WHERRY

WHERRY, a parish, in the barony of GARRYCASTLE, KING'S county, and province of LEINSTER; containing, with part of the post-town of Farbane, 3555 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated on the river Brosna, comprises 16,732 statute acres, of which 80 are woodland and more than 7000 are bog; the remainder is divided in nearly equal portions between pasture and tillage. The arable land is of very good quality and favourable to the growth of corn ; but the pasture, except the lowlands near the river, is indifferent, and the meadow land poor. The system of agriculture is slowly improving; there is abundance of limestone, which is quarried for agricultural purposes and for building.

The principal seats are Ballylen, the residence of the Rev. H. King, situated in a fine demesne; Killygally, of the Rev. H. Mahon; and Moyclare, of R. Lawder, Esq. Fairs are held at Farbane on Aug. 2nd and Oct. 20th: the Grand Canal passes within a quarter of a mile of the parish. It is a rectory, vicarage, and perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Meath; the rectory is impropriate in the Rev. J. Armstrong and the Rev. H. King; the vicarage forms part of the union of Tessauran; and the perpetual curacy, which is also called Farbane, is in the patronage of the incumbent.

The tithes amount to £276. 18. 5 ½., of which one-half is payable to the impropriator and the other to the vicar. The glebe-house, annexed to the curacy, was built in 1818 at an expense of £500, of which £450 was a gift and £50 a loan from the late Board of First Fruits; the glebe comprises 20 acres, valued at £21 per ann.; and the income of the curacy is £99. 7. 8 ½, arising from the glebe, a stipend of £55. 7. 8 ½. payable by the incumbent, and an augmentation of £14 by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The church of the perpetual curacy was built in 1804, at an expense of £461 British, of which £327 was raised by parochial assessment and the remainder by subscription; a belfry turret was added to it in 1819 by the same means.

In the R. C. divisions the parish is in the diocese of Ardagh, and is the head of a union, called Farbane, comprising also the parish of Tessauran; in each parish is a chapel; that of Farbane is a handsome edifice lately erected. There are five private schools, in which are about 200 children; and a dispensary. There are remains of old castles at Cool and Kilcolgan.