Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

KIL
The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of
Cloyne, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes
amount to £506. 18. 6. The glebe-house was built by
aid of a gift of £210 from the late Board of First Fruits,
in 1805: the glebe comprises 12a. 1r. 21p. The church,
which is a remarkably neat edifice, was built in 1800:
the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have lately granted
£147 for its repair. In the R. C. divisions the parish
forms part of the union or district of Cloyne, and has
a small plain chapel at Shanagary. There are two
private schools, in which about 100 children are edu-
cated. At Ballymaloe is a very curious old house, built
by the Fitzgeralds, and forfeited in the war of 1641: it
is now the property of Mr. Forster, and in the hall are
two pairs of elks’ horns of very large size, which were
found on the estate in 1714. At Shanagary are the
ruins of a castle, which was unsuccessfully defended by
the Earl of Desmond against Queen Elizabeth’s troops:
it was held by the Irish in 1641, but was captured by
Cromwell, by whose orders it was dismantled.
KILMAHUDDRICK, a parish, in the barony of
UPPER CROSS, county of DUBLIN, and province of
LEINSTER, 5 miles (S.W.) from Dublin. It is a chapelry,
in the diocese of Dublin, forming part of the union of
Clondalkin: the tithes amount to £16. 13. 4. In the
R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district
of Lucan. There are some remains of the old church,
and of a castle at Grange.
KILMAINBEG, a parish, in the barony of KIL-
MAIN, county of MAYO, and province of CONNAUGHT,
5 miles (S. E.) from. Ballinrobe, on the confines of the
county of Galway, containing 1343 inhabitants. It com-
prises 3151 statute acres, which are principally under
tillage, and includes Fountain Hill, the residence of
Theobald Jenings, Esq. It is a vicarage, in the diocese
of Tuam, forming part of the union of Kilmainmore;
the rectory is partly appropriate to the prebend of Kil-
labeggs, and partly to the vicarage. The tithes amount
to £137. 15. 5., of which £10. 0. 2½. is payable to the
prebendary, and £127. 15. 2½. to the vicar. In the
R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of
Kilmain. There is a private school, in which about 50
children are educated.
KILMAINHAM, a suburban village, of the city of
Dublin, in the parish of ST. JAMES, barony of NEW-
CASTLE, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER;
the population is returned with the parish. This place,
formerly called Kilmaignend, derived that name from a
monastery founded on the south side of the city, of
which St. Maignend was abbot about the beginning of
the 7th century. On or near the site of this monastery
was erected the ancient priory of Kilmainham, founded
in 1174 for Knights Templars by Richard Strongbow,
Earl of Pembroke, and dedicated to St. John the Bap-
tist, The endowments of the priory, which were ample,
were confirmed by Hen. II., and the founder, after be-
stowing on it all the lands of Kilmainham, died in 1176
and was interred in. Christ-Church, Dublin. Upon the
suppression of this order, in 1307, the lands and pos-
sessions of the priory were assigned by the Pope to the
Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and confirmed to them
by Edw. II.; and the priory, which had been previously
an hospital for the sick and infirm, became an asylum
for guests and strangers, and was held by persons of
the highest rank; its priors sat as barons in the House
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KIL
of Lords, and some of them were chancellors and lords-
deputies of Ireland. Prior Keating, in 1482, having
seized the castle of Dublin and disposed of the property
of the hospital, was removed from his office; but he
made his appointed successor prisoner, and compelled
him to resign; and having given his warmest support
to the imposture of Lambert Simnel, it was enacted that
none but a person of English descent should in future
be appointed prior. In 1535, John Rawson, an Eng-
lishman, who had been elected prior in conformity to
that enactment, surrendered the priory, with all its
possessions, into the hands of the King, by whom he
was created Viscount Clontarf, with an annual revenue
of 500 marks out of the hospital estate. In 1557, Sir
Oswald Massingberd was made prior by the authority
of Cardinal Pole, the Pope’s legate, and was confirmed
in the former possessions of the priory by Queen Mary;
but on the accession of Queen Elizabeth, he privately
withdrew from the kingdom. The buildings of the
priory were spacious and of very elegant design; it was
frequently the residence of the lords-deputies, and
after its dissolution was still regarded as one of the
finest buildings in the country. About the year 1675,
Arthur, Earl of Granard, suggested to the Earl of Essex,
then Lord-Lieutenant, the foundation of a military esta-
blishment for the reception of disabled and superan-
nuated soldiers; and the Duke of Ormonde, by inces-
sant applications to the King for the same purpose, re-
ceived from Chas. II., in 1679, an order for carrying it
into effect. For this purpose 64 Irish acres adjacent to
the site of the priory, and other lands, then forming
part of the Phoenix Park, were granted for the site of
this institution. The first stone was laid by the Duke
of Ormonde, in 1680, and the whole was completed in
three years, after a design by Sir Christopher Wren,
and at an expense of £23,559. It is a quadrangular
structure, 306 feet long, 288 feet broad, and two
stories high, enclosing an area of 210 feet square, laid
down in grass and intersected by walks meeting in
the centre; the exterior fronts, with the exception, of
the north or principal front, which is of stone, are of
brick rough-cast. Over the northern entrance, which is
of the Corinthian order, is a square tower lighted by
arched windows, with a clock turret surmounted by
an octagonal spire; and in the centre of the eastern
front is a wide archway leading into the quadrangle,
which on three sides and part of the fourth is sur-
rounded by a piazza of Doric arches, affording a covered
passage to the dining-hall in the centre of the north
range. The dining-hall is 100 feet in length and 50 in
width; the lower part of the walls is wainscoted with
oak and ornamented with muskets, bayonets, and other
military weapons fancifully arranged, and the upper
part decorated with portraits of most of the sovereigns
and other distinguished personages; the ceiling is flat
and divided into compartments, and in the central com-
partment is a large clock dial. On the south side of
the hall is a gallery, supported on brackets of carved
oak, leading from the apartments of the master of the
hospital, at the west end of the hall, to the chapel, which
is at the east end. The chapel is 86 feet long and 40
wide, and has a venerable and imposing appearance;
the east window, which formerly belonged to the ancient
priory, is embellished with stained glass; the altar is
of Irish oak exquisitely carved, and of the Corinthian
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