Grange, County Armagh

EDITED EXTRACTS FROM THE TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF IRELAND, 1837

GRANGE, a parish, partly in the barony of ONeilland West, but chiefly in that of Armagh, County Armagh, two miles north from Armagh City, on the road to Belfast.

The parish, which was formed out of the parish of Armagh in 1777, comprises about 6,800 acres.

The land is generally good, and well cultivated; there is a considerable quantity of bog.

There are quarries of excellent limestone and freestone, from which latter the stone is raised for the restoration of Armagh Cathedral.

A considerable quantity of linen cloth is woven here, and there is an extensive bleach-green at Allistragh.

The principal seat is Castle Dillon, the splendid residence of Sir Thomas Molyneux Bt, near whose extensive and richly wooded demesne is an obelisk, 60 feet high, erected by the Rt Hon Sir Capel Molyneux Bt, in 1782, to commemorate the passing of some acts securing the independence of the Irish Parliament.

Here are also Drumsill, the residence of the Misses MacGeough; Allistragh, of R McBride; The Grange, of M Pringle; and the Glebe House, of the Rev C W Lyne.

Drumsill House (Image: Armagh Chronicle/X)

The living is a perpetual cure, in the diocese of Armagh, and in the patronage of the Dean of Armagh.

The curate has a stipend of £100, paid by the Dean; and the Glebe House, a large and commodious building surrounded by a fine plantation, and a glebe comprising 37¾ acres.

St Aidan's parish church, Grange, County Armagh

The church [St Aidan's] is a handsome edifice, built in 1779 [?1776], of compact limestone, with a square tower and octagonal spire.

In the Roman Catholic divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Armagh, and has a small plain chapel.

The parochial school is situated near the church, and is aided by an annual donation from the incumbent; two schools for females are aided by the Dean, the incumbent, and Miss MacGeough; and a National School is aided by an annual donation of £20 from Lord Charlemont, who also built the school-house; they afford instruction to about 270 children.

Sir Capel Molyneux, [3rd] Baronet, bequeathed a rent charge of £30, on the Castle Dillon Estate, to the poor Protestant housekeepers of this parish, which is distributed by the incumbent.