KILGORMAN

KILGORMAN, a parish, in the barony of GOREY, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 5 miles (S. W.) from Arklow, on the coast road from Wexford to Dublin; containing 1465 inhabitants. This place takes its name from St. Gorman, who, according to Archdall, was abbot of a monastery founded here at a very early period. It lies on the shore of St. George's channel, and comprises about 5860 statute acres, of which the greater portion is under tillage. The soil is marshy, the system of agriculture slowly improving, and there is neither waste land nor bog; coal has been found on the border of the parish, but no works have been yet established.

Hyde Park, the seat of J. Beauman, jun., Esq., is a handsome mansion, in grounds tastefully laid out, and commanding a fine view of the sea, and of the escarpment of Tara Hill. Ahare, also the property of Mr. Beauman, and Castletown, a deserted mansion, belonging to H. K. Grogan Morgan, Esq., are also in the parish. There are considerable herring fisheries at Clone and Saleen. Near the northeastern extremity of the parish is Kilmichael Point, off which, about a mile from the shore and at the north end of the Kilgorman sand bank, is stationed a light-ship, also called the Arklow floating light, from its position near the south end of the Arklow sand banks.

Kilgorman bank extends more than four miles (S. W. by S.), and has six feet of water on the north and three feet on the south end, the latter running nearly opposite to the new pier and harbour of Courtown. About halfway between the great sand bank and the shore is an oyster bed, about half a mile in extent, to the south of which is a small sand bank called the Saleen Patch. At the Point is a coast-guard station.

The parish is in the diocese of Dublin and Glendalough; the rectory is partly impropriate in Messrs. D. Howell, W. Johnson, and C. Cooper, and partly forming a portion of the union of Arklow; and the vicarage is part of the union of Inch. The tithes amount to £210, of which £46. 3. 1. is payable to the impropriators, £13. 16. 11. to the incumbent of Arklow, and £150 to the vicar: the glebe comprises 20 ½ acres. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Arklow; the chapel, at Castletown, built by subscription in 1806, is a handsome edifice, with a lofty square embattled tower crowned with pinnacles, which was added to it in 1829. Adjoining it is a school-house, built by subscription; and at Hyde Park is a school wholly supported by the Misses Beauman. Near the ruins of the old church, on the sea shore, is one of those raths or mounds usually attributed to the Danes.