KILREA, a market and post-town, and a parish, partly in the barony of COLERAINE, but chiefly in that of LOUGHINSHOLIN, county of LONDONDERRY, and province of ULSTER, 28 miles (S. E.) from Londonderry city, and 110 (N.) from Dublin, on the roads leading respectively from Coleraine to Portglenone and Castle Dawson, and from Garvagh to Ballymoney. This place is situated on the western shore of the river Bann, over which is a substantial stone bridge of seven arches, forming a communication between this neighbourhood and the county of Antrim, with which there is a great intercourse. The town, which has a sub-post-office to Portglenone, is near the river, in that part of the parish which is within the barony of Loughinsholin.
Their estate of which this town may be considered the head, comprehends 41 townlands, of which 9 are in this parish, 9 in Desertoghill, 11 in Maghera, 5 in Tamlaght-o'Crilly, 4 in Aghadowy, and 3 in Killylagh. The parish extends along the western banks of the river Bann more than six miles, and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey. There is neither limestone nor stone for building in the parish.
The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Derry, and in the patronage of the Bishop : the tithes amount to £258. 9s. 3d. The glebe-house, situated near the church on a glebe of three acres, was built in 1774; and there is a glebe in the parish of Tamlaght-O'Crilly, comprising 351 acres. The church is a small and very ancient edifice, with a bell turret on the western gable.
In the Roman Catholic divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Desertoghill, called also Kilrea. DESERTOGHILL, a parish, in the barony of COLERAINE, county of LONDONDERRY, and province of ULSTER, 1 mile (8. E.) from Garvagh. This parish is intersected by the road from Dublin to Coleraine. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Derry, and in the patronage of the Bishop. The tithes amount to £290. The glebe-house is a small old building on the glebe townland of Meettigan, in the parish of Errigal, which comprises 370 acres, 30 of which are on the southern side of the river, in the parish of Desertoghill, besides a plot of seven acres contiguous to the ruins of the old church. In the Roman Catholic divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, also called Kilrea, comprising the parishes of Desertoghill, Tamlaght-O'Crilly, and Kilrea, and containing three chapels, one here and two in Tamlaght-O'Crilly. A large and handsome meeting-house is now being built at Moneydig for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod of Ulster.
St. Columbkill at Desertoghill founded an abbey, which afterwards became parochial, but the old church, though now a picturesque ruin, does not bear evidence of such remote antiquity as some others in the neighbourhood; in 1622 it was one of the very few in the county that were in perfect repair. Not far distant from the old church is a small fortress; and in an adjoining field is an artificial cave of considerable extent, having three chambers or galleries. A curious stone, wherein are two small and rude founts, considered by the peasantry to be the impress of the knees of St. Columbkill while praying, stands in the churchyard. Half a mile above Garvagh is a curious encampment, called the Bonny Fort; and not far distant is a smaller one, called Roughfort: both appear to have been constructed to protect the mountain pass.
There are some picturesque remains of the ancient castle of Movanagher, about 1˝ miles to the north of the present town : during the parliamentary war it was garrisoned for the king, but shortly after fell into the hands of the parliamentarians, by whom, after being repeatedly taken and retaken, it was anally dismantled in 1649. The ford at Portoneil, and the ferry across the Bann, were in the same war scenes of much slaughter; and in 1655 they were severely contested and alternately in the possession of both parties.