TULSK, a post-town (formerly an incorporated market-town and parliamentary borough), in the parish of OGULLA, barony and county of ROSCOMMON, province of CONNAUGHT, 8 miles (N.) from Roscommon, and 79¾ (W. N. W.) from Dublin: the population is returned with the parish.
O'Conor Roe erected a castle here in 1406, and during the same century a Dominican monastery was founded either by Mac Duil or O'Dowell, or by Phelim, son of Phelim Cleary O'Conor, who was interred here in 1448.
The castle was for a long time one of the strongest in the province, and was garrisoned by the Earl of Kildare when he led his forces into this province in 1499.
The monastery continued to flourish till the reign of Elizabeth, but for some time prior to the dissolution its possessions were usurped by the Corporation of Galway.
A Dominican abbey was also founded at Toemonia, near the town, by O'Conor Roe which in the reign of Elizabeth was found to be in the occupation of Franciscans of the third order, on whose suppression it was granted by the Queen to Richard Kyndelinshe.
The inhabitants were incorporated by Chas. II., in the fourteenth year of his reign, by the designation of the "Portreeve, Free Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of Tulsk:" the charter also conferred the elective franchise, with power to hold a court of record and a weekly market. Under this charter the corporation consisted of a portreeve, 15 free burgesses, and an indefinite number of freemen, assisted by two serjeants-at-mace and other officers appointed in the usual manner. The portreeve and free burgesses continued to return two members to the Irish parliament till the Union, when the borough was disfranchised. The court of record, which had jurisdiction to the amount of £5, has been long discontinued, and the corporation has become extinct. The town has dwindled into an insignificant village, consisting only of a few straggling cottages and one shop.
Fairs are held on Easter-Monday and the first Monday in November (O. S.); a constabulary police force is stationed in the village, and petty sessions are held weekly.
There are some remains of the ancient abbey, situated in a large cemetery which is still used as a burial-place; and also of the conventual buildings; but the chief feature is a double-arched doorway, divided in the centre by a round pillar, which is of elegant design and in good preservation.
The surrounding district is extremely rich and affords luxuriant pasturage.
