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schools of the parish, of which the male and female
parochial schools, forming a handsome range of building,
erected in 1831 on the glebe, are aided by a grant of
£52 from the funds of Erasmus Smith’s charity, and
£20 from Lord Portsmouth’s trustees; a school for
girls is gratuitously superintended by the ladies of the
Presentation convent, by whom the children are taught
reading, writing, Catechism, and every description of
useful and ornamental needlework, and is supported,
together with a large Lancasterian school for boys,
by subscription; and an infants’ school, established
in 1831, is also supported by subscription. There
are 11 private schools, in which are about 420 chil-
dren, and one Sunday school. Bishop Vigors, in 1721,
bequeathed £900 for the endowment of some alms-
houses, which were rebuilt in 1830 by the trustees, in
a neat cottage style, at Summer Hill, near the town;
they contain apartments for seven Protestant widows,
who now receive £3 per annum each. Miss Toplady,
late of Dublin, left £80 per annum for poor widows
whose husbands were killed, or otherwise sufferers in
the disturbances of 1798, ten of whom now receive £8
per annum each; and Miss Grenville left the impro-
priate tithes of the parish of Ballyvalloo, now amounting
to about £60 per annum, for the endowment of an alms-
house for the poor of this parish, which bequest is at
present the subject of litigation. A fever hospital, afford-
ing accommodation for 40 patients, was erected in 1829,
on. an acre of ground given for its site by Lord Ports-
mouth’s trustees, and attached to it is a dispensary, with
a surgeon’s ward. The ancient castle, now the property
of the Earl of Portsmouth, is a venerable quadrilateral
building with a round tower at each angle, and is sur-
rounded with a high wall of more modern date. Of the
Franciscan monastery the only remains are a lofty square
tower on four pointed arches, a great portion of the
conventual buildings having been removed in order to
furnish a site for the new market; a curious brooch of
gold, enriched with emeralds and garnets, was found in
clearing away the ruins. About three quarters of a mile,
below the town, on the west bank of the Slaney, and in
the parish of St. John, was a monastery for canons
regular of the order of St. Victor, founded by Gerald de
Prendergast in 1230, and subsequently made a cell to
the abbey of St. Thomas-juxta-Dublin, by John St. John,
bishop of Ferns, on which occasion it adopted the, order
of St. Augustine.
ENNISCRONE. — See KILGLASS, county of
SLIGO.
ENNISKEEN, a parish, partly in the baronies of
LOWER KELLS and LOWER SLANE, county of MEATH,
and province of LEINSTER, but chiefly in the barony of
CLONKEE, county of CAVAN, and province of ULSTER, on
the road from Carrickmacross to Bailieborough; contain-
ing, with the post-town of Kingscourt (winch is described
under its own head), 10,368 inhabitants. This place, an-
cientlythe principal seat of the Danes, was called Dumaree,
and still retains that name; it is surrounded by Danish
forts, and on the summits of the neighbouring hills
great quantities of money and of ancient military wea-
pons have been dug up at various times. The parish
comprises 28,814 statute acres, of which about 500 are
woodland, from 200 to 300 bog, and the remainder
under tillage; the system of agriculture is greatly im-
proved, and great quantities of bog and waste land have
604
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been reclaimed. Limestone abounds; there are excel-
lent quarries of every kind of building stone, and near
the rock at Carrickleck is very superior freestone, which
is extensively worked for flagstones and pillars of large
dimensions. On the estate of Lord Gormanstown, in
the Meath district, are coal, lead and iron ore, but none
is raised at present; a coal mine and an alabaster
quarry were formerly worked, but have been discon-
tinued. The principal seats are Cabra castle, the hand-
some residence and richly planted demesne of Col.
Pratt; Corinsica, of J. Pratt, Esq.; Northlands, of
the Very Rev. Dean Adams; Newcastle, of J. Smith,
Esq.; Woodford, of J, Armstrong, Esq.; Lisnaboe, of
— Jackson, Esq.; Plantation, of — Irwin, Esq.;
Larehfield, of W. Pratt, Esq.; and Cornakill, of —
Moore, Esq. An annual fair is held at Muff on the 21st
of August, and there are several at Kingscourt, noticed
in the account of that town, where petty sessions are
also held. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the dio-
cese of Meath, and in the patronage of the Bishop,
to whom the rectory is appropriate: the tithes amount
to £900. The glebe-house is a neat residence, erected
by a gift of £450 and a loan of £50 from the late
Board of First Fruits, in 1831; the glebe comprises
28½ acres. The church, at Kingscourt,is a neat plain
edifice, to the repair of which the Eeclesiastical Com-
missioners have recently granted £173. The R, C.
parish is co-extensive with that of the Established
Church, and is called Kingscourt; the chapel in that
town is a spacious and handsome edifice, in the later
English style, and there is also a chapel at Muff. There
is a place of worship for Presbyterians in connection
with the Synod of Ulster, of the third class, and one for
Wesleyan Methodists. About, 130 children are taught
in the public schools, and there are 16 private schools,
in which are about 960 children. Between Bailielm-
rough and Kingscourt, about two miles from the
former, is a pool called Lough-on-Leighaghs, or the
“healing lake,” which is much resorted to by patient.
afflicted with scorbutic complaints; it is situated on
the summit of a mountain, rising, according to the
Ordnance survey, 1116 feet, above the level of the sea.
On a lofty eminence, about a mile from the lake, is a
remarkable cairn; and about, two miles from kings-
court, on the Dublin road, is the singularly beautiful
and romantic glen of Cabra. There are ruins of Muff
and Cabra castles, and some remains of an old bridge.
ENNISKERRY, or MUTTON ISLAND, in the
parish of KILMURRY barony of IHRICKANE, county of
CLARE, and province of MUNSTER, ½ a mile from the
shore, on the western coast: the population is returned
with the parish. It lies off that part of the coast which,
from its rocky and dangerous character, is called the
Malhay; and contains about 210 statute acres of ex-
cellent land for feeding oxen and sheep, particularly the
latter; hence the name “Mutton island,” from the fine
flavour of the mutton. On its shores are some curious
natural caves, formerly used by smugglers for storing
contraband goods. Here are an old signal tower and
the ruins of an ancient structure, said to have been an
abbey, founded at. a very early period by St. Senan of
Iuniseattery: the ancient name of the island was
lnniscaorach.
ENNISKERRY, a post-town, in the parish of Pow
ERSCOURT, barony of RATHDOWN, county of WICK-