OWREGARE

OWREGARE, or UREGARE, a parish, partly in the barony of SMALL COUNTY, but chiefly in that of COSHMA, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTER, 2 miles (S.) from Bruff, on the road from Limerick to Kilmallock; containing 1874 inhabitants. This place, in 1660, was the scene of an obstinate and severe skirmish between the celebrated Pierce Lacy and a detachment of the English garrison of Kilmallock, which pursued him to this place, where he was defeated and many of his followers were slain.

The parish comprises 4748 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act: the land is chiefly under tillage, with some large tracts of meadow and pasture; the soil is fertile, and the system of agriculture improved.

The principal seats are Greenpark, the residence of R. Ivers, Esq.; the Cottage, of Miss Ivers; Owregare House, of Mrs. Gubbins; Miltown, of G. Gubbins, Esq.; and Ballincolloe, of J. Gubbins, Esq.

The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Limerick, and in the patronage of the Earl of Buckinghamshire; the rectorial tithes are impropriate in the Grady family.

The tithes amount to £385. 4. 3., of which two-thirds are payable to the impropriators, and the remainder to the vicar. The church is in ruins; the Protestant parishioners attend the church of Bruff.

In the R. C. divisions the parish is partly in the union of Dromin, and partly in that of Bruff. Near the ruins of the church, of which the foundations only now exist, are the extensive remains of the castle of Ballygrenane, the once splendid residence of the De Lacy family, and now the property of Lord Carbery; and near the southern extremity of the parish is Bulgadine Hall, also the property of that nobleman, but in a neglected and ruinous condition. Within ten yards of Owregare House, two skeletons of unusually large size were discovered in digging. Admiral Sir Edward Nagle was a native of this place.