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ABB
till the dissolution, when it was granted to James, Earl
of Roscommon; and, in 1569, it was granted by Queen
Elizabeth to Sir Robert Dillon, Chief Justice of the
Common Pleas. In the village is a large flour-mill, also
a station of the constabulary police, and a fair is
held on the first Wednesday after Trinity, The
Royal Canal passes through it, and at a short dis-
tance is carried over the river Inney by a handsome
aqueduct. The parish comprises 1390 statute acres, a
email portion of which is bog, but scarcely sufficient to
supply the inhabitants with fuel: on the confines of the
county there is a quarry of black stone. It is in the
diocese of Ardagh, and is a rectory and vicarage, form-
ing part of the union of Tashinny: the tithes amount
to £87- 13. 10½. In the R. C. divisions it is part of
the union or district of Carrickedmond, or Teighshinod;
the chapel is situated in the village. There are two
schools aided by grants from the Countess of Rosse, the
rector, and the Ardagh Association, which afford in-
struction to 45 boys and 45 girls; and a pay school of
20 boys and 20 girls. Some remains of the ancient
abbey yet exist; and there is a large square tower, to
which is attached an extensive cemetery.
ABBEYSIDE, a village and suburb of the borough
of DUNGARVAN, in the barony of DECIES-without-DRUM,
county of WATERFORD, and province of MUNSTER, con-
taining 1859 inhabitants. This place derives its name
from the remains of an ancient abbey, which is des-
cribed in the article on Dungarvan; it is situated on
an inlet of the bay, and is included within the electoral
boundary of the borough of Dungarvan. The R. C.
chapel for the district of East Dungarvan is situated
here,
ABBEYSLUNAGH.—See INNISLONNAGH.
ABBEYSTROWRY,a parish, in the Eastem Division
of the barony of WEST CARBERY, county of CORK, and
province of MUNSTER 5 containing, with part of the
market and post-town of Skibbereen, 5570 inhabitants.
This parish is situated near the southern coast, on the
road from Cork to Baltimore, and is intersected by the
river Ilen. It contains 9362 statute acres, as applotted
under the tithe act; and is said to derive its name from
a religious house, the ruins of which are situated close
to the northern bank of the Ilen, one mile west from
Skibbereen, but of the origin of which no particulars
are on record. About one-third is waste land or bog,
the former consisting of rocky elevations which in some
parts afford tolerable pasturage; the bog is only of
small extent, and peat is becoming somewhat scarce.
Generally the system of agriculture is not much im-
proved: the heavy old wooden plough is still used.
The substratum is entirely of the schistus formation:
there are quarries of excellent slate at Derrygoole,
but not much worked; and throughout the parish is
found clay-slate for building and repairing the roads.
There are numerous large and handsome residences:
the principal are Hollybrook, the seat of R. Becher,
Esq.; Lakelands, of T. J. Hungerford, Esq.; Coronea,
of Mrs. Marmion; Gortnamucalla, of H. Newman,
Esq.; Carriganare, of Mrs. Evans; Laghartydawley,
of A. McCarthy, Esq.; Mill House, of J. Clark, Esq.;
Clover Hill, of J. Sweetnam, Esq.; Weston, of D. H.
Clarke, Esq.; the glebe-house, the residence of the
Rev. R. B. Townsend; Abbeyville, the seat of G.
Brenham, Esq.; and Rossfort, of J. Ross, Esq.;
5
ABI
The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Ross, and
in the patronage of J. S. Townsend, Esq., the im-
propriator of the rectory: the tithes amount to £647,
of which £200 is payable to the impropriator, £20 to
the vicar (under an appropriation grant of the late Earl
of Shannon), and the remainder to the lessees of Col
Townsend. The church, situated in the town of Skib-
bereen, is a large edifice, in the early English style of
architecture, with a lofty square tower at the east end:
it was built on a new site in 1827, at an expense of
£1200, of which £900 was given by the late Board of
First Fruits 3 and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have
recently granted £180 for its repair. The glebe-house,
near the town, was built in 1824, by aid of a gift of
£450 and a loan of £50 from the same Board, on a
glebe of fifteen acres purchased by the Board and sub-
ject to a rent of £13. 7. per annum. In the R. C.
divisions this parish is united to those of Creagh and
Tullagh, under the denomination of the union of Skib-
bereen: the chapel in that town is a spacious and hand-
some structure, in the Grecian style, with an elegant
altar; there is also a chapel in the parish of Tullagh.
The male and female parochial schools are situated near
the church, and were built in 1825, at the expense of
the vicar. An infants school was built in 1835, and is
supported by subscription} and there is a Sunday
school for both sexes, under the superintendence of the
vicar.—See SKIBBEREEN.
ABINGTON, a parish, partly in the barony of
OWNEY-ARRA, county of TIPPERARY, partly in the
county of the city of LIMERICK, and partly in the
barony of GLANWILLIAM, but chiefly in that of OWNEY-
BEG, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTEK,
7 miles (E. by S.) from Limerick; containing 7564 in-
habitants. This place, anciently called Wotheney or
Woney, attained considerable importance at a very early
period, and was celebrated for a Cistertian abbey found-
ed, according to some, in 1189, and to others, in 1205,
and provided with monks from the abbey of Savignac, in
France, by Theobald Fitz-Walter, Lord of Carrick, and
ancestor of the Butlers, Earls of Ormonde, who was
interred here in 1206. To this abbey King John made
extensive grants of land in the kingdom of Limerick,
with the advowsons of several parishes; and the abbot
sat as a spiritual peer in the Irish House of Lords.
The abbey, with all its possessions, was granted by
Elizabeth, in the 5th year of her reign, to Capt. Walshe,
who erected a handsome moden house near the ancient
buildings; but in the war of 1641 these estates were
forfeited to the Crown. There are only some small frag-
ments remaining, situated near the present church, and
also a portion of the mansion of the Walshe family; but
neither are adequate to afford any idea of their original
character. The parish comprises about 32,200 statute
acres, of which 12,920 are in the county of Tipperary,
708 are in the liberties of the city of Limerick, and the
remainder are in the county of Limerick: of its entire
extent, 10,317 statute acres are applotted under the
tithe act. Towards its north-eastern boundary it in-
cludes a large portion of the Sliebh Phelim mountains,
which rise to a considerable height, in many parts afford-
ing good pasturage for numerous herds of young cattle
and flocks of sheep. The fields are generally well fenced,
and the lands are in a good state of cultivation. There
are some excellent meadows, mostly attached to the