Ballybrazil

BALLYBRAZILL, a parish, in the barony of SHELBURNE, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 5 miles (S. E.) from New Ross; containing 384 inhabitants.  This small parish is situated on the road from Wexford, by Ballinlaw Ferry, to Waterford, and was, during the disturbances of 1798, visited by the insurgent army, which, after the battle of New Ross, encamped at Slieve Keiltre, which is partly within its limits, and took possession of Ballysop, now the seat of the Rev. W. Gifford, which they made the head-quarters of the commander in chief. The lands are principally in tillage, and the system of agriculture is generally improving.  A small domestic manufacture of woollen cloth is carried on, affording employment to a few persons.

It is an impropriate curacy, in the diocese of Ferns, and is part of the union of St. Mary's, New Ross; the rectory is impropriate in the Marquess of Ely: the tithes amount to £100, payable to the impropriator, who pays annually to the curate £2 late currency. The church is in ruins. In the R. C. divisions it is included in the union or district of Suttons, of which the chapel is at Horeswood, in the parish of Kilmokea.

from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.