KILKEA

KILKEA, a parish, in the barony of KILKEA and MOONE, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER, 2 ¼ miles (N. N. W.) from Castledermot, on the road from that place to Athy; containing 395 inhabitants. It comprises 3207 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £1673 per annum. The principal seats are Milbrook, the residence of J. Green, Esq.; Kilkea Lodge, of H. Green, Esq.; Kilkea House, of P. Dunne, Esq.; and Kilkea Castle, of P. Caulfield, Esq. This castle was built in 1180, by De Lacy, and afterwards passed to the Earls of Kildare. In 1414, the O'Mores and O'Dempseys were defeated here by the Lord Justice. The castle was nearly rebuilt by Lord Kildare, in 1426, and now belongs to his successor, the Duke of Leinster. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Dublin, and in the patronage of — La Touche, Esq.; the rectory is impropriate in the Rev. Sir Erasmus Borrowes, Bart.; the tithes amount to £210, of which £140 is payable to the impropriator, and £70 to the vicar. In the R. C. divisions this parish forms part of the union or district of Castledermot. About 30 children are educated in two private schools. Near Kilkea Castle is a large conical mount covered with trees, and to the east of it are the remains of an old church.