-
Queen's
County according to
the
- LEWIS
TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
- OF
- IRELAND 1837
- by Samuel
Lewis
A Topographical Dictionary of
Ireland compiled by Samuel Lewis and published in London in
1837, marked a new and significantly higher standard in such
accounts of Ireland. Apart from The Parliamentary Gazetteer
of Ireland published in 1845, it has not been superseded.
It formed part of an England,
Wales and Scotland series where more local research had
already been done. In the 1837 preface, the editor noted
that 'The numerous county histories, and local descriptions
of cities, towns, and districts of England and Wales,
rendered the publication of their former works, in
comparison with the present, an easy task. The extreme
paucity of such works, in relation to Ireland, imposed the
necessity of greater assiduity in the personal survey, and
proportionately increased the expense'.
The aim of the text was to
give in 'a condensed form, a faithful and impartial
description of each place'. Local contributors were given
the proof sheets for final comment and revision. The names
of places are those in use prior to the publication of the
Ordnance Survey atlas in 1838. Distances are in Irish miles
(the statute mile is 0.62 of an Irish mile).
The Dictionary was greatly
assisted by the great British Parliamentary Papers series
which was just then beginning to make an impact in terms of
the data available for the study of Ireland. The census of
1831 was used as was the report into Ecclesiastical Revenue
and Patronage, and Public Instruction. The national school
system had commenced in 1831. When the editors of the
Parliamentary Gazetteer (1845) set to work they had the
benefit of the more accurate and more useful 1841 census
together with agricultural and trade returns.
The Lewis Dictionary was and
remains a significant achievement. A study of the Queen's
County text will show also how its contributors drew on
early surveys and compilations such as the Coote survey of
agriculture in 1801 and some of the early travel guides but
in the extent of its coverage and its detail it had no
equal.
Its recent reprinting both in
Ireland and America will again make it available to a wider
public as will compilations by county for the benefit of
local historical studies.
This version of the extracts
for County Laois, otherwise known as Queen's County, from
Lewis' Topographical Dictionary is reproduced here in
facsimile. The spelling of surnames and places has not been
changed. Occasionally, where deemed necessary, square
brackets have been used to indicate insertions for this
version.
The description of the county
as a whole has been placed at the beginning of this work
rather than under 'Q' where it is found in the 1837 edition.
The survey of the county was the first of its kind leaving
aside Coote's Statistical Survey of 1801 which was an
agricultural survey carried out for the Royal Dublin
Society. However, unlike the later Parliamentary Gazetteer
(1845), Lewis did not include descriptions of the county's
natural features such as bogs, mountains and rivers. Neither
did it provide separate descriptions of the baronial
divisions of the county which until 1898 were an important
administrative sub-division. The Gazetteer was able to
incorporate descriptions of the Poor Law Unions established
after 1838. The description of the county as a whole drew on
the earlier Lewis.
It must be noted, of course,
that Samuel Lewis did not actually write the text but
instead relied on the information provided by local
contributors and on the earlier works published such as
Coote's Statistical Survey (1801), Taylor and Skinner's Maps
of the Road of Ireland (1777), Pigot's Trade Directory
(1824), Archdall's Monasticon Hibernicum (1786) among other
sources. He also used the various parliamentary reports and
in particular the census of 1831 and the education returns
of the 1820s and early 1830s.
It should be noted too, that
the original Dictionary did not carry any illustrations save
the map for each county in the atlas volume. For this
version, some illustrations have been included drawn largely
from studies of pre-Famine Ireland.
The Topographical Dictionary
is one of many sources available for the study of Laois
history.
Source:
www.LibraryIreland.com
Please report any images or links which do not open to
mjbrennan30@gmail.com
- The information contained
in these pages is provided solely for the purpose of sharing
with others researching their ancestors in Ireland.
- © MICHAEL
BRENNAN July 2001. All Rights reserved
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