CARBERY, or CASTLE-CARBERY, a parish

CARBERY, or CASTLE-CARBERY, a parish, in the barony of CARBERY, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER, 3 ¼ miles (E. N. E.) from Edenderry; containing 1476 inhabitants, of which number, 159 are in the village. This place derives its name from an ancient castle, of which there are some remains, situated on a lofty isolated hill, and which was, early in the 14th century, a seat of the Bermingham family, of whom Sir William Bermingham, Knt., was created Baron of Carbery, in 1541. It was afterwards the property of the family of Colley or Cowley, ancestors of the present noble family of Wellesley; and in 1783, Arthur Pomeroy, Esq., having married an heiress of that house, obtained the title of Lord Harberton, of Carbery, and was afterwards created Viscount Harberton. The parish is situated at the north-western extremity of the county, on the confines of the King's county, near the source of the river Boyne, and on the verge of the Bog of Allen, which is here bounded by abrupt eminences of limestone: the greater portion of the land is arable, and some of the farms wholly under tillage. Newberry, the seat of Viscount Harberton, is in the immediate vicinity of the village. The other seats in the parish are Drummin House, the residence of R. Grattan, Esq., M. D.; Ballyhagan, of Miss Palmer; and Newberry House, of E. Wolstenholme, Esq. The village consists of 27 dwellings; it is a constabulary police station; and fairs are held on May 26th and Oct. 2nd.

The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Kildare, united to those of Nurney, Ballynadrimna, Cadamstown, Dunfert, Mylerstown, Ardkill, and Carrick, together forming the union of Carbery, in the patronage of Lord Harberton; the rectory is impropriate in the Marquess of Downshire. The tithes amount to £133. 19. 4 ¾., of which £89. 6. 3 ¼. is payable to the impropriator, and £44. 13. 1 ½. to the vicar; and the gross tithes of the benefice amount to £303. 13. 5 ½. The church is a neat plain edifice, with a square tower. There is no glebe-house; the glebe comprises 3 ¾ acres in several detached portions. In the R. C. divisions this parish is partly in the union or district of Ballina, and partly the head of a union, comprising also the parishes of Dunfert, Ardkill, and Kilmore, in which are two chapels, one here and one at Dunfert; the former is a plain building in good repair. The parochial school, in which are about 40 boys and 20 girls, is supported by subscription; and there are two pay schools, in which are about 60 boys and 30 girls. The ruins of the castle consist chiefly of a square pile of building with tall chimneys, apparently of the time of Henry VIII.