FRESHFORD,
or AGHOURA, a post-town and parish, in the barony of CRANAGH,
county of KILKENNY, and province of LEINSTER, 6 miles (W. N.
W.) from Kilkenny city, and 63
(S. W.) from Dublin, on the road from Kilkenny to Johnstown
; containing 2277 inhabitants.
This place,
anciently called Aghoure or Achadhur, signifying the "green
ford; was the site of an abbey founded about the commencement of the
seventh century, by St. Lactan, who was its first abbot. The
parish comprises 2108 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act,
and valued at £2477 per annum: there is no bog or waste land.
The state of agriculture is fast improving, and the land is almost equally
divided between tillage and pasturage. There are limestone quarries,
in which manganese is said to exist; and a coal mine is about to be
opened.
The principal
seats are Upperwood, the elegant mansion of W. De Montmorency,
Esq., which is in a handsome and well-planted demesne; Balleen
Castle, an ancient fortress, the property of the Earl of Kilkenny
; Kilrush, a seat of the St. George family; and near
the town is the seat of Pierse Butler, Esq.
The town,
which comprises 374 houses, is neat and well built, and is part of the
estate of William De Montmorency, Esq. It is a station of the
revenue and of the constabulary police, and has fairs on Aug. 5th and
Dec. 17th, and pig fairs on Oct. 31st and Dec. 5th. Here is a dispensary,
a fever hospital, and a society for relieving the bedridden poor. A
flour mill, called the manor mill, is remarkably well supplied
with water from the Freshford river. A manor court is held every third
week, for the recovery of debts under 40s. ; and petty sessions are
held every fortnight.
The living
is a rectory, in the diocese of Ossory,
episcopally united to the parishes of Clomanto,
Kilrush, Clashacrow, Rathbeagh, Tubridbritain, Sheffin, Clontubrid,and
Coolcashin, which together form the
union of Freshford and the corps of the prebend of Aghoure (anciently
called the" Golden Prebend ") in the cathedral of Kilkenny.
The first six parishes are in the patronage of the Bishop, and the remaining
three in that of the Dean and Chapter. The tithes amount to £184.
12s. 5d., and the gross revenue of the prebend is £860. 18s. 10d.
The glebe-house is in Clashacrow. The church was built in 1730, and
has a fine Norman porch with the date 1133, and an inscription in ancient
Irish, purporting that "the priest Mac Roen and chief gave an acre
of land to the church"; which formerly belonged to the abbey.
In the
Roman Catholic divisions the parish is the head of a union or district,
comprising Freshford, Tullaroan, Ballynamara,
Clashacrow, Ballylarkin, and parts
of Odogh, Burnchurch,
and Clomanto, in which district is
a chapel at Freshford, one at Odogh, and one at Tullaroan.
(Note: Lewis states that the parish of Garranama
is also part of this Roman Catholic district in his article on that
parish whilst it was not mentioned in this Freshford article)
The parochial
school is aided by an annual donation of £10 from the rector,
and a bequest of £5 per annum from the late Col. Brown;
the school-house, a slated building, was erected at a cost of £120,
of which £60 was a grant from the lord-lieutenant's fund. There
is also a national school adjoining the R. C. chapel. About 300 children
are educated in these schools, and about 60 in two private schools,
exclusive of those taught in a Sunday school.
Near Kilrush
are the ruins of Ballylarkin castle, once the seat of the Shortall
family. Here are also the remains of an ancient manor-house, which
belonged to Sir. Toby Caulfield, and was a place of importance
during the parliamentary war.
