NEWBAWN

NEWBAWN, a parish, partly in the barony of BANTRY, but chiefly in that of SHELMALIER, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 6 miles (S. E.) from New Ross, on the road to Wexford: containing 1618 inhabitants. During the disturbances of 1798, the insurgents encamped on Carrigburn hill, in this parish, for a few days before the battle of New Ross, and remained there until the evening of the 4th of June, when they marched to that town, leaving some prisoners (among whom were a few Catholics) in the barn belonging to the mansion of Scullabogue, which is situated at the foot of the rocky hill. Some fugitives from the field of battle perceiving that the day was lost, in order to escape the carnage of that desperate conflict, hurried back to Carrigburn under pretence of bringing orders from the commander-in-chief to put the prisoners to death, which being believed, the barn was set on fire, and the prisoners, with the exception only of one or two, perished in the flames.

The mansion has never been occupied by the proprietor, Lieutenant-General Browne Clayton, since it became the scene of this memorable tragedy; but a neat cottage, called Carrigburn Cottage, has been fitted up as a summer residence for the family. Carrigburn is a remarkable rocky eminence, chiefly composed of hard flint, rising abruptly from an extensive plain to a height of about 2000 feet above the level of the sea, and commanding from its summit an extensive prospect of the surrounding country and of the Irish sea, studded along the coast of Wexford with several islands, among which the Saltees are the most conspicuous.

The parish comprises 7316 statute acres, chiefly in tillage, and well cultivated. It is a rectory, in the diocese of Ferns, forming part of the union of Adamstown, and the corps of the archdeaconry: the tithes amount to £360. 4. 8.

In the R. C. divisions it is the head of a union or district, comprising also the parish of Adamstown, and parts of Donowney and Horetown, and containing the. chapels of Newbawn, Adamstown, Raheen, and Cullinstown: that of Newbawn is a spacious modern cruciform structure. About 50 children are educated in two private schools; and there is a dispensary for the parishes of Newbawn and Clongeen. On Newbawn farm, now in the occupation of Mr. Tobias Rossiter, are the remains of an ancient castle, apparently of Norman foundation, consisting chiefly of a tower, of which the staircase leading to the summit is still in tolerable preservation. Several ancient raths or forts are scattered over the parish.