JERPOINT (CHURCH)

JERPOINT (CHURCH), a parish, in the barony of KNOCKTOPHER, county of KILKENNY, and province of LEINSTER, 1 mile (S. W.) from Thomastown, on the mail coach road from Dublin to Waterford; containing 1983 inhabitants. There is some mountain land, but no bog, and the parish is principally under tillage. Here are several quarries of limestone, and lead ore exists, but no mines are worked at present. Mount Juliet is the splendid seat of the Earl of Carrick: the mansion is very spacious and finely situated, and the demesne, which comprises about, 900 plantation acres, of which about a third is woodland, lies along both sides of the noble river Nore, which is crossed by a handsome bridge. The other seats are Norelands, the residence of W. Bayly, Esq., situated in an elegant demesne on the banks of the same river; John's Well, of W. Bayly, Jun., Esq.; Jerpoint House, of W. H. Hunt, Esq.; Flood Hall, of J. Flood, Esq., whose demesne extends into the adjoining parishes of Knocktopher and Kells; and Belmore Lodge, the property of the Earl of Belmore. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Ossory, and in the patronage of the Crown; the rectory is impropriate in the corporation of Kilkenny. The tithes amount to £239. 18. 11., of which £110. 14. 3. is payable to the impropriator, and £129. 4. 8. to the vicar. There is no glebe-house; the glebe comprises 5a. 3r. 15p. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Thomastown, and has a chapel. There are four private schools, in which about 290 children are educated. The ruins of the church are almost covered with ivy, and near it are some ancient monuments. The existence of the foundations of houses renders it probable that there was formerly a town here; and in the vicinity was a celebrated abbey, which is noticed in the article on Abbey Jerpoint.