BALLYMADUN, or BALLYMODUM, a parish; in the barony of BALROTHERY, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER, 1.50 mile (N.) from Ashbourne ; containing 795 inhabitants, of which number,73 are in the village. This parish is situated on the road from Balbriggan to Ratoath : it was anciently the residence of a hermitess, who had a cell here, and claimed a small rent-charge from the prioress of Grace-Dieu at Lusk; the ruins of an ancient church may still be traced.
Part of the bog of Corragh is within its limits, and white marl is found in great abundance; there is also a very fine quarry of calp in the village.
- Borranstown, the residence of W. P. Segrave, Esq., is a handsome mansion with an elegant Ionic portico of four columns supporting a cornice and pediment in the principal front; it occupies an elevated site commanding extensive views of the surrounding country.
- Nutstown, the residence of M. Curtis, Esq., is also in the parish.
It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Dublin, and is part of the union and corps of the prebend of Clonmethan in the cathedral of St. Patrick, Dublin; the rectory is impropriate in Robert William Netterville, Esq. The tithes amount to £162. 9s. 3d., the whole of which is payable to the impropriator. The church is in ruins. The glebe comprises 31a.3r.,statute measure.
In the Roman Catholic divisions it is included in the union or district of Garristown and Ballymadun; the chapel is a neat building, and was enlarged by the addition of a gallery in 1833.
The horns of an elk, measuring 11f. 8in. from tip to tip, were dug up in 1823, and are now in the possession of F. Savage, Esq., one of the principal proprietors of the parish.
