KILPATRICK

KILPATRICK, a parish, in the barony of SHELMALIER, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 3 ½ miles (N.) from Wexford, on the mail coach road to Dublin; containing 852 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated partly on the river Slaney and partly on its estuary, above Wexford bridge, comprises 2835 statute acres of good land in an excellent state of cultivation; the system of agriculture being superior to what generally prevails in this part of the country, and green crops having been cultivated for some years: there is neither bog nor waste land. The river Slaney is unsurpassed for the richness and beauty of the scenery on its banks, and the surrounding country is agreeably and strikingly diversified.

Saunderscourt, the property of the Earl of Arran, and now the residence of A. C. Barlow, Esq., commands a fine view of the bridge and harbour of Wexford; and Kyle, the seat of W. Harvey, Esq., is embosomed in woods of the richest foliage, and embellished with pleasure grounds and gardens tastefully laid out, and commanding extensive and varying views of the scenery of the Slaney. On a rocky eminence in Lower Kyle, overlooking the river, is a monumental obelisk, erected in 1786 by the Rev. C. Harvey, D.D., to commemorate the exertions and patriotism of General George Ogle and the independent volunteers of Ireland, the first corps of which was raised in this county.

The "Kyle Model Gardens," lately established by C. G. Harvey, Esq., (who has appropriated nearly eleven statute acres of his best land for that purpose) are intended for the practical instruction of the labourer in garden husbandry, in order to the due improvement of an allotment of half a rood of land to each of six labourers' families, for the cultivation of flowers, fruits, vegetables, and bees, on the system of the "London Labourers' Friend Society," and for the profitable employment of his spare time without interfering with his ordinary occupation. This garden, besides affording perfect specimens of cottage gardening on a minute scale, under the superintendence of an experienced gardener, who will give gratuitous instruction, will also contain a patch of land devoted solely to the support of a cow, in order to give the small holder a practical proof of what may be accomplished by good management on a very small allotment. Mr. Harvey has liberally undertaken to advance the funds requisite to render this institution available to the promotion of horticulture and rural economy, with a view to improve the physical and moral condition of the labourer. Some handsome cottage residences have been lately erected on the Kyle estate, of which that called Broomley is occupied by C. Huson, Esq., and Kyle Cottage, by Captain Dayrell; Sion Hill, the residence of A. Lyster, Esq., is also in the parish.

On the Saunderscourt demesne is a quarry of conglomerate or pudding stone, which is used for building, but not worked to any great extent. A brewery has lately been built at the village of Kyle; a penny post to Enniscorthy and Wexford has been established, and there is also a constabulary police station.

This parish was formerly included in the union of Ardcolme, from which it was separated in 1829, and, with the greater portion of the contiguous parish of Tickillen, formed into a distinct parish.

The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Ferns, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the rectory is impropriate in the Earl of Arran.

The tithes amount to £146. 18. 5., of which £61. 7. 5. is payable to the impropriator, and £85. 11. to the vicar; the entire tithes of the union payable to the incumbent amount to £145. 11. The church, which was for some years the domestic chapel of Saunderscourt, has a handsome Norman doorway, which was removed from the ruins of the old church of Ballynaslaney; under the altar are interred the remains of the first Earl of Arran.

In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district called Crossabeg, comprising also the parishes of Artramont, Tickillen, and a portion of Kilmallog; the chapel, near Crossabeg, is a plain neat building, adjoining which is a house for the priest; there is also a chapel at Ballymourne. Two neat school-houses in the Swiss cottage style were built a few years since by Mr. C. G. Harvey, by whom the school for boys is wholly supported; the other for girls has recently been aided by a grant of £12 per ann. from the National Board. An association of Ladies for the employment of the female poor in spinning and weaving was established in 1823, and is supported by subscriptions of the resident gentry of this and the neighbouring parishes; and a branch of the Scryne and Ardcolme dispensary has been recently opened at Kyle. The Kyle Charitable Loan Fund, established in 1835, has been attended with the most beneficial results. Some fossil remains, consisting of a pair of antlers of the elk or moose deer, of large dimensions, were lately found at Kyle.