Kilkenny, New Hampshire

Kilkenny is a township located in Coos County, New Hampshire, USA. It was granted on June 4, 1774, containing about 26,911 acres (10,500 more than today). As of the 2000 Census, the township had no inhabitants.

In New Hampshire, locations, grants, townships (which are different from towns), and purchases are unincorporated portions of a county which are not part of any town and have limited self-government (if any, as many are uninhabited).

Geography

Kilkenny is located entirely within the boundaries of the White Mountain National Forest and is home to Mount Waumbek and Mount Cabot of the Pilot Range, each over convert|4000|ft|m high (see Four-thousand footers), as well as several other peaks over convert|3000|ft|m. The summit of Mount Cabot is the highest point in Kilkenny, at convert|4160|ft|m above sea level.

Kilkenny is bordered to the south and west by Jefferson, to the west by Lancaster, to the north by Stark, and to the east by Berlin and Milan. The West Branch of the Upper Ammonoosuc River originates on the eastern slope of the Pilot Range.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of convert|25.6|sqmi|km2, of which 0.04% is water.

History

The town was granted to Jonathan Warner and others on June 4, 1774. In 1840 it contained 19 inhabitants, in 1856, 19, and an area of 15,906 acres, having a value of $20,000. (1874 New Hampshire Gazetteer)

Kilkenny Township once included a large portion of what is now the eastern edge of Jefferson, tapering south into the area of Jefferson Notch at the foot of Mount Mitten. This included much of the area known as "Jefferson Highland" on the Portland Road (US-2). By the 1870s, maps were showing the southern edge of Kilkenny as a line extending the northern border of Jefferson and Lancaster (1872 Railroad and Post Office Map of New Hampshire, and 1892 map of Jefferson). The 1896 topographic map, however, shows that the boundary had again been adjusted several miles south, to include Mount Waumbek and Pliny Mountain, uninhabited areas. Deeds in this area often refer to the "Kilkenny Addition".

On the 1935 topographic map, the "Upper Ammonoosuc Trail" crossed Kilkenny along Priscilla Brook and through the pass from the Keenan Brook area of Randolph, north of Pliny Mountain. This trail has since been abandoned, although a 2002 atlas of New Hampshire shows a "Priscilla Brook Trail" in the same location.

The Willard Bowl north of Mount Waumbek, drained by Garland Brook, was considered as a site for development of a ski area in 1971, when it was owned by former governor Hugh Gregg. On the 1896 topographic map there was a B&M railroad spur up much of Garland Brook, to an elevation of convert|2100|ft|m. By 1935 the tracks were gone.

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there are no people living in the township and the railroad spur has been removed.

References

* Town of Jefferson . "Jefferson, New Hampshire, Before 1996"(1995). Littleton: Sherwin Dodge. p. 103.

External links

* [http://docs.unh.edu/NH/mtws96nw.jpg1896 Topographic map segment]
* [http://www.ncia.net/towns/kilkenny.shtml NCIA Kilkenny page]