KILLAGAN

KILLAGAN, a parish, partly in the barony of UPPER DUNLUCE, but chiefly in that of KILCONWAY, county of ANTRIM, and province of ULSTER, 8 miles (S. E.) from Ballymoney, on the road to Belfast, and also on that from Ballymena to Ballycastle; containing 1451 inhabitants. This parish comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 3838 statute acres, of which 1406 ¼ are in the barony of Upper Dunluce, and 2431 ¾ in that of Kilconway: it is in a good state of cultivation, considerable improvement having been made in the system of agriculture. A large expanse of water, called Mount-Hamilton Lough, has lately been drained, and the land brought into profitable cultivation. In the village of Clogh Mills are some flax and corn mills, and the weaving of linen is carried on by many of the inhabitants in their own houses.

It is a rectory, in the diocese of Connor, forming part of the union and corps of the prebend of Connor in the cathedral of St. Saviour; the tithes amount to £115. About 100 children are taught in two public schools, and there is also a Sunday school. On a gentle eminence, near the centre of the parish, are some remains of Mount Hamilton castle, in front of which was the lake before mentioned. There is also a large circular earthwork, called Mount Hamilton Fort, in which Pictish coins, military weapons, arrow heads of flint, and other relics of antiquity, have been discovered; and in the bog was found, in 1831, a firkin of butter in a fossilised state.