Navan & District Historical Society

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Kilberry

Kilberry

The Parliamentary Gazetteer 0f Ireland, 1844-1845, Vol. 2

Kilberry, a parish in the barony of Morgallion, 3 1/2 miles north of Navan, co. Meath, Leinstcr.  It contains the villages of Kilberry and Wilkinstown. Length and breadth, each 2 miles; area, 4,818 acres, 1 rood, 28 perches. Pop., in 1831, 2,004; in 1841, 2,023. Houses 389. Pop. of the rural districts, in 1841, 1,677. Houses 317.

The land is, in general, very good; but some portions of bog occur at the extremities. The interior is traversed westward by the road from Slane to Kells, and northward by that from Dublin to Clones; and at the intersection of these is the poor village of Kilberry. Area, 10 acres. Pop., in 1841, 128. Houses 26.

Archdall says that there was a perpetual chantry of two chaplains in the parish church of St. Mary of Kilberry.  This parish is a rectory, and part of the benefice of Donaghpatrick, in the dio. of Meath.  Tithe composition, £335; glebe, £18 19s. 2 3/4d.  The Roman Catholic chapel has an attendance of from 600 to 800; and, in the Roman Catholic parochial arrangement is united to the chapel of Oristown. In 1834, the Protestants amounted to 11, and the Roman Catholics to 2,057; and 2 daily schools, one of which was salaried with £10 from Mr. C. Smyth, and some advantages from Mr. Everard, had on their books 111 boys and 40 girls.
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Riocht na Midhe, 2016, p. 120

Poverty in the midst of affluence in the nineteenth century County Meath civil parishes of Clongill and Kilberry by James Caffrey.

“The study will concentrate on sources relating to the origin, size and type of farm holding, the nature and extent of agricultural production and the density and social standing of the population supported by the holdings in order to establish the reasons for the extreme nineteenth century economic divergence in these adjoining townlands.”

“The Garnetts and Gerrards, oblivious to neighbouring poverty, availed of opportunities to display their status and wealth at that time. Garnett completely transformed his early Georgian house, adding a third storey, and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gerrard commissioned a new chariot in 1829, a full description of which runs to two pages.

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The Lewis Topographical Directory was first published in 1837 in two volumes, with an accompanying atlas.  The first edition is available online.  A second edition was published in 1842.

Lewis relied on the information provided by local contributors and on the earlier works published such as Coote’s Statistical Survey (1801), Taylor and Skinner’s Maps of the Road of Ireland (1777), Pigot’s Trade Directory (1824) and other sources.  He also used the various parliamentary reports and in particular the census of 1831 and the education returns of the 1820s and early 1830s.  Local contributors were given the proof sheets for final comment and revision.  The names of places are those in use prior to the publication of the Ordnance Survey Atlas in 1838.  Distances are in Irish miles (the statute mile is 0.62 of an Irish mile).

The dictionary gives a unique picture of Ireland before the Great Famine.

KILBERRY, a parish, in the barony of Morgallion, county of MEATH, and province of LEINSTER, 4 miles (N.) from Navan, on the road from that place to Kingscourt; containing 2009 inhabitants.  The land is of good quality; about two thirds are meadow or pasture, and about 100 acres bog.  The parish is intersected by the Yellow River, on which is a corn mill.  It is a rectory, in the diocese of Meath, and forms part of the union of Donaghpatrick: the tithes amount to £385, and there is a glebe of 6 acres, valued at £18. 9. 2. per annum.  In the R. C. divisions it is the head of a union or district, comprising also Donaghpatrick and Teltown, and containing two chapels, situated at Kilberry and Oristown. About 100 children are educated in a school to which Col. Everard gives a house and garden rent free, and C. Smyth, Esq., subscribes £10 annually; and about 50 are taught in a private school.  A chantry of two priests, or chaplains, was formerly attached to the church of St. Mary, in this parish.

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Slater’s Directory, 1894

Kilberry, a parish in Co. Meath, barony of Morgallion, union of Navan, diocese of Meath, 4 miles north from Navan, with a station at Wilkinstown on the Midland Great Western railway, .containing 9 townlands. The area comprises 4,818 acres; the population in 1891 was 796. Railway Station, Wilkinstown, Michael Brogan, station master.

Farmers:

Bradley, James, Wilkinstown.

Bradley, John, Wilkinstown.

Caffrey, John, Wilkinstown.

Finegan, John, Wilkinstown.

Gallagher, Nicholas, Wilkinstown.

Gough, John, Castletown.

McGlue, Edward, Mooretown.

McGlue, Thomas.

McKeever, James, Rathcoon.

Sherlock, Bryan, Demailetown.

Spring, Daniel, Demailetown.

Tiernan, James, Balsaw.