JOHN'S (ST.)

JOHN'S (ST.), a parish, in the barony of BANTRY, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 1 mile (S.) from Enniscorthy; containing 636 inhabitants. It comprises 2171 statute acres, almost exclusively under tillage: the soil is rather light, and there is neither bog nor waste land. On the banks of the river Boro was formerly a woollen factory, now converted into flour-mills, called Kilcarbery Mills, from which about 200 barrels of flour are sent weekly to Wexford for exportation. The Boro is navigable for flat-bottomed barges to the bridge at these mills, and the river Slaney to Enniscorthy. The principal seats are St. John's, the residence of C. Hill, Esq., M.D., near the northern extremity of St. John's wood, which stretches more than a mile along the western bank of the Slaney. The mansion, which was erected about 40 years since, includes part of what is supposed to have been the abbot of St. John's summer residence, which had a demesne of 300 acres. Near the confluence of the Boro with the Slaney is Borodale, the seat of D. Beatty, Esq., an elegant modern villa; and on the summit of a hill is St. Anne's, the seat of Plunket Preston, Esq., a substantial modern mansion commanding a pleasing prospect. Here are also Ballinapierce, the residence of O. Bolton, Esq.; Sweetfarm, of W. Jones, Esq.; and Bloomfield, of W. R. Farmar, Esq., a newly erected mansion in the Tudor style, cased with fine white granite from Mount Leinster.

The manor of St. John's is co-extensive with the parish; about half of it is held by Dr. Hill, under a perpetual lease from the Earl of Rosse. It was formerly held by the Earl of Ormond, to whom it was assigned by Edmund Spenser, the poet, to whom Queen Elizabeth granted the convent of St. John's, which was founded for Augustinian Canons by Gerald de Prendergast, about 1230. The parish is in the diocese of Ferns, and is a rectory, forming part of the union of St. Mary's, Enniscorthy: the tithes amount to £212. 10. In the R. C. divisions it is partly in the union or district of Enniscorthy, but chiefly in that of Davidstown. The ruins of the old church are situated in Dr. Hill's demesne, near the site of the abbey; its burial-ground is still used. At St. John's bridge is a mineral spring, which was formerly much resorted to; and some fine specimens of asbestos were lately discovered at Bloomfield.