STABANNON

STABANNON, a parish, in the barony of ARDEE, county of LOUTH, and province of LEINSTER, 3 miles (E. N. E.) from Ardee, on the road to Castle-Bellingham, and on the river Dee; containing, with the villages of Drumgoolstown and Rootstown, 2221 inhabitants, of which number, 279 are in the village of Stabannon. According to the Ordnance survey, this parish comprises 4376 ¾ statute acres of land of the best quality, mostly under an improved system of tillage. At Drumgoolstown is a bleach-green, conducted by Messrs. J. and R. Crawley. The only gentleman's seat is Charleville, belonging to Lieutenant-Colonel Tisdall; it is pleasantly situated on the banks of the river Dee, and is one of the oldest houses in the county, having been built in 1640.

The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Armagh, episcopally united from time immemorial to the vicarage of Richardstown, and in the patronage of the Vicars Choral of St. Patrick's cathedral, Dublin, to whom the rectory is appropriate; the tithes amount to £498. 10., of which £298. 10. is payable to the vicars choral, and £200 to the incumbent, who receives no part of the tithes of Richardstown. The glebe-house, within a very short distance of the church, was erected in 1818, at an expense of £738, British currency, of which half was a loan and half a gift from the late Board of First Fruits: the glebe comprises 20 acres of excellent land, of which 15 belong to the vicars choral, and five, valued at £12. 10. per annum, to the incumbent. The church is a neat modern structure in good repair, built at an expense of £784 British currency, being a loan from the same Board.

In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Kilsaran: the chapel was partly erected in 1800, and enlarged in 1827. There are two private schools, in which about 130 children are taught. The ruins of Rootstown castle, on an eminence, afford abundant evidence of its ancient magnificence: it was a lofty quadrangular pile, strengthened by a rectangular projection at one corner.