KINNITTY

In 1868, the parish of Kinnitty contained the following places:

"KINNITTY, a parish and post-office village in the barony of Ballybritt, King's County, province of Leinster, Ireland, 18 miles S.W. of Tullamore. The parish is large. The surface is mountainous in the S.E., where it includes part of the Slieve Bloom mountains. The road from Dublin to Birr passes along the northern border. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Killaloe, value with three others, £231, in the patronage of the bishop. The church was enlarged, by means of a loan from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1817. There are two Roman Catholic chapels, a Sunday and several day schools. The village, which stands on the Dublin road, is a petty sessions town and a police station, containing a dispensary within the Birr Poor-law Union. The principal seats are Castle Bernard and Kinnitty House. An abbey is alleged to have been founded here by St. Finian in the middle of the 6th century, and demolished by the Danes. The poet and historian Colga Mac Conagahn is said to have been abbot here, and died in 871. In the vicinity are remains of Danish raths."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2018