PORTLEMON

Samuel Lewis

A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland

1837

PORTLEMON, or PORTLOMON, a parish, in the barony of CORKAREE, county of WESTMEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 4 ¼ miles (N. W.) from Mullingar, on the road to Ballymahon; containing 417 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the western shore of Lough Hoyle, and comprises 1943 statute acres of good land, chiefly under tillage; there is also some bog. Within its limits is Frum hill, on the summit of which is a rath: near its base, on the shore of the lake, is Portlemon, the seat of Lord De Blaquiere; the mansion is situated in a finely wooded demesne.

The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Meath, united by episcopal authority, in 1823, to the rectory of Portshangan, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the tithes amount to £85; and the gross value of the union, tithes and glebe inclusive, is £193. 1. 1 ¾. The church, glebe-house, and glebe of the union are in Portshangan, and are noticed in the article on that parish.

In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Mullingar. There is a school aided by an annual donation of £25 from Mr. and Mrs. Gibbons, and one also by a donation from Lord Forbes, in which 35 boys and 23 girls are taught. Besides the rath on Frum hill, there are several others within the parish.

Search Topographical Dictionary of Ireland »

Featured Books

An American widow’s account of her travels in Ireland in 1844–45 on the eve of the Great Famine:

Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger

Sailing from New York, she set out to determine the condition of the Irish poor and discover why so many were emigrating to her home country.

Mrs Nicholson’s recollections of her tour among the peasantry are still revealing and gripping today.

The author returned to Ireland in 1847–49 to help with famine relief and recorded those experiences in the rather harrowing: Annals of the Famine in Ireland.

See more of our books »

The Ocean Plague: or, A Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant Vessel is based upon the diary of Robert Whyte who, in 1847, crossed the Atlantic from Dublin to Quebec in an Irish emigrant ship. His account of the journey provides invaluable eyewitness testimony to the trauma and tragedy that many emigrants had to face en route to their new lives in Canada and America. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Irish in America by John F. Maguire provides a substantial and invaluable account of the extreme difficulties faced by pioneer Irish immigrants in North America during the 19th Century. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Scotch-Irish in America tells the story of how the hardy breed of men and women, who in America came to be known as the ‘Scotch-Irish’, was forged in the north of Ireland during the seventeenth century. It relates the circumstances under which the great exodus to the New World began, the trials and tribulations faced by these tough American pioneers and the enduring influence they came to exert on the politics, education and religion of the country.

Show fewer titles