KILCAVAN

KILCAVAN, or KILKEVAN, a parish, in the barony of BARGY, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 11 ½ miles (S. W.) from Wexford, on the new road to Bannow; containing 695 inhabitants. It is bounded on the east by St. George's channel, and is almost entirely under tillage; the system of agriculture has been greatly improved within the last few years, and from the convenience of its situation for obtaining sea-manure, the land is generally in a good state of cultivation.

The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Ferns, episcopally united, in 1806, to the vicarage of Bannow, together forming the union of Kilcavan, in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes amount to £144. 13. 3 ½., and of the union, to £297. 4. 7. The church, for the repair of which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recently granted £190, is a neat edifice with a square tower, erected in 1820, for which the late Board of First Fruits gave £600 and lent £130. The same Board also gave, in 1821, £400 and lent £330 for the erection of the glebe-house: the glebe, in four portions, comprises 4 ½ acres. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Bannow, or Ballymitty. At. Granstown is a convent of Augustine Friars, representing the ancient house of Clonmines, to which is attached a chapel, open to the public; this establishment consists only of two brethren, employed in preparing pupils for the college of Maynooth, and in this seminary the late eminent Dr. Doyle received the rudiments of his education. A Sunday school is superintended by the incumbent, and there is a dispensary.