Modreeny

MODREENY, a parish, in the barony of LOWER-ORMOND, county of TIPPERARY, and province of MUNSTER, 3 miles (S. S. E.) from Burris-o-Kane, on one of the public roads from Nenagh to Parsonstown; containing, with the town and district parish of Cloghjordan, 4306 inhabitants. It comprises about 9220 statute acres, of which 6126¾, consisting chiefly of arable and pasture land, are applotted under the tithe act: the remainder is waste and bog. The woods of Knocknacrea and Ballycapple, the former of which is a noted fox cover, occupy 120 acres: the state of agriculture is gradually improving. At Coolnagrower is a quarry of good stone, and the bogs furnish an abundant supply of turf. The parish is embellished with numerous seats, some of which are surrounded by beautiful and wellplanted demesnes: the principal are Merton Hall, the residence of Robert Hall, Esq., a spacious mansion; Modreeny House, of W. H. Head, Esq.; Modreeny, of Sir Amyrald Dancer, Bart.; Park House, the property of Wm. Trench, Esq., but now the residence of De La Pere A. J. Robinson, Esq.; Wood House, the residence of Stuart Trench, Esq.; Ballynavin Castle, of Mrs.

Robinson; Fort William, of Anthony Parker, Esq.; Northland, of Wm. Smith, Esq.; Hilton, of Thomas Dancer, Esq.; Behamore Castle, of Benjamin Hawkshaw, Esq.; View Mount, of Thomas R. Barnes, Esq.; Cloghkeating, of A. Robinson, Esq.; Willow Lodge, of Jas. Fleetwood, Esq.; Elysium, of Thomas Ely, Esq.; the glebe-house, of the Rev. W. T. Homan; and Ballycapple Cottage, the property of the Rev. R. Stoney.

The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Killaloe, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes amount to £533. 8. 11. The glebe-house, which stands on a glebe of 10 acres, was built about 1813, when the late Board of First Fruits gave £250 and lent £550 towards its erection. The church was rebuilt in 1828.

In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Cloghjordan; the chapel of Modreeny, which stands on an eminence in the townland of Coolnamanna, is a handsome modern edifice. In the parochial schools, partly supported by S. Trench, Esq., and the rector, and partly by private subscriptions, about 150 children are educated: there are also three private schools, containing about 140 children, and three Sunday schools. At Ballycapple, Cloghkeating, and Behamore, are the ruins of the castles respectively so called; and in the demesne of Modreeny House are some remains of another, which appears to have been destroyed by gunpowder.

from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.