a bishop's borough or bishop borough was a pocket borough in the irish house of commons where the patron who controlled the borough was the bishop for the time being of the diocese of the church of ireland whose cathedral was within the borough. all bishops were themselves "ex officio" members of the irish house of lords. three bishop's boroughs (old leighlin, clogher, and st canice or irishtown) were disenfranchised by the acts of union 1800, and their bishops at the time applied for the standard £15,000 compensation due to patrons of disenfranchised boroughs; however, the commissioners rejected these claims, and awarded the money to the board of first fruits. armagh city, the archbishop of armagh's borough, remained enfranchised at westminster and under the archbishop's control until the irish reform act 1832. although cashel and tuam were originally archbishops' boroughs, they passed to lay patrons in the eighteenth century.