TESSARAGH, or TAUGHSRARA, a parish, in the barony of ATHLONE, county of ROSCOMMON, and province of CONNAUGHT, upon the river Suck and on the road from Roscommon to Ballinasloe; containing, with the post-town of Mount-Talbot (which see), 3492 inhabitants.
This parish comprises 5096 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act: the soil is light and chiefly under tillage; there is a great quantity of bog.
Limestone quarries of the best description are worked; the stone is used as piers for gates, and slabs for chimney-pieces.
Fairs are held at Mount-Talbot, and petty sessions at the Four Roads on alternate Fridays.
The gentlemen's seats are:
- Mount-Talbot, the residence of W. Talbot, Esq. ; see also MOUNT TALBOT
- Bushy Park, of J. Barlow, Esq. ; and
- Belgrave, of O. Irwin, Esq.
The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Elphin, episcopally united, in 1811, to the vicarages of Desert and Taghboy, constituting the union of Tessaragh or Mount-Talbot, in the patronage of the Bishop; the rectory is impropriate in the Incorporated Society.
- The tithes amount to £103. 1. 6d of which £41. 4. 7d. is payable to the society, and the remainder to the vicar: the gross tithes of the benefice are #138. 9. 2.
- The church is a plain neat Gothic building, erected in 1766 at an expense of £415, a gift from the late Board of First Fruits; the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recently granted #390 for its repairs.
In the R. C. divisions, the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also part of the parish of Taghboy; there is a chapel at the Four Roads, a small thatched house in bad repair.
There are two schools aided by subscriptions, in which about 50 children are taught; and four hedge schools, in which are about 400 children.
Here are some ruins, supposed to be those of a religious house.
SOURCE: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland by Samuel Lewis (pub 1837)
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