FRESHFORD, or AGHOURA, a post-town and
parish, in the barony of CRANAGH, county of KILKENNY,
and province of LEINSTER, 6½ miles (W. N. W.)
from Kilkenny, and 63 (S. W.) from Dublin, on the road
from Kilkenny to Johnstown; containing 2277 inhabitants.
This place, anciently called Aghoure or Achadhur,
signifying the "green ford," was the site of an
abbey founded about the commencement of the seventh
century, by St. Lactan, who was its first abbot. The
parish comprises 2108 statute acres, as applotted under
the tithe act, and valued at £2477 per annum: there
is no bog or waste land. The state of agriculture is
fast improving, and the land is almost equally divided
between tillage and pasturage. There are limestone
quarries, in which manganese is said to exist; and a
coal mine is about to be opened. The principal seats
are Upperwood, the elegant mansion of W. De Montmorency,
Esq., which is in a handsome and well-planted
demesne; Balleen Castle, an ancient fortress, the property
of the Earl of Kilkenny; Kilrush, a seat of the
St. George family; and near the town is the seat of
Pierse Butler, Esq. The town, which comprises 374
houses, is neat and well built, and is part of the estate
of William De Montmorency, Esq. It is a station of the
revenue and of the constabulary police, and has fairs on
Aug. 5th and Dec. 17th, and pig fairs on Oct. 31st and
Dec. 5th. Here is a dispensary, a fever hospital, and a
society for relieving the bedridden poor. A flour-mill,
called the manor mill, is remarkably well supplied with
water from the Freshford river, A. manor court is held
every third week, for the recovery of debts under 408.; and petty
sessions are held every fortnight. The living
is a rectory, in the diocese of Ossory, episcopally united
to the parishes of Clomanto, Kilrush, Clashacrow, Rathbeagh,
Tubridbritain, Sheflin,Clontubrid,and Coolcashin,
which together form the union of Freshford and the corps
of the prebend of Aghoure (anciently called the "Golden
Prebend") in the cathedral of Kilkenny. The first six
parishes are in the patronage of the Bishop, and the remaining
three in that of the Dean and Chapter. The
tithes amount to £184.12.5., and the gross revenue of
the prebend is £860.18.10. The glebe-house is in
Clashacrow. The church was built in 1730, and has a
fine Norman porch with the date 1133, and an inscription
in ancient Irish, purporting that "the priest Mac Rocn
and chief gave an acre of land to the church," which
formerly belonged to the abbey. In the R. C. divisions
the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising
Freshford, Tullaroan, Ballynamara, Clashacrow, Ballylarkin,
and parts of Odogh, Burnchurch, and Clomanto,
in which district, is a chapel at Freshford, one at
Odogh, and one at Tullaroan. The parochial Hchool i.s
aided by an annual donation of £10 from the rector,
and a bequest of £5 per annum from the lute Col.
Brown; the school-house, a slated building, was erected
at a cost of £120, of which £60 was a grant front the
lord-lieutenant's fund. There is also a national school
adjoining the R. C. chapel. About 300 children are
educated in these schools, and about 60 in two private
schools, exclusive of those taught in a Sunday school.
Near Kilrush are the ruins of Ballylarkin castle, once
the seat of the Shortall family. Here are also the remains
of an ancient manor-house, which belonged to Sir
Toby Caulfield, and was a place of importance during
the parliamentary war.