Smallcounty Explained

Smallcounty or Small County (Irish: An Déis Bheag) is a historical barony in County Limerick, Ireland.^[1] Settlements in the barony include Hospital, Herbertstown, Fedamore and Knockainy.

Location

Located in County Limerick, the barony of Smallcounty is bordered by six other baronies:

Clanwilliam (County Limerick), to the north,
Coonagh, to the north-east,
Clanwilliam (County Tipperary), to the east,
Coshlea, to the south^[2]
Coshma, to the west, the ancient territory of the Uí Fidgenti clan
Pubblebrien, to the north-west

Legal context

Baronies were created after the Norman invasion of Ireland as subdivisions of counties and were used for administration. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they have been administratively obsolete since 1898. However, they continue to be used in land registration and specification such as in planning permissions. In many cases, a barony corresponds to an earlier Gaelic túath which had submitted to the Crown.

History

‘’An Déis Bheag’’ was the name of a tribe from late Antiquity. The English form of the barony’s name may have been based on this name^[3] ^[4] This barony lay partly in the Poor law union of Kilmallock, and partly in that of Limerick. In 1846, the total number of tenements valued was 2942.^[5]

Rateable Value	No. of Tenements
Under £5	1557
Under £10	291
Under £10	173
Under £20	141
Under £25	127
Under £30	92
Under £40	164
Under £50	103
Above £50	294

Some officers of the Regiment of the Lord President of Connaught, Sir Charles Coote, were rewarded for their services in the Cromwellian wars with land in the barony. They are listed as Col. Chidley Coote, Col. Richard Coote, Major Ormsby, Major King and Captain St. George.^[6] The land was rated at £800 per 1000 acres - the second highest in the county. In 1831, the population was 22,674; in 1841 it was 21,527. The 1841 census shows how families in the barony were employed.^[7]

Chief employment	No. of Families
on agriculture	2,776
on manufactures and trade	48
on other pursuits	210
Families dependent chiefly on property and professions	52
on the directing of labour	1,114
on their own manual labour	2,211
on means not specified	94

Civil parishes

There are 18 civil parishes in the barony.

The following civil parishes are wholly contained within the barony:

Ballinard^[8]
Ballinlough^[9]
Ballynamona^[10]
Cahircorney^[11]
Glenogra^[12]
Hospital^[13] A house of the Knights Hospitaller gave its name to this place. The house had been established by 1215.^[14]
Kilcullane^[15]
Kilfrush^[16]
Knockainy (i.e. the hill of Áine).^[17]

The barony also contains parts of the following civil parishes:

Athneasy ^[18]
Ballycahane^[19]
Fedamore
Kilbreedymajor (or Kilbreedy Major) ^[20]
Kilpeacon
Kilteely (This parish is one half of the ecclesiastical parish of Kilteely-Dromkeen. The Dromkeen part is a civil parish in its own right in the neighbouring barony of Clanwilliam.)
Monasternenagh
Tullabracky
Uregare.

External links

Web site: Barony Map of Ireland . Dennis . Walsh . 2003 . 2007-02-13 . Source given is "Ordnance survey".

References

From Web site: Irish placenames database . Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs . . en, ga . 22 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20100422232126/http://logainm.ie/?uiLang=en. 22 April 2010. live. :

From other sources:

Notes and References

Web site: An Déis Bheag / Smallcounty | logainm.ie. logainm.ie. 22 May 2016.
Book: Joyce, P.W. . Philips' Handy Atlas of the Counties of Ireland . George Philips & Son . London . c. 1880 . 7 . County Limerick .
Mac Spealáin, Uí Chairbre Aobhdha 31: "An Déis Bheag ... is to-day the Irish name of the barony on the eastern side of the Barony of Coshma. The Earls of Desmond took control of this territory long ago and established what was essentially a small independent ‘county’. This is how it obtained the English name Smallcounty ... It must be remembered that the area called An Déis Bheag long ago was not precisely coterminous with the modern-day barony of the same name (i.e. Smallcounty)." [translation from the original Irish]
F.J. Byrne,Irish Kings and High-Kings (1973) 180-1
The Parliamentary gazetteer of Ireland (1846) Volume XXX
Book: Prendergast, John P. The Cromwellian settlement of Ireland. PM Haverty. New York. 1868. 133. eliogarty.. 2013-09-15.
Book: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland adapted to the new Poor-Law, Franchise, Municipal and Ecclesiastical arrangements ... as existing in 1844–45 . 1846 . A. Fullarton & Co . Dublin . 227 . Small County. https://books.google.com/books?id=9rblf03SdkYC&q=Barrymore&pg=PA227 . XXX.
Web site: Baile an Aird/ Ballinard | logainm.ie. logainm.ie. 22 May 2016.
Web site: Baile an Locha/Ballinlough | logainm.ie. logainm.ie. 22 May 2016.
Web site: Baile na Móna /Ballynamona | logainm.ie. logainm.ie. 22 May 2016.
Web site: Cathair Choirne/ Cahircorney | logainm.ie. logainm.ie. 22 May 2016.
Web site: Gleann Fhógra /Glenogra | logainm.ie. logainm.ie. 22 May 2016.
Web site: An tOspidéal/Hospital | logainm.ie. logainm.ie. 22 May 2016.
Gwynn, Medieval Religious Houses (Ireland) 336
Web site: Cill Chathláin/ Kilcullane | logainm.ie. logainm.ie. 22 May 2016.
Web site: Cill Frois/Kilfrush | logainm.ie. logainm.ie. 22 May 2016.
Web site: Cnoc Áine/Knockainy | logainm.ie. logainm.ie. 22 May 2016.
Web site: Áth na nDéise/Athneasy | logainm.ie. logainm.ie. 22 May 2016.
Web site: Baile Uí Chatháin/ Ballycahane | logainm.ie. logainm.ie. 22 May 2016.
Web site: Cill Bhríde Mhór/ Kilbreedymajor | logainm.ie. logainm.ie. 22 May 2016.