MOVIDDY

MOVIDDY, a parish, in the barony of EAST MUSKERRY, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 16 miles (W. S. W.) from Cork, on the road from Macroom to Bandon; containing, with the post-town of Crookstown, 2718 inhabitants. This parish, which is intersected by the river Bride, comprises 6045 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £4875 per annum: the principal part of the land is under tillage, producing, under a greatly improved system of agriculture, good crops; on the meadow land irrigation is extensively practised: there is very little waste land or bog, and the marshy lands are being drained and brought into cultivation. The surface undulates considerably, in some places rising into hills, the highest of which is Knockanernoe; they are of the schistose formation, and immediately beneath them, to the north, commences the limestone formation, which extends eastward to Blackrock.

Not far from the church are quarries of coarse freestone. Here is a large flour-mill, built by T. Herrick, Esq., which has greatly promoted the growth of wheat. A manor court is held every third Thursday, for the recovery of debts under 40s. and petty sessions at Shandangan on alternate Wednesdays. Fairs are held at Crookstown on Jan. 11th, May 14th, Aug. 26th, and Nov. 17th, chiefly for the sale of cattle, sheep, pigs, &c. There are several large handsome houses in the parish, of which Bellmount is the residence of T. Herrick, Esq. ;Rye Court, of J. Tonson Rye, Esq.; Crookstown House, of the Rev. R. Warren; Warren's Grove, of J. B. Warren, Esq.; Kilcondy, of W. Davies, Esq., M.D.; and the Glebe-house, of the Rev. Hume Babington, M. A. The plantations around Rye Court are very extensive and beautiful; the woods contain some of the finest oak in the county, and the scenery is embellished with the beautiful and romantic ruins of Castlemore, built by the Mac Sweenys in the 15th century; it passed by marriage to the McCartys, and Phelim Mac Owen having joined in the civil war of 1641, the castle and property became forfeited to the Crown: it now constitutes one of the most picturesque ruins in the county.

The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Cork, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes amount to £507. 13. 10.; there is a glebe of 10 acres, on which stands the glebe-house. The church is a small, but very neat, edifice, in the early English style, for the repairs of which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recently granted £224.

In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Kilmurry: a neat chapel was built at Clonduff, in 1820. About 80 children are educated in three public schools, of which the parochial schools are principally supported by the rector; a sewing-school, built by Mrs. Rye, is supported by her and other ladies; the other is a national school in the chapel-yard.