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Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

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KAN<br />

siastical Commissioners and Mr. Pollard. The tithes<br />

amount to £250, of which £70 is payable to the vicar,<br />

and £180 to the impropriators, the latter sum being<br />

given as an augmentation to the vicarage of St. Peter’s,<br />

Drogheda. The entire value of the benefice, tithe and<br />

glebe inclusive, is £407. 5. 6., exclusively of 10 acres<br />

attached to the glebe-house, which was built in 1816 by<br />

a gift of £400, and a loan of the same amount from<br />

the late Board of First Fruits. The glebe comprises<br />

11a. lr. 37p., and the glebes of the union amount to<br />

49a. lr. 27½p. The church is a neat edifice, erected in<br />

1770. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of<br />

the union or district of Stamullen: on the townland of<br />

Demanistown is a chapel, a neat modern building in the<br />

Gothic style. The Protestant parochial school, situated<br />

near the church, is supported by the incumbent and<br />

other subscribers; and there is a school under the super-<br />

intendence of the parish priest, the average number of<br />

children being about 70.<br />

KANTURK, a market and post-town, partly in the<br />

parish of KILBRIN, but chiefly in that of CLONFERT,<br />

barony of DUHALLOW, county of CORK, and province of<br />

MUNSTER, 27½ miles (N. W.) from Cork, on the Bogra<br />

road to Abbeyfeale, and 131¾ miles (S.W.) from Dublin,<br />

containing 1349 inhabitants. This place formerly be-<br />

longed to the M c Carthys, kings of Desmond. In the<br />

reign of Queen Elizabeth, Mac Donogh Carthy com-<br />

menced the erection of a splendid and extensive mansion<br />

in the castellated style, about a mile south of the town<br />

(now called Kanturk Castle), but it having been repre-<br />

sented to the government as a regular fortress, its pro-<br />

gress was stayed, and it has never been completed. These<br />

possessions were subsequently mortgaged by Dermod<br />

Mac Owen Carthy to Sir Philip Perceval, by whom they<br />

were held as security in 1641, when the proprietor was<br />

in actual rebellion; and in 1666 the Court of Claims<br />

decided that, as Sir Philip had advanced more than the<br />

value of the estate, his grandson, Sir Philip Perceval,<br />

was legally entitled, and he accordingly passed patent<br />

for the same in 1667. Kanturk Castle, although not<br />

actually within the parish in which the town is situated,<br />

is deserving of some notice from its name, and also<br />

from its connection with the founder of Kanturk. It is<br />

situated in the vicinity of the mountains and the river<br />

Blackwater, and occupies the four sides of a quad-<br />

rangle, 120 feet in length by 80 feet, in breadth, being<br />

three stories high, and flanked at each angle by a square<br />

tower of four stories, having three windows in each<br />

story in the central portion; the,quoins, mouldings,<br />

beltings, and other ornamental parts are of hewn stone.<br />

The battlements, if ever carried up, have fallen down;<br />

and the additional story mentioned by Smith, in his<br />

history of Cork, is only apparent on one side, where<br />

it forms the under-ground or cellar-floor. The town<br />

is pleasantly situated at the confluence of the rivers<br />

Allua and Dallua, which here flow through a fine open<br />

valley in the midst of gently rising hills, and the<br />

vicinity is studded with comfortable farm-houses and<br />

young plantations. Each river is crossed by a good<br />

stone bridge; that over the Allua consisting of six,<br />

and that on the Dallua of five, segmental arches. It<br />

is irregularly built, consisting of several short streets<br />

chiefly diverging from the centre; and in 1831 con-<br />

tained 238 houses, many of which have been lately<br />

rebuilt, and a new street has been formed between<br />

VOL. II.—33<br />

KAN<br />

the two rivers, terminating towards the north by a<br />

commodious hotel surrounded by a thriving planta-<br />

tion. These and other improvements have been effected<br />

under the auspices of the Earl of Egmont, the pro-<br />

prietor of the greater part of the town, which is considered<br />

extremely healthy as a place of residence, and is well<br />

supplied with water. A news-room is supported by<br />

subscription. Public cars from Tralee and Abbeyfeale<br />

to Cork pass through the town, and a car goes direct<br />

thence to Cork. The market is on Saturday, and is<br />

abundantly supplied with all kinds of provisions, and<br />

from Christmas to Easter with corn, pigs, and sheep;<br />

and fairs for cattle and general farming stock are held<br />

on March 17th, May 4th, July 4th, Sept. 29th, Nov. 3rd,<br />

and Dec. 1lth. A small brewery has been lately esta-<br />

blished in the town; and in the immediate vicinity, on<br />

the river Dallua, are the extensive boulting-mills of Dr.<br />

Barry, a portion of the produce of which, and of another<br />

on a smaller scale near the Castle, is sent to Cork, where<br />

it is shipped for England: the former of these mills is<br />

capable of manufacturing 12,000 bags of flour annually,<br />

and has proved of great advantage to the neighbouring<br />

farmers, by affording them a ready market for their corn,<br />

which previously they were under the necessity of sending<br />

to Cork. Quarter sessions for the East Riding are held<br />

here in June; petty sessions are held every Saturday;<br />

and a court for the manor of Kanturk is held by the<br />

seneschal, once in three weeks, in which debts not<br />

exceeding 40s. late currency are recoverable. The ses-<br />

sions-house and bridewell are substantial and com-<br />

modious buildings: the former has a handsome front<br />

of hewn stone, consisting of a pediment supported by<br />

broad pilasters, with a Venetian window between them;<br />

the latter is on a large scale, consisting of several wards,<br />

and having separate day-rooms and yards adapted for<br />

the proper classification of the male and female pri-<br />

soners. A chief constabulary police force is stationed<br />

in the town.<br />

The district of Kanturk was formed out of the parish<br />

of Clonfert, and is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of<br />

Cloyne, and in the gift of the Bishop: the curate’s sti-<br />

pend is £150, payable in equal portions by the impro-<br />

priator, the rector, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.<br />

The glebe-house, in the vicinity, was erected in 1815,<br />

the Board of First Fruits having granted a gift of £450<br />

and a loan of £50: attached to it is a glebe of 10 acres.<br />

The church is a small neat structure, with a square em-<br />

battled tower surmounted by pinnacles, built in 1789, for<br />

which the same Board gave £200. In the R. C. divisions<br />

the town is the head of a district, which comprises about<br />

one-third of the parish of Clonfert and the small eccle-<br />

siastical parish of Kilcorcoran. The chapel is a re-<br />

markably neat cruciform building, erected on a site<br />

given by the Earl of Egmont; the chapel-yard, which is<br />

tastefully planted, and forms an agreeable promenade,<br />

for the inhabitants, is entered by a handsome gateway<br />

formed of pillars of hewn stone, surmounted by richly<br />

crocketed pinnacles, the work of a native artist, who<br />

also executed a beautiful font for the chapel. At Coo-<br />

lavota is a chapel for the rural district. The parochial<br />

school is under the superintendence of the Protestant<br />

clergyman, and a large building for a public school<br />

has been lately erected on a site given by the Earl of<br />

Egmont: there are also several private schools in the<br />

town and its vicinity; the total number of children<br />

F

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