In 1837, Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland described Fontstown like this:
FONTSTOWN, formerly FULESTOWN, a parish, partly in the barony of UPPER PHILIPSTOWN, KING'S county, and partly in the barony of WEST OPHALY, but chiefly in that of NARRAGH and RHEBAN EAST, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER, 5 miles (E.) from Athy, on the mail coach road from Dublin to Cork, by way of Cashel; containing 1043 inhabitants, and comprising 4579 statute acres, of which 810 are bog, the remainder being nearly equally divided into pasture and arable land: within its limits is a small part of the bog of Monavologh. ...
There are quarries of good building stone of a flinty nature, which is worked for home consumption. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Dublin, and in the patronage of the Marquess of Drogheda: the tithes amount to £267. 13. 10 ¼. The glebe-house was built by aid of a gift of £100, and a loan of £400, in 1810, from the late Board of First Fruits, additions to which have been made at a cost of £600: the glebe comprises l6a. 2r. 16p. The church is a very neat structure, with a tower and spire, in imitation of the later English style of architecture, built in 1823, at an expense of £1400, of which £1200 was a gift from the late Board. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Narraghmore, or Crookstown. A handsome school-house has been erected at an expense of £376, of which £160 was a grant from the Court of Chancery, out of the estate of the Marquess of Drogheda; it is to be supported partly by a yearly allowance of £30 from the same source, and a small grant of land, and £20 annually from the rector. There is a private school, in which about 10 boys and 20 girls are instructed. In digging for marl, some time since, the skull and horns of a large elk were found, which are in the possession of Col. Bruen, of Oak Park; and about two years since a coin of the reign of Ethelred was picked up in a field here.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Fontstown, in and County Kildare | Map and description, A Vision of Ireland through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofireland.org/place/28963
Date accessed: 05th November 2024
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