Croghan

CROGHAN, a parish, in the barony of LOWER-PHILIPSTOWN, KING'S county, and province of LEINSTER, 3 miles (N.) from Philipstown; containing 842 inhabitants. It is situated on the road from Edenderry to Tyrrel's-Pass; the surface is flat and overspread with bogs. The only eminence is Croghan Hill, on the confines of the county of Westmeath, which is celebrated by Spenser, in his Fairy Queen; it is clothed with verdure, and forms a striking object in so flat a district. The land is principally in pasture and appropriated to the feeding of store sheep and cattle; and part of the female population are employed in spinning worsted. Near it is Cloncrle, the beautiful seat of W. Magan, Esq., the demesne of which is embellished with rich plantations. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Kildare, and is sequestrated in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners: the tithes amount to £82, payable to the Commissioners, and the occasional duties of the parish are performed by the vicar of the adjoining parish of Kilelonfert. There is neither church nor glebe-house. A school is supported by local subscriptions, affording instruction to about 160 boys and 130 girls. At the base of Croghan Hill are the. remains of the church, which was formerly a chapel belonging to the ancestors of Lord Tullamore, on whose estate it is situated.

from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.