CHARLESTOWN, a parish

CHARLESTOWN, a parish, in the barony of ARDES, county of LOUTH, and province of LEINSTER, 2 miles (N. by W.) from Ardee; containing 1407 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the road from Ardee to Monaghan; and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 2699 ½ statute acres, of which 1797 acres are applotted under the tithe act and valued at £2870 per annum. The land is very fertile, and the system of agriculture much improved: there is some bog, which supplies the inhabitants with fuel, but very little waste land in the parish. A few individuals are employed in weaving linen; but the principal part of the population are engaged in agricultural pursuits. There are some quarries of stone fit for building, but none of limestone. Rahanna, the seat of Clarges Ruxton, Esq., is in this parish.

The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Armagh, united by acts of council, in 1737 and 1754, to the vicarage of Tallanstown, and the rectories of Philipstown, Maplestown, and Clonkeehan, which five parishes constitute the union of Charlestown or Philipstown, in the patronage of the Lord-Primate; the rectory is impropriate in the Hon. Baron Foster. The tithes of the parish amount to £271. 17. 6., of which £234. 17. 6. is payable to the impropriator, and £37 to the vicar: the amount of tithes for the union, including glebe, payable to the incumbent, is £476. 15. 4. The church, a handsome edifice in the later English style, with a tower and spire, together 108 feet high, was erected in 1827, at an expense, exclusively of the spire, of £1385, a loan from the late Board of First Fruits: the spire was added at an expense of £220, defrayed by the Rev. R. Olpherts, the present incumbent, and several of the resident gentry. The churchyard is enclosed with a handsome iron palisade resting on a low wall of hewn stone, towards the expense of which the lord-primate contributed £50. The glebe-house, a handsome residence within a quarter of a mile from the church, was built by a gift of £250 and a loan of £550 from the late Board of First Fruits: the glebe comprises seven acres of land, valued at £3 per acre, but subject to a rent of £11.10. 9. per annum, payable to the representatives of the late Alexander Dawson, Esq.

In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Tallanstown. Adjoining the church is the parochial school-house, containing two large school-rooms, each for 60 boys and girls respectively, with suitable apartments for the master and his family; it was built in 1827, chiefly at the expense of the Rev. R. Olpherts, aided by a grant from Government and some charitable donations: the master, in addition to other contributions, receives £10 per annum from the incumbent. There are some remains of the ancient parish church.