ADAMSTOWN, or MURNEVAN, a parish, in the
barony of BANTRY, county of WEXFORD, and province
of LEINSTER, 6 miles (E. N. E.) from New Ross, on the
road from that place, by way of Old Ross, to Enniscorthyj
containing 1857 inhabitants. It comprises 7941
statute acres; the surface is diversified -with gentle
elevations, contrasting strikingly with the rocky hill of
Carrigburn in the vicinity; the land is chiefly under an
improving system of tillage; limestone for manure is
brought from New Ross. Merton, the seat of T. Annesley
Whitney, Esq., is in this parish. The living is a
rectory, in the diocese of Ferns, to which part of Inch,
called Newbawn, has been united time immemorially,
together constituting the corps of the archdeaconry of
Ferns, in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes of
the parish amount to £410, 13. 1., and of the benefice,
to £770. 17. 9. The church, towards the erection of
which the late Board of First Fruits gave £500, in 1805,
is a neat edifice, in the later English style, with a square
embattled tower; the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have
lately granted £259 for its repair. There are two glebes,
containing 13 acres, of which 10 acres are held under
the Earl of Rath down, at a rental of £6, which is paid
to the master of the parochial school; and on this portion
are situated the church, glebe-house, and school
premises. The glebe-house was built by Archdeacon
Barton, in 1803, by aid of a gift of £100 from the same
Board. The parish is within the R. C, union or district
of Newbawn: the chapel is a spacious and handsome
edifice, with a tower 56 feet high, built by local subscription,
and is one of the largest in the diocese. A
parochial school-house, in which about 60 boys and 20
girls are taught, with apartments for the master, was
lately built at the expense of the Earl of Rathdown and
Archdeacon Barton. There are also two private pay
schools, in which are about 70 children 3 and a Sunday
school, under the superintendence of the Protestant
clergyman. Here are the remains of a castle, built in
1556 by Nicholas Devereux and his wife Katherine, as
appears by a Latin inscription on a shield over the
gateway, which is also charged with the armorial bearings
of that family: they consist of a square tower in
the centre of a quadrangle surrounded by a high wall
flanked with turrets at the angles. In the ancient burialground
is a Roman cross, supposed to be of considerable
antiquity.