Kildavin

KILDAYIN, a parish, in the barony of FORTH, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 3½ miles (S. by W.) from Wexford, on the road to Bridgetown; containing 513 inhabitants, and comprising 2245 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act. It includes part of the mountain of Forth; the land is chiefly under tillage, and the state of agriculture is gradually improving. Good building stone is found in several places. At Mourntown Cross is a manufactory for coarse woollen cloth, and blankets and flannel are also made here, chiefly for the neighbouring farmers, who supply their own wool.

It is in the diocese of Ferns, and is a rectory, forming part of the union of St. Patrick's, Wexford: the tithes amount to £125. 0. 3½. In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of Piercestown: the chapel at Mourntown, together with the school-house attached to it, is about to be rebuilt by subscription, on an acre of ground presented by N. A. Vigors, Esq. A parochial house for the R. C. clergyman will also be erected near the chapel. The old castle, or tower, of Rathlannan stands in that part of the Johnstown deer-park which is in this parish; but of the castle of Mourntown, burnt during the disturbances in the early part of the 17th century, not a vestige can be traced.

from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.