BALLYNARD, or CAHIRFOSSORGE, a parish

BALLYNARD, or CAHIRFOSSORGE, a parish, in the barony of SMALL COUNTY, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTER, 6 miles (N. E. by N.) from Bruff, on the road from Limerick to Hospital; containing 867 inhabitants. This parish comprises 1366 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act: the land is in general good, resting on a substratum of limestone, except in some few places where the basalt rises in gentle knolls. It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Emly, and is part of the union of Aney; the rectory is impropriate in Edward Deane Freeman, Esq. The tithes amount to £148. 18., of which two-thirds are payable to the impropriator and the remainder to the vicar. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Hospital and Herbertstown, in which latter is the chapel for this parish. There are two pay schools, in which are about 60 boys and 30 girls. Not far from the chapel are the ruins of the old church; and on the hill are the remains of Ballynard castle, built by the Geraldines in the fifteenth century, and for many years the residence of the Ballynard branch of that powerful family. At Eaglestown are some remains of the old family mansion of the Powels.