LECKEN, or LACKEN, a parish, in the barony of
CORKAREE, county of WESTMEATH, and province of
LEINSTER, 7½ miles (N. N. W.) from Mullingar, and
between Lough Derevaragh and Lough Hoyle; containing
934 inhabitants. An abbey existed here in the
early part of the 7th century, under the superintendence
of St. Crumin. The parish comprises 2883½ statute
acres, of which 2529 are applotted under the tithe act,
and contains some limestone and a small quantity of
inoory land. Lacken is the seat of Mrs. Delamere. It
is a curacy, in the diocese of Meath, forming part of
the union of Leney; the rectory is impropriate in Sir
J. B. Piers, Bart. The tithes amount to £133. 13. In
the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district
of Multifernam, and has a chapel. On the summit of
a hill is Wilson's Hospital, founded and endowed by
A. Wilson, Esq., of Piercefield, for the support and
education of 160 Protestant boys, with whom, an apprentice
fee of £10 is given on their leaving the school;
and for 20 old male Protestants. The inhabitants of
Westmeath have the preference, but those of the adjacent
counties are also eligible. The house is a handsome
building in the form of a square, adorned with a
cupola and two receding wings connected by a corridor,
one of which includes the school-room and a dormitory,
the other, the dining-hall and a dormitory, and there is
a chapel handsomely fitted up. The trustees are the
Archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, and Tuam, and the
bishops of Meath and Kilmore. A body of insurgents
posted themselves at this hospital in the night of Sept.
5th, 1798, but were almost all killed the following day
by part of Lord Cornwallis's army. Besides the school
connected with Wilson's Hospital, there is a private
school in which about 40 children are educated. There
are vestiges of an old fort at Carrick, and on a hill near
the church is a large rath, with two others in its
vicinity.