KILLEAD

KILLEAD, or KILLAGH, a parish, in the barony of LOWER MASSEREENE, county of ANTRIM, and province of ULSTER, 4 ½ miles (S.) from Antrim, on the road to Lurgan; containing 7183 inhabitants. This extensive parish is for a distance of eight miles bounded on the west by Lough Neagh, and is divided into the districts of Upper and Lower Kilmakevit, and Upper and Lower Killelough; it comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 42,836 ½ statute acres, including 789 ¼ in the Grange of Carmany, and 19,794 ½ in Lough Neagh. The land is in a high state of cultivation, and there is neither bog nor waste land; the whole surface is drained, fenced, and managed on the Scottish system; the principal crop is wheat, for which the soil is peculiarly adapted, and which was cultivated here with great success when scarcely known in any other part of the county. The farm-houses are large and well-built, and have excellent farm-yards and homesteads attached to them, and with the comfortable cottages of the peasantry, and the numerous orchards, gardens, plantations, and hedgerows, give to this district a rich and cheerful appearance.

The principal gentlemen's seats are Langford Lodge, the handsome mansion of the Hon. Col. Pakenham; Glendarragh, of Langford Heyland, Esq., Benneagh, of J. Macaulay, Esq.; Glenoak, of R. Macauley, Esq.; and Tully House, of J. Murray, Esq. The weaving of linen is carried on to some extent in various parts of the parish. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Connor, and in the patronage of the Earl of Massareene; the rectory is impropriate in J. Whitla, Esq., and nine others. The rectorial tithes amount to £830. 18. 3., and the vicarial to £700. The church is a plain modern structure, nearly in the centre of the parish. The glebe-house is an elegant residence, erected in 1824 by the present incumbent, at an expense of £2000; the glebe comprises about ten acres.

At Gartree, formerly a separate parish, but since the Reformation included in this parish, of which it is the principal burial-place, a very handsome church was erected in 1831, under the auspices of Col. Pakenham, aided by a loan of £900 from the late Board of First Fruits: the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have lately granted £315 for its repair. At the entrance to the churchyard is a triumphal arch, erected in 1832, at the expense of the parishioners, in honour of Capt. Armstrong, to whose memory it bears a long inscription. It is endowed with £100 per annum by Col. Pakenham, the patron, who has built a handsome residence for the chaplain, and serves as a chapel of ease to the parochial church. In the R. C. divisions this parish forms part of the union or district of Glenavy; the chapel, a small neat building, was erected in 1824. There are places of worship for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod of Ulster of the first class, and for Seceders; to the former, which is situated at Tully, is attached a very extensive burial-ground, in which is a costly monument, in the Grecian style, to the memory of S. Cunningham, Esq., of the island of St. Vincent's, a native of this parish.

About 600 children are taught in the public schools, of which one at Ballyhill was built in 1809, by Mr. Johnson, by whom it is partly supported: one in the churchyard, built in 1802, is supported by the vicar; and one built by Col. Pakenham is supported by him and his lady, at whose expense also many of the children of both sexes are entirely clothed. There are also ten private schools, in which are about 300 children. Lady Massareene bequeathed £100, and Mr. Cunningham £200, to purchase land and divide the rents among the poor; a small farm in Ballygenniff was accordingly purchased, and is let for £16 per annum. There are numerous mounds and forts, some defended by a single and others by a double fosse; two of them have arched excavations. There are also several ruins of churches, and many relics of antiquity have "been discovered in the neighbourhood. Clotworthy, Earl of Massareene, was interred in the parish church.