BANSHA, or TEMPLENEIRY, a parish

BANSHA, or TEMPLENEIRY, a parish, in the barony of CLANWILLIAM, county of TIPPERARY, and province of MUNSTER, 4 miles (S. S. E.) from Tipperary; containing 2975 inhabitants, of which number, 281 are in the village. The village is pleasantly situated on the mail coach road from Limerick, through Cahir, Clonmel, and Carrick-on-Suir, to Waterford, and in 1831 contained 45 houses. A mill is worked by a stream from the river Arra, which runs through the village. A penny post to Clonmel has recently been established; and it is a station of the constabulary police. The parish is bounded on the south by the summit of part of the Galtee mountains; on the west by Trinity College lands and a stream which separates it from part of the parish of Kilshane; on the north, by the parish of Clonfinglass and the river Arra; and on the east, by the parish of Clonbullogue. It comprises 11,443 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £4516 per annum; more than one-half is arable and pasture land, and the remainder mountain. The rivers Arra and Aherlow flow through the parish: the Arra is remarkable for its excellent trout, which are of a rich pink colour, and in season throughout the year; and the Aherlow abounds with trout and eels, and frequently has salmon. A considerable portion of the Galtee mountains extends through the parish from east to west, and is partly pasturable for sheep and goats and a few mountain cattle, producing various kinds of heath and fern, and abounding with grouse, hares, and rabbits.

A portion of the Tipperary hills on the estates of E. O'Ryan and J. A. Butler, Esqrs., is also in the parish; these hills stretch in a direction parallel with the Galtees, and are much frequented by woodcocks and foxes. The intervening valley is very fertile and in a high state of cultivation. In the bogs near the base of the hills have been found several large black oaks lying horizontally near the surface. The parish is well wooded throughout; on the Galtees is Ballydavid, an extensive wood of oak, beech, birch, larch, fir, and Weymouth pine; and on the Tipperary hills is Bansha Wood, abounding with thickset, beech, birch, fir, and oak; there are also several plantations, and nearly adjoining the village is a good nursery. Limestone is the prevailing substratum, and is quarried for building, repairing the roads, and burning into lime for manure. A road from Cashel to Mitchelstown intersects the parish, and there are numerous other roads, which are kept in excellent repair.

Lismacue, the seat of Hugh Baker, Esq., is a handsome castellated mansion, pleasantly situated in a highly cultivated demesne embellished with stately avenues of lime and beech trees, which latter are considered to be the finest in the kingdom, Bansha Castle, the seat of E. O'Ryan, Esq., an elegant building in the castellated style, and Aherlow Castle, of J. A. Butler, Esq., are also prettily situated. Ash-Grove Castle, or Castle-Mary, the seat of the Rev. Trevor Lloyd Ashe, lord of the manor of Bansha, is a castellated mansion in the Italian style of architecture, situated at the base of the Galtee mountains, 4000 acres of which are attached to the estate: the mountain scenery is exceedingly wild and romantic, and the rich and well-wooded vale beneath presents a pleasing contrast with the grandeur of the adjacent heights. On the estate is an ancient well, dedicated to St. Berryhearth, which is much frequented by the peasantry; and in the demesne is a small temple, in the Grecian style, with pleasure grounds attached, dedicated to the Virgin. About halfway to the summit of the mountains is Lake Musgrave, an extensive sheet of water, imbedded within rocks, whose frowning summits afford secure eyries to eagles, and retreats to other birds of prey. The other seats are Ballydavid House, that of G. Baker, Esq.; Ashgrove, of S. Moore, Esq.; Barnalough House, of P. Smithwicke, Esq.; and Ruan Lodge, of T. S. Manning, Esq.

The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Cashel, united from time immemorial to the rectory and vicarage of Graystown and the vicarage of Donohill, together constituting the corps of the precentorship of Cashel, and in the patronage of the Bishop. The tithes amount to £230. 15. 4 ½., and the tithes of the benefice to £675. 7. 8 ¼.: the entire value of the precentorship, including glebe, is returned at £723. 7. 4. The church is a neat building, to which a handsome spire was added in 1813; it contains a marble monument to the late William Baker, Esq., of Lismacue. The glebe-house, near the church, is a commodious residence: the glebe contains nine acres, and there are also two pieces of ground in the parish of Donohill, containing 58a. 2r. 6p., belonging to the precentor and let on lease at £7 rent and a renewal fine of £14 annually. The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church; the chapel, adjoining the churchyard, is a neat building. There are four pay schools, in which are about 160 boys and 60 girls. In the marsh lands have been found heads, horns, and skeletons of the moose deer, one of which, of large dimensions, was found some few years since. The only relic of antiquity is a ruined wall, said to have formed part of the ancient castle of Bansha, but its history is quite unknown.