FERTAGH

In 1868, the parish of Fertagh contained the following places:

"FERTAGH, a parish in the baronies of Crannagh and Galmoy, county Kilkenny, province of Leinster, Ireland, 2½ miles N.E. of Urlingford. In the Galmoy section of the parish is Johnstown, its post town. The soil is good. The living is a rectory and vicarage in the diocese of Ossory, value £367, in the patronage of the bishop. The church is a neat building. The two Roman Catholic chapels are united to that of Eirke. There are five day schools. Among the principal residences is Violet Hill. An Augustinian priory was founded herein the 13th century by the Blanchfield family, and granted to the Butlers by Queen Elizabeth. The chapel is yet remaining, and contains two curious monuments with effigies, supposed to be of the Fitzpatrick family. Near this chapel stands a pillar tower 96 feet high, remarkable in being cracked from the top of the building to the crown of the portal. Another ruin is Killesheelan Castle. Limestone is quarried. A powerful chalybeate spring exists at Ballyspellan. A fair is held on 5th March.

"JOHNSTOWN, a post-office village in the parish of Fertagh, barony of Galmoy, county Kilkenny, province of Leinster, Ireland, 13 miles W.N.W. of Kilkenny. It stands on the road from Dublin to Cork. It contains a dispensary within the Kilkenny Poor-law Union, a neatly built church, a Roman Catholic chapel, and a chief police station. In the vicinity is the seat called Violet Hill, and the celebrated spa of Ballyspellin, immortalised by the pens of Sheridan and Swift. Coins have been discovered here dating from Henry VIII. to William III. Petty sessions are held once a fortnight, and fairs monthly."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2018