DONADEA, a parish

DONADEA, a parish, in the barony of IKEATHY and OUGHTERANY, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER, 4 miles (S. S. W.) from Kilcock; containing 400 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated on the western side of the bog of Allen, comprises 1976 statute acres, of which 120 are woodland, and of the remainder, nearly equal portions are under tillage and in pasture; the soil is good, and an improved system of agriculture prevails. There are excellent quarries of limestone, which is procured for building and burning; fuel is abundantly supplied from the bog of Allen. Donadea Castle is an ancient structure, belonging to the Aylmer family; in 1691 it was besieged by a party of forces in the interest of James II., but was gallantly defended by Ellen, daughter of Thomas, Viscount Thurles, wife of Sir Andrew Aylmer; it has been lately modernised and improved, and is at present the residence of Sir Gerald George Aylmer, Bart. Woodside, a handsome villa, has lately been built by the Rev. W. J. Aylmer, the rector.

The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Kildare, episcopally united to that of Balrahan, which two parishes constitute the corps of the prebend of Donadea in the cathedral of Kildare, and in the alternate patronage of the Crown and Sir Gerald George Aylmer: the tithes amount to £125. 4. 9 ½., and the tithes for the whole union amount to £286. 4. 9 ½. There is neither glebe-house nor glebe. The church, a neat edifice in the later English style, was erected in 1813, by a loan of £1000 from the late Board of First Fruits, and contains a curious monument to Sir Gerald Aylmer, the first baronet, and his lady. A neat school-house has been built of stone, at an expense of £340, of which £170 was granted from the lord-lieutenant's school fund, and the remainder raised by subscription and by the Kildare-Place Society; three acres of land were granted at a nominal rent by Sir G. G. Aylmer, on lease renewable for ever, and vested in the rector and churchwardens, for the master; the school is further supported by the Trustees of Erasmus Smith's charity; 30 boys and girls are educated in it. Here is a dispensary.