Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

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its roadway lowered, partly at the expense of Lord
Portsmouth’s trustees and partly by a Grand Jury
presentment; and a plentiful supply of spring water,
from Sheill’s well at Templeshannon, will be conveyed,
by pipes inserted in the new work of the bridge, into
several parts of the town, which is at present but badly
supplied, and only partially paved. A small woollen
manufacture is carried on near the town; and at
Carley’s bridge, on the river Urrin, which runs into
the Slaney, is a manufactory for coarse pottery. In
the town are a distillery, three breweries, two flour-
mills, three tanyards, and a rope-factory. Flour-mills
are also being erected by Mr. Pounder on the site
of an extensive iron-foundry long since discontinued;
and at Fairfield, about a mile and a half distant, on
the road to Killan, is an extensive distillery, belong-
ing to Mr. A. Jameson, the working of which has been
suspended for the last few years. The river Slaney
abounds with excellent salmon and trout, with which
the markets are well supplied during the season. The
trade principally consists in the exportation of agricul-
tural produce, and the importation of coal, timber,
slates, iron, salt, and various other commodities, for
which its central situation and river navigation to the
port of Wexford are very favourable. Large quantities of
corn and butter are sent hence by lighters to Wexford,
and also by land carriage, by way of New Ross, to
Waterford. Two spacious quays have been lately con-
structed, at an expense of £9000, defrayed partly by
the trustees of the Earl of Portsmouth’s estate, and
partly by subscription: the quay on the Templeshannon
side is 450 feet, and that on the opposite side, which it
is in contemplation to extend, is 500 feet in length.
The tide flows up to the town, which is accessible to
barges of large tonnage, and it is intended to apply for
an act of parliament to construct a ship canal for
vessels of 200 tons’ burden from Pooldarrag, on the
eastern bank of the Slaney, to the bridge of Enniscor-
thy, a distance of nearly seven British miles. It is also
in contemplation to establish a communication by
steam between this place and Wexford, and a subscrip-
tion is in progress for building an iron steam-boat of
12-horse power, for the conveyance of goods and pas-
sengers. The facility of land carriage has been greatly
increased by a new line of road to Wexford, avoiding the
hills and shortening the distance by nearly a mile; a
new road from the bridge along the western bank of the
river has also been completed, communicating at Black-
stoops with the Dublin road, and greatly improving that
approach to the town. A branch of the National Bank
of Ireland has been lately opened here; and a savings’
bank has also been established. The market days are
Thursday and Saturday; on the former day, which is
the principal, there is an abundant supply of provisions,
but corn and butter are brought to market daily. An
ancient market on,Tuesday, granted to Sir Henry
Wallop, has been discontinued. Fairs for cattle, hogs,
and various articles of merchandise are held on Jan. 20th,
Feb. 21st, March 21st, April 25th, May 10th, June 7th,
July 5th, Aug. 26th, Sept. 19th, Oct. 10th, Nov. 15th,
and Dec. 21st. A corn market and shambles have been
recently erected near the site of the ancient Franciscan
monastery, and the open area, called the abbey ground,
is intended to be laid out for the erection of new streets;
but from some misunderstanding between the market
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people and the proprietors, they are not at present used,
the general markets being still held in an irregular area
in the centre of the town.
By the charter of incorporation granted by Jas. I., in
the 11th of his reign, the government is vested in a port-
reeve, 12 free burgesses, and a commonalty, assisted by
a recorder, town-clerk, two serjeants-at-mace, and other
officers. The portreeve, who may appoint a deputy, is
chosen from the free burgesses by a majority of that
body on the 24th of June, and sworn into office on the
29th of September; he is a justice of the peace within
the borough and liberties, in which the county magis-
trates have concurrent jurisdiction. The burgesses fill
up vacancies in their body by a majority, either from
the freemen or the inhabitants at large, and appoint all
the officers of the corporation; the freemen are admitted
only by favour of the corporation. The borough re-
turned two members to the Irish parliament till the
Union, when it was disfranchised, and the £15,000
awarded in compensation was paid to Cornelius, Lord
Lismore, and Robert Cornwall, Esq.; to the former,
£12,300, and to the latter £2700. A court of record,
for debts and pleas to the amount of £3. 6. 8. late cur-
rency, is held every Tuesday before the portreeve. The
Easter and Michaelmas quarter sessions for the divi-
sion are held here, and petty sessions every Thursday.
There is a chief constabulary police station in the town.
The court-house, a neat building, erected at the expense
of the county, contains also one of the two news-
rooms. The market-house, built and kept in repair by
the Portsmouth family, contains a large room occa-
sionally used for concerts and public meetings.
The parish of St. Mary,Enniscorthy, comprises about
2916 statute acres, with very little wood, and no waste land.
The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Ferns, united
by act of council in 1778 to the vicarage of Clonmore,
and to the rectories of Templeshannon, Ballyhuskard, and
St. John, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the rec-
tory is impropriate in Caesar Colclough, Esq. The
tithes amount to £247. 10. 8., of which £71. 1. 11. is
payable to the impropriator, and the remainder to the
vicar; the aggregate tithes of the benefice amount to
£1559. 13. 11½. There is a handsome glebe-house at
Templeshannon, rebuilt by the present incumbent, with
a glebe of 23 acres, and there is also a glebe of 20
acres at Ballyhuskard. The church is a plain edifice
without tower or spire; in repairing it, after the dis-
turbances of 1798, a six-pound shot fell from one of the
rafters; the chancel was rebuilt a few years since.
There are also churches in the parishes of Clonmore and
Ballyhuskard, which have been erected into perpetual
cures. In the R. C. divisions this parish is the head of
a union or district, comprising also the greater part
of the parish of Templeshannon, part of St. John’s,
and a small portion of that of Templeshambo: the
chapel, a spacious and handsome edifice, erected by
subscription in 1808, is the cathedral church of the
R. C. diocese of Ferns: a house has been lately erected
by Dr. Keating, R. C. Bishop, as a permanent residence
for his curates. There is also a convent for nuns of the
order of the Presentation, established in 1826 as a branch
. from the convent at Wexford. There are places of worship
for the Society of Friends and Primitive Methodists;
and another class of Methodists assemble in the market-
house. About 550 children are taught in the public
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