Assey

The Parliamentary Gazetteer 0f Ireland, 1844-1845, Vol. 1

ASSEY, Asigh, or Athsy, a parish in the barony of Lower Deece, and in the valley of the Boyne, 4 miles south of Navan, co. Meath, Leinster.  Length, 1 1/2 mile; breadth, 1 1/4 area, 1,218 acres. Pop., in 1831, 108; in 1841, 138. Houses 17.  The land is in general good. On the banks of the Boyne stand the ruins of the old castle of Assey. Much embellishment is borrowed from Bective demesne, which lies along the opposite side of the river.  This parish is a rectory in the dio. of Meath.  Tithe composition, £62 15s. 4 1/2d. Assey and Balsoon rectories constitute the benefice of Assey.  Length, 2 miles; breadth, l 1/2. Gross income, £137 12s. 5 1/2d.; nett, £115 14s. 2 1/2d. Patron, the Crown.

The churches of both parishes are ruins in the midst of cemeteries.  The union has at present neither glebe house, church, chapel, nor school.  The incumbent of Kilmessan, whose church is only 1 1/2 mile distant, and to whose benefice Assey and Balsoon were formerly united, performs occasional duties, and receives, in compensation, the annual sum of £10.  In 1834, the Protestants of Assey parish amounted to 4, and the Roman Catholics to 107; the Protestants of the union to 11, and the Roman Catholics to 420.
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The Lewis Topographical Directory was first published in 1837 in two volumes, with an accompanying atlas.  The first edition is available online. A second edition was published in 1842.

Lewis relied on the information provided by local contributors and on the earlier works published such as Coote's Statistical Survey (1801), Taylor and Skinner's Maps of the Road of Ireland (1777), Pigot's Trade Directory (1824) and other sources.  He also used the various parliamentary reports and in particular the census of 1831 and the education returns of the 1820s and early 1830s.  Local contributors were given the proof sheets for final comment and revision.  The names of places are those in use prior to the publication of the Ordnance Survey Atlas in 1838.  Distances are in Irish miles (the statute mile is 0.62 of an Irish mile).

Assey or Athsy, a parish, in the barony of Lower Deece, county of Meath, and province of Leinster, 4 miles (s) from Navan, on the river Boyne; containing 108 inhabitants.  The land, though not rich, tolerably productive, a considerable portion is under tillage, and the remainder is good grazing land.  Bellinter, the seat of the Rev. J. Preston, is situated in a well wooded demesne of more than 800 acres, stretching into the adjoining parish of Balsoon. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Meath, to which the rectory of Balsoon was united by diocesan authority in 1826, together forming the union of Assey, in the patronage of the Crown: the tithes amount to £62. 15. 4. 1/2., and the gross amount of tithes of the benefice is £132.  There is neither church nor glebe house in the union, the occasional duties of which are performed by the incumbent of Kilmessam, who receives £24 per annum, besides the glebe, which consists of three acres, valued at £6 per annum.  The Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Inquiry, in 1831, have recommended that the two parishes be formed into one, to be called the parish of Athsy, and that a church and glebe house for a resident minister be erected.  In the R. C. divisions this parish forms part of the union or district of Dunsany and Kilmessan.