From A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837
KILFENNY, a parish, in the Eastern Division of the barony of UPPER CONNELLO, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTER, 4 miles (S. W.) from Adare, on the road from Croom to Ballingarry; containing 1136 inhabitants. This parish comprises 2361 statute acres, of which 1650 are applotted under the tithe act; about 320 are common and 90 bog, and of the remainder, about two-thirds are under tillage, and one-third in pasture. The surface is uneven, rising in some places into hills of considerable elevation; the soil is in general fertile, and the system of agriculture improved. Fairs are held on the common on May 15th, July 14th, Sept. 12th, and Dec. 22d, chiefly for cattle. It is in the diocese of Limerick, and is a rectory and vicarage, forming part of the union of Nantinan and corps of the precentorship in the cathedral of Limerick: the tithes amount to £134. 18. In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of Croagh and Kilfenny; the chapel is a small edifice. There is a private school, in which about 140 children are instructed. There are some remains of the old church, in which is a tablet to the Pigot family; and near it are the remains of Ballynakill House, which, having been converted into a barrack, was burnt by the Rockites in 1822. At the foot of a hill are the remains of Kilfenny Castle, built by Cormac Mac Einery in the reign of John; it afterwards belonged to the Kildare family, by whom it was forfeited in the reign of Elizabeth. It was besieged by the Irish under Col. Purcell, in 1641, and resolutely defended by the widow of Sir John Dowdall for some time, but ultimately surrendered. Near the boundary of the parish are the picturesque ruins of Finnitterstown castle, which was also forfeited by the same family in 1598.
« Kilfeighney | Index | Kilfenora »
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.
FREE download 23rd - 27th May
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.
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 ».
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!
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 ».
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 ».
Join our mailing list to receive updates on new content on Library, our latest ebooks, and more.
You won't be inundated with emails! — we'll just keep you posted periodically — about once a monthish — on what's happening with the library.