RATHWIRE

Samuel Lewis

1837

RATHWIRE, a village, in the parish of KILLUCAN, barony of FARBILL, county of WESTMEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 3 miles (N. N. W.) from Kinnegad, near the road to Killucan; containing 45 houses and 265 inhabitants. The barony of Farbill was formerly called the manor of Rathwire; it was granted by Edward I. to Mortimer, Earl of March, and afterwards by Edward III., in the ninth year of his reign, to Sir John D'Arcy, the then chief governor of Ireland. Here is a spacious R. C. chapel, being one of the two belonging to the district of Killucan. Some vestiges of a castle erected here by Hugh de Lacy may still be traced.

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