Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for OOLLA, or ULLOE

OOLLA, or ULLOE, a parish, in the barony of COONAGH, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTER, 7 ½ miles (N. W.) from Tipperary, on the new line of road to Limerick; containing 2735 inhabitants, of which number, 192 are in the village. James, Earl of Kildare, Deputy Governor of Ireland, in 1497, took Ballyneety castle, and destroyed the fortress. In 1691, Gen. Sarsfield surprised this castle in the night, blew it up, and destroyed all the cannon destined for the siege of Limerick, together with the ammunition, stores, &c., which had been brought hither, at an enormous expense, by Wm. III.; who afterwards partially repaired the castle. The parish is situated on the borders of the counties of Tipperary and Limerick: the land is tolerably good, and is chiefly meadow and pasture, about a fifth only being under tillage. The substratum is limestone of very superior quality, though not in much use for manure. The village consists of 35 houses, mostly small, but well built; it has much improved since the formation of the new road: there is a constabulary police station. Newtown-Ellard is the ancient seat of the Lloyd family; and Castle Lloyd is the handsome residence of T. Lloyd, Esq. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Emly, and in the patronage of the Crown, during the legal incapacity of the Earl of Kenmare; the rectory is impropriate in Edw. Deane Freeman, Esq. There are two excellent glebes, comprising together 35 ¾ acres. The parishioners attend the church of Cullen, the curate of which performs the occasional duties of the parish: divine service is also performed in Castle Lloyd, and in the spacious parochial school-house, which is principally supported by the Lloyd family and others, and in which are about 50 children. Near it stands the R. C. chapel, a large old edifice. The remains of Ballyneety castle present a stately heap of ruins, with here and there a wall nearly entire. The ruins of the church, and of Oolla castle, stand close to the R. C. chapel. In 1825, some large and perfect antlers of the elk were discovered; and, in 1828, a brazen trumpet, and spear and arrow heads of bronze were found, which are now in the museum of Trinity College, Dublin.

ORAN, a parish, in the half-barony of BALLYMOE, county of ROSCOMMON, and province of CONNAUGHT, 5 ¼ miles (N. W.) from Roscommon, on the road to Castlerea, and on the river Suck; containing 1560 inhabitants. This place was anciently called Huaran-Hichlaback, and is of great antiquity. St. Patrick is said to have founded a church here, of which St. Cethecus was bishop; this prelate was interred here. The old cemetery, adjacent to the high road, is still a favourite place of burial, and the reputation of its sanctity attracts many pilgrims. The parish comprises 4859 ¼ statute acres of good land, chiefly under tillage, there being neither waste nor bog: the soil rests on limestone, of which there are quarries. It is a prebend and rectory, in the diocese of Elphin, episcopally united from time immemorial to the vicarage of Drimtemple, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the rectory is impropriate in the Earl of Essex. The tithes amount to £146, and the gross tithes of the union to £179. 6. 8, The church of the union is at Drimtemple; it was erected in 1815, at an expense of £554, a gift from the late Board of First Fruits. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Glinsk and Kilcroan. There are still some ruins of the old church, and the remote antiquity of the place is proved by the fragment of an ancient round tower, now only 12 feet high, and 11 feet 3 inches in internal diameter, having walls 4 feet 6 inches thick, well built of two different kinds of limestone.


(Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837); Transcription © Derek Rowlinson, 2005-10. Reproduced from LibraryIreland. We are deeply grateful to LibraryIreland for allowing us to use their transcription.)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Coonagh IrlBarony       Limerick IrlC
Place names: <EM>HUARAN HICHLABACK</EM>     |     OOLLA     |     OOLLA OR ULLOE     |     ULLOE
Place: Oola

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.