KILLEEN

In 1868, the parish of Killeen contained the following places:

"KILLEEN, a parish in the barony of Skreen, county Meath, province of Leinster, Ireland, 3 miles N.W. of Dunshaughlin, its post town. It is 2 miles long by 1 mile broad. The surface, which consists of a good soil, is intersected by the road from Dublin to Navan. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Meath, value with Tara, £439, in the patronage of the crown. The Earl of Fingal takes title of baron from this place, and resides at Killeen Castle. This castle was built, towards the end of the 12th century, by Sir Hugh de Lacy, and was long the seat of the Cusacks, from whom it passed, by marriage, into the Plunkett family. Near the castle is an old church, built in the reign of Edward IV. by Sir Christopher Plunkett, containing monuments of the Cusacks and Plunketts. An abbey is said to have been founded here in the 6th century by St. Endens. This spot is also the alleged site of a nunnery, founded by a sister of St. Fanchea."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2018