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sion of the Rev. J. B. Ryder, and is nearly globular,
neatly marked, and has apparently been baked.
CASTLEMACADAM, a parish, in the barony of
ARKLOW, county of WICKLOW, and province of LEIN-
STER, 5 miles (N. W.) from Arklow; containing 5155
inhabitants. This place derives its name from an ancient
castle, which was destroyed in the frequent incursions
of the O’Byrnes, and rebuilt in 1308,, by Piers Gaveston,
during his lieutenancy of Ireland. The parish is situ-
ated on the mail coach road from Dublin to Wexford,
and on both sides of the beautiful Vale of Ovoca; it
contains 12,360 statute acres, and although abounding
in mineral wealth, is poor for agricultural purposes.
The scenery is unequalled for its variety of beautiful
and sublime views, in which the most pleasingly pic-
turesque is combined with the most strikingly romantic.
The enchanting valley of Ovoca, which is the scene of
Moore’s exquisite ballad, “The Meeting of the Waters,”
is principally within its limits, and contains a most
admirable mixture of mountain, forest, lawn, and river
scenery. After the conflux of the Avonmore and Avon-
beg, at “the Meeting of the Waters,” near Castle-
Howard, the united stream takes the name of the
Ovoca. The banks are about a quarter of a mile distant
from each other, and for nearly eight miles are thickly
wooded. The mail coach road from Dublin to Wexford,
by way of Arklow, winds through this picturesque vale,
which is adorned by the woods of Castle-Howard, Bally-
arthur, Castlemacadam, Shelton Abbey, and Glenart,
the hills containing the copper mines of Cronebane,
Trigon, Ballymurtagh, and Ballygahan, and the village
of Newbridge. The most splendid view of the valley
is obtained from Ballyarthur, the seat of E. Symes
Bayly, Esq. It is a plain house, but the demesne, which
contains above 1600 statute acres, is richly wooded,
and extremely varied in surface. The avenue leading to
the house, which is through a turreted archway, near
the village of Newbridge, is about two British miles in
length, and with a gentle ascent winds through a wood
of luxuriant growth. This road terminates at the lawn
in front of the house, which contains above 60 British
acres of undulating ground, on the top of the hill. A
path behind the house leads to a terrace on the upper-
most ridge of the northern bank of the Ovoca, which
commands a prospect of the union of the Ovoca and
Aughrim rivers, called the “Second Meeting,” and of
Croghan-Kinshela, which contains the Wicklow gold
mines. But the most delightful view is from the spot
where stood an octagonal temple, about half a mile
from the terrace, the path to which is through a walk
so thickly planted as to exclude the prospect of the
surrounding country. This privation increases the
gratification derived from the magnificent view which
suddenly bursts on the eye. This enchanting demesne is
open to all respectable persons, and during the summer
is visited by very great numbers, being considered, from
the exquisite beauty of its prospects, one of the most
delightful spots in Wicklow. Near the head of the vale
stands Castle-Howard, the magnificent seat of the late
Col. Robert Howard, which crowns the summit of an
almost precipitous cliff, rising from the east bank of the
Ovoca and overlooking the confluence of the Avonmore
and Avonbeg: the demesne is tastefully laid out, and
ornamented with rustic buildings. Besides these seats,
there are Cherrymount, the residence of the Rev. T.
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Webber, and Mine View, of J. Kilbee, Esq., from which
there is an extensive prospect.
Mining operations were commenced here in 1787,
by a company afterwards incorporated in 1798, under
the name of the Irish Mining Company. The aggregate
produce of Cronebane, up to 1811, was 26,875 tons of
ore, which produced 1717 tons of copper. Above £12,000
worth of copper had also been obtained from the waters
of the mine, by keeping them in tanks with old iron,
which caused the copper to precipitate itself. The mines
of Ballymurtagh were worked with eminent success by
Mr. Whaley, of Whaley Abbey, so early as 1755. From
the low price of copper, these mines were in a languish-
ing state for several years; but in 1834, the Board of
Public Works advanced £1000 for the erection of ma-
chinery in Cronebane, and a similar sum for Ballymur-
tagh both to be repaid by instalments, with interest.
In 1835, four of the mines were in operation; of these,
Cronebane and Tigrony, leased from the Irish Mining
Company to the Cornish firm of Williams, Brothers,
& Co., affords employment to above 600 persons. These
mines are entirely worked by water; there are 8 water
wheels, one of which is 50 feet, and two are 40 feet,
in diameter; they produce about 90 tons of ore weekly,
which yield from 5½ to 7½ per cent, of pure coper
In the middle of the last century, Mr. Weaver, superin-
tendent of the Irish Mining Company’s mines, discovered
a brown indurated oxyde of iron, containing minute
particles of silver to the amount of 6¼ per cent.; the
communion plate for the parish church is made of this
silver. The Connaree mines, worked by Messrs. Kemp-
ston and Tilly, are said to produce the richest copper
ore at present known in Ireland, yielding an average
from 9½ to 15 per cent., and in some instances even 35
per cent., of pure metal: 150 people are employed in
these mines, raising about 1000 tons of ore annually.
A steam-engine of 50-horse power has been erected to
drain the mine, and is said to have been the first intro-
duced into Wicklow. The Ballymurtagh mines are held
by the Wicklow Copper Mining Company, on a lease
which will expire about 1850, at a rent of one-tenth of
the produce: about 380 persons are employed, who
raise about 400 tons of ore monthly, which yields 5½
per cent, of copper. More than 20 veins have been dis-
covered, extending nearly a mile and a half in length,
and varying from a few perches to nearly half a mile
in breadth. Four principal shafts have been sunk, the
deepest of which is 120 fathoms; and a steam-engine
of 50-horse power, and one of 45 are used for draining
them. The working of Ballygahan mine, belongingto Vis-
count Powerscourt, was re-commenced by the Royal
Irish Mining Company, in 1833, who raise from 40 to
50 tons per month, but intend working it on a larger
scale. The shipping-place for all these mines is the port
of Wicklow, to which their produce is conveyed by a
difficult land carriage. There are some quarries of clay-
slate in the parish, which is used for building, and also
some detached masses of granite.
The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Dublin
and Glendalough, united by act of council to part of the
vicarage of Ballydonnel and the vicarage of Kilmacoo,
forming the union of Castlemacadam, in the patronage
of the Archbishop: a very small portion is impropriate
in Charles Cooper, Esq. The tithes amount to £246.7.7.,
of which £230. 15. 4¾. is payable to the incumbent,