BALLYSONAN, a parish

BALLYSONAN, a parish, partly in the barony of EAST OPHALY, but chiefly in that of WEST OPHALY, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER, 4 ½ miles (S. W.) from Kilcullen; containing 472 inhabitants. It is situated on the mail coach road from Dublin, by way of Cashel, to Cork, and comprises 2602 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and principally under tillage. Ballysonan House is the residence of T. Kennedy, Esq. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Kildare, constituting the corps of the prebend of Ballysonan in the cathedral of Kildare, and united by act of council, in 1795, to the rectory of Kilrush, forming the union of Ballysonan, in the alternate patronage of the Crown and the Bishop; the tithes amount to £209, and of the entire benefice to £430. 9. 10. The church, a plain structure, was built in 1796 by aid of a gift of £500 from the late Board of First Fruits, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have lately granted £196 for its repair. The glebe contains 25a. 2r. 20p., but there is no glebe-house. In the R. C. divisions this parish forms part of the union or district of Sancroft. There is a school of 30 boys and 30 girls. Dame Annesley bequeathed the lands of Carrighill, in this parish, for the purpose of establishing and supporting a school, but the bequest has not been appropriated to that use; the rector is now making efforts to render it available.