KILLOE

KILLOE, or KILLOW (LOWER and UPPER), a parish, partly in the barony of GRANARD, but chiefly in that of LONGFORD, county of LONGFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 4 miles (E.) from Longford, on the road from that place to Granard; containing 16,779 inhabitants, of which number, 15,058 are in Lower Killoe, and 1721 in Upper Killoe. An abbey was founded at Cloono, which is supposed to have been in this parish, in 668; and in 1798, the French army, under General Humbert, surrendered at Ballinamuck.

The parish comprises 30,898 statute acres, of which 25,608 are in Lower Killoe, on the northern side of the river Camlin, and 5290 in Upper Killoe, to the south of the river. The northern part is mountainous, and contains a good deal of bog, but the southern part is rich grazing land. At Creeve is a quarry of very fine limestone; at Ballinamuck a fine freestone flag quarry, and there is abundance of potters' clay.

The principal seats are Farra, the residence of Willoughby Bond, Esq.; Newtown Bond, of H. M. Bond, Esq.; and Bawnmore, of the Rev. G. B. Moore. It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Ardagh, and in the gift of the Bishop, divided into Upper and Lower Killoe; the former of which is united to Clongesh, and the latter to Templemichael: the rectory is impropriate in Sir J. B. Piers, Bart.: the tithes of Lower Killoe amount to £812. 6. 1 ¾., of which £276. 18. 5 ½. is payable to the impropriator, and £535. 7. 8 ¼. to the rector of Clongish: the tithes of Upper Killoe amount to £200, of which £90 is payable to the impropriator, and £110 to the rector of Templemichael. There is a church in Lower Killoe, for the erection of which the late Board of First Fruits, in 1824, gave £900, and Willoughby Bond, Esq., £200. There is also a church at Drumlish, in Upper Killoe, for the erection of which the late Board gave £900, in 1824. A glebe of 79 acres is attached to the church in Lower Killoe.

In the R. C. divisions this parish forms three unions or districts, namely, Moyne and Drimard, Drumlish and Ballinamuck, and Killoe and Ainbegs, and contains six chapels. There is a meeting-house at Corboy for Presbyterians in connexion with the Synod of Ulster, of the second class. About 40 children are educated in two public schools in Lower Killoe, to one of which the R. C. Bishop of Ardagh contributes £20 annually; and about 1400 in nineteen private schools. In Upper Killoe about 180 are educated in three public schools, to which the Countess Dowager of Rosse contributes £8, Viscount Lorton £10, Willoughby Bond, Esq., £8, and the rector £2, annually; and about 110 in eight private schools. At Newtown-Bond are the ruins of a church, and near Bawnmore are those of an ancient castle and two Danish forts. On the townland of Clonard is a large red flagstone, inscribed with many emblems or characters.—See BALLINAMUCK and DRUMLISH.

Search Topographical Dictionary of Ireland »