•  Ballycahane, County Limerick

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In 1837, Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland described Ballycahane like this:

BALLYCAHANE, a parish, partly in the barony of SMALL COUNTY, but chiefly in that of PUBBLEBRIEN, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTER, 3 miles (N. by E.) from Croom; containing 1242 inhabitants. It is situated on the road from Limerick to Charleville, by way of Manister; and comprises 2103 statute acres, of which 1140 are under tillage, and about 800 are meadow and pasture; the remainder is bog or marshy land near Garran and on the boundary of the parish, near Tory hill, much of which is dug out, and the whole may be drained and cultivated at a trifling expense, as there is an ample fall to the Maigue river. ...

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The entire parish is based on a substratum of limestone, and several quarries are worked extensively. There are several handsome houses and cottages, the principal of which are Maryville, the residence of Hugh F. Finch, Esq.; Fort Elizabeth, of the Rev. J. Croker; and Ballycahane House, of Capt. Scanlon.

The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Limerick, forming the corps of the prebend of Ballycahane in the cathedral church of St. Mary, Limerick, in the patronage of the Bishop; the tithes amount to £166. 3. 0 ¾. The church is a large edifice, in the early English style, with a tower, built in 1823 by aid of a loan from the late Board of First Fruits. There is no glebe-house: the glebe comprises five acres of excellent land. In the R. C. divisions the parish is included within the union or district of Fedamore: the chapel is a large plain edifice situated at Caherduff. The male and female parochial schools are principally supported by subscriptions from the rector, curate, and Mr. Finch, of whom the last-named gentleman gave the land on which the school-house was built by subscription. There are also two private schools in the parish. Not far from the church are the ruins of the ancient castle of Ballycahane, built by the family of O'Grady in 1496, near which numerous ancient silver and copper coins have been found; and near Tory hill are the remains of a church once belonging to the Knights Templars, and subsequently to the abbey of Nenagh. Near these is a lake, respecting which some strange traditions are extant.

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