TEMPLETOWN

TEMPLETOWN, or KILCLOGHAN, a parish, in the barony of SHELBURNE, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 2 miles (S. W.) from Fethard, near the road from that place to New Ross by Duncannon Fort; containing 1387 inhabitants, of which number, 50 are in the village. The place probably derived its name from a preceptory of Knights Templars founded here in the reign of King John by one of the O'More family, and on the suppression of that order in the reign of Edward II., converted into a commandery of Knights Hospitallers, of which, in 1326, Fitz David was the chief.

The parish comprises 3267 statute acres, chiefly under tillage; the soil is loamy, and the state of agriculture has within the last few years been much improved. The principal residence is Ballystraw, that of J. R. Allen, Esq., a neat villa pleasantly situated. It is an impropriate curacy, in the diocese of Ferns, forming part of the union of Hook: the rectory is impropriate in the Marquess of Ely, to whom the tithes, amounting to £123. 17. 1., are wholly payable. The church is a neat modern edifice, connected by a corridor with the tower of Templetown, the only remains of the ancient church of the Templars, in conformity with which it is in the early English style.

In the R. C. divisions also the parish is in the union or district of Hook; there is a neat chapel at Templetown, to which a school of about 100 children is attached: a Sunday school is superintended by the Protestant clergyman. Besides the remains of the Templars' church, there are also those of the old castle of Kilcloghan, supposed to be of equal antiquity.