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ELP
MOY, county of KILKENNY, and province of LEINSTER,
8¼ miles (S. W.) from Durrow, on the road from Rath-
downey to Johnstown; containing 5565 inhabitants,
and comprising 15,750 statute acres, as applotted under
the tithe act, valued at £10,370. 6. per annum. About
2000 acres are bog. Two fairs are held at Bawn for
cattle and horses; and here is a constabulary police
station. Livally is the seat of — Fitzgerald, Esq. The
living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Ossory,
and in the patronage of the Crown; the tithes amount
to £692. 6. 1¾. The glebe-house was built by aid of a
gift of £100 and a loan of £800 from the late Board of
First Fruits; the glebe comprises 15a. 25p. The
church is a plain building, erected in 1823, towards
which the late Board lent £650. In the R. C. divisions
the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising
also those of Fartagh and Glashane, and containing three
chapels, two in Eirke and one in Fartagh; to the chapel
at Moninamuck, in this parish, Lord Courtown gave an
acre of land and £50 towards the expense of its erec-
tion; it is in contemplation to rebuild, the other. The
parochial school is aided by the rector, and has a house
and an acre of land rent-free: about 50 boys and 50 girls
are taught in it. There are also nine private schools,
in which are about 500 children.
ELPHIN, a market and post-town, the seat of a
bishoprick, and a parish, in the barony and county of
ROSCOMMON, and province of CONNAUGHT, 8½ miles
(S. by E.) from Boyle, and 80½ (W. N. W.) from Dublin,
on the road from Roscommon to Boyle; containing
6643 inhabitants, of which number, 1507 are in the
town. This city appears to have arisen as a dependency
on the religious establishment that was founded by St.
Patrick in the fifth century: it was burned in 1177 and
destroyed by the English in 1187. Its name appears
to be derived from Ail Fin, “the white stone or rock,”
though connected by vulgar tradition with the giant
Fin Mac Coul. About the year 1450, Bishop Cornelius
converted the conventual church of St. Patrick into
a Franciscan monastery, to which the canons and in-
habitants of Elphin were likewise benefactors. Bishop
King who presided over the see from 1611 to 1638,
erected a castle for himself and his successors, and
attached to it lands which he had purchased. This
castle, in 1645, was delivered into the hands of the
Lord-President of Connaught by Bishop Tilson, who
retired to England: his son was then governor of
Elphin and had just declared for the parliament. The
town, which consists of about 260 houses, is on a ridge,
and presents a pleasing appearance on entering it from
the south. The main street is wide, and in the centre
is a covered fountain which supplies pure water. A
market has been established by the bishop on Wed-
nesdays, for which a market-house will be erected; and
fairs are held on May 3rd, June 27th, Sept. 26th, and
Dec. 10th. Petty sessions are held every Wednesday,
and it is a chief constabulary police station. The parish
comprises 8962 statute acres, as applotted under the
tithe act. It is partly under tillage, but principally in
pasture, and large quantities of butter are exported by
the river Shannon, Here are quarries of limestone and
a considerable tract of bog. The principal seats are
Smith Hill, that of the Rev. J. Lloyd; Cloonyquin, of
W. French, Esq.; Foxborough, of P. Taaffe, Esq., and
Raheen, of Major Fawcett.
597
ELP
The DIOCESE of ELPHIN
is said to have been founded
by St. Patrick, who placed
over it St. Asicus, an austere
monk, who soon filled the
cathedral with members of
his own order. Several small
surrounding sees appear to
have been annexed to it at
an early period, and a short
time before the arrival of the
English in Ireland it was
enriched with many large
estates by the annexation of the see of Roscommon.
On an inquisition made in the 28th of Elizabeth, the
see was valued at £1103. 18. per annum: it was greatly
impoverished by Bishop John Lynch between 1584 and
1611, but was restored to its previous value by his suc-
cessor, Bishop King. On the death of Bishop Hudson,
in 1685, Jas. II. kept the see vacant for several years
and distributed the revenue among the Catholic clergy.
Elphin is one of the six dioceses which form the ec-
clesiastical province of Tuam, but under the Church
Temporalities act of the 3rd and 4th of Wm. IV. c. 37, its
temporalities are, on the next avoidance, to be transferred
to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and the see is to be
united to the bishoprick of Kilmore. It comprises parts
of the counties of Galway and Sligo, and the greater
part of Roscommon, and is computed to contain 420,150
acres, of which 48,800 are in Galway, 87,700 in Sligo,
and the remainder in Roscommon. The gross revenue
of the bishoprick, on an average of three years ending
Dec. 31st, 1831, is £7034. 8. 9.; and the see lands
comprise 42,843 acres, of which 29,235 are profitable.
The Episcopal palace is a good building in an extensive
demesne near the town, and was erected by an accumu-
lated fund of £500 bequeathed by Bishop Hudson in
1685. The chapter consists of a dean, precentor, arch-
deacon, and the eight prebendaries of Kilgoghlin, Tire-
brine, Kilmacallane, Kilcooley, Tibohine, Ballintub-
ber, Oran, and Tarmon. The dean and chapter have
no patronage, and there are neither minor canons nor
vicars choral connected with the cathedral. The eco-
nomy fund arises from a moiety of Bishop Hudson’s
bequest, and consists of rents arising from lands in the
county of Cavan, at present amounting to £50 per ann.
late currency. The consistorial court, which is held
at Elphin, consists of a vicar-general, registrar, and
apparitor. The diocesan school, which is also at Elphin,
is endowed with £25 per annum from Bishop Hudson’s
fund, and has a house with 15 acres of land; the mas-
ter’s salary is £100 late currency. There is a diocesan
society for the promotion of scriptural schools, to which
the bishop subscribes £100 and Viscount Lorton £50
per annum. The diocese contains 32 benefices, of which
19 are unions and 13 are single parishes. Of these one
is in the gift of the Crown, one in lay patronage, two in
joint or alternate patronage, and the Bishop has the
right of presentation to the remainder. The number of
parishes or districts is 74, of which 71 are rectories or
vicarages, and three are perpetual curacies. It contains
39 churches and three other places where divine wor-
ship is performed, also 22 glebe-houses. The R. C.
diocese corresponds in extent with that of the Esta-
blished Church, and is one of the six suffragan to the