MAGLASS

MAGLASS, a parish, in the barony of FORTH, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 6 miles (S.) from Wexford, on the road to Bridgetown and Kilmore; containing 1012 inhabitants.

The parish comprises about 3250 acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and chiefly under tillage; the state of agriculture has been much improved, and the practice of winter feeding partially adopted. At a short distance from the village is a large windmill for grinding corn.

The seats are Silverspring, the residence of John Nunn, Esq.; Thornville, of John Lloyd, Esq.; Ballycogley, of N. Barrington, Esq.; Mount Pleasant, of the Misses Harvey; and Little Mount Pleasant, of Mr. Mullay. The parish is in the diocese of Ferns; the rectory forms part of the union of Gorey and the corps of the deanery of Ferns; and the vicarage, part of the union of Killinick.

The tithes amount to £185. 7. 8 ¼., of which £55. 7. 8 ¼. is payable to the rector, and the remainder to the vicar; and there are two small glebes, comprising together about 7 acres.

In the R. C. divisions it gives name to the union or district, which also includes the parish of Ballymore, and has a chapel in each parish. The chapel at Maglass, a large plain building, is supposed to stand on the site of an ancient monastery, the remains of which, as well as those of a castle that immediately adjoined it, were used in the erection of the chapel. Near it is a school of about 70 children held in a house given rent-free by C. A. Walker, Esq., and chiefly supported by the proceeds of an annual subscription dinner. At Ballycogley are the remains of a castle, consisting of a large square tower, three sides of which are covered by a single ivy-tree of extraordinary growth: it is said to have formerly belonged to the Wadding family, was forfeited in the civil war of Charles I., and granted by Charles II. to the ancestor of N. Barring-ton, Esq., the present proprietor. The remains of the old church have been partly enclosed as a cemetery for the Harvey family; but of the ancient monastery and castle of Maglass, between which tradition states that a subterraneous communication existed, there is not a vestige.