Dysert

DYSART, or DESERT, a parish, in the barony of Upperthird, county of Waterford, and province of Munster, 4 miles (E. by S.) from Clonmel; containing 1444 inhabitants. This parish is bounded by the river Suir, which separates it from the county of Tipperary, and contains 3,318 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act. Near Churchtown is the pleasant residence of John Power, Esq.

It is in the diocese of Lismore: the rectory, with that of Kilmoleran, constitutes the corps of the prebend of Dysart in the cathedral of Lismore; the vicarage was episcopally united, in 1787, to that of Kilmoleran, and in 1804 to the rectories of Fenoagh and Templemichael forming the union of Dysart; both are in the gift of the Bishop. The tithes amount to £304. 12. 3., of which two-thirds are payable to the prebendary and the remainder to the vicar; the entire revenue of the prebend is £429, and the tithes of the benefice amount to £425. 2. 3.: the glebe-house stands on a glebe of 4½ acres. A recent grant of £188 has been made by the Ecclesiastical Board for repairing the church, which is at Churchtown. Adjacent to it are the ruins of the ancient church, within the walls of which are two large old tombs of members of the Butler and Everard families, the latter of which had a castle here in the middle of the 17th century. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Carriekbeg, and contains a chapel. The parochial school, in which about 50 children are educated, was established by Sir Moore Disney, who built the school-house.

from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.