From the Maule family it descended to the Dalhousies.
In 1303 it withstood for twenty days a siege in force by the English under Edward I., surrendering only when its governor, Sir Thomas Maule, had been slain.
The river Maule forms its northern boundary and drains its northern and north-eastern regions.
From Parral, near the southern boundary, a branch railway extends westward to Cauquenes, the capital of Maule.
He was the second child of the Rev. John Keble and his wife Sarah Maule.