RASHARKIN,
a parish, in the barony of KILCONWAY, county of ANTRIM,
and province of ULSTER, 2½ miles (E.) from Kilrea,
on tile road to Ballymena; containing 7481 inhabitants.
This
parish, called also Ratharkin and Magherasharkin, lies on the
border of the county of Londonderry, from which it is separated
by the river Bann : it is 6 miles long and 5 broad, and comprises
according to the Ordnance survey, 19,337¾ statute acres, of
which a very large quantity is mountain waste land, or bog; the remainder
is of a light soil, but of excellent quality for flax, potatoes, oats
and clover ; the system of agriculture in some parts is very good,
in others the reverse. The linen manufacture is carried on to a considerable
extent, the cloth being sold at Ballymena ; and there are two
bleach-greens, one at Dunroin, belonging to John Cunningham,
Esq., in which about 34,000 webs are annually bleached ; the other
at Dunminning, belonging to Tho. Birdie, Esq., which
bleaches about 50,000 webs, principally for the English market. These
gentlemen have elegant residences attached, to their respective establishments.
At Killymurris is a very extensive vein of coal, chiefly of
the kind called cannel, which is very productive, though by no means
skilfully wrought : there are some quarries of basalt, from which
the stone is raised for building and road-making. The Bann is navigable
from Lough Neagh to Portna, where there is a convenient
wharf, at which considerable business is done at times. A fair for
cattle and pedlery is held annually in the village of Rasharkin,
which is also a chief constabulary police station.
The
living is a vicarage, in the diocese
of Connor, united by charter of Jas. I. to the rectories of
Finvoy and Kilraghts
and Kildallock grange,
which together form the corps of the prebend of Rasharkin in the cathedral
of Connor, and in the patronage of the Bishop. The rectory is impropriate
; one portion of the rectorial tithes, amounting to £55. 15s.
8d., belongs to Robert Harvey, Esq. ; two other portions, amounting
to £101. 16s. 8d., belong, one moiety to Sir Tho. Staples,
Bart, and the other to Edm Caulfleld, Esq. ; the residue,
amounting to £46. 3s. 1d., has been appropriated to the use
of Castle-Dawson chapelry; the total of the rectorial tithes
is £203. 15s. 5d. The vicarial tithes payable to the incumbent
are £222. 7s., and the aggregate value of the union, including
the glebe, is £811. 17s. per annum. The parishes of Rasharkin
and Finvoy are held with cure of souls, those of Kilraghts
and Kildallock without cure. The glebe-house, having been found
by the present incumbent in a dilapidated and uninhabitable state
on his admission to the benefice, has been put into complete repair
by him, at an expense of £3692, without having any demand on
his successor for the repayment of any portion there of : the glebe
consists of 50a. 0r. 34½p., statute measure, valued at 18s.
6d. per acre. The church is a small but very beautiful edifice on
a commanding situation.
In the
Roman Catholic divisions the parish is united with that of
Finvoy ; both have chapels : that
of Rasharkin is in the village, in which there are also two
places of worship for Presbyterians.
A parochial
school is chiefly supported by the rector : at Dromore are
two schools under the direction of the Rev. Mr. Wilson ; a
male and female school at Dunminny were built and are supported,
the former by Mr. Birnie and the latter by Miss Birnie
; a school at Glenback is in connection with the Board of National
Education, another is in connection with the London Hibernian Society,
and there are two others, aided by grants from individuals. In these
schools about 130 boys and 120 girls are instructed : besides whom,
418 boys and 160 girls are educated in 13 private schools : there
are also 8 Sunday schools.
There
are several raths in the parish : one of theses at Lisnacannon,
is of very large dimensions; it has two fosses and three ramparts,
and covers nearly an acre and a half of ground. Several silver coins.
of the reigns of Stephen, John and Rich. III., and of Robert and David
Bruce, were found here ; and an artificial cavern was discovered near
the church. The body of a man who had committed suicide in 1776, and
had been buried in a bog in the mountain, was found in 1827, without
the smallest signs of decomposition.
