CASTLE-LYONS

In 1868, the parish of Castle Lyons contained the following places:

"CASTLE-LYONS, a parish and small market town, partly in the barony of Condons and Clangibbon, and partly in the barony of Barrymore, in the county of Cork, province of Munster, Ireland, 5 miles to the S.E. of Fermoy, and 145 miles from Dublin. It is situated in a fertile and cultivated country on the banks of the river Bride, a branch of the Blackwater. It was the site of a castle of the O'Lehans, founded, as shown by an inscription, in 1104, and of another erected subsequently by the Barrys. Early in the 14th century an abbey was founded by one of the lords Barry. Here was also a Carmelite friary. During the civil war in the reign of Charles I. an engagement took place here between the English under Lord Broghill, and the Irish under General Parcel, in which the latter were defeated. The district is fertile and cultivated, and limestone is quarried in large quantities. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in agriculture and the flour trade. There is a small woollen factory. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Cork, Ross, and Cloyne, value £484, in the patronage of the bishop. The parish church, which stands on the site of an older one, is dedicated to St. Nicholas. Connected with it is the family burial-place of the Barrys, which contains a handsome marble monument to James Earl of Barrymore, who died in 1747. There are a Roman Catholic chapel near the village, and National and parochial schools. Remains exist of the abbey and the castle of the lords Barry, as well as of another fortress, called Bally-Roberts Castle. A cairn formerly stood on the top of Corran Tierna, a hill on the border of this parish. In the vicinity are Castle-Lyons. House, Cools, Abbey, Mohera House, Bushey Park, and other residences, of, the gentry. Thursday is the market day. Fairs are held on the 1st January, Easter Monday, Whit-Monday, the 28th August, the 29th September, and the 16th November."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2018