Baronies were created after the 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 túath which had submitted to the Crown.
History
‘’An Déis Bheag’’ was the name of a tribe from 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 of Kilmallock, 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, 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.[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
Kilteely (This parish is one half of the ecclesiastical parish of 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". Retrieved 13 February 2007. Source given is "Ordnance survey".
References
From "Irish placenames database". logainm.ie (in English and Irish). Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Archived from the original on 22 April 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2016.:
^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]
^F.J. Byrne,Irish Kings and High-Kings (1973) 180-1
^The Parliamentary gazetteer of Ireland (1846) Volume XXX
^"Small County". 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.
