Tankardstown

TANKARDSTOWN, or BALLYTANKARD, a parish, in the barony of COSHMA, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTER, 2 miles (S. W.) from Kilmallock, on the road to Bruree; containing 523 inhabitants.

It comprises 1671 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act: the land, which is remarkably good, rests on a substratum of limestone; there are some large dairy farms, but the land is in general much subdivided. Turbary being scarce in this district, cow dung, dried and stacked like turf, is generally used as fuel by the peasantry. Within the limits of the parish is Knocksowney, which rises to a considerable height, and forms a conspicuous object in the vicinity: the land around it is very fertile. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Limerick, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes amount to £125.

In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of Kilmallock. About 30 children are educated in a private school. The church has long been in ruins: within the walls near the west end is a flourishing ash tree, and where the altar stood are a fine yew and chesnut tree.

from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.