KILDARE KILLARNEY. 



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Up, and other places, but they fell into decay. 

 One, however, built more recently at Inchyguire, 

 near Ballytore, is in full operation, and a small 

 woollen manufacture is carried on at Celbridge. 

 The towns in Kildare are unimportant. Besides 

 Kildare itself, to be noticed presently, it contains 

 the incorporated assize and market-towns of 

 Naas and Atby ; the market and post-towns of 

 Kilcock, Maynooth, Celbridge, Monastereven, 

 Timoline, Rathangan, Leixlip, Kilcullen-bridge, 

 and Newbridge ; also the post-towns of Castle- 

 dermot, Clane, and Ballytore. The county is 

 partly in the diocese of Dublin, but chiefly in that 

 of Kildare. Population in 1841, 114,488. 



KILDARE; a small market-town in the above 

 county, twenty-five miles, W. S. W. from Dublin, 

 on the mail-coach road to Limerick. It was an- 

 ciently a city and place of importance, and is still 

 the seat of a diocese. The old abbey is much 

 dilapidated. An ancient round tower, 130 feet 

 high, stands in the churchyard. The diocese was 

 founded probably at the close of the fifth century. 

 It extends over most of Kildare, and into the 

 King's and Queen's counties, measuring forty-five 

 miles in length by twenty-nine in breadth. The 

 total number of parishes in the diocese is eighty- 

 five, comprised in forty-one benefices. Population 

 of town of Kildare, 1629 ; of parish, 2650. 



KILKENNY; a county of Ireland, in the wes- 

 tern portion of the province of Leinster. It con- 

 prises, according to the ordnance survey, 536,686 

 statute acres, of which 417,117 are cultivated, and 

 96,569 bog and mountain. It is partly in the dio- 

 ceses of Cashel and Leighlin, but chiefly in, and 

 comprehending the greater part of the diocese of 

 Ossory, in the province of Dublin. It is divided 

 into the baronies of Gowran, Fassadinan, Galmoy, 

 Crannagh, Shillelogher, Kells, Knoctopher, Iverk, 

 and Ideagh, to which may be added the county of 

 the city of Kilkenny and the liberties of the town 

 of Callar. The principal places within these bar- 

 onies are, the city of Kilkenny, the corporate 

 towns of Callan, Thomas-town, Gowran, Inistioge, 

 and Knocktopher, which were all boroughs pre- 

 vious to the union with Great Britain, and the non- 

 corporate towns of Graigue, Durrow, Ballygarret, 

 Castlecomer, Freshford, Urlingford, Goresbridge, 

 and Kells. The dense population of this great 

 county are engaged in agriculture, in the collieries, 

 flag, and marble quarries, and in the manufacture 

 of blankets and coarse woollens. Wheat and other 

 sorts of grain are raised in abundance, in all parts 

 of the county, and there are extensive dairy-farms 

 in the district called the Walsh Mountains. The 

 cattle are a mixed breed, consisting of the Irish 

 stock grafted upon the long-horned English. The 

 breed of sheep is also improved by crossing with 

 the Leicestershire. The native horses are lively, 

 active, and hardy, and well adapted to the farmer's 

 use. Few are bred in the county, and the Suffolk 

 sorrel is preferred by any who do attempt to breed. 

 Heifers and bullocks are used in draft by the far- 

 mers, in the vicinity of the city of Kilkenny. 

 Traffic is much promoted by the navigation of the 

 Barrow, Suir, and Nore, and is still susceptible of 

 a further improvement. 



The calcareous districts of Kilkenny are fre- 

 quently found to conceal vast excavations, caused 

 either by subsidence, or by the action of subter- 

 ranean rivers. There are many such in the lime- 

 stone region of Kilkenny, of which those of Dun- 

 more and Paulstown are the most spacious. The 



best granite within the county is raised in Mount 

 Loft us quarry ; it has a light yellow cast, and 

 is compact and fine-grained. Flag quarries are 

 worked at Conahy, Kellymount, Shankill, &c., and 

 occupy a great number of hands. The flags con- 

 sist of a siliciferous argillite, and are usually tinged 

 with iron. Limestone is found near the surface in 

 almost every part of the county, and is used both 

 for agricultural and architectural purposes. The 

 Kilkenny marble, as it is generally called, is raised 

 in the black quarry, half a mile from the city of 

 Kilkenny. The stone contains a great variety of 

 impressions of madrepores, bivalves, and turbinate 

 shells, and is worked into beautiful chimney 

 pieces, sepulchral ornaments, &c. The cutting 

 and oolishing are effected by means of an ingeni- 

 ous mill. Amongst the minerals of this county 

 the many beds of coal are to be noticed. The 

 coal raised here is of the stone, or non-flaming 

 kind. It burns dully, casting, like charcoal, a 

 steady and strong heat. It is superior to all other 

 fuel for drying malt, and is excellently adapted for 

 the forge or other works where steady heat is re- 

 quired, void of smoke. The chief works, which 

 are called the Lordship Collieries, lie around the 

 town of Castlecomer. At Donane and other 

 places, coals have been raised, but not so exten- 

 sively as at Castlecomer. There is a spa well at 

 Ballyspellan, in the parish of Fartagh, beneficial in 

 cases of obstruction of the viscera. This fountain 

 is the subject of the witty verses from the pen of 

 Dr Sheridan, the friend of Dean Swift. Chaly- 

 beate springs also exist in the city of Kilkenny, at 

 Jerpoint abbey, near Coocullen church, besides 

 several of weak proportion in and near the Castle- 

 comer colleries. Population of the county in 1841 

 183,349. 



KILKENNY; an ancient city of Ireland, and, in- 

 eluding Irishtown, a county of itself, and the seat 

 of the diocese of Ossory. It is situated on the 

 Nore, which separates the portions locally known 

 as the Canice or Irishtown, and Kilkenny or Eng- 

 lishtown ; the former being on the right, the latter 

 on the left bank of the river. These distinctions, 

 however, are becoming obsolete. Kilkenny is 

 twenty -four miles N.E. by N. from Clonmel, and 

 fifty-seven S.W. from Dublin, on the mail coach 

 road to Cork. It is seen to great advantage from 

 the high eastern bank of the river, with its castle, 

 cathedral, and numerous remains of ancient reli- 

 gious edifices. The streets, however, are very 

 irregular, and the suburbs miserable. The castle 

 belongs to the Ormond family. It was originally 

 built in the twelfth century. The cathedral of 

 St Canice, built in 1202, is one of the finest eccle- 

 siastical edifices in the kingdom. The palace of 

 the bishop of Ossory is connected with it, as a'.so 

 a remarkable round tower. There is a fine pro- 

 menade, called the Mall, extending nearly a mile 

 along the banks of a canal, and also along the 

 banks of the Nore and the base of the castle. The 

 grammar-school, called the college of Kilkenny, 

 stands opposite to the castle on the other side of 

 the river, and boasts of having educated, among 

 other eminent men, Swift, Congreve, Farquhar, 

 arid Bishop Berkeley. Kilkenny formerly carried 

 on a considerable trade in the manufacture of 

 woollen cloths and blankets, which has declined. 

 The chief occupation of the inhabitants is con- 

 nected with the sale of agricultural produce. Po- 

 pulation in 1841, 19,071. 



KILLARNEY ; a town of Ireland, in the county 



