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KIL
containing 94 chapels served by 88 clergymen, of whom
32, including the bishop, are parish priests, and 56
coadjutors or curates. The parochial benefices of the
bishop are the unions of St. Mary and St. John, Kil-
kenny, in the former of which is the R. C. cathedral
and the bishop’s residence. The diocese is divided into
three districts, called the northern division, or Confer-
ence of Ballyragget; the middle division, or Conference
of Kilkenny; and the southern division, or Conference
of Ballyhale, where chapters of the clergy are held.
The county of the city comprehends the parishes of
St. Mary, St. Patrick, St. John, and St. Canice, and
comprises 16,400 statute acres: the total amount of
Grand Jury assessments for 1836 was £2816. The parish
of St. Mary is entirely within the city: the living is a
perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Bishop. The
church, for the erection of which the late Board of First
Fruits, in 1819, granted a loan of £1200, is an elegant
cruciform structure, with a tower and spire, situated in
the High-street. The glebe-house, for which the same
Board gave £400 and lent £350, is a good residence;
and there is a small glebe near the church. The parish
of St. Patrick is about one mile and a half in length,
and nearly the same in breadth: the living is a rectory
and vicarage, united to the rectory of Aghaboe, and the
rectory and vicarage of Urlingford, together constituting
the corps of the deanery of Ossory, in the patronage of
the Crown; the tithes amount to £500, and of the
union to £1176. 3. 1. The parish of St. John com-
prises 5318 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe
act, and valued at £7016 per annum. Fairs, for which
patents have recently been obtained, are held here on
Feb. 15th, May 6th, Sept. 23d, and Nov. 10th. The
living is a vicarage, united by act of council, in the
reign of Hen. VIII., to the vicarage of Clara, and in the
patronage of the Bishop; the rectory is impropriate
in the corporation of Kilkenny. The tithes amount to
£576. 2., of which £373. 0. 6. is payable to the cor-
poration, and £203. 1. 6. to the vicar; the tithes of the
whole union, payable to the incumbent, amount to
£293. 1. 6. The church is part of the ancient monas-
tery of St. John the Evangelist, restored agreeably to
the character of the ancient building, which was of
elegant design and elaborate execution; it contains the
mutilated relics of ancient sepulchral monuments to the
Butler, Grace, and. Purcel families. There is no glebe-
house; the glebe is situated in the parish of Clara, and
comprises 15 acres. The parish of St. Canice, com-
prises 6159 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe
act: the living is a rectory and a vicarage, united by
act of council from time immemorial to the rectories
and vicarages of Ballybur and St. Martin, together
forming the union of St. Canice, belonging to the vicars
choral, who receive the tithes of the two first, amount-
ing to £450; those of St. Martin are payable to the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners. In the R. C. divisions
the parish of St. Mary is the head of a union or district,
comprising also a small portion of St. John’s; the
parish of St. Patrick is the head of a union, com-
prising also the parishes of Castleinch and Outrath,
and part of St. Canice; the parish of St. John is the head
of a union, comprising also Rathcoole, Kilderry, and
Kilmadrum; and the parish of St. Canice is the head
of a union, comprising also the parish of St. Maul, and
part of Ballybur. There are four chapels, one in each
VOL. II.—113
KIL
parish: that of St. Canice is a handsome modern
edifice, in the later English style; the others are all
plain buildings. Adjoining St. Mary’s, which is the
largest, is the residence of the R. C. bishop, and also
the Presentation Convent, with a chapel attached to it:
there is also a Capuchin friary, and a Dominican abbey,
with chapels attached.
The grammar-school, called the college of Kilkenny,
was originally founded by Piers Butler, Earl of Or-
monde, and a new charter was granted to it by the
Duke of Ormonde, in 16843 but it fell into disuse during
the war of the Revolution, and Jas. II. founded on its
site a royal college, which continued only for a short
time, when the original establishment was restored.
The house, having gone to decay, was rebuilt in 1782,
by parliamentary grants, amounting to £5064, and is
adapted to the accommodation of 80 boarders. Pro-
vision is made for the education of scholars on the
foundation, to be afterwards admitted into Trinity Col-
lege, Dublin; and the children of freemen are en-
titled to instruction at half the usual terms. It was
endowed by the Duke of Ormonde with a house for the
master in John-street, with eight acres of land attached
to it, and with £140 per annum charged on the
Ormonde estate, for the maintenance of a master and
ushers, and the repair of the house 3 the salary of the
master of the diocesan school, which has been discon-
tinued, is also paid to the master of this school, who is
appointed by the Provost and Fellows of Trinity Col-
lege, and is to teach the classics, poetry, and oratory; the
Bishop of Ossory, Leighlin, and Ferns, and the Provost
of Trinity College are visiters. Among many eminent
men, who have been educated in this establishment,
were Stanihurst, the historian; Swift; Congreve;
Farquhar; Harris, the continuator of Ware; Provost
Baldwin; Dr. Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne; and several
other distinguished literary characters. At Birchfield,
near the city, is a R. C. seminary for the education of
students intended for the priesthood. Bishop Pococke
bequeathed the whole of his property to the Incorporated
Society of Dublin for promoting English Protestant
schools, for the foundation of a school for R. C. children
from 12 to 16 years of age, to be instructed in the prin-
ciples of the Protestant religion, and bred to the linen-
weaving trade, for which purpose he appropriated his
manufacturing house at Lintown, which is amply en-
dowed: there are, at present, about 24 boys in the
school, and as many looms in the factory; and the
curate of the parish, with a salary of £10, is catechist
to the school, which now occupies the building of the
old charter-school. A parochial school for the city at
large is supported by a bequest of £100 per annum
from the late Mr. Evans, an annual donation from the
bishop and dean, and by subscription; and there are
also an infants’ school and others. The ladies of the
Presentation Convent gratuitously instruct more than
300 female children. The total number of children
taught in the public schools exceeds 1100; and there
are various private schools, in which are more than
1500 children. There is also an orphan-house for girls,
under the patronage of the ladies of the Presentation
Convent, for the establishment of which a large sum was
given by Mr. Murphy, of this city.
Adjoining the library in St. Canice’s churchyard is
an almshouse for eight poor women, founded by Bishop
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