KILGOBBIN

KILGOBBIN, or KILGOBBAN, a parish, in the half-barony of RATHDOWN, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER, 5 ½ miles (S. by E.) from Dublin, on the road to Bray; containing 1149 inhabitants. This parish comprises 3290 statute acres; the system of agriculture is improving. Ballybrack and the principal part of the Three Rock mountains are within its limits; and there is an abundance of fine granite that is used for building, flagging, &c., and is chiefly sent to Dublin. Good turf is obtained from the mountains. There are several pretty villas, which, from their elevated situation, command extensive views, embracing the bay and city of Dublin, with a great expanse of sea and adjacent country: the principal are Fern Hill, the residence of J. McCasky, Esq.; Kilgobbin Cottage, of B. E. Lawless, Esq.; and Jamestown House, of J. Rorke, Esq. There is a constabulary police station in the village of Step-aside.

It is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Dublin, forming part of the union of Kilternan: the tithes amount to £150. In the R. C. divisions it is part of the union or district of Sandyford or Glancullen. There is a school, aided by subscriptions and collections at an annual charity sermon, in which about 80 children are educated. Here are the remains of an ancient castle, erected by the family of Walsh, by which it was forfeited in the reign of Charles I., and then passed to the Loftus family. The church, which is said to have been the first erected after the Reformation, stands near the castle, and has been disused since 1826, when one was built at Kilternan. Near it is an ancient cross, about eight feet high, and there is another in the Jamestown House demesne, in the vicinity of which was a holy well, dedicated to St. James. An urn, which is now in the museum of the Royal Irish Society, was discovered in the lawn of Kilgobbin Cottage.