Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

RAT
RATHKENNY, a parish, in the barony of LOWER
NAVAN, county of MEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 4
miles (N. W.) from Slane, on the road from Moynalty
to Drogheda, and close by the mail coach road from
Dublin to Londonderry; containing 1995 inhabitants.
This parish comprises 5430 statute acres, as applotted
under the tithe act: the land is of good quality;
about two-thirds are arable and the rest pasture, except
about 150 acres of bog. From the hill of Mullaha a
view of seven counties is obtained. Here is a police sta-
tion. The seats are Mullaha, the residence of Brabazon
Morris, Esq.; and Rathkenny House, of T. Hussey,
Esq. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Meath,
and in the patronage of T. Hussey, Esq.; the rectory
is impropriate in the Marquess of Drogheda. The
tithes amount to £384. 18. 6. of which £193. 2. 2½. is
payable to the impropriator, and the remainder to the
vicar. The church is a small modern structure. In
the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union
or district of Slane: a large chapel has just been built,
the front of which is faced with hewn stone; it is a neat
Gothic edifice. Here is also a R. C. school, which it is
in contemplation to place under the National Board.
About 40 boys and 20 girls are taught in a private
school. There are some remains of an ancient
castle.
RATHKYRAN, a parish, in the barony of IVERK,
county of KILKENNY, and province of LEINSTER, near
the road from Waterford to Carrick-on-Suir, 4½ miles
(N. W) from Waterford; containing 1408 inhabitants,
of which number, 120 are in the village. The parish
comprises 4197 statute acres, and the village contains
22 houses. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of
Ossory, and in the patronage of the Vicars Choral of
the cathedral of Kilkenny; the rectory is appropriate
to the dean and chapter. The tithes amount to
£203. 4. 4., of which £135. 9. 7. is payable to the
dean and chapter, and £67. 4. 9¼. to the vicar. The
church is in good repair. In the R. C. divisions the
parish is the head of a union or district, comprising this
parish and those of Aglishmartin, Portnescully, Pole-
roan, Clonmore, Ballytarsna, Tubrid, and part of
Burnchurch, in which union are three chapels. At
Moncoin is a school under the superintendence of the
nuns, in which are about 250 girls; and in a private
school are about 200 boys; there is also a Sunday-
school.
RATHLACKAN, a village, in the parish of LACKAN,
barony of TYRAWLEY, county of MAYO, and province of
CONNAUGHT, 5¼ miles (N.) from Killala: the popula-
tion is returned with the parish. It is situated upon
the north-western coast, and has a penny post to
Killala.
RATHLIN, an island and parish, in the barony of
CAREY, county of ANTRIM, and province of ULSTER, 6½
miles (N.) from Ballycastle; containing 1039 inhabi-
tants. This island, which is situated off the northern
coast of Antrim, nearly opposite to the town of Bally-
castle, in lat. 54° 36’ (N.), and lon. 9° 15’ (W.), and
which is regarded as the Ricnia of Pliny and the Ricina
of Ptolemy, has received various appellations from dif-
ferent writers. By the Irish historians it is called
Recarn, or Recrain; by Buchanan, Raclinda; by Mac-
kenzie, Rachri; by Ware, Raghlin; and Raghery by
Hamilton, who derives that name from Ragh Erin, sig-
501
RAT
nifying the “fort of Erin.” Its present name, which
has been adopted by all modern writers, is but a slight
modification of that given to it by Ware. St. Comgall
is said to have landed in this island with the intention
of founding a cell, but was expelled by a band of
soldiers. In the sixth century, however, a church was
founded here by St. Columba, who placed it under the
superintendence of St. Colman. But the foundation of
this religious establishment is by some writers attri-
buted to Lugard Laither, who was abbot about the year
590, and by others to St. Legene, abbot of Hy, by whom
it was repaired about the year 630. In 790, a body of
Danish pirates, in their first descent upon the coast,
laid waste the whole island and destroyed the monas-
tery, which was soon, afterwards restored; it was again
destroyed in 973, by the Danes, who martyred the
abbot, St. Feradach; since which time no subsequent
notice of it occurs. King John granted the island to
Alan of Galway; and Robert Bruce, when driven from
Scotland by the success of Baliol, his competitor for the
crown, took refuge here, where he fortified himself in a
castle, of which a fragment still remaining bears his
name. In 1558, the Earl of Sussex, then Lord-Deputy,
attacked the Scots who had taken possession of the
island and expelled them with great slaughter; and so
much did the place suffer from the repeated ravages of
the English and Scots, that it is stated in a manuscript
history of the country to have been totally uninhabited
in 1580.
The island is about six miles and a half in length,
and about a mile and a half in breadth near the centre;
the eastern portion curves towards the main land, from
the nearest point of which it is about three miles distant,
forming a small enclosure which is called Church bay.
It comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 3398¾
statute acres, including 30½ acres under water: about
three-fourths consist of rocks and stony pasture, and
the remainder of arable land of medium quality. It is
fully exposed to the northern ocean, and the tides run-
ning here with great impetuosity, the sea is often so
rough as frequently to deter tourists from visiting it.
The western side is rocky and mountainous, and the
appearance of the coast strikingly magnificent; brown
rocks and still darker masses of basaltic pillars are
in some places contrasted with chalk cliffs: on the
northern side the precipices towards the sea rise to
the height of 450 feet without any projecting base.
The soil is a light mould, intermixed with fragments
of basalt and limestone; the valleys are rich and
well cultivated, and arable land, meadows, and a va-
riety of rocky pastures are scattered over the whole
island. The substratum of nearly the whole island is
basalt and limestone, and on the eastern side especially
it forms beautiful ranges of columns, differing from
those of the Giants’ Causeway only in their dimen-
sions, and in the greater variety of their arrange-
ment, being found in the same places perpendicular,
horizontal, and curved. Considerable beds of hard
chalk extend for some distance along the southern
shore, and in some places, as near Church bay, where
they are intersected by basaltic dikes, the hard chalk or
limestone is found to possess phosphoric qualities;
beds of puzzolana are also found here, and on the
shores a substance resembling pumice stone. Mr.
Hamilton traces a vein of coal and iron-stone passing