Killelan

KILLELAN, a parish, in the barony of KILKEA and MOONE, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER, 3 miles (N.) from Castledermot, on the confines of the county of Wieklow and Dublin; containing 1049 inhabitants. It comprises 3448 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act; the greater portion of the land is good, and the system of agriculture improved; a considerable tract of bog has been brought into cultivation by R. Archbold, Esq.; and there is little waste or unprofitable land. The surface is varied, and the scenery in some parts picturesque. Davidstown, the seat of Mr. Archbold, is a handsome mansion, situated in an extensive and finely planted demesne, above which rises Hughstown hill.

The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Dublin, consisting of the seven denominations of Bolton, Simonstown, Newtown, Commonstown, Collin, Colerake, and Hughestown, and formerly constituting part of the union of Timolin, from which it has been separated and formed into a distinct benefice, in the patronage of Sir R. Steele, Bart., in whom the rectory is impropriate. The tithes amount to £330, of which £220 is payable to the impropriator, and £110 to the vicar. There is neither church, glebe-house, nor glebe. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Castledermot. There are some slight remains of the old church, and also of an hospital formerly belonging to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, consisting only of a square tower in ruins.

from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.