Kilroot
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Kilroot is a small village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on the eastern outskirts of Carrickfergus, east of Belfast on the north shore of Belfast Lough. It lies within the Carrickfergus Borough Council area.
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[edit] History
Archbishop Usher (1624), quoting from the life of Saint Ailbe of Emly, states that a church at Kilroot was founded in 412AD. This would pre-date the mission of Saint Patrick in 432AD.
The Bishop's Palace was lived in by the Brice family in 1696, although the church was known to be in ruins when Jonathan Swift was appointed Prebend in 1695. By 1840 the Bishops Palace was seemingly a shell and the church a total ruin.
[edit] Places of interest
The Round House, known locally as Dean Swift's house, is likely to date from the eighteenth century fashion of Romantic cottages. Its diminutive appearance was deceiving as the ground floor contained a parlour 24 feet by 16 feet. It was a white limewashed thatched cottage unique in its construction without corners. The four straight sections of wall did not join at right angles but were joined by curved sections to form one continuous exterior wall. Swift was reputed by local lore to have said that the devil would never catch him in a corner. The building was demolished in 1959 after a fire, and the site as well as the adjacent Kilroot railway station has disappeared under the new power station.
Kilroot power station is owned by AES Corporation and is the only remaining coal fired power station in Northern Ireland and provides about one third of electricity supplies for Northern Ireland. AES has recently announced plans to add on a gas fired generator which would approximately double the elecricity output of Kilroot. There is also a salt mine in Kilroot.
[edit] People
Saint Colman of Kilroot was a sixth century Irish disciple of Saint Ailbe of Emly and was Bishop of Kilroot, at the same time as being a Benedictine abbot. Colman Ela or Elo (553-610AD) is probably the Saint Colman connected to Kilroot. He was the son of Beogna and Mor, the sister of Saint Columba and was born in County Tyrone. The Church of Ireland parish church in Kilroot is dedicated to Saint Colman.
Jonathan Swift lived at Kilroot from March 1695 to May 1696, as Prebend at the church there. A ward in St Patrick's Hospital is named after the village.
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