Tyrella

TYRELLA, a parish, in the barony of LECALE, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, 4 miles (S. S. E.) from Clough, and 6 (S. W.) from Downpatrick; containing 1773 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the bay of Dundrum, by which it is bounded on the south; and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 1999¼ statute acres, the whole of which, with the exception of a few acres of sand hills along the shore, is land of good quality and in a state of profitable cultivation. The system of agriculture is improved, and the crops of wheat, barley, oats, flax, and potatoes are abundant, the lands being much enriched by the facility of obtaining sea sand and weed for manure.

Tyrella House, the handsome residence of A. H. Montgomery, Esq., is beautifully situated in a richly planted demesne of 300 acres, commanding extensive views over the bay, with the noble range of the Mourne mountains in the back-ground, and containing within its limits the site and cemetery of the ancient, parish church. Off the coast is a rocky shoal extending one mile from the shore, at the extremity of which is a rock called the Cow and Calf, seldom covered by the sea.

It is a rectory, in the diocese of Down, forming part of the union and corps of the deanery of Down: the tithes amount to £164. 15. 9. In the R. C. divisions it is the head of a union or district, comprising also the parish of Ballykinlar and part of Loughin island; there are chapels at Ballykinlar and Drumaroda. About 150 children are taught in a school under the New Board of Education; and there are two private schools, in which are about 70 children, and a Sunday school. In the demesne of Tyrella House, and near the site of the old church, a cave was discovered in 1832, artificially constructed of uncemented stones and covered with flagstones, above which the earth is thickly heaped; it is 43 yards in length, 2½ feet wide, and about 5 feet high, dividing into three chambers, 60, 45, and 24 feet in length respectively, the last extending its width to six feet.

from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.