BEAULIEU, a parish

BEAULIEU, a parish, in the barony of FERRARD, county of LOUTH, and province of LEINSTER, 2 miles (E. by N.) from Drogheda; containing 535 inhabitants. This place was occupied by Sir Phelim O'Nial and the insurgent forces during the siege of Drogheda, which was defended by Sir Henry Tichborne, one of the lords justices of Ireland, who, on the forfeiture of the estate by the Plunkett family, purchased and obtained a grant of it from Charles II.; the Rev. Alexander Johnson Montgomery, his descendant by the female line, is the present proprietor. The parish is situated at the estuary of the river Boyne, on the eastern coast, and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 1228 statute acres, including 218 ¾ of tideway of the Boyne. Beaulieu House, the seat of the Rev. A. J. Montgomery, was built by the lady of Sir Henry Tichborne: it is a stately mansion, situated in an extensive and finely planted demesne, bounded on the south by the Boyne, and contains an ornamental sheet of water; a very handsome entrance lodge has been recently erected. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Armagh, and in the patronage of the Lord-Primate: the tithes amount to £105. The church, a neat structure with a tower, was built by aid of a gift of £600 from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1807; and contains some handsome marble monuments to the Montgomery family, and one to the Donagh family of Newtown; in the churchyard is a curious stone with the figure of a skeleton in high relief and the date, apparently 1117. There is neither glebe nor glebe-house. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Termonfeckan. The parochial school of 10 boys and 10 girls is aided by an annual donation from the rector, and the master has a house and land from the Rev. A. J. Montgomery; there is also a pay school, in which are about 20 boys and 10 girls.