CARNAGH, a parish

CARNAGH, a parish, in the barony of BANTRY, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 3 miles (S. E. by S.) from New Ross; containing 319 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the road from Enniscorthy, by Ballinlaw Ferry, to Waterford; and thence through New Ross to Wexford. It comprises 1842 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act: the lands are principally under tillage; an exhausted bog has been reclaimed and is now under cultivation, and there is no waste land. The system of agriculture is progressively improving, and the industry and comfort of the farmers and the peasantry are evident from the external appearance of their dwellings. There are some quarries of building stone, which, although of inferior quality, is still used for that purpose in the neighbourhood. Carnagh, the family seat of H. Lambert, Esq., is situated in a pleasant demesne. At Ballinabooley is a constabulary police station.

It is a rectory, in the diocese of Ferns, and is part of the union of St. Mary, New Ross: the tithes amount to £80. The church is in ruins. In the R. C. divisions the parish, with the exception of the townland of Ballymacar, is the head of a union or district called Cushinstown, comprising the parishes of Carnagh, Ballyane, Tallerath, and Old Ross; the chapel is at Cushinstown. Two school-rooms, with apartments for a master and mistress, are about to be erected by the Lambert family. Near Ballinabooley is a rath, underneath which was discovered a subterraneous apartment, approached by a passage of upright flag-stones, and capable of receiving from 20 to 25 persons; it is supposed to have been constructed by the Danes, for the concealment of plunder in cases of emergency. The streams in various parts of the parish are of a chalybeate nature, but the water is seldom used medicinally.