KING'S COUNTY 87
quantities, and also manganese, ochre, chalk, and potter's clay. Excellent clay-slate flags are quarried. In several places there are bands of foliated limestone, of a greenish hue and granular in texture, which forms a very useful manure.
Rivers. – The county shares in the advantage of the navigation of the Shannon, which skirts its western side and forms its boundary line with Roscommon and Galway. The Brosna, which issues from Loch Ennell in West Meath, enters the county near the town of Clara, and flowing south-westwards across its north-west corner, discharges itself into the Shannon after receiving the Clodagh and the Broughill. A small portion of the north-eastern extremity is skirted by the Boyne. The Barrow forms the south-eastern boundary with Queen's county. The Little Brosna, which rises in the Slieve Bloom mountains, forms the boundary of King's county with Tipperary, and falls into the Shannon.
Climate, Soil, and Agriculture. – Notwithstanding the large area occupied by bogs, the climate is generally salubrious, and it is less moist than that of several neighbouring districts. The soil naturally is not of great fertility except in special cases, but is capable of being rendered so by the judicious application of bog and linie manures according to its special defects. It is generally either a deep bog or a shallow gravelly loam. On the former soil corn crops are late in ripening during wet seasons, which on the other hand are specially suitable for the gravelly soils. On the borders of the Slieve Bloom mountains there are some very rich and fertile pastures, and there are also extensive grazing districts on the borders of West Meath, which are chiefly occupied by sheep. Along the banks of the Shannon there are some fine tracts of meadow land. With the exception of the tract occupied by the Bog of Allen, the remainder of the county is nearly all under tillage, the most productive portion being that to the north-west of the Hill of Croghan.
The following table gives a classification of holdings according to size in 1850 and 1880: –
Under 1 Acre. 1 to 5 Acres. 5 to 15 Acres. 15 to 30 Acres. 30 Acres and upwards. Total. 1850 1880 1,400 1,718 2,755 1,930 3,614 2,395 2,476 2,075 3,078 3,333 13,323 11,461
The total area under crops in 1881 was 119,751 acres – 24 2 per cent, of the total acreage of the county. In 1880 238,667 acres (48 - 4 per cent.) were under grass, 424 fallow, 8551 woods, 108,773 (the large percentage of 22 1) bog, 6043 mountain, and 16,327 water, roads, and fences. The area under corps in 1850 was 138,538 acres, or 24,314 more than in 1880 and 18,787 more than in 1881. The area under cereals declined between 1850 and 1881 from 70,668 to 40,263, that under wheat decreasing from 20,410 to only 1436, that under oats from 38,787 to 23,082; but that under other cereals, of which nearly the whole acreage is tinder barley, increased from 11,471 to 15,745. Between 1851 and 1880 the area under grass increased by 46,427 acres, a change due in a consider able degree to reclamation. The area under meadow and clover only increased from 40,348 to 44,765 acres. The area inder green crops between 1851 and 1881 diminished from 30,561 to 29,178 acres, that under potatoes diminishing from 17,907 to 15,762, while that under turnips increased from 9418 to 9863. Anciently nearly the whole of the county was covered by a vast forest, and on the borders of Tipperary it is still richly wooded.
Horses, which are a much better breed than the average of Ireland, increased from 12,990 in 1850 to 13,505 in 1881. The number in 1881 used for agricultural purposes was 8889. Mules increased from 817 to 1209, and asses from 4212 to 6221. Cattle in 1850 numbered 47,978, and in 1881 had increased to 68,165. Cows in 1881 numbered 14,749. Dairies are numerous in the northern part of the county on the borders of Meath, but in other districts cattle- feeding is more largely prosecuted than dairy farming. Sheep, which are pastured chiefly on the hilly districts, and have been much improved by crossing, in 1850 numbered 68,552, and in 1880 had increased to 97,570. Goats since 1850 have declined in numbers from 4032 to 3910. Pigs have increased from 15,450 to 20,526, and poultry from 158,154 to 271,873.
According to the corrected summary for 1878 of the landowners return, the land in 1873 was divided among 1140 owners, of whom 353, or 31 per cent., possessed less than 1 acre. The annual rateable valuation was £243,204, giving an average value per acre of 9s. 11d. Forty-six proprietors possessed more than 2000 acres, thirteen had upwards of 5000 acres, and five upwards of 10,000 acres, viz., Lord Digby, 29,722; Earl of Rosse, 22,513; Earl of Charleville, 20,632; Marquis of Downshire, 13,679; and Col. T. Bernard, 13,153.
Railways, &c. – A branch of the Great South -Western Railway traverses the county by Portarlington, Clara, and Banagher, and there is also a branch of the same line from Roscrea to Parsonstown. The Grand Canal traverses the county from Edeuderry in the east to the Shannon in the west.
Administration. – The county comprises twelve baronies, forty-two civil parishes and nine parts of parishes, and 1160 townlands. It contains portions of five poor-law unions, viz., Edenderry, Mountmellick, Parsonstown, Roscrea, and Tullamore. The county includes part of the parliamentary borough of Portarlington (the remainder being in Queen's county), and two townships, Parsonstown and Tullamore. Assizes are held at Tullamore and quarter-sessions at Parsonstown, Philipstown, and Tullamore. King's county is in the Dublin military district, and there are barrack stations at Parsonstown, Banagher, Philipstown, Shannon Bridge, and Tullamore. Previous to the Union, King's county returned six members to parliament, two for the county, and two for each of the boroughs, of Philipstown and Banagher, but since then only the two county members have been returned.
Population. – The total population of the county in 1659 was 8310, of whom 7085 were Irish and 1225 English. The estimate of De Burgo in 1760 made it 45,618. In 1821 it had increased to 131,088 and in 1841 to 147,551, but in 1851 it had diminished to 112,798, in 1871 to 75,900, and in 1881 to 72,668, of whom 36,942 were males and 35,726 were females. The number of emigrants from 1st May 1851 to 31st December 1880 was 41,798, or 46 4 per cent, of the population in 1861, 21,437 being males and 20,361 females. The marriage rate in 1880 to every 1000 of the estimated population was 3 - 9, the birth rate 23 - 5, and the death rate 18 "2. In 1881 the Roman Catholics numbered 64,984, the Protestant Episcopalians 6750, the Presbyterians 285, the Methodists 421, and all other denominations 228. The number of natives of England and Wales in the county in 1841 was 293, which had increased in 1871 to 1087; the natives of Scotland in the same years were 109 and 203. The number in 1871 who could speak Irish and English was 245, and in 1861 it was 396. In 1871 there were 34,360 per sons who could read and write, 13,157 who could read but could not write, and 28,383 who could neither read nor write.
History. – King's county, with portions of Tipperary, Queen's county, and Kildare, at an early period formed one kingdom under the name of Hy Falgia or Offalia, a title which it retained after the landing of the English. Subsequently it was known as Glenmallery, Western Glenmallery pretty nearly corresponding to the present King's county, and Eastern Glenmallery to Queen's county. The principal septs of the district were the O'Connors and the O'Carrolls, whose estates and those of the other leading families were forfeited about the middle of the 16th century. By a statute of 1557 the western district was constituted a shire under the name of King's county in honour of Philip – the principal town, formerly the seat of the O'Connors, being called Philipstown; and the eastern district at the same time received the name of Queen's county in honour of Mary. The subjugation of King's county was, however, not completely accomplished till about the beginning of the 17th century, when the O'Connors and their followers were totally routed and dispersed by Sir Oliver Lambert. After the Cromwellian wars a large number of estates were forfeited on account of the insurrectionary action taken by the leading gentry.
Antiquities. – Perhaps the oldest antiquarian relic is the large pyramid of white stones in the Slieve Bloom mountains called the Temple of the Sun or the White Obelisk. There are a considerable number of Danish raths, and a chain of moats commanding the passes of the bogs extended throughout the county. The most important ecclesiastical ruins are those of the seven churches of Clonmacnoise on the Shannon in the north-west of the county, where an abbey was founded by St Kieran in 548. Afterwards it was formed into a see, which was united with that of Meath in 1568. Within the old walls there are several small chapels erected over the graves of ancient chieftains, and also one or two richly ornamented crosses. Adjoining the ecclesiastical ruins are the remains of round towers and of an old castle. Amongst the more famous religious houses in addition to Clonmacnoise were Durrow Abbey, founded by St Columba in 550; Monasteroris, founded in the 14th century by John Bermingham, earl of Louth; and Seirkyran Abbey, founded in the beginning of the 5th century. The principal old castles are Rathmore, probably the most ancient in the county; Banagher, commanding an important pass on the Shannon; Leap Castle, in the Slieve Bloom mountains; and Birr or Parsonstown, now the seat of the earl of Rosse, whose father erected there the well-known great telescope.
