KILMORE

KILMORE, a parish, partly in the barony of KINELEARTY, but chiefly in that of UPPER CASTLEREAGH, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, 4 miles (E. by S.) from Ballinahinch, on the road from Downpatrick to Belfast; containing 6602 inhabitants. According to the Ordnance survey it comprises 12,854 statute acres, of which 6387 ¾ are in the barony of Kinelearty, and 6466 ¼ in Upper Castlereagh. Of these, 94 are water, 60 bog, 400 waste, 250 woodland, 600 pasture, and the remainder arable land in a high state of cultivation, and producing a great quantity of barley.

The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Down, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the rectory is appropriate to the see.

The tithes amount to £714, of which £394 is payable to William Sharman Crawford, Esq., lessee under the bishop, and the remainder to the vicar. The glebe-house was erected in 1794, at an expense of £461. 10., towards which the late Board of First Fruits gave £92. The glebe comprises 29a. lr. 17p., statute measure, valued at £22 per ann., and subject to a rent of £8. 5. The church is a small edifice, built about 1792, principally at the expense of the family of the present William Sharman Crawford, Esq.

In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising the parishes of Kilmore, Inch, and Killileagh, and has two chapels in Kilmore, and one in each of the other parishes. Here is a meeting-house for Presbyterians in connection with the Remonstrant Synod, of the. second class, in the burial-ground of which Dr. Moses Nelson, who was minister here, and his son, Dr. William Nelson, are interred; also meeting-houses for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod of Ulster, of the first class, and with the Seceding Synod, of the second class. There are four public schools, in which about 360, and nine private schools, in which 310, children are educated; also seven Sunday schools, one of which, held at Cross-gar House, is supported by Miss McNeil Hamilton.