DUNCORMUCK

DUNCORMUCK, a parish, in the barony of BARGY, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 3 miles (E.) from Danes-Castle; containing 1591 inhabitants, of which number, 249 are in the village. This parish is situated on a small stream that flows into the lough of Duncormuck, and comprises 5860 statute acres, which, though chiefly under tillage, contains some good grazing land. Quarries of a dark species of limestone are worked, and the produce is extensively used for manure. At Lacken a considerable trade is carried on in slates, coal, and culm from South Wales; vessels of 100 tons' burden can cross the bar at high tides and lie securely in the lough, which is still frequented by wild fowl, though not in such numbers as formerly. Petty sessions are held monthly in the village.

The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Ferns, episcopally united, in 1759, to the rectory of Ambrosetown, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes amount to £306. 7. 10., of which £119. 19. 2. is payable to the impropriator, and the remainder to the vicar; and the entire tithes of the benefice amount to £324. 17. 10 ¾. The glebe-house, the residence of the Rev. R. B. Gordon, was erected in 1817 by a gift of £100 and a loan of £450 from the late Board of First Fruits; there are three contiguous glebes containing together 18 acres. The church is a modern edifice, erected on the site of the ancient building, and is about to be repaired by a grant of £148 from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of the union or district of Rathangan, comprising also the parishes of Killag, Kilcowan, Kilmannon, and Ballyconnick, with the townland of Ambrosetown: there are chapels at Rathangan and Clarestown, the latter in the parish of Kilmannon. The parochial school was erected by the Rev. R. B. Gordon on a site presented by W. Richards, Esq., of Rathaspeck; it is partly supported by Mr. Gordon. A school at Rathangan is aided by the Rev. J. Barry, P. P.: the number of children educated in these schools is 110, besides which there are about 50 in a private school. In the village is a lofty tower called Duncormuck Castle, apparently of Anglo-Norman architecture.