CAMUS-juxta-MORNE,
a parish, in the barony of STRABANE, county of TYRONE,
and province of ULSTER ; containing, with part of the town of Strabane,
6570 inhabitants.
This parish,
which is situated on the old road from Dublin to Londonderry,
and on the river Morne (Mourne), comprises, according to the Ordnance survey
(including 20¾ acres in Lyons island), 7505¾ statute
acres, of which 103¾ are water, about 4540 are arable and pasture land,
and the remainder mountain and bog; 6743 acres are applotted under the tithe
act, and valued at £3078 per annum. The land, although in some places
rocky, is generally very fertile, producing abundant crops, particularly in
the vale of Morne. The inhabitants combine the weaving of linen with their
agricultural pursuits.
The principal
houses are Milltown Lodge, the residence of Major Humphries,
and the glebe-house, of the Rev. J. Smith.
The living is
a rectory, in the diocese of Derry, and in the patronage of the Bishop:
the tithes amount to £468. The church is in the town of Strabane,
and is a large and handsome edifice, for the repairs of which the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners have recently granted £184. 4s. 2d. ; it was originally
built as a chapel for the new town of Strabane, by the Earl of Abercorn,
in 1619, and has been used as the parish church since the destruction of the
mother church, about the middle of the 17th century. The glebe-house was built
by aid of a gift of £100 and a loan of £800 from the late Board
of First Fruits, in 1832, upon the townland of Bierney, which constitutes
the glebe, comprising 300 acres, and is more than three miles from the church.
In the Roman
Catholic divisions the parish is the head of a union or district
called Clonleigh and Camus, and comprising both those parishes: there
are two chapels in the union, of which that of Camus, in the town of Strabane,
is a large plain edifice.
There is a large
meeting-house for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod of Ulster, of
the first class; and there are places of worship for Wesleyan and Primitive
Methodists.
The parochial
school, on the glebe of Bierney, is supported by the trustees of Erasmus Smith's
charity, and the master has a rent-free residence and two acres of land. At
Milltown is a school for boys and girls, erected by the Marquess
of Abercorn, a large and handsome building, with a separate residence
for the master and mistress, each of whom receives £20 a year from the
Marquess, who also aids a school established at Edymon; and there is
a national school at Strabane. About 160 boys and 100 girls are educated
in these schools. Prior to 1829 a blue-coat school existed here, with an income
of £30 per annum, which sum is now applied to clothing 12 boys. Near
Milltown school are the dispensary and fever hospital belonging to
Strabane; they are large and well ventilated buildings, admirably arranged
for their purposes.
The ruins of
the old parish church are situated on the banks of the river Mourne: it was
founded by St. Colgan in 586, and destroyed during the insurrection of 1641.
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©Dr.
Jane Lyons, Dublin & Co. Laois 2001-2005
