Ballyoughtera

This parish comprises, with Cahirultan, 4215 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £3142 per annum: the state of agriculture is on some farms improved, but on others it is very backward.

A considerable portion is comprised within the park of Castlemartyr, and is either laid out in woods and ornamental grounds or devoted to pasture.

The eastern part, including a portion of the town of Castlemartyr, is richly adorned with wood and in a good state of cultivation; and contains several elegant seats, of which the principal are Castlemartyr, that of the Earl of Shannon, which is described under the head of that town: Dromadda, of G. W. Courtenay, Esq.; Kilbree, of S. W. Adams, Esq.; and Ballyhickady, of Capt. Leach.

The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Cloyne, consolidated with the rectory of Cahirultan and united by act of the 9th of Anne, cap. 12, to the vicarage of Imogeely or Mogeely, which together constitute the union of Castlemartyr and corps of the prebend of Cahirultan, in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes, embracing the entire union, amount to £435. 12. 7., and the entire value of the prebend is returned at £523. 15.

The church, situated in the town of Castlemartyr, is a neat building in a spacious spot of ground surrounded by lofty elms.

The glebe-house, in Imogeely, was erected by aid of a gift of £100 and a loan of £1350, in 1815, from the late Board of First Fruits: the glebe comprises 22 acres lying partly in Castlemartyr, partly in Cahirultan, but chiefly in Imogeely.

In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Imogeely or Castlemartyr, at the former of which is the chapel; and there is another chapel on the border of the parish, near Ballintowlas, adjoining which is the national school.

In the demesne of Castlemartyr, and near its south-eastern boundary, are the ruins of the old parish church, which was built in 1549, and destroyed in the war of 1641.

The ruins of the ancient castle of Imokilly, from which the barony derives its name, afterwards called Ballymartyr castle, and now Castlemartyr, are in this parish, as are also the ruins of the castle of Ballintowlas; and near the latter there is an extensive lake.