LARAH

LARAH, a parish, partly in the barony of UPPER LOUGHTEE, but chiefly in that of TULLAGHGARVEY, county of CAVAN, and province of ULSTER; containing, with the post-town of Stradone, 7808 inhabitants. According to the Ordnance survey it comprises 17,282 ½ statute acres, including 180 ½ of water; of these, 5166 ½ are in Upper Loughtee, and 12,116 in Tullaghgarvey. The state of agriculture is rather backward, and in the upper part of the parish there is a quantity of bog. There are quarries of limestone, which is used for building and as manure.

The principal seats are Stradone House, the residence of Major Burrowes, a handsome structure in a well-planted demesne; and Ravenswood, of R. Saunderson, Esq. It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Kilmore, forming part of the union of Drung; the rectory is impropriate in the Marquess of Westmeath.

The tithes amount to £559. 8., of which £221. 19. 9. is payable to the impropriator, and £337. 8. 3. to the vicar; the glebe comprises 556a. 1r. 23p. The church is a neat and commodious edifice, erected by aid of a grant from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1832.

In the R. C. divisions this district is divided into Upper and Lower Larah, and has chapels at Larah and Cleffernah. There are two public schools, in which about 270 children are educated, and eleven private schools, in which are about 720 children, also two Sunday schools. On the townland of Knockatoother is a very remarkable cairn, and several Danish raths are scattered over the parish.