. A fierce conflict took place near
the town, in 1402, between these septs and the citizens
of Dublin, headed by John Drake, their provost, on
which occasion, according to Ware and Camden, 4000,
but according to Hervey de Marlbrigge, 400 of the for-
mer were, slain. At the dissolution of the religious
houses, the possessions of the abbey of St. Thomas were
granted to Sir Thomas Brabazon, whose descendant,
the Earl of Meath, is the present proprietor in fee of the
greater part of the town.
The town is situated on the Dargle or Bray river,
which here forms a boundary between the counties of
Dublin and Wicklow, and after passing under an old
bridge of five arches, connecting the portions of the
town which lie on different sides of it, falls into the sea
a little below this place. That part of the town which
is on the Wicklow side of the river consists of one long
street of irregularly built houses, at the head of which
are two smaller streets, one branching off on the left, from
which the lower road to Wicklow is continued over the
hill of Windgates; and the other on the right along
the road to the glen of the Downs, and together con-
taining about 450 houses. That part which is in the
county of Dublin is called Little Bray; it forms part of
the parish of Old Connaught, and contains about 230
houses and cottages, and 1168 inhabitants. The houses
in both are in general neatly built, and the town has a
cheerful and interesting appearance; it is neither paved
nor lighted, but the road is kept in good order. The sur-
rounding scenery is exceedingly romantic, and combines
with its short distance from Dublin to render this place
a favourite resort during the summer season for sea-
bathing. A number of thatched cottages of great neat-
ness, and containing, exclusively of offices, from three
to eight rooms each, have been appropriated to the