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KIL
are educated in two private schools. Some remains of
the ancient church still exist on the northern bank of
the river Funcheon.
KILBELFAD, a parish, in the barony of TYRAWLEY,
county of MAYO, and province of CONNATJGHT, 4 miles (S.
S. W.) from Ballina, on the river Moy; containing 3798
inhabitants. This parish is bounded on the west by
Lough Conn, in which is the island of Glass, the burial-
place of Bishop Bale Fadh, who took refuge there
during a period of persecution, and from whom the
parish is supposed to have derived its name. The soil
is tolerably fertile, and the system of agriculture much
improved; there is abundance of good bog, and there
are quarries of limestone and of granite, of which
Curramore, the residence of Lieut.-Col. Jackson, was
built; there are also considerable quantities of marl, and
of good clay for making bricks. A fair is held on
Whit-Tuesday, and petty sessions occasionally. It
contains the island of Annagh, in Lough Conn, com-
prising 45 acres of arable land and 2 acres of bog.
The parish is in the diocese of Killala; the rectory
is appropriate to the vicars choral of the cathedral
of Christchurch, Dublin, and the vicarage forms part of
the union of Ardagh: the tithes amount to £180. 6. 5.,
which is equally divided between the appropriators and
the vicar. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part
of the union or district of Backs, in Ballynahaglish;
there are two chapels, one at Knockmore and one at
Gallows Hill, but service is only performed in one.
A school has been established at the latter place; and
there are also four private schools, in which are about
230 children. There are numerous encampments, gene-
rally called forts, and the remains of the old castles
of Deel and Cloghan, built by the Bourkes, and of
Castle Kelly.
KILBENNAN, or KILBANNON, a parish, partly
in the barony of CLARE, but chiefly in that of DUNMORE,
county of GALWAY, and province of CONNATJGHT, 2½ miles
(N.N.W.) from Tuam, on the road to Hollymount;
containing 2561 inhabitants. A religious house was
anciently established here, of which no other record
exists but that it was granted, after the dissolution, to
the burgesses of Athenry; it would appear to have been
of great antiquity, as there is still remaining a portion,
50 feet high, of one of those ancient round towers found
generally near the site of the earliest religious esta-
blishments. The parish is in the diocese of Tuam; the
rectory is appropriate to the vicars choral of the
cathedral of Tuam, and the vicarage forms part of the
union of Tuam: the tithes amount to £106. 3. 1.,
which is equally divided between the vicars choral and
the vicar. In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the
union or district of Kilconly; the chapel is a small
thatched building. There are two private schools, in
which are about 170 children.
KILBERRY, a parish, in the barony of NARRAGH
and RHEBAN WEST, county of KILDARE, and province
of LEINSTER, 2½ miles (N. W.) from Athy, on the river
Barrow; containing 1732 inhabitants. It comprises
7863 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act,
and valued at £4832 per annum; about two-thirds are
arable and pasture land, and one-third bog. The seats
are Barrowford, the residence of B. Braddell, Esq.;
Bellview, of R. Drought, Esq.; Salisbury, of Capt.
Lawler; Shrowlan, of E. Pilsworth, Esq.; Geraldine, of
52
KIL
the representatives of the late Col. Fitzgerald; and Bert
House, the noble residence of Lord Downes. The living
is a vicarage, in the diocese of Dublin, and in the gift of
the Vicars Choral of St. Patrick’s Cathedral; the rectory
forms part of the corps of the deanery of St. Patrick’s.
The tithes amount to £360, of which two-thirds are
payable to the dean and one-third to the vicar. The
church was opened for divine service in 1836. In the
R. C. divisions this parish forms part of the union or
district of Athy. About 50 children are educated in a
school that is partly supported by Lord Downes, and
about 150 in two private schools. Here are the ruins
of two castles; also the well of Tobbera, which is dedi-
cated to St. John.
KILBERRY, a parish, in the barony of MORGAL-
LION, county of MEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 4
miles (N.) from Navan, on the road from that place to
Kingscourt; containing 2002 inhabitants. The land is
of good quality; about two-thirds are meadow or pas-
ture, and about 100 acres bog. The parish is inter-
sected by the Yellow River, on which is a corn-mill. It
is a rectory, in the diocese of Meath, and forms part of
the union of Donaghpatrick: the tithes amount to £335,
and there is a glebe of 6 acres, valued at £18. 9. 2. per
annum. In the R. C. divisions it is the head of a union
or district, comprising also Donaghpatrick and Teltown,
and containing two chapels, situated at Kilberry and
Oristown. About 100 children are educated in a
school to which Col. Everard gives a house and garden
rent-free, and C. Smyth, Esq., subscribes £10 annually;
and about 50 are taught in a private school. A chantry
of two priests, or chaplains, was formerly attached to
the church of St. Mary, in this parish.
KILBIXY, a parish, in the barony of MOYGOISH,
county of WESTMEATH, and province of LEINSTER;
containing, with the market and post-town of Ballina-
cargy, 2279 inhabitants. The castle is said to have
been built by Hugh de Lacy, in 1192, and was subse-
quently the seat of Geoffry de Constantine, who founded
at Tristernagh a priory of Canons Regular, sometimes
called the priory of Kilbixy, and richly endowed it.
The last prior was Edmund Nugent, Bishop of Kildare,
who held it with his bishoprick, and a pension of
£26. 13.4. was granted to him on its surrender. In 1590
a lease of it was granted to Capt. W. Piers, at a rent of
£60, and it is still held by his descendants. It was
finally destroyed in 1783. The town arose under the
protection of the castle, and in the reign of Henry VI.
was one of the borough towns of Meath. Sir Henry
Piers, in his chorographical description of the county,
states that, in 1782, part of the burgage castle, with 40
acres called the burgage land, existed, besides the ruins
of many ancient houses and castles. It had anciently
an hospital, called the Leper-house of St. Bridgid, of
which there are still some ruins. In the reign of Eliza-
beth, O’Dogherty of Connaught encamped in the abbey
demesne with about 600 followers, and being attacked
by the queen’s forces and refused admission into the
abbey, was slain with all his party. The parish con-
tains 5660 statute acres, and is richly embellished with
plantations that extend to Lough Iron, which is one of
its boundaries and is a mile in length by half a mile in
breadth, but is very shallow. The land is arable and
pasture, with a small quantity of bog: there is some
limestone. The principal seats are Baronstown, which