KILLENCARE

KILLENCARE, or KILLENKERE, a parish, partly in the barony of UPPER LOUGHTEE, but chiefly in that of CASTLERAGHAN, county of CAVAN, and province of ULSTER, 4 miles (W. S. W.) from Bailieborough, on the road to Virginia; containing 7600 inhabitants. This parish, which is also called Killinskere, comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 15,962 ¼ statute acres, of which 131 ¼ are water, and there is some bog. The lands are principally arable, and in a tolerable state of cultivation; slate is found here, but of very inferior quality, and the quarries formerly worked have in consequence been discontinued: an ore supposed to be zinc has been discovered on the townland of Durryham, but it has not been yet worked.

The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Kilmore, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the rectory is impropriate in the representatives of Richard, Earl of Westmeath: the tithes amount to £480. The church, for the erection of which the late Board of First Fruits granted £900 as a gift, and £1200 as a loan, in 1817, is a very neat structure. The same Board, in 1816, gave £325 and lent £1050 towards the erection of the glebe-house, which is a handsome residence; the glebe comprises 380 acres.

The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church: the chapel is a plain building, and there is also one at Clanaphillip. There is a place of worship for Presbyterians, in connexion with the Synod of Ulster, of the third class; also one for those in connexion with the Seceding Synod. About 440 children are taught in four public schools, of which one is supported by Lord Farnham, and another by the Sankey family; and there are eight private schools, in which are about 480 children, and a Sunday-school. There are numerous mineral springs in the parish, some of which are used medicinally.