From A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837
BALLYBOY, a parish, in the barony of BALLYBOY, KING'S county, and province of LEINSTER, comprising the market and post-town of Frankford, and containing 4182 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the road from Tullamore to Parsonstown, adjacent to the Silver river, and comprises 8861 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act. It gives name to the barony, and had formerly a castle of some note, which, in 1690, being garrisoned by six companies of Lord Drogheda's regiment of foot, was attacked by a detachment of General Sarsfield's army encamped between Limerick and Athlone; but after a sharp conflict, in which the garrison sustained great loss, the assailants were at length compelled to retreat.
On the north and south are very extensive bogs, of which 3000 acres are within the parish: with the exception of a small portion of pasture and meadow, the remainder of the land is arable, and though of inferior quality, is under an improved system of cultivation; the only woodland is Ballinacrig, containing 13 ¾ acres. There are a distillery and brewery, and a flour-mill; and in addition to the market and fairs at Frankford, fairs are held at the village of Ballyboy on May 4th and Dec. 6th. Petty sessions are held every alternate Saturday.
The gentlemen's seats are Castlewood, that of N. Fitzsimon, Esq.; Greenhills, of T. Hobbs, Esq.; Ridgemount, of R. J. Drought, Esq.; Temora, of T. L'Estrange, Esq.; Barnaboy, of R. Chadwick, Esq.; Derrinboy, of A. Gamble, Esq.; and Williamfort, of W. Whitfield, Esq. It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Meath, and forms part of the union of Fircall; the rectory is impropriate in the Marquess of Downshire: the tithes amount, to £227. 8. 10 ¾., of which £146. 4. 3 ½. is payable to the impropriator, and the remainder to the vicar.
The church, situated in the centre of the parish, was built by a loan of £900 from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1815, and has been lately repaired by a grant of £279 from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners: it is served by a stipendiary curate. There is no glebe-house; but there is a glebe comprising 367 acres of profitable land, valued at £321. 1. 7. per annum. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, called Frankford, comprising the parishes of Ballyboy and Killaughy, each containing a chapel; that of Ballyboy is situated in the town of Frankford. The parochial school is aided by an annual donation of £10 from the vicar: there is a national school, aided by a donation of £6 per annum from the Marquess of Lansdowne; and a school at Castlewood is supported for the benefit of his own tenants by Mr. Fitzsimon, who allows the master £25 per annum. About 170 children are taught in these schools; and there are also six private pay schools, in which are about 150 children. An alms-house for five widows was founded by Mrs. Stoney; and there is a dispensary. On the lands of Barnaboy is a mineral spa.—See FRANKFORD.
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Truelove's Journal: A Bookshop Novella
From a sad, comfortless childhood Giles Truelove developed into a reclusive and uncommunicative man whose sole passion was books. For so long they were the only meaning to his existence. But when fate eventually intervened to have the outside world intrude upon his life, he began to discover emotions that he never knew he had.
A story for the genuine booklover, penned by an Irish bookseller under the pseudonym of Ralph St. John Featherstonehaugh.
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Annals of the Famine in Ireland
Annals of the Famine in Ireland, by Asenath Nicholson, still has the power to shock and sadden even though the events described are ever-receding further into the past. When you read, for example, of the poor widowed mother who was caught trying to salvage a few potatoes from her landlord's field, and what the magistrate discovered in the pot in her cabin, you cannot help but be appalled and distressed.
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Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger
This book, the prequel to Annals of the Famine in Ireland cannot be recommended highly enough to those interested in Irish social history. The author, Mrs Asenath Nicholson, travelled from her native America to assess the condition of the poor in Ireland during the mid 1840s. Refusing the luxury of hotels and first class travel, she stayed at a variety of lodging-houses, and even in the crude cabins of the very poorest. Not to be missed!
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Henry Ford Jones' book, first published in 1915 by Princeton University, is a classic in its field. It covers the history of the Scotch-Irish from the first settlement in Ulster to the American Revolutionary period and the foundation of the country.
The ebook is available for download in .mobi (Kindle), .epub (iBooks, etc.) and .pdf formats. For further information on the book and author see details ».
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