KILMORE

KILMORE, a parish, in the barony of UPPER DEECE, county of MEATH, and province of LEINSTER, ½ a mile (S. E.) from Summerhill, on the road from Dublin to Navan; containing 1266 inhabitants. It comprises 4000 acres, about one-third of which are arable, and the remainder pasture land, with about 16 acres of ornamental plantations, and two nurseries.

The principal seats are Larch Hill, the residence of S. E.Watson, Esq.. the grounds of which are embellished with grottoes and temples; and Philpotstown, the handsome residence of T. Walsh, Esq.

The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Meath, and in the patronage of the Crown: the tithes amount to £330. 13. 4. There is a glebe-house, which cost £1300, towards which the late Board of First Fruits, in 1813, gave £250 and lent £500: the glebe comprises 12 acres, and is beautifully laid out as a landscape garden. The church is a small ancient building, and the churchyard is judiciously planted.

In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, called Moynalvey, containing Kilmore, Galtrim, Kiltale, and Dirpatrick; there are chapels at Kilmore and Galtrim, the former a large building in the village of Moynalvey, which was erected in 1834, by subscription, of which the greater part was contributed by members of the Established Church. On the outside is a fine bust of our Saviour, after Michael Angelo, presented by Miss Gregory. Here is a school for all denominations, superintended and entirely supported by the rector, Dr. Tighe Gregory, and containing about 30 children; also a private school of about 60 children. A dispensary, Dorcas institution, repository, and poor shop, have been founded by Dr. Gregory, who intends to erect dwellings for destitute widows and orphans.

In the churchyard is a curious round stone, placed on a pillar by the present incumbent, by whom it was discovered. The crucifixion is represented on one of its sides, and the crown of thorns, bleeding heart, &c., on the other. Dr. Gregory also found a fiat stone, dated 1575, containing a representation of the crucifixion, with a legible inscription in Latin, and a defaced one in Irish, and a request to pray for the soul of Roger Mac Mahon Guineff, or Guiness. About 2 ½ miles north-west from the present are the ruins of an ancient church, and of a castle, called Arodstown; the remains of a church are also visible at Moynalvey, about a mile to the south of which cells, extending a considerable distance under ground, were discovered in 1834; and near them is a tract still retaining the name of "the college." To the south of the parish, sepulchral remains have been discovered within a considerable embankment: these ruins, between which are visible the remains of fortified stations, encircle the parish; and in the centre stands an ancient bush on a mount, known by the name of Killa-more, the "great hill," and Seach-na-Killa-more, or the "bush of Kilmore." The number of these antiquities creates an opinion that Kilmore was formerly a place of religious importance.