DRUMGATH, a parish, in the barony of UPPER-IVEAGH, county of DOWN, and province of ULSTER, on
the road from Downpatrick to Newry; containing, with
the greater part of the post-town of Rathfriland (which
is separately described), 4448 inhabitants. Accord
ing to the Ordnance survey, it comprises 5330½ statute
acres, of which about 100 are bog. It is a vicarage,
in the diocese of Dromore, and patronage of the
Bishop; the rectory forms part of the union of Clonallon,
and corps of the chancellorship of Dromore cathe
dral. The tithes amount to £258, of which £168. 13. 4.
is payable to the chancellor, and £89. 6. 8. to the
vicar. There is a glebe-house, with a glebe of 150
acres. The church, which is in Rathfriland, is a neat
building, for the repair of which the late Board of First
Fruits lent £150, in 1829, and the Ecclesiastical Com
missioners have recently given £119. The R. C. parish
is co-extcnsive with that of the Established Church, and
has chapels at Rathfriland, Barnmeen, and Drumgath.
In Rathfriland is a large and handsome meeting-house
for Presbyterians, in connection with the Synod of
Ulster, of the first class, and a second is now being
built; there is also one in connection with the Seceding
Synod, of the second class, and one each for Covenanters,
Wesleyan Methodists, and the Society of Friends.
About 350 children are educated in two public and two
private schools. Some ruins of the ancient church
exist in a large burial-ground, and a curious antique
bell was found in a bog in 1764.