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CHA
province of LEINSTER, 6 miles (S. S. W.) from Ennis-
corthy; containing 827 inhabitants. It is situated on
the little river Boro, and on the mail car road from New
Ross to Enniscorthy, and contains 3747 statute acres,
which are chiefly under tillage. The soil is in general
light and poor, and the state of agriculture has under-
gone but little improvement. At Boro Hill is the seat
of Jeremiah Fitzhenry, Esq. The living is an impro-
priate curacy, in the diocese of Ferns, and is part of the
union of Killegney; the rectory is appropriate to the
bishopriek. There is a glebe of 16 acres, and the tithes
amount to £173. 10. 9. In the R. C. divisions this
parish forms part of the union or district of Templeu-
digan, also called Killegney: the chapel, a neat building,
is at Clogbawn or Cloughbawn, in this parish, and was
erected soon after 1798, partly by a loan from Govern-
ment. Near it is the national school, built in 1816 by
Lord Carew, who has endowed it with four acres of
land, and allows £15 per annum to the master. No
less than 84 young men, who have been educated at
this school, have subsequently become schoolmas-
ters. About 120 boys and 30 girls are taught in the
school, and about 70 more children in three private
schools.
CHARLEMONT, an in-
corporated market-town and
district parish (formerly a
parliamentary borough), in
the barony and county of
ARMAGH, and province of
ULSTER, 5 miles (N. by W.)
from Armagh, and 68 miles
(N. by W.) from Dublin;
containing 3642 inhabitants,
of which number, 523 are
in the town. This place de-
rives its name from Charles,
Lord Mountjoy, who, while Lord-Deputy of Ireland
in 1602, erected a castle here, and called it Charle-
mont, partly after his name, and partly after his title.
It was built to prevent the incursions of the O’Nials
into the English pale, and to guard the wooden bridge
which then afforded the only passage over the Black-
water. In 1641 it was deemed a place of consider-
able importance, and was taken by stratagem by Sir
Phelim O’Nial, on the 22nd of October. Lord Caul-
feild, a brave officer, grown old in the royal service,
had been made governor, and lived with his Irish,
neighbours in unsuspecting confidence, when Sir Phelim
invited himself to sup with, his lordship, and he and his
followers being received, on. a pre-arranged signal seized
the family, made the garrison prisoners, ransacked
the castle, and afterwards killed Lord Caulfeild in one
of O’Nial’s houses. That chieftain subsequently retiring
before the English forces, made this castle his head-
quarters for a short time. Owen O’Nial, expecting to
be besieged here, strengthened the defences; and when
the Scottish General Monroe attempted to surprise it,
he was repulsed with loss, but.the castle was at length
captured by Sir Charles Coote. In 1665 it was sold to
Chas. II. for £3500, since which time it has been vested
in the Crown. It was garrisoned by the Irish for Jas. II.,
in 1690, under Sir Teague O’Regan, and invested by
Duke Schomberg.. Caillemote, a French officer, being
posted on the Blackwater, and harassing the garrison,
322
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after some time the governor was summoned to sur-
render. O’Regan, a courageous Irish officer, deter-
mined to hold out to the last extremity, but the dis-
tresses of the garrison becoming intolerable, the governor
proposed terms of capitulation on the 13th of May, and
on the 14th the garrison marched out with the honours
of war, to the number of 800 men. On taking posses-
sion of the castle, the duke found in it 17 pieces of
cannon, one large mortar, 83 barrels of gunpowder, and
various munitions of war.
The town is situated near the confluence of the
rivers Blackwater and Callen, and on the road from
Armagh to Dungannon and Coleraine. In 1833 it con-
tained 111 houses, and is connected with the post-town
of Moy by a recently erected stone bridge. Charlemont
castle is still a place of great strength, fortified with
bastions, a dry ditch, and escarp and counterscarp;
and there are two ravelins, one in front, the other in
rear of the works, surrounded by a glacis which runs
along the side of the Blackwater. It is the ordnance
depôt for the North of Ireland, and the head-quarters
of the artillery for the district of Ulster. Formerly it
had a military governor, but on the death of Gen. Sir
John Doyle, Bart., in 1835, the office was abolished,
as being a sinecure. The barracks, which are occu-
pied by two companies of the Royal Artillery, are con-
structed to accommodate 5 officers, 151 non-commis-
sioned officers and privates, and 79 horses, with an
hospital attached for 22 patients. The town is well
situated for trade, the river Blackwater being navigable
for vessels of 90 tons’ burden to Lough Neagh; it
is connected with Belfast by the Lagan canal, and
with Newry by the canal of that name, and the great
Ulster canal now in progress to Lough Erne will open a
communication with the West of Ireland. The linen
manufacture is carried on to a considerable extent. There
is a good market held on Saturday; and fairs are held
on the 12th of May, Aug. 16th, and Nov. 12th, for
cattle, linen yarn, and provisions. The charter granted
to the corporation a market on Tuesday and a fair on
the 1st and 2nd of May, with the tolls; and a subse-
quent patent to Sir Toby Caulfeild, dated March 1st,
1622, granted to him a market on Wednesday and a
fair on the 5th and 6th of August, with the tolls; but
these charter and patent fairs and markets have long
been discontinued.
The borough, which comprises the townland of
Charlemont, containing above 200 acres, and the liber-
ties, containing 20 acres, was incorporated by charter of
Jas. I., dated April 29th, 1613. The corporation con-
sists of a portreeve, 12 burgesses, and an unlimited
number of freemen. The portreeve was to be elected
annually, on St. John’s day, by the portreeve and free
burgesses, the latter of whom were to be elected for life
out of the inhabitants; and the freemen were to con-
sist of all the inhabitants, and as many other persons as
the corporation might elect. The charter also conferred
on the portreeve and free burgesses the right of return-
ing two members to parliament, which was exercised
until the Union, when Francis William, Earl of Charle-
mont received £15,000, as patron of the borough, for
the abolition of its franchise. Since the Union, the
regularly elected burgesses have not acted; but Mr.
Livingstone, the last portreeve, some time before his
death, summoned in his official capacity a “corporation