BALRAHAN, or BALRAHEEN, a parish

BALRAHAN, or BALRAHEEN, a parish, in the barony of IKEATHY and OUGHTERANY, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER, 3 miles (S. W.) from Maynooth; containing 615 inhabitants. It is situated on the road from Kilcock to Naas, and is generally divided into small holdings and chiefly under tillage. The soil is productive, and the system of agriculture improved; there is some good pasture land, producing excellent clover, and fuel is plentiful and cheap. The seats are Rathcoffey House, the property of the late Archibald Hamilton Rowan, Esq., now comparatively deserted; and Painstown, that of Gerald Aylmer, Esq. It is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Kildare, and is part of the union and corps of the prebend of Donadea in the cathedral of Kildare: the tithes amount to £161. In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of Clane: the chapel, situated at Rathcoffey, is a neat building. There is a private school, in which about 70 boys and 30 girls are educated. The ancient castle of Rathcoffey was besieged and taken by Colonel Monk, in 1642, when 70 of the garrison were made prisoners, most of whom were executed in Dublin: the only remains are the gateway of the fortress; all the rest was taken down by Mr. Rowan, when he erected the present mansion.