MILLTOWN

MILLTOWN, a market and post-town, in the parish of KILCOLEMAN, barony of TRUGHENACKMY, county of KERRY, and province of MUNSTER, 14 miles (S.) from Tralee (by Currens), and 158 miles (S. W. by S.) from Dublin, on the mail road from Tralee to Cahirciveen; containing 1427 inhabitants. It is situated near the river Mang or Maine, which flows into the harbour of Castlemaine, and is navigable for vessels of 100 tons to within a mile of the town. In 1831 it contained 260 houses, together with the parochial church, R. C. chapel, bridewell, dispensary, and school: it has a sub-post-office to Tralee and Cahirciveen. A patent for a market and two fairs was obtained by John Godfrey, Esq., ancestor of the present proprietor, Sir John Godfrey, Bart., whose seat, Kilcoleman Abbey, immediately adjoins the town.

The market, which is for corn and potatoes, is on Saturday; and fairs are held on April 26th and 27th, June 23rd and 24th, Aug. 23rd and 24th, and Dec. 15th and 16th, for general farming stock: the market-house is an old building. At Rhapogue is a quay; a considerable quantity of corn is annually exported, and coal, salt, and other articles are imported. The bridewell is a neat building, consisting of two day-rooms, two yards, and six cells. A constabulary police force is stationed in the town, and petty sessions are generally held once a fortnight. The church is a neat edifice, with a square pinnacled tower.

In the R. C. divisions Milltown is the head of a union or district, comprising the parishes of Kilcoleman and Kilbonane, each containing a chapel: that of Milltown is a handsome and spacious modem building, with an ornamental belfry of hewn stone; there is also a meeting-house for Wesleyan Methodists.

In the school-house, which is built in the cottage style, about 120 children of both sexes are educated at the expense of Sir John and Lady Godfrey; and her ladyship, assisted by a loan from a London Society, affords employment in spinning, weaving, &c., to several of the poorer class. The late Rev. T. Fitzgerald, P.P., of Milltown, bequeathed £4000 to the R. C. bishop of Kerry and his successors, the interest of which is to be applied partly to the establishment and support of schools, and partly in clothing and feeding the poor in the parishes of Kilcoleman and Kilbonane; and £1000 is to be applied in like manner for the benefit of the parish of Killeiny. A large school is accordingly to be built in each parish, and placed under the National Board. The ruins of the ancient abbey, situated in Sir John Godfrey's demesne, are described under the head of KILCOLEMAN.