PAINSTOWN

PAINSTOWN, a parish, in the barony of LOWER DULEEK, county of MEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 2 miles (S. W.) from Slane, on the road from Trim to Drogheda by Navan; containing 1184 inhabitants. This parish is intersected, in the northern portion, by the river Boyne, and comprises 3342 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act. The land is of good quality, nearly equally divided between tillage and pasture; and there is neither waste land nor bog. Copper is supposed to exist here, but it has never been raised; and there are quarries of building stone. Beauparc, the spacious and elegant mansion of Gustavus Lambert, Esq., is situated on very elevated ground, overlooking the river Boyne, and commanding a view of some richly varied scenery; the grounds are celebrated both for natural and artificial beauty; the demesne contains about 300 Irish acres.

Dollardstown, a spacious mansion, the property of Sir W. Meredyth Somerville, Bart., and formerly a seat of the Meredyth family, is now occupied by a farmer. Seneschalstown, now leased to L. Kelly, Esq., is the property of the Aylmer family: Tersington is the seat of T. Russell, Esq.; and the glebe house is the residence of the Rev. G. Brabazon. In 1546, licence was granted to the bishop and clergy of Meath to alienate for ever the advowson of Painstown, reserving to the bishop and his successors out of the rectory a yearly pension of £20: the living is a rectory, in the diocese of Meath, united by act of council, in 1682, to the rectory of Ardmulchan, and in the patronage of the Crown and the Bishop, the former having one, the latter two turns.

The tithes amount to £276. 18. 5 ½., and the entire value of the benefice is £563. 9. 2 ¼. The glebe-house is close to the church, and was built in 1810, at a cost of £1260, of which £100 was a gift, and £625 a loan, from the late Board of First Fruits, the residue having been supplied by the incumbent. The glebe of the union comprises 23 acres, valued at £32. 13. 10 ¼. per ann., but subject to a rent of £27. 13. 10 ¾. The church is an old, but very neat edifice, with a handsome tower; in 1823, a gallery was erected at the west end, and the steeple was roofed and repaired, by aid of a loan of £400 from the same Board.

In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Blacklion, and has a chapel at Yellow Furze, a neat modern structure. A school at Yellow Furze, in which are about 30 boys and 12 girls, is aided by an annual donation from the R. C. clergyman.