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LOU
is payable to the dean, and £131. 10. 7¾. to the incum-
bent; there is no glebe-house; the glebes of the union
comprise 27½ statute acres, let on lease for £20. 9. per
ann,; and the entire value of the benefice, including
glebe and tithe, amounts to £517. 16. 9¾. The church,
a neat structure, was built in 1821 by a loan of
£1846. 3. 1. from the late Board of First Fruits; the
spire was struck by lightning and thrown down on the
roof, on the first Sunday in Dec. 1832, about two hours
before the time of divine service; the church has been
recently repaired by a grant of £169 from the Ecclesias-
tical Commissioners. The R. C. parish is co-extensive
with that of the Established Church, and is one of the
parishes belonging to the Bishop; the chapel is a spacious
edifice, and there are chapels also attached to the Car-
melite monastery, and to the convent of sisters of
the same order. The Carmelite monastery, originally
founded in 1300 by Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster,
has, notwithstanding the alienation of its revenues at
the dissolution, still preserved a regular succession of
members. In consequence of the dilapidated state of
the buildings, a chapel and a dwelling-house adjoining
it were erected in 1785, of which the former was re-
built on a more extensive scale in 1816, and the latter
in 1829, under the superintendence of the prior, the
Rev. Mr. Gannon, at an expense of £4000 (including
both), defrayed partly from the funds of the establish-
ment and partly by subscription, to which the Clanri-
carde family, on whose estate the monastery is situated,
liberally contributed. A convent for nuns of the same
order was founded about the year 1680, and removed to
its present site in 1829, when the building, including a
chapel, was erected under the direction of the Prior of
the abbey, at a cost of £5000, entirely defrayed from
the funds of the nunnery; there are at present 18
sisters in the convent, chiefly young ladies. Nearly 1000
children are taught in three public schools, of which
the parochial school is supported by the rector, and the
national schools are chiefly under the direction of the
Prior and R. C. clergy of the monastery, and the sisters
of the nunnery; the school-houses were built at the
joint expense of the Prior, the nuns, and the New Board
of Education. There are also seven, private schools, in
which are about 230 children, and a Sunday school.
There are some remains of the ancient Carmelite mon-
astery, and also of the old castle built by the De Burghs,
which was for some time the residence of the Clanri-
carde family. There was anciently an hospital for
lepers in the town, but little of its history is recorded,
and even the site of it is unknown. On the summit of
Monument Hill, near the town, is a circular enclosure
in which are seven stones, five still standing erect, and
two lying on the ground; in the centre is a small
tumulus of earth, and near the base ‘of the hill are
vestiges of a circular intrenchment, within which are
the remains of an ancient cromlech.
LOUISBORGH.—See LEWISBURGH.
LOUTH (County of), a maritime county of the pro-
vince of LEINSTER, and the smallest in Ireland, bounded
on the east by the Irish Sea; on the north, by the bay
of Carlingford and by the county of Armagh; on the
west, by the counties of Monaghan. and Meathj and
on the south by that of Meath. It extends from 53°
42′ to 54° 6′ N. Lat., and from 6° 4′ to 6° 38′ W. Lon.;
and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey,
317
LOU
200,484 statute acres, of which 185,568 acres are cul-
tivated land, and the remaining 14,916 unimproved
mountain and bog. It contained, in 1821, 101,011
inhabitants, and in 1831, 107,481, exclusively of the
county of the town of Drogheda, which forms a separate
jurisdiction at the southern extremity of the county.
It appears from Ptolemy that the present county
formed, in his time, part of the territory of the Voluntii,
which extended southward to that of the Eblani. It
was subsequently included in the independent sove-
reignty of Orgiul, or Argial, called by the English Oriel
or Uriel, forming a large part of the province of Meath,
including also the counties of Armagh and Monaghan.
This principality is stated to have formed the subordi-
nate territory of Conal Muirthemne, called also Hy Canal
and Machirire-Conal, in which were the smaller districts
of Fera Arda, or Fatharta, the present barony of Ferrard;
Hy Segan, or Hy Seanghain, that of Ardee; Fera Lorg,
Lorgan, or Lurgin, that of Lower Dundalk; Hy Mac
Uais, the country of the Mac Scanlans, that of Upper
Dundalk; and Ludha, or Lugha, that of Louth, which
last was the country of the O’Carrols, chiefs of Argial.
The last celebrated head of this race was Donchad
O’Carrol, king of Argial, who founded the two great
abbeys of Mellifont and Louth, and was likewise a
prince of considerable prowess. Argial was conquered
by John de Courcy, in 1183; and that part of it which
is included within the limits of the present county of
Louth (one of those erected by King John in 1210)
being immediately peopled with English settlers, it con-
tinued ever after to be subject to the English jurisdic-
tion; and thus the ancient Argial was divided into
Irish Argial and English Uriel. The latter, from its
situation, being much exposed to the incursions of the
native chiefs, numerous castles were erected for its
defence; but nevertheless, in the reign of Edw. II., it
was overrun and ravaged by the Scots tinder Edward
Bruce, who, however, received their final overthrow from
Sir John Birmingham in this county.
The county of Argial, Lowth, or Louth, was one of
the four counties of the pale in which, in 1473, a small
standing force was appointed to be maintained; and the
mayor of Drogheda, Sir Laurence Taaf, and Richard
Bellew, were appointed commanders of the newly insti-
tuted fraternity of arms for the defence of the English
pale. It was overrun by the insurgent chieftains in the
reign of Elizabeth, at which time it appears to have
formed part of the province of Ulster; for in 1596, in the
conference held at Faughart between O’Nial and O’Donel,
on the Irish side, and the archbishop of Cashel and the
Earl of Ormonde on that of the English government, the
latter proposed that the English should retain possession,
of that part of Ulster situated between the river Boyne
and Dundalk, in this county, of which they had been in
possession for a long period, together with the towns of
Carrickfergus, Carlingford, and Newry, in the more
northern parts: but these terms were altogether reject-
ed, and ever since, Louth has formed a portion of the
province of Leinster.
It is wholly in the diocese of Armagh, except a
small portion of two parishes in the diocese of Clogher.
For purposes of civil jurisdiction it is divided into the
baronies of Ardee, Ferrard, Louth, Upper Dundalk, and
Lower Dundalk, and contains the sea-port, borough and
market-town of Dundalk; the sea-port and disfran-