BALLYANE, or BALLYANNE, a parish

BALLYANE, or BALLYANNE, a parish, in the barony of BANTRY, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 2 miles (N. E. by N.) from New Ross; containing 1096 inhabitants. This place is memorable for a battle which took place at Ballanveigga, in 1643, between the king's troops commanded by the Marquess of Ormonde, after their retreat from New Ross, and the insurgent forces under General Preston, in which the latter were defeated and compelled to effect their escape across the river Barrow. The parish is situated on the high road from New Ross to Newtown-Barry, and is bounded on the west by the Barrow, from which a small creek navigable for lighters affords a facility of conveyance for limestone for the supply of the neighbouring country. It comprises 6480 statute acres, consisting of nearly equal proportions of arable and pasture land; there is a very little woodland, no waste, and only about 40 acres of bog at Gobbinstown. The soil is generally light and on the higher grounds shingly, but fertile; the system of agriculture has been greatly improved.

Ballyane, the handsome seat of Victor O'Farrell, Esq., is finely situated on the brow of a richly wooded eminence, from which there is an extensive prospect; and Berkeley, the seat of J. Berkeley Deane, Esq., is a good mansion embosomed in thriving plantations, and commanding a distant view of the White mountains. It is a rectory, in the diocese of Ferns, and is part of the union of St. Mary's, New Ross; the tithes amount to £243. 3. 6 ½. The church is in ruins; In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of Cushinstown, or Carnagh; the chapel is a neat building, and attached to it is a residence for the clergyman. There is a school at Rathganogue, founded by the late Henry Houghton, Esq., who endowed it with £15 per annum charged on the demesne of Ballyane; the school-house, a handsome building, was erected on a site given by Edmund Sweetman, of Sweetmount, Esq., and about 100 children are educated in the school.