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AGH
the Bishop. The tithes amount to £370. 18. 5½., which
is equally divided between the rector and the vicar; and
the gross tithes of the union, payable to the incumbent,
amount to £456. 17. 4½. The church, situated near the
bridge, at the extremity of the parish, is a neat edifice,
built in 1817, for which the late Board of First Fruits
granted a loan of £500. The Board also granted a gift
and loan, each of £300, for the erection of the glebe-
house, in 1822: the glebe comprises seven acres of pro-
fitable land. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms
part of the union or district of Knockmourne, also
called Ballynoe. The parochial school, in which are
about 20 boys and 20 girls, is endowed with an acre of
land by the Duke of Devonshire; there are also a
Sunday school and two hedge schools, in which latter
are about 80 boys and 40 girls.
AGHERTON, or BALLYAGHRAN, a parish, in the
liberties of COLERAINE, county of LONDONDERRY, and
province of ULSTER, 3 miles (N. N. W.) from Coleraine;
containing, with the town of Portstewart, 2746 inhabi-
tants. This parish occupies the whole of the pro-
montory between the Bann and the Atlantic, comprising,
according to the Ordnance survey, 3896¾ statute acres,
of which 3709 are applotted under the tithe act, and
valued at £2831 per annum. With the exception of about
320 acres, the whole is arable; there is a small portion
of unenclosed land, part of which is light and sandy, and
chiefly a rabbit warren, and part affords excellent pasture.
The cultivation of wheat was introduced by Mr. Orr,
in 1829, and great quantities are now annually raised.
Similar success attended the cultivation of barley, pota-
toes, mangel-wurzel, and turnips; and the agriculture of
the parish is at present in a very flourishing state. Iron-
ore is found in great quantities, and might be worked
to great advantage, but no works have yet been estab-
lished. There are several gentlemen’s seats, the prin-
cipal of which are Cromore, an elegant mansion, the
residence of J. Cromie, Esq., the principal proprietor in
the parish, who has recently planted several acres with
forest and other trees; Flowerfield, of S. Orr, Esq.;
O’Hara Castle, of H. O’Hara, Esq.; Low Rock, of Miss
McManus; and Black Rock, of T. Bennett, Esq. There
are also several villas and handsome bathing lodges at
Portstewart, a pleasant and well-attended watering-place.
A small manufacture of linen and linen yarn is carried
on, and many of the inhabitants are employed in the
fisheries, particularly in the salmon fishery on the river
Bann. Of late, great quantities of salmon have been
taken along the whole coast, by means of a newly in-
vented net; and the sea fishery is continued for a long
time after that on the river is by law compelled to cease.
The Bann, which is the only outlet from Lough Neagh,
discharges itself into the Atlantic at the Western point
of the parish; it appears to have changed its course,
and now passes close under the point of Down Hill, the
celebrated mansion erected by the Earl of Bristol, when
Bishop of Derry. The living is a rectory, in the diocese
of Connor, united by charter of Jas, I., in 1609, to the
rectory of Ardclinis, together constituting the union of
Agherton, and the corps of the treasurership in the
cathedral church of St. Saviour, Connor, in the patron-
age of the Bishop. The tithes amount to £240; and
the tithes of the union, including glebe, amount to £470,
constituting the gross income of the treasurership, to
which no duty is annexed. The church, a small edifice,
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AGH
was erected in 1826, at an expense of £960, of which
£100 was raised by subscription, £800 was a loan from
the late Board of First Fruits, and £60 was given by
John Cromie, Esq., who also paid the interest on £700
of the loan until the debt was cancelled in 1833. Divine
service is also performed by the curate every Sunday
in the school-house at Portstewart. The glebe-house,
a handsome residence close adjoining the church, was
built in 1806, for which the Board granted a gift of
£250 and a loan of £500; the glebe comprises 20 acres
of profitable land, valued at £80 per annum. In the
R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or
district of Coleraine. There are places of worship for
Presbyterians and Wesleyan Methodists, the former in
connection with the Synod of Ulster and of the third
class. There is a male free school, and a female and
two infants’ schools are supported by Mrs. Cromie, who
has built a large school-room for one of the latter:
275 children are taught in these schools; and there
are four private schools, in which are about 130 chil-
dren, and four Sunday schools. Mark Kerr O’Neill,
Esq., in 1814, bequeathed £40 per ann. to the poor.
There are some remains of the ancient castle of Mac
Quillan on the glebe land adjoining the church. Near
them are the gabled walls of the old church, still
tolerably entire; and in the adjoining field is an
extensive cave formed of uncemented walls covered
with large flat stones, one of the largest and most
perfect yet known in this part of the country:
there are also several other caves in the parish. In
the townland of Carnance is a very fine triangular
fort, called Craig-an-Ariff; it is defended by fosses
and breastworks, and is the only fort so constructed
in this part of Ireland; within the enclosure are two
cairns or tumuli. Dr. Adam Clarke, whose father kept a
school for several years in the old parish church,
received the rudiments of his education here; and in
the latter part of his life spent much of his time in
the summer at Portstewart, where during his stay in
1830, he built a handsome house, and erected in the
gardens of Mr. Cromie a curious astronomical and geo-
graphical dial, which is still preserved there.—See
PORTSTEWART.
AGHIART, a parish, in the barony of KILLIAN,
county of GATEWAY, and province of CONNAUGHT, 12
miles (E. S. E.) from Tuam, on the road from that place
to Ballinasloe; the population is returned with the parish
of Ballinakilly. It comprises 3203 statute acres, us
applotted under the tithe act: the soil is fertile, the land
generally in a good state of cultivation, and the bogs are
all reclaimable. Mount Bellew is the seat of M. D.
Bellew, Esq., and Bellew’s Grove, of Mrs. Bellew. The
parish is in the diocese of Tuam, and is a rectory and
vicarage, forming part of the union of Moylough: the
tithes, which also include those of Ballinakilly, amount
to £148. 10. 8¼. In the R. C. divisions it is the head
of a union or district, also called the union of Mount
Bellew, which comprises the parishes of Aghiart, Kill-
ascobe, and Moylough, and contains three chapels,
situated respectively at Mount Bellew, Menlo, and Moy-
lough; the first is a handsome slated edifice, erected at
the sole expense of C. D. Bellew, Esq.
AGHNAMADLE, a parish, in the barony of UPPER
ORMOND, county of TIPPERARY, and province of MUN-
STER. 3½ miles (S.) from Moneygall, on the mail coach
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