"Ballibay, co. Monaghan, a market and post town and a parish partly in the barony of Monaghan and province of Ulster,
8 m (s by e) from Monaghan and 50 miles (NW by N) from Dublin, contained 6684 inhabitants, of which number 1947 are in the town... linen market established there mid 18th century. ... The living is a rectory and viacarage, in the diocese of clogher, and in the patronage of the Bishop : the tithes amount to £156383.5.0 The church is a neat edifice occupying a romantic situation on an eminence rising abruptly from the lake; the east window is embellished with stained glass, and there are some tablets to the memory of the Leslie family. The Glebe house is a handsome residence, toward the erection of which the late Board of First Fruits gave £100; the glebe comprises 25 acres. In the R.C. divisions this parish forms part of the union or district of Tullycorbett... About 150 boys and 110 girls are taught in 4 public schools, and there are also 6 hedge schools in which are about 140 boys and 70 girls, and 2 Sunday schools. A dispensary is open 2 days in the week for the gratuitous aid of the poor."