KILMOREMOY

KILMOREMOY, a parish, partly in the barony of TYRERAGH, county of SLIGO, but chiefly in that of TYRAWLEY, county of MAYO, and province of CONNAUGHT, on the river Moy; containing, with the market and post-town of Ballina and the town of Ardnaree (both of which are separately described), 14,586 inhabitants. Here is much bog, and agriculture is in a backward state.

The principal seats are Belleek Abbey, the residence of Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Knox Gore, a noble mansion in the later English style of architecture, erected by the proprietor at an expense of £10,000, and beautifully situated on the banks of the Moy, in a fine demesne tastefully laid out and richly planted; Belleek Castle, the handsome residence of E. Howly, Esq.; and Ardnaree Cottage, of T. Jones, Esq. It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Killala, forming part of the union of Ardagh; the rectory is appropriate to the precentor-ship of Killala cathedral.

The tithes amount to £472. 3. 7 ½., of which £49. 17. 11 ½. is payable to the precentor, and £422. 5. 8. to the vicar. There is a glebe-house, towards the erection of which the late Board of First Fruits gave £100, in 1794, and which was rebuilt by a loan of £600 and a gift of £200 from the same Board, in 1828: the glebe comprises 11 acres. The church of the union, which is in Ardnaree, was built in 1763, by aid of a gift of £300 from the late Board, which granted £1400 as a loan for its enlargement, in 1816, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recently granted £573 for its repair.

The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church, and has a handsome unfinished cathedral at Ardnaree. Here are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists. There are eight public schools, to one of which the Rev. Mr. Hueston subscribes £20 per annum, and in which about 520 children are educated; and nine private schools, in which are about 370 children. Here are a cromlech and the remains of an ancient castle, which gives name to the village of Ardnaree, or "the king's height;" and some ruins of the old church, with a burial-ground attached.