Kilcronaghan

KILCRONAGHAN, a parish, in the barony of LOUGHINSHOLIN, county of LONDONDERRY, and province of ULSTER; containing, with the post-town of Tubbermore, 4186 inhabitants. It comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 7992¾ statute acres, of which 7409 are applotted under the tithe act, and includes some of the richest portions of the valley of the Mayola, the principal part of which is pasture; there are also above 500 acres of mountain land in pasture. Great quantities of reddish limestone and much valuable freestone are quarried, some of which is exported from Portballyronan: there are also some thin seams of coal. The principal seats are Fort William, the residence of J. Stevenson, Esq., and the glebe-house, of the Rev. J. T. Paul. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Derry, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes amount to £350. The church is a small edifice, rebuilt in 1816; near the communion table is a beautiful niche in the Norman style, which was part of the ancient edifice: the Ecclesiastical Commissioners lately granted £132 for the repair of this church. The glebe-house, which adjoins it, stands on a glebe of three acres, besides which there is a glebe of 234 acres of arable land, about two miles from the church. In the R. C. divisions this parish forms part of the union or district of Desartmartin, and has a chapel at Keenaght. There is a meeting-house for Presbyterians at Tubbermore: it was built in 1728, and is of the second class, in connection with the Synod of Ulster.

There is also a meeting-house for Independents in the town. About 480 children are educated in seven public schools, and there are six Sunday schools. Dr. Adam Clarke, the celebrated biblicist, was born at Moybeg, in this parish. See TUBBERMORE.

from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.