Rahara

RAHARROW, or RAHARA, a parish, in the barony of ATHLONE, county of ROSCOMMON, and province of CONNAUGHT, 9 miles (N. W.) from Athlone, on the roads from that place to Athleague and Roscommon; containing 1630 inhabitants. It comprises 4741 statute acres of tolerably good land, chiefly in tillage, and there is a small portion of bog; the state of agriculture is improving. Limestone is found in the parish, and within its limits is Lough Funcheon, more commonly called Ballagh Lough from a hamlet of that name at its northern extremity: it is the largest sheet of water in the barony, extending two miles in length and containing some islands, besides a large promontory, which is occasionally insulated; the lough is bounded on the northeast by hills, but its borders are elsewhere flat and marshy, and it has on the whole a bleak appearance.

The seats are Loughfield, the residence of P. Sproules, Esq., and Rahara, of Alex. Sproules, Esq. Petty sessions are held once a fortnight at the Four Roads. It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Elphin, forming part of the union of Killenvoy: the rectory is impropriate in the Incorporated Society. The tithes amount to £124. 5. 9., of which £66. 5. 9. is payable to the vicar, and the remainder to the impropriators; and there is a glebe of 10 acres, let for £10. 1. 3. per annum. In the R. C.

divisions it is part of the union or district of St. John's, and contains a chapel. About 70 children are educated in a private school.

from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.