KILMACTRANY, a parish, in the barony of TIRAGHRILL,
county of SLIGO, and province of CONNAUGHT, 6
miles (N.) from Boyle, on the road to Ballyfarnon;
containing 4008 inhabitants. This parish comprises
6531 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act,
besides which there is much bog and mountain land:
the soil is light, and agriculture is in a backward state.
Limestone is abundant, iron ore exists, and a seam of
coal, 22 inches thick, has lately been discovered in the
mountains of Geevagh. It is situated on Lough Arrow,
a picturesque sheet of water at the base of the Curlew
mountains, about a mile from Lough Key, by which it
communicates with the Shannon: this lake is five miles
in length and two in its greatest breadth, and is studded
with islands, and remarkable for the size and fine flavour
of its trout. On the western side is Hollybrook House,
the handsome residence of J. Folliott, Esq., the plantations
of which form a pleasing picture when viewed
from the opposite shore. Petty sessions are held here
every fortnight on Tuesday, and it is a constabulary
police station. Kingsborough, which gives the title
of Viscount to the eldest son of the Earl of Kingston,
is the residence of J. Gethin, Esq.; and Ballynashee,
of M. Keogh, Esq. The living is a vicarage, in
the diocese of Elphin, united to the vicarages of Shancoe
and Killadoon, and in the gift of the bishop; the
rectory is impropriate in W. Mulloy, Esq. The tithes
amount to £106. 3., which is equally divided between
the impropriator and the vicar, and the tithes of the
benefice to £89. 11. 6. There is a glebe-house, for the
erection of which the late Board of First Fruits, in 1819,
gave £650 and lent £150: the glebe comprises 12 acres,
subject to a rent of £7 per annum. The church is a
small modern building, for the erection of which the
late Board gave £800, in 1811; and the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners have lately granted £305 for its repair.
In the R. C. divisions it is the head of a union or district,
called Geevagh, which is co-extensive with the
Protestant. union, and has a handsome chapel, ornamented
with minarets, at Geevagh, and another at
Highwood. There are three public schools, to one of
which Lord Dundas gave a school-house and garden,
and contributes annually, and another is under the patronage
of M. Keogh, Esq.; in these schools about 70
children are educated, and there are three private
schools, in which are about 170 children. Here is a
remarkable cromlech, called Leaba Diarmud i Grange,
or "Darby and Granye's bed," consisting of a horizontal
stone, supported by four others set upright. Among the
ruins of the old church is a mutilated cross.