Three Areas..

The Parish has three churches Keadue, Arigna and Ballyfarnon. There are four schools under the patronage of the Catholic Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois.  Keadue, Ballyfarnon and two schools in the Arigna area, Greaghnafarna and Strabraggan.

Characteristics..

Keadue is the site of the Parish Church, it  was dedicated  on the 8th September 1885. This church replaced an earlier church which was built on the site of the present St. Ronan’s Hall in Keadue. The well preserved ruins of the earlier church are still visible in Kilronan Cemetery.

Arigna is associated with mining, and coal mining in particular, because iron first and then coal was taken out of the hills of Arigna over the past 400 years. The last mines only closed in 1990. Today coal briquettes which are sold throughout the country are manufactured in Arigna. One of the old coal mines has become a Mining Museum and is a very popular tourist attraction.

Alderford House the ancestral home of the McDermott Roe’s is situated Ballyfarnon. Thomas McDermott Roe became bishop of Ardagh in 1747 and he died in 1753.  The McDermott Roe’s were patrons of Turlough O’Carolan, the last of the Irish Bards. Turlough O’Carolan died in Alderford House in 1738 and though this was during the Penal Laws, there was a large gathering of clergy present at his funeral. Turlough O’Carolan was laid to rest in the vault of the McDermott Roe family in Kilronan Cemetery.