ARDSALLAGH, a parish

ARDSALLAGH, a parish, in the barony of LOWER NAVAN, county of MEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 2 ½ miles (S. S. E.) from Navan; containing 289 inhabitants. It is bounded on the east by the river Boyne, and comprises 1032 statute acres, principally under tillage, as applotted under the tithe act, and has neither waste land nor bog: the prevailing substratum is limestone. The banks of the river are adorned with the mansion and demesne of Ardsallagh, the property of Earl Ludlow, whose ancestor, in 1755, was raised to the peerage of Ireland by the title of Baron Ludlow, of Ardsallagh, and in 1760 advanced to the dignities of Viscount Preston, of Ardsallagh, and Earl Ludlow. It is a rectory, in the diocese of Meath, and forms part of the union of Navan: the tithes amount to £150. In the R. C. divisions also it is included in the union or district of Navan. At Cannistown is a public school for boys and girls. There are some remains of the walls of the old church, with a burial-ground attached. According to Archdall, St. Finian of Clonard founded a monastery here near the river, of which no vestiges can be traced.