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Laois Genealogy Home Page>>Laois Places(Lewis Topographical Dictionary Index) >>Skeirke
19th Century Laois Maps at Past Homes
Skeirke Civil Parish, County Laois, Ireland
SKEIRKE, a parish, in the barony of UPPER OSSORY, QUEEN'S county, and province of LEINSTER, 1¾ miles (S. S. W.) from Burros-in-Ossory, on the road to Templemore (Co. Tipperary); containing 911 inhabitants.
This
parish comprises 1922 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act:
the land is generally of good quality, and the greater portion is under
tillage; the system of agriculture is improved, and there is neither waste
land nor bog.
The
principal seats are Ballymellish, the residence of B. Thacker,
Esq.; Skeirke Cottage, of R. Steele, Esq.; and the residence
of the Rev. T. S. Monk.
The
living is a vicarage, in the diocese
of Ossory, and in the patronage of the Crown; the rectory is impropriate
in the corporation of Kilkenny. The tithes amount to £135, of which
£90 is payable to the impropriators, and the remainder to the vicar;
the glebe comprises 188f acres. The church, towards the erection of which
the late Board of First Fruits granted a loan of £500, in 1831,
is a small neat edifice.
In
the Roman Catholic divisions the parish forms part of the union of
Rathdowney. About 90 children are taught
in a public school, partly supported by the incumbent; and there is a
private school, in which are about 60 children.
There are some Druidical remains, situated on a high hill, and consisting of a circular area enclosed with a stone rampart, and surrounded with a fosse; in the centre of the area is a pyramidal stone, about six feet high, with fragments of several others; towards the eastern side are the remains of a cromlech, and towards the north is a high mound with a flat summit. There are also some ruins of the ancient castle of Garran
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