SAGGARD

SAGGARD, or TASSAGGARD, a parish, in the barony of NEWCASTLE, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER, 1 mile (E. by S.) from Rathcoole, on the roads leading from Dublin to Blessington and Naas; containing 1673 inhabitants, of which number, 266 are in the village. This parish comprises 4260 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act; the surface is mountainous, but the lower grounds are in good cultivation; limestone is quarried, and the mountains abound with peat.

The principal seats are Saggard House, the residence of P. Smith, Esq.; Kingswood, of Mrs. Walsh; and Ashtree Cottage, of J. Wade, Esq., where the Saggard hounds are kept. The village is pleasantly situated near the Tallaght hills, and contains 71 houses, neatly built. The manufacture of paper is carried on in mills belonging to Mr. McDonnell, at Swift's Brook, where was formerly a residence of Dean Swift. Fairs are held on Corpus Christi day, Oct. 10th, and Nov. 8th.

The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Dublin, and in the patronage of the Archbishop, partly appropriate to the deanery of St. Patrick's, Dublin, and partly constituting the corps of the prebend of Saggard in the cathedral of St. Patrick.

The tithes amount to £250, of which £110 is payable to the dean, and the remainder to the prebendary. The church has long been in ruins, and the parishioners attend the church of Rathcoole; the churchyard is still used as a burial-place.

In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also the parishes of Newcastle and Rathcoole, and part of the parish of Tallaght. There are chapels at Saggard and Newcastle; on the west side of the former is a monument of marble to the Rev. A. Hart, P. P., and dean of Maynooth, with his effigy in bass relief. About 100 children are taught in a public school near the village. A monastery is said to have been founded here by St. Mosacre, who flourished about the middle of the 7th century, of which there is no further record; perhaps it was destroyed in 1131, when this place was ravaged by the septs of the Byrnes and O'Tooles.