EDERMINE

EDERMINE, a parish, in the barony of BALLAGHKEEN, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 2 ½ miles (S. by E.) from Enniscorthy, on the mail coach road from Wexford to Dublin; containing 213 inhabitants. This parish comprises 4015 statute acres, chiefly under tillage: the soil, which is productive, contains a great quantity of blue and red marl, and the state of agriculture is improving.

The gentlemen's seats are Edermine, the residence of Laurence Toole, Esq.; and Rochfort, of J. Jervis Emerson, Esq. Fairs are held at the village of Oylgate on March 1st, May 21st, and Aug. 15th, chiefly for cattle. The projected canal from Pool Darragh to Enniscorthy will pass through the parish.

It is a rectory, in the diocese of Ferns, united in 1806 to the vicarage of Ballynaslaney, together constituting the union and corps of the prebend of Edermine in the cathedral of Ferns, and in the gift of the Bishop: the tithes amount to £276. 18. 5 ½., and the entire tithes of the union to £332. 6. 1 ¾.

The church, a neat edifice in the later English style, with a square tower surmounted with pinnacles, was built in 1811 by a gift of £200, and a loan of £600, from the late Board of First Fruits. It is beautifully situated on an eminence near the Slaney, and being surrounded by a thriving plantation, forms a picturesque object. A grant of £134 has been lately made by the Ecclesiastical Board for its complete repair.

In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Oylgate, which also comprises the parishes of Ballynaslaney and Ballyhuskard; and contains the chapels of Oylgate and Glanbryan. The former has been recently rebuilt, and adjoining it a residence for the parish priest, and a public school, have been erected. In this school, and in a school supported by the Protestant clergyman, and two private schools, about 80 children are educated. A holy well, dedicated to St. Coorawn, is chiefly resorted to by the peasantry for the cure of diseases of infants.