Clare Places: Parishes: Clonlea: Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, 1845

Clonlea, or Clonleigh

A parish on the western border of the barony of Lower Tulla, 4 miles north by east of Six-mile-Bridge, Co. Clare, Munster. It contains the village of KILKISHEN. Length, south-east by southward, 5½ miles; breadth, from ¾ of a mile to 3¼ miles; area, 8,833 acres, 2 roods, 36 perches, of which 140 acres, 3 roods, 3 perches, are in Lough Culleaungheeda, 12 acres, 2 roods, 32 perches, are in Lough Doon, and 361 acres, 3 roods, are in other lakes. Pop., in 1831, 3,105; in 1841, 3,749. Houses 579. Pop. of the rural districts, in 1841, 3,190. Houses 494. The surface is chiefly pastoral, and partly mountainous; and it lies within the basin of the rivulet Ougarnee. Lough Cullaungheeda lies on the north-west boundary, and has an elevation above sea-level of 97 feet; Lough Doon lies on the north-east boundary, and has an elevation of 96 feet; Lough Clonleigh, a very large sheet of water, lies wholly in the interior, and has an elevation of 98 feet; and the other noticeable lakes are Clonbrick, a little south of Lough Clonleigh, and Castle-lake on the southern boundary. The seats are Mount-Baylee, Lake-Kyle-House, Lakeview, Killeen, Scart, Sunville, Kilkishen, Glenwood, and Belvoir, the last the residence of J. D. Wilson, Esq. This parish is a rectory, and a vicarage, in the dio. of Killaloe. The rectory is part of the benefice of O’MULLOD. Rectorial tithe composition, £79 12s. The vicarage is a separate benefice. Vicarial tithe composition, £92 6s. 1½d.; glebe, £42. Gross income, £166 12s. 1½d.; nett, £107 13s 6d. Patron, the diocesan. A curate has a stipend of £75. The church was built, in 1811, by means of a gift of £738 9s. 2¾d. from the late Board of First Fruits. Sittings 120; attendance 35. Two Roman Catholic chapels are attended by respectively 700 and 250. In 1834, the Protestants amounted to 60, and the Roman Catholics to 3,274; a classical school was kept by the vicar; and 6 other daily schools-one of which was a parochial free-school under the super-intendence of the vicar, and another was a National school salaried with £10 from the Board-had on their books 286 boys and 196 girls.

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, 1845
Courtesy of Clare Local Studies Project