BALLYLINAN
according to
the
LEWIS TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF IRELAND 1837
by Samuel Lewis,
BALLYLINAN, a village, in the parish of
KILLEBAN, barony of BALLYADAMS, QUEEN'S county, and province of
LEINSTER, 3 miles (S.W.) from Athy, on the road to Castlecomber;
containing 94 houses and 533 inhabitants. In the strata of the
neighbouring lands are numerous marine exuviae; and some valuable
coal mines, called the Wolf-Hill and Mordulah collieries, are worked
by steam-engines recently erected. Great quantities of fine
flag-stones were formerly raised on the adjoining townland of Boley;
but on the discovery of similar quarries near Carlow, more
conveniently situated for conveyance by canal, they were abandoned.
Stones containing a large proportion of iron are found on the lands
called Iron Park; but no works have been yet established. The
village is a constabulary police station, and has a penny post to
Athy. Fairs are held in it on Jan. 11th, Feb. 10th. May 10th, Sept.
2nd, and Nov. 26th; and petty sessions every Saturday. To the north
is Rahin, the seat of Lieut.-Col. Weldon, a handsome mansion
surrounded by thriving plantations; and at a short distance are the
luxuriant woods of Gracefield Lodge, the seat of the ancient family
of Grace, whose old mansion has been taken down and replaced by an
elegant villa in the later English style, from a design by Mr. Nash,
completed in 1817; the grounds have been tastefully embellished, and
the approach from the Kilkenny side presents some beautiful and
interesting mountain scenery. In the village are the ruins of an old
church, near which some ancient coins have been dug up; and on the
Marquess of Lansdowne's estate of Luggaghcurran, in the vicinity,
are the remains of a cromlech, consisting of five upright pillars,
about 4 1/2 feet high, and a table stone 8 1/2 feet long, 7 wide,
and 2 1/2 feet in thickness. On the highest point of the Boley
hills, and near the woods of Gracefield, is Dundrom, an extensive
earthwork consisting of a vast mound, the summit of which is 130
yards in diameter, enclosed by a high bank, and surrounded at the
base by a fosse 30 feet wide at the bottom. Within the enclosure is
a well of fine water, and from the mound is a view of uncommon
extent. This post was occupied by a party of the insurgents in 1798.
Source: Irish
Midlands Ancestry
BAllylynan or ballylinan
Ballylinan is an
ancient town-land centred on the present day village and a gateway
to the beautiful yet haunting area of Slieve Margy. An earthen-ware
urn was found in the area in 1786 containing a great number of
silver coins dating from AD862 to AD870 inscribed “O’Laghis King”
(the O‘Mores) and “Dunamaise",
Ballylehane was the scene of the great slaughter of the O'More Clan
(300 killed) in 1315. But in 1346, the castles of Lea, Kilmeade and
Ballylehane were taken by the O'More, O'Connor and O'Dempsey clans.
This castle came into the possession of the Hovenden family in the
mid 16th Century. Ballyadams Castle was built in the 15th Century.
The castle was taken by the Earl of Desmond in 1548 after the
O'More's had burnt the town of Athy. By 1551 it was in the
possession of a Welshman, John Bowen, the renowned Shane-a-pika.
Ballylynan Castle was said to belong to the O'More's but it fell to
the Grimes or Grahams after the Battle of Agharoe (the field of
blood). The landlords of Ballylynan were the Weldons who came during
the reign of King James I, and they remained landlords up to the
1920s. When the Weldon estate came into being at the end of the 17th
Century, Ballylynan was no more than a small cluster of cottages. It
owes its development to two factors, the proximity of Rahen House,
main house of the Weldon Estate, and its location on the Athy -
Castlecomer Road which provided access to the mines.
BAllylynan or ballylinan 1850's
A village or small town in the parish of Killeban, barony of
Ballyadams, Queen's co., Leinster. It stands on the eastern verge of
the county, on the road from Dublin to Kilkenny, 3 miles south-west of
Athy. Sir Charles Coote, describing it in 1801, says, "The only good
dwelling house in the town is inhabited by Mr Grace, who had a cotton
factory, where thicksets were manufactured, about 4 years ago but it
is now discontinued." The village presents a poor appearance;
yet possesses interest from some antiquarian associations. on
the north side of it are the house and plantations of Rahin, the seat
of the Weldon family, the towns proprietors: a family who are reputed
to have settled here in the reign of James 1, or upwards of a century
previous to the removal of the Ballylinch family of Grace from Co
Kilkenny to this vicinity. Within view of he village, and
crowning a hill at no great distance, are the ruins of Ballyadams
Castle. The area of the village, 24 acres. Pop., in 1831
5333: in 1841, 445. Houses 89.
