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cording to Ptolemy, were the ancient inhabitants of this
part of the country. It was the first town established
by the De Burgos and Berminghams, the Anglo-Nor-
man invaders of Connaught, and at a remote period
was surrounded with walls and became a place of im-
portance. In the reign of John, Meyler de Berming-
ham granted a site of land here for the foundation of a
Dominican monastery, and contributed towards the
erection of the buildings, which were completed in
1261. Florence O’Flin, Archbishop of Tuam, and the
Earls of Ulster and many others were munificent bene-
factors to this establishment, which became very exten-
sive and wealthy, and the chief burial-place of the Earls
of Ulster and all the principal families of this part of
Ireland. Indulgences for the benefit of the monastery
were granted by the Pope in 1400, and in 1423 its
church was burned down; in 1427, some of the monks
obtained licence from the Pope to found two subordinate
establishments; and in. 1445 Pope Eugene IV. renewed
the bull of Pope Martin for repairing the church, at
which time there were 30 brethren in the monastery.
A Franciscan friary was founded here by Thomas, Earl
of Kildare, in 1464, and chapels were successively erect-
ed by his wife, the Earl of Desmond, and O’Tully. In
1577, the two sons of the Earl of Clanricarde, called
the “Mac-an-E arias,” renouncing the submission which
they had recently made to Queen Elizabeth, assembled
their partisans in considerable force and sacked the
town, destroyed the few houses that had recently been
built, set fire to the new gates, and drove away the
workmen employed in repairing the fortifications and
in erecting other buildings, which had been undertaken
by the chief governor, Sir Henry Sidney. From this
period the town remained in a deserted condition till
1584, when Robert Foyle, John Browne, and other of
its former inhabitants petitioned the queen’s council in
England for such encouragement as would enable them
to bring over English artisans and tradesmen to settle
in the town, to rebuild and improve it, and to support
a sufficient force for its future protection. The queen,
in 1585, directed the lord-deputy to grant their request
forthwith; and although no record exists of any such
grant having passed the seal, several buildings were
erected and numerous improvements were made. In
1596 the northern Irish invested the town, burned
the gates, and forced an entrance; but they were re-
pulsed in an attack on the castle, which was bravely
defended, and having failed in an attempt to scale the
battlements, they took possession of all the wall towers,
and made prisoners of the inhabitants who guarded
them they afterwards set fire to the town, which, with
the exception only of the castle, the abbey, and the
church, was again reduced to ashes, and from this time
seems to have been entirely neglected except by its im-
mediate proprietors. In 1644 the Dominican establish-
ment was revived and converted into a university; and
in 1662 a writ of privy seal was issued on behalf of the
inhabitants; but the town, which formerly held the
second rank in the county, never recovered its ancient
importance. It is situated on the road from Oranmore
to Monivae, and also from Loughrea to Tuam, and con-
tains about 250 houses. The market, with a fair in
October, was granted to Sir Wm. Parsons, Bart., in
1629, and is on Friday, but is only indifferently attend-
ed; and fairs for sheep and cattle are held on May 5th.,
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July Sad, and Oct. 20th, of which that in July is the
largest. A constabulary police force is stationed here.
The borough is very ancient and probably exists by
prescription. From a murage grant made to the “bai-
liffs and honest men of Athenry,” in the 4th of Edw. II.
(1310), it would appear that a corporation previously
existed; and writs of the first and some subsequent
years of the reign of Rich. II. shew that it then returned
representatives to parliament. Queen Elizabeth, by
letters patent dated at Greenwich in the 16th of her
reign, granted to the portreeve and burgesses divers
extensive privileges, and in the same year gave them
the site and precincts of the Dominican monastery. In
1578 she conferred upon them various rectories and
tithes; but all these privileges and possessions appear
to have become forfeited during the civil dissensions
which soon afterwards ensued, as Chas. II., by his letters
under the privy seal in 1662, after reciting the petition
of “the ancient inhabitants, natives, and freemen of the
old corporation of Athenry,” and other particulars refer-
ring to the borough, ordered that they should be forth-
with reinvested with the said town and corporation,
with all their rights, interests, and estates, and all pri-
vileges and immunities, excepting such inhabitants as
had been disloyal and disobedient to his government.
A charter was granted in the 4th of Jas. II., on a sei-
zure of the franchises, but it does not appear to have
been accepted or acted upon. The grant of Elizabeth
is that under which the borough is governed: the cor-
poration is styled “the Portreeve, Burgesses, and Free-
men of the Corporation of the Town and Liberties of
Athenry,” and consists of a portreeve and an unlimited
number of burgesses and freemen: the above grant
empowers them to appoint a common clerk and “all
such other necessary servants as Trim used,” but the
only inferior officers are a serjeant-at-mace, crauer,
pound-keeper, two appraisers, and a bellman, who are
appointed by the portreeve. The portreeve is annually
elected on the 14th of Sept. by the portreeve and bur-
gesses, from three burgesses nominated on the preced-
ing day by the same body, and is sworn in on the 29th:
the burgesses are nominated on one day, elected on the
next, and sworn on the 20th of Sept., and are now
about twenty in number. The borough returned two
members to the Irish parliament till the Union, who
were elected by the portreeve and burgesses; the
£15,000 awarded as compensation for the abolition of its
franchise was paid to the trustees of the marriage set-
tlement of Theophilus Blakeney, Esq. The limits of
the borough comprehend the town and a surrounding
agricultural district, called “the liberties.” The port-
reeve, who has power to appoint a deputy, is a justice
of the peace within the borough and its liberties, clerk
of the market, and sole judge in the borough court.
The town or portreeve’s court is held for all pleas, real
and personal, to an unlimited amount, as often as busi-
ness requires, which of late has been but seldom, and
generally on a Monday, not in any fixed court-house or
place, but in different parts of the town; the ordinary
process is by attachment against the debtor’s goods,
on affidavit made by the plaintiff. Petty sessions are
held in the town every Friday, at which three of the
county magistrates usually attend.
The parish comprises 1954 statute acres, as applotted
under the tithe act: the system of agriculture is some-
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