From A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837
VIRGINIA, a market and post-town, in the parish of LURGAN, county of CAVAN, and province of ULSTER, 14 ¾ miles (S. E.) from Cavan, and 40 ¼ (N. W.) from Dublin; containing 930 inhabitants. It was founded in pursuance of the plan for colonising Ulster in the reign of James I., when 250 acres were allotted for the site of a town to be erected between Cavan and Kells, and called Virginia, which was to have been made a borough, but has never been incorporated. The patent was originally granted to Captain Ridgway, but was assigned to Captain Culme, who, in 1719, had a house and large bawn in a strong situation, and there were at that time in the town eight houses built of timber and occupied by English tenants and a minister, who kept a good school. Captain Culme also held the lands of Lough Ramor, or the manor of Chichester, comprising 1000 acres.
The town, which is pleasantly situated on Lough Ramor, consists of about 130 houses and, within the last few years, has been greatly improved by its noble proprietor, the Marquess of Headfort. The market is on Thursday, and fairs are held on Jan. 24th, March 7th, April 2nd, May 11th, July 9th, Aug. 22nd, Sept. 23rd, Nov. 21st, and Dec. 20th. Here is an extensive malting and brewing establishment, and a constabulary police station; petty sessions are held once a fortnight, and a manorial court monthly, for the recovery of debts under 40s. The parochial church, situated in the town, is a new and handsome structure in the Gothic style, with a fine spire surmounted by a gilt cross. A church was built here by a loan of £2000 from the late Board of First Fruits in 1818, but soon after its completion a storm blew down the steeple, which falling on the roof completely destroyed it; and on Christmas night, 1832, the church by which it was replaced was entirely consumed by an accidental fire.
Adjoining the town, and on the north side of the lake, is Virginia Park, a cottage residence of the Marquess of Headfort. The scenery of this park is extremely diversified, and its walks and drives very beautiful: the plantations are a highly ornamental feature in the landscape. Lough Ramor contains several small islands, which have recently been planted by his lordship, who has established an annual boat race on the lough and gives as a prize a cup of the value of 30 guineas. Many curiously shaped brazen pots, supposed to be Danish, were discovered in the lake a few years since, some of which are in the possession of the Marquess at Headfort House, near Kells.
« Villierstown | Index | Wallstown »
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.