1st January 1837
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A snapshot of pre-famine local history, as described in the "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland" by Samuel Lewis, 1837. (The information collected here was submitted by members of the local gentry and clergy of the time).

BUMLIN or STROKESTOWN, a parish in the barony and county of ROSCOMMON, and province of CONNAUGHT; containing with the market and post town of Strokestown, 4913 inhabitants.

This parish is situated on the new mail coach road from Dublin to the west of Ireland, and comprises 4399 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act and valued at £4038 per annum. Part of Slievebaun mountain is situated within its limits, the summit of which toward the east commands a most extensive view. The land is chiefly under tillage; limestone abounds and there are considerable tracts of bog.

  • Castlenode is the seat of J. Morton Esq.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Elphin to which the vicarages of Kiltrustan and Lissonuffy were episcopally united in 1811, which three parishes form the union of Bumlin, in the patronage of the bishop; the rectory is partly appropriate to the prebendary of Kilgoghlin in the cathedral church of Elphin, but chiefly impropriate in C. and R. Armstrong Esqs. The tithes amount to £285 3s. 9d., of which £100 3s. 5d., is payable to the impropriators, £21 to the prebendary and £164 0s. 4d., to the vicar; and the gross vicarial tithes of the benefice amount to £533 14s. 7.50 d., the annual income of the prebendary of Kilgoghlin is £310 14s. 2d. The church, situated at Strokestown, is a handsome edifice with a spire, built in 1814 by aid of a loan of £2700 from the late Board of First Fruits. The glebe-house was also built by a gift of £337 and a loan of £150 from the same Board: the glebe comprises ten acres.

In the Roman Catholic divisions this parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also the parish of Kiltrustan, and containing three chapels, situated at Strokestown, Scramogue, and Kiltrustan, the two former in the parish of Bumlin.

The parochial school in which there are about 50 children, is chiefly supported by the vicar and by private subscriptions; there are also seven hedge schools, in which about 100 boys and 90 girls are taught. The late B. Mahon, Esq., bequeathed £800 late currency for the

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