Kildalkey

:"Kildalkey is also the name of a headland on Heard Island in the Australian Antarctic"

Kildalkey, (Irish place name|Cill Dealga|Dealga's Church) is a village and a parish in the Barony of Lune, county and diocese of Meath, and province of Leinster, Ireland.

Population

The population of the village was 137 at the time of the 2002 Census.

History

The patron saint is Saint Dymphna, to whom the Catholic church is dedicated. Designed by the architect "W H Byrne", it was consecrated in 1898. The Protestant church (by the architect, "Joseph Welland") was consecrated in 1856 and was situated at "Rathcormick", 2 miles west of the village. It was demolished in the 1960s. Christianity came to Kildalkey in the 5th century when St Mo-Luog founded a monastery there and the parish is mentioned in the "Book of Kells". A section of the "Pale" runs through the parish.

A castle (or tower-house) dating from c.1430, which was built by the "Nugent" family, is at Moyrath. There are seventeen townlands, all of which are listed with their residents in "Griffith's Valuation" of 1854. These are: Balatalion, Ballinadrimna, Baskinagh, Clonylogan, Clonmore, Clown, Corballis, Moattown, Moyrath, Neilstown, Portanob, Pubblestown, Rathcormick, Rathkeenan, Shanco, Woodtown Abbot and Woodtown West. The following families are historically associated with the parish: "Barnewall", Nangle, Nugent, and Potterton. The principal landlords in the parish were the "Earls of Darnley" although "Speaker William Conolly" and later "Henry Grattan" held Moyrath.

External links

*Link to Griffith's Valuation for Kildalkey [http://www.ireland.com/ancestor/fuses/townlands/index.cfm?fuseaction=TownlandsInCivil&civilparishid=1873&civilparish=Kildalkey&citycounty=Meath]
*Link to map and pictures [http://travelingluck.com/Europe/Ireland/Meath/_2963438_Kildalkey.html]

References

S Lewis, 'A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland' (1837), vol 2, p.79; O Falsey, 'Kildalkey: a Parish History' (2001); H Potterton, 'Rathcormick: a childhood recalled' (2001); H Potterton, 'Potterton People and Places: three centuries of an Irish family' (2006).