MOLUSK

MOLUSK, or MOBLUSK, a parish, in the barony of LOWER BELFAST, county of ANTRIM, and province of ULSTER, 8 miles (N. W. by N.) from Belfast, on the road to Antrim; containing 766 inhabitants. This place is said to have formerly belonged to the preceptory of the Knights Templars in the adjoining parish of Templepatrick, who had an establishment here also, of which there are no vestiges. Moblusk comprises 928 ¾ statute acres, according to the Ordnance survey, two-thirds of which are good land, the remainder being inferior; agriculture has of late much improved, a judicious mode of drainage having been adopted, and considerable portions of bog reclaimed and brought under cultivation: good crops of corn and potatoes are produced. Near the village there is an extensive establishment, called Hyde Park Print-field, belonging to Messrs. Batt, where great quantities of muslin are finished for the English and foreign markets, and in which more than -200 persons are employed. The parish is in the diocese of Connor, and is a rectory, forming part of the union of Carrickfergus and of the corps of the deanery of Connor.

The tithes amount to £25. 11. 9., but as the inhabitants are exclusively Presbyterians, no tithes have been levied for many years; it is, however, the intention of the dean to erect a church and to collect the tithes. There does not appear to have been a church since the Reformation, but the burial-ground shews where the edifice originally stood. Nearly adjoining the village is a Presbyterian meeting-house. A school-house has been erected by Messrs. Batt, in which, chiefly by their assistance, 46 children are gratuitously taught: and at Glenoe is a National school, in which are about 80 children. Remains of large encampments and fortifications are observable in the parish and on its borders. There are several large stones standing erect, and under some of a similar description which were removed for improvements in the land, were found urns, or the fragments of baked clay, containing ashes, or black unctuous earth.