Castletown Kilpatrick

The Parliamentary Gazetteer 0f Ireland, 1844-1845, Vol. 1

Castletown Kilpatrick, a parish in the barony of Morgallion, 2 1/2 miles south south east of Nobber, and 8 north of Navan, co. Meath, Leinster.  Length, westward, 3 miles; breadth, from 3 furlongs to 2 1/2 miles; area, 4,067 acres, 2 roods, 19 perches.  Pop., in 1831, 1,211; in 1841, 1,075. Houses 174.  The interior is traversed north eastward by the road from Kells to Ardee, and north north westward by that from Dublin to Clones.  The mansions are Stephenstown, Cornacog, Castletown, and Rahood, the last the seat of Richard Cruise, Esq.

The hamlet of Castletown Kilpatrick stands on the south border of the parish.  The dispensary of this place, and of Wilkinstown, is within the Navan Poor law union; and serves for a district of 20,500 acres, with a population of 6,544; and in 1839-40, it expended £114 18s. 4d., and administered to 931 patients.  Pop., in 1831, 65.  This parish is part of the benefice of Drakestown, in the dio. of Meath.  The church of the benefice is in Castletown Kilpatrick, and has an attendance of 40.  The incumbent is non resident; and, in 1834, a curate, who was not regularly appointed, performed the parochial duties.  The Roman Catholic chapel has an attendance of from 600 to 700; and, in the Roman Catholic parochial arrangement, is united to the chapel of Clongill.  In 1834, the Protestants amounted to 7, and the Roman Catholics to 1,007; and a parochial school, which was aided with £5 a year, and other advantages from the rector, was attended by about 17 children.

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Stephenstown House

Stephenstown is located in the parish of Casteltown, Navan, on the Kells Ardee road.  Stephenstown House was a three storey house, erected about 1760, with central flatroofed porch.  The remains of an earlier two storey house is at the south west gable.  There is a courtyard of two storey outbuildings dating from about 1800. Both house and outbuildings are now in poor condition.  In 1836 Stephenstown House was described as a fine house occupied by Henry Owens and well sheltered by trees. In 1854 James Hughes was leasing Stephenstown House and 262 acres from Rev. William Barlow.  In 1876 Jane McKeever was living at Stephenstown.  In 1901 and 1911 James McKeever and his family were residing at Stephenstown.  The house had nine rooms, ten windows to the front and fifteen outbuildings.

Source: meath-roots.com

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The Lewis Topographical Directory was first published in 1837 in two volumes, with an accompanying atlas.  The first edition is available online. A second edition was published in 1842.

Lewis relied on the information provided by local contributors and on the earlier works published such as Coote's Statistical Survey (1801), Taylor and Skinner's Maps of the Road of Ireland (1777), Pigot's Trade Directory (1824) and other sources. He also used the various parliamentary reports and in particular the census of 1831 and the education returns of the 1820s and early 1830s. Local contributors were given the proof sheets for final comment and revision. The names of places are those in use prior to the publication of the Ordnance Survey Atlas in 1838. Distances are in Irish miles (the statute mile is 0.62 of an Irish mile).

Castletown Kilpatrick, a parish, in the barony of Morgallion, county of Meath, and province of Leinster, 3 miles (S. S. E.) from Nobber; containing 1211 inhabitants.  This parish is situated on the roads from Slane to Nobber, and from Kells to Ardee, and contains 3895 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act.  The land is of very good quality; about three fourths are in pasture, and there is no bog.  The principal seats are Rathhood, the residence of R. Cruise, Esq.; Stephenstown, of H. Owens, Esq.; Headstown, of Lieut. Col. Gerrard; and Legga, of A. Kieran, Esq.

The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Meath, united by act of council to the rectories of Knock and Drakestown, and in the alternate patronage of the Crown and the Bishop: the tithes of the parish amount to £278. 1. 2.; and the gross value of the benefice, including tithe and glebe, is £690. 8. 7.  The church is a neat edifice, with a tower, and was rebuilt in 1823, at an expense of £467. 12.4.  The glebe house, which is close to the church, was erected in 1824, by aid of a loan of £1107. 13. 10. from the late Board of First Fruits.  The glebe comprises 43 plantation acres, valued at £119. 18. 10. per annum; and there are also a glebe in Knock of 3 1/2 acres, and one in Drakestown of 4 acres, together valued at £36 per annum.

In the R. C. divisions this parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also the parishes of Knock, Drakestown, Kilshine, and Clongill, and containing two chapels, one at Castletown and the other at Fletcherstown. There is a school at Castletown Cross, aided by the incumbent, in which are about 6 boys and 3 girls.