Smallcounty or ‘’’Small County’’’ ( ga, An Déis Bheag) is a historical

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

County Limerick "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Munster , subdivision ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Settlements in the barony include

Hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

Herbertstown Herbertstown () is a village in south-eastern County Limerick, Ireland. It is part of the ecclesiastical parish of "Hospital and Herbertstown", in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly. Herbertstown is in the centre of the electoral ...

Fedamore Fedamore () is a small village in County Limerick, Ireland. As of the 2016 census, Fedamore had a population of 329 people. It is also a civil parish in the ancient barony of Smallcounty.Knockainy, and Six-Mile-Bridge.

Location

Located in

, the barony of Smallcounty is bordered by six other baronies: *

Clanwilliam (County Limerick) Clanwilliam ( ga, Clann Liam) is a barony (Ireland), barony in County Limerick in Ireland. According to Patrick Weston Joyce, the name ''Clanwilliam'' derives from the descendants (clan) of William de Burgh; similarly for the Clanwilliam (County ...

, to the north, * Coonagh, to the north-east, *

Clanwilliam (County Tipperary) Clanwilliam (Irish: ''Clan Liam'') is a barony in County Tipperary, Ireland. This geographical unit of land is one of 12 baronies in County Tipperary. Its chief town is Tipperary. The barony lies between Kilnamanagh Lower to the north (whose chi ...

, to the east, * Coshlea, to the south * Coshma, to the west, the ancient territory of the

Uí Fidgenti The Uí Fidgenti, Fidgeinti, Fidgheinte, Fidugeinte, Fidgente, or Fidgeinte ( or ;In the pronunciation, the -d- is silent, and the -g- becomes a glide, producing what might be anglicized ''Feeyenti'' or ''Feeyenta''. "descendants of, or of the ...

clan * Pubblebrien, to the north-west

Legal context

Baronies were created after the

Norman invasion of Ireland The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly sanc ...

as subdivisions of counties and were used for administration. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they have been administratively obsolete since 1898. However, they continue to be used in land registration and specification such as in planning permissions. In many cases, a barony corresponds to an earlier

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

túath which had submitted to the Crown.

History

‘’An Déis Bheag’’ was the name of a tribe from

late Antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

. The English form of the barony’s name may have been based on this name This barony lay partly in the Poor law union of

Kilmallock Kilmallock () is a town in south County Limerick, Ireland, near the border with County Cork. There is a Dominican Priory in the town and King's Castle (or King John's Castle). The remains of medieval walls which encircled the settlement are sti ...

, and partly in that of Limerick. In 1846, the total number of tenements valued was 2942. Some officers of the Regiment of the

Lord President of Connaught The Lord President of Connaught was a military leader with wide-ranging powers, reaching into the civil sphere, in the English government of Connaught in Ireland, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The office was created in 1569, and in 1 ...

, Sir Charles Coote, were rewarded for their services in the Cromwellian wars with land in the barony. They are listed as Col. Chidley Coote, Col. Richard Coote, Major Ormsby, Major King and Captain St. George. The land was rated at £800 per 1000 acres - the second highest in the county. In 1831, the population was 22,674; in 1841 it was 21,527. The 1841 census shows how families in the barony were employed. .

Civil parishes

There are 18

civil parishes In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...

in the barony. The following civil parishes are wholly contained within the barony: * Ballinard *Ballinlough * Ballynamona *Cahircorney *Glenogra *

A house of the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

gave its name to this place. The house had been established by 1215.Gwynn, Medieval Religious Houses (Ireland) 336 *

Kilcullane Kilcullane () is a Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and townland located in County Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The civil parish is in the barony of Smallcounty. It is located in east County Limerick near the village of Bruff. ...

*Kilfrush *Knockainy (i.e. the hill of

Áine Áine () is an Irish goddess of summer, wealth and sovereignty. She is associated with midsummer and the sun,MacKillop, James (1998) ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology'' Oxford: Oxford University Press pp.10, 16, 128 and is sometimes represente ...

). The barony also contains parts of the following civil parishes: *Athneasy *Ballycahane *Fedamore * Kilbreedymajor (or Kilbreedy Major) *Kilpeacon *Kilteely (This parish is one half of the

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...

Kilteely-Dromkeen Kilteely and Dromkeen is an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly that is located in eastern County Limerick, Ireland. The southern part of the parish is centred on the village of Kilteely ( ga, Cill Tíle or ...

. The Dromkeen part is a civil parish in its own right in the neighbouring barony of Clanwilliam.) *Monasternenagh *Tullabracky *Uregare.

External links

* Source given is "Ordnance survey".

References

From : From other sources: {{reflist Baronies of County Limerick