Barragh Civil Parish, County Carlow

BARRAGH, a parish, partly in the barony of ST. MULLINS, but chiefly in that of FORTH, county of CARLOW, and province of LEINSTER ; containing, with a part of the post-town of Newtown-Barry, 4713 inhabitants.

It is situated upon the river Slaney, and on the roads from Myshall to Clonegal, and from Enniscorthy (Co. Wexford) to Carlow (town); and comprises, with the parish of Pubbledrum, 17,602 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £1030 per annum. About 1600 acres are mountain and bog, 789 woodland, and the remainder arable and pasture; the state of agriculture is improving. Fine granite for building is found in the parish.

The gentlemen’s seats are Kilbride, the residence of J. R. Keogh, Esq. ; and Ballynoe, of the Rev. G. Dawson.

The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Leighlin, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the rectory is appropriate to the vicars choral of the cathedral of Christ Church, Dublin : the tithes amount to £692. 6s. 2d., of which £461. 10s. 9¼ d., is payable to the lessee of the appropriators, and £230. 15s. 4¾ d., to the vicar. The church, situated at Kildavin, is a small edifice, built by aid of a gift of £800 from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1812; the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have lately granted £123 for its repair. There is neither glebe nor glebe-house. (See the Union of Bunclody, Canon Nigel Waugh's web site. St. Paul's Church, Kildavin was once parish of Barragh - Church of Ireland)

In the R. C. divisions this parish is, with the exception of one townland, included in the union or district of Clonegal or Moyacomb : there is a chapel at Kildavin.

A national school, in which about 120 boys and 100 girls are taught, is aided by a grant of £20 per annum from the new Board of Education ; and another school is supported by Mr. Keogh. There are also three hedge schools in the parish, in which are about 130 boys and 100 girls. The estate of Clonmullen formerly belonged to the Kavanaghs, but was forfeited in the war of 1641; it is said to have been the residence of Ellen Kavanagh, the heroine of the celebrated Irish ballad of Aileen Aroon. There are some remains of the old church, clad with ivy; the burial ground is separated from them by a rivulet