TULLYALLEN

TULLYALLEN, or TULLOUGHALLEN, a parish, chiefly in the barony of FERRARD, county of LOUTH, but partly in that of UPPER SLANE, county of MEATH, and in the province of LEINSTER, 2 ½ miles (N. W.) from Drogheda, on the road to Ardee: the village contains 181 inhabitants; the population of the remainder of the parish is returned with Mellifont. The parish is situated on the river Boyne, by which it is bounded on the south and separated from the county of Drogheda; it comprises about 11,000 statute acres, of which, according to the Ordnance survey, 7344 are in the county of Louth, including a detached portion of 953 acres called Newtown-Stalaba, and 84 in the tideway of the Boyne. The land is wholly under tillage, the soil fertile, and the system of agriculture improved. The scenery on the banks of the Boyne is pleasingly varied. On a rock rising abruptly from the river, about two miles from Drogheda, is a stately obelisk of stone, commemorating the battle of the Boyne by inscriptions on the faces of the pedestal: it was erected by subscription in the reign of George II., and the first stone was laid by Lionel, Duke of Dorset, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, in 1736.

The principal seats are Townley Hall, the residence of B. Balfour, Esq., a handsome mansion of hewn stone, situated in a highly improved demesne of 500 acres, and containing a choice collection of paintings; Beaulieu, the earliest seat of the Plunkett family, who have been in possession of it at least since the period of the English invasion; Newtown, of F. Donagh, Esq.; and Green Hills, of St. George Smith, Esq. The village contains about 40 houses; the weaving of coarse linen is carried on for the Drogheda market, and a constabulary police force is stationed there.

The living is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Armagh, comprising the parishes of Mellifont and Tullyallen, and in the patronage of the Marquess of Drogheda, in whom the rectory is impropriate: the stipend of the curate is £92. 6. 1 ¾., of which £36. 18. 5 ½. is paid by the impropriator, and £55. 7. 8 ¼. by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners from Primate Boulter's augmentation fund. The glebe-house, towards which the late Board of First Fruits contributed a gift of £450 and a loan of £50, was built in 1816; the glebe comprises 10 acres, valued at £8. 6. 8. per annum. The church, towards the erection of which the same Board contributed a gift of £800, in 1817, is a neat edifice and has been recently repaired at an expense of £217, granted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also the parish of Mellifont; there are two chapels, one in the village, and one at Newtown-Drogheda. About 300 children are taught in four public schools, of which one at Townley Hall is maintained by Mr. Balfour and another by the Misses Balfour. Near the obelisk is a picturesque valley called King William's Glen, in which that monarch encamped his forces, previously to his crossing the river and obtaining the victory of the Boyne.