TACUMSHANE, a parish, in the barony of FORTH, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 2 ﾽ miles (S. W.) from Broadway; containing 907 inhabitants. This parish, which comprises (with the chapelry of Churchtown) 3000 statute acres, is situated between two small land-locked gulfs with very narrow openings, called Lake Tacumshane and the Lady's Island Lake: the surface is flat, and it has only a few streams flowing through it, which are dry in summer, the cattle being then driven to be watered in marl pits, which are numerous in the district and are never exhausted.
The land is chiefly under tillage: the principal crops are wheat, barley, oats, and beans, which are cultivated according to a judicious system. The principal manure is marl, found here in large quantities, and of three varieties, all adapted to the soil; sea-weed, which is eagerly sought after and collected by the families residing near the shore, is also very largely used, both by itself and mixed into a compost with sea-sand.
The lakes are frequented by various kinds of wild and water fowl in great numbers, that are highly esteemed as an article of luxury from the delicacy of their flavour, which is attributed to their feeding on a species of grass or weed in the lakes. A peculiar kind of stork used to build its nest on the surface of the water of one of those lakes, which formerly was unconnected with the sea; but a high tide having broken the intervening embankment of sand, the birds deserted it after the ingress of the salt water. Several kinds of fish, particularly herrings, lobsters, and oysters, are taken along the shore in great abundance, and of excellent quality: the herring fishery is the most productive, giving employment during the season for 100 cots or open boats manned with five men each. In taking shell-fish 20 boats are regularly engaged for eight or nine months in the year: the strand for miles is formed of a bank of hard dry sand, and is much resorted to for exercise and for sea-bathing during the summer months.
