Castle-Pollard

CASTLE-POLLARD, a market and post-town, in the parish of RATHGRAFF, barony of DEMIFORE, county of WESTMEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 10 miles (N. by E.) from Mullingar, and 42 (W. N. W.) from Dublin; containing 1618 inhabitants. This place is situated about a mile and a half to the west of Lough Lane, and about two miles to the north-east of Lough Derveragh, in a fertile valley, and is surrounded by a richly varied country embellished with numerous gentlemen's seats. It consists of several streets and a small detached suburb, and in the centre is a square, in which stands the market-house. The market is on Wednesday; and fairs are held on May 21st, Aug. 1st, Oct. 10th, and Dec. 10th. A chief constabulary force is stationed here; a manorial court is held four times in the year, by a seneschal appointed by W. Dutton Pollard, Esq., who is proprietor of the town; and petty sessions are held every Wednesday.

The parish church was built in 1820, on a new site adjoining the Kinturk demesne; the tower and part of the old church remain, and the churchyard, in which stands the school-house, is still used as a burial-ground. There are also a R.C. chapel, a dispensary and fever hospital, and a parochial school in the town. A savings' bank has been established, in which the deposits amount to more than £20,000. Immediately adjoining is Kinturk, the seat of W. D. Pollard, Esq., a handsome residence situated in a fine demesne embellished with extensive plantations; within the grounds is a lofty hill, in a grave on the summit of which was found the skeleton of a man, and near it a very large iron spur. Pakenham Hall, the seat of the Earl of Longford, to the west of Kinturk, is a handsome castellated mansion in a demesne embellished with timber of stately growth, and tastefully laid out: the gardens are remarkably fine, and kept in excellent order. Near the town are also Turbotstown, the residence of Gerald Dease, Esq.; Galstown, of Hubert de Bourgh, Esq.; Lough Park, of N. Evans, Esq., beautifully situated on the shore of Lough Lane; Benison Lodge, of the Rev. T. Smyth; Coolure, of the Hon. Sir T. Pakenham, G.C.B., on the shore of Lough Derveragh; and Lake View, of W. Smyth, Esq. The old castle of Kinturk, from which the town took its name, was situated in the centre of it, but there are no remains.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1840 by Samuel Lewis