FARTAGH,
or FERTAGH, a parish, partly in the barony of CRANAGH,
but chiefly in that of GALMOY, county KILKENNY, and province
of LEINSTER, 8 mile (S.W.) from Durrow,
on the mail coach road from Athy
(Co. Kildare) to Cashel (Co. Tipperary); containing, with the
post-town of Johnstown (which is described under its own head),
3205 inhabitants.
A priory
for Canons Regular of the order of St. Augustine was founded
here in the 13th century by the Blanchfield family, which, after
its dissolution, was granted by Queen Elizabeth to a member of the family
of Butler. The ancient chapel is still remaining, and contains a
large table monument with the recumbent figure of a warrior, and formerly
of a female by his side, supposed to be members of the Fitzpatrick
family, and another tomb with a female figure, having a singular
head dress. A few yards to the west of this building are the roofless
remains of an ancient round tower, still 96 feet high and cracked from
the doorway to the summit.
The parish
comprises 6353 statute acres as applotted under the tithe act, and valued
at £4067 per annum, which, with the exception of a very small
portion of wood and a little wasted is good arable and pasture land.
Near Ballyspellan is a quarry of fine lime-stone used for tombstones.
The principal
seats are Violet Hill, of Gorges Hely, Esq. ; Melross
of C. Hely, Esq., and Ellenville, of Mrs. Hely.
Fowks Court, formerly the residence of Chief Justice Hely,
and now the property of his descendant, G. Hely, Esq., was a
very handsome seat, but is now in ruins. A fair, chiefly for pigs, is
held on the 6th of March.
The living
is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese
of Ossory, and in the patronage of the Bishop ; the tithes amount
to £360. 19s. The glebe-house was erected by a gift of £323
and a loan of £415 from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1828;
and there is a glebe. The church is a very neat edifice, and the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners have recently granted £174 for its repair.
In the
Roman Catholic divisions the parish is part of the union or
district of Eirke ; there is a chapel at
Johnstown, and another at Galmoy.
About
120 girls are taught in the parochial school, and there are four private
schools, in which are about 380 children. Here are the ruins of the
castle of Killesheelan. The Ballyspellan spa, in this
parish, is a powerful chalybeate, and is in great repute for its medicinal
properties.
