BEAULIEU, a parish, in the barony of FERRARD,
county of LOUTH, and province of LEINSTER, 2 miles
(E. by N.) from Drogheda; containing 535 inhabitants.
This place was occupied by Sir Phelim O'Nial and the
insurgent forces during the siege of Drogheda, which
was defended by Sir Henry Tichborne, one of the lords
justices of Ireland, who, on the forfeiture of the estate
by the Plunkett family, purchased and obtained a grant
of it from Chas. II.; the Rev. Alexander Johnson
Montgomery, his descendant by the female line, is the
present proprietor. The parish is situated at the estuary
of the river Boyne, on the eastern coast, and comprises,
according to the Ordnance survey, 1228 statute acres,
including 218¾ of tideway of the Boyne. Beaulieu
House, the seat of the Rev. A. J. Montgomery, was
built by the lady of Sir H. Tichborne: it is a stately
mansion, situated in an extensive and finely planted
demesne, bounded on the south by the Boyne, and contains
an ornamental sheet of water; a very handsome
entrance lodge has been recently erected. The living is
a rectory, in the diocese of Armagh, and in the patronage
of the Lord-Primate: the tithes amount to £105.
The church, a neat structure with a tower, was built by
aid of a gift of £600 from the late Board of First Fruits,
in 1807; and contains some handsome marble monuments
to the Montgomery family, and one to the Donagh
family of Newtown; in the churchyard is a curious
stone with the figure of a skeleton in high relief and the
date, apparently 1117. There is neither glebe nor glebehouse.
In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of
the union or district of Termonfeckan. The parochial
school of 10 boys and 10 girls is aided by an annual
donation from the rector, and the master has a house
and land from the Rev. A. J. Montgomery; there is
also a pay school, in which are about 20 boys and 10
girls.