# Smallcounty

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**Smallcounty** or **Small County** (Irish: *An Déis Bheag*) is a historical [barony](/source/Barony_(Ireland)) in eastern [County Limerick](/source/County_Limerick), [Ireland](/source/Republic_of_Ireland).[4 1] Settlements in the barony include [Hospital](/source/Hospital,_County_Limerick), [Herbertstown](/source/Herbertstown), [Fedamore](/source/Fedamore) and [Knockainy](/source/Knockainey).[citation needed]

## Location

Located in [County Limerick](/source/County_Limerick), the barony of Smallcounty is bordered by six other baronies:

- [Clanwilliam (County Limerick)](/source/Clanwilliam_(County_Limerick)), to the north,
- [Coonagh](/source/Coonagh_(barony)), to the north-east,
- [Clanwilliam (County Tipperary)](/source/Clanwilliam_(County_Tipperary)), to the east,
- [Coshlea](/source/Coshlea), to the south[1]
- [Coshma](/source/Coshma), to the west, the ancient territory of the [Uí Fidgenti](/source/U%C3%AD_Fidgenti) clan
- [Pubblebrien](/source/Pubblebrien), to the north-west

## Legal context

Baronies were created after the [Norman invasion of Ireland](/source/Norman_invasion_of_Ireland) 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](/source/Gaels) túath which had submitted to the Crown.[citation needed]

## History

‘’An Déis Bheag’’ was the name of a tribe from [late Antiquity](/source/Late_Antiquity). The English form of the barony’s name may have been based on this name[2][3] This barony lay partly in the [Poor law union](/source/Poor_law_union) of [Kilmallock](/source/List_of_Irish_Poor_Law_Unions#Limerick), and partly in that of Limerick. In 1846, the total number of tenements valued was 2942.[4]

Rateable Value No. of Tenements Under £5 1557 Under £10 291 Under £10 173 Under £20 141 Under £25 127 Under £30 92 Under £40 164 Under £50 103 Above £50 294

Some officers of the Regiment of the [Lord President of Connaught](/source/Lord_President_of_Connaught), [Sir Charles Coote](/source/Charles_Coote,_1st_Earl_of_Mountrath), were rewarded for their services in the [Cromwellian wars](/source/Cromwellian_invasion_of_Ireland) with land in the barony. They are listed as Col. Chidley Coote, Col. Richard Coote, Major Ormsby, Major King and Captain St. George.[5] 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.[6]

Chief employment No. of Families on agriculture 2,776 on manufactures and trade 48 on other pursuits 210 Families dependent chiefly on property and professions 52 on the directing of labour 1,114 on their own manual labour 2,211 on means not specified 94

## Civil parishes

There are 18 [civil parishes](/source/Civil_parishes_in_Ireland) in the barony.

The following civil parishes are wholly contained within the barony:

- [Ballinard](/source/Ballinard_(civil_parish))[4 2]
- Ballinlough[4 3]
- Ballynamona[4 4]
- Cahircorney[4 5]
- Glenogra[4 6]
- [Hospital](/source/Hospital,_County_Limerick)[4 7] A house of the [Knights Hospitaller](/source/Knights_Hospitaller) gave its name to this place. The house had been established by 1215.[7]
- [Kilcullane](/source/Kilcullane)[4 8]
- Kilfrush[4 9]
- [Knockainy](/source/Knockainey) (i.e. the hill of [Áine](/source/%C3%81ine)).[4 10]

The barony also contains parts of the following civil parishes:

- Athneasy [4 11]
- Ballycahane[4 12]
- Fedamore
- Kilbreedymajor (or Kilbreedy Major) [4 13]
- Kilpeacon
- Kilteely (This parish is one half of the [ecclesiastical parish](/source/Ecclesiastical_parish) of [Kilteely-Dromkeen](/source/Kilteely-Dromkeen). The Dromkeen part is a civil parish in its own right in the neighbouring barony of Clanwilliam.)
- Monasternenagh
- Tullabracky
- Uregare.

## External links

- Walsh, Dennis (2003). ["*Barony Map of Ireland*"](http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/ihm/barony-map-ireland.htm). Retrieved 2007-02-13. Source given is "Ordnance survey".

## References

From ["Irish placenames database"](http://www.logainm.ie/?uiLang=en) (in en, Irish). *[logainm.ie](/source/Logainm.ie)*. Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20100422232126/http://logainm.ie/?uiLang=en) 22 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 22 May 2016.:

From other sources:

1. Joyce, P.W. (c. 1880). ["County Limerick"](http://www.botanicgardens.ie/herb/census/philips/limerick3.jpg). *Philips' Handy Atlas of the Counties of Ireland*. London: George Philips & Son. p. 7.

1. Mac Spealáin, Uí Chairbre Aobhdha 31: "An Déis Bheag ... is to-day the Irish name of the barony on the eastern side of the Barony of Coshma. The Earls of Desmond took control of this territory long ago and established what was essentially a small independent ‘county’. This is how it obtained the English name Smallcounty ... It must be remembered that the area called An Déis Bheag long ago was not precisely coterminous with the modern-day barony of the same name (i.e. Smallcounty)." [translation from the original Irish]

1. F.J. Byrne, Irish Kings and High-Kings (1973) 180-1

1. The Parliamentary gazetteer of Ireland (1846) Volume XXX

1. Prendergast, John P (1868). [*The Cromwellian settlement of Ireland*](https://archive.org/details/cromwelliansett02prengoog). New York: PM Haverty. pp. [133](https://archive.org/details/cromwelliansett02prengoog/page/n141). Retrieved 2013-09-15. eliogarty.

1. ["Small County"](https://books.google.com/books?id=9rblf03SdkYC&q=Barrymore&pg=PA227). *The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland adapted to the new Poor-Law, Franchise, Municipal and Ecclesiastical arrangements ... as existing in 1844–45*. Vol. XXX. Dublin: A. Fullarton & Co. 1846. p. 227.

1. Gwynn, Medieval Religious Houses (Ireland) 336

1. ["An Déis Bheag / Smallcounty | logainm.ie"](https://www.logainm.ie/1503.aspx). logainm.ie. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

1. ["Baile an Aird/ Ballinard | logainm.ie"](https://www.logainm.ie/1503.aspx). logainm.ie. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

1. ["Baile an Locha/Ballinlough | logainm.ie"](https://www.logainm.ie/1642.aspx). logainm.ie. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

1. ["Baile na Móna /Ballynamona | logainm.ie"](https://www.logainm.ie/1642.aspx). logainm.ie. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

1. ["Cathair Choirne/ Cahircorney | logainm.ie"](https://www.logainm.ie/1515.aspx). logainm.ie. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

1. ["Gleann Fhógra /Glenogra | logainm.ie"](https://www.logainm.ie/1545.aspx). logainm.ie. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

1. ["An tOspidéal/Hospital | logainm.ie"](https://www.logainm.ie/1548.aspx). logainm.ie. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

1. ["Cill Chathláin/ Kilcullane | logainm.ie"](https://www.logainm.ie/1557.aspx). logainm.ie. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

1. ["Cill Frois/Kilfrush | logainm.ie"](https://www.logainm.ie/1620.aspx). logainm.ie. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

1. ["Cnoc Áine/Knockainy | logainm.ie"](https://www.logainm.ie/1623.aspx). logainm.ie. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

1. ["Áth na nDéise/Athneasy | logainm.ie"](https://www.logainm.ie/1502.aspx). logainm.ie. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

1. ["Baile Uí Chatháin/ Ballycahane | logainm.ie"](https://www.logainm.ie/1507.aspx). logainm.ie. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

1. ["Cill Bhríde Mhór/ Kilbreedymajor | logainm.ie"](https://www.logainm.ie/1554.aspx). logainm.ie. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Smallcounty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallcounty) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallcounty?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.