Mason's Parochial Survey, 1814-19

Union of Kilmanaheen, Kilasbuglenane, Kilmacreehy, Kileilagh and Kilmoon

Introduction.

The vicarage of the parish of Kilmanaheen, to which the writer of this account was collated 15th December, 1775, by the then bishop, was then episcopally united to the vicarages of Kilasbuglenane, Kilmacreehy, Kileilagh and Kilmoon. There was no church in either of those parishes at that time, and therefore the Board of First Fruits granted £390 for erecting a new church in the village of Ennistymon, in a situation different from the old site of Kilmanaheen church. The old site is most inconvenient for a place of worship, being a small eminence in a most swampy place, near the river of Ennistymon, overflown at all high floods and tides. The writer superintended the building of the church, and the sum expended by him exceeded the grant by at least £40, for which he never got the smallest remuneration. The Board granted, at the same time, £200 for the purpose of fining down 40 acres of course ground, (distant about half a mile from the church) as a glebe for the use of the incumbent. The yearly value of this land was estimated at that time at 10s. per acre. On it he built a glebe house and offices, the only one then in this county, and expended therein more than a thousand pounds.

Glebe
As soon as he could fit up the glebe house for his reception he resided in it, and has continued religiously and conscientiously to do so, ever since. From the 29th September, 1782, to the 27th December 1789, he has, in this remote corner of a more remote country, received 45 converts. The repeal of the penal code took place at that time, and all his exertions to make converts became fruitless ever since. The annual value of the five vicarages did not amount to more than £100, and they were united for ever by act of Council the 29th April, 1779, being altogether scarcely sufficient for the maintenance of a clergyman. The rectories of Kileilagh, Kilmoon, and Carron became vacant, in June 1785, and he was presented to them on the 28th of the said month by the Patron, the late Marquis of Thomond, (to whom he had the honour of being domestic chaplain). The rectories of Kilmanaheen, Killasbuglenane and Kilmacreehy, which form the archdeaconry of the diocese, became vacant in August 1790 and when he represented to the then bishop (Doctor Bernard) the manner in which those rectories were circumstanced with respect to the vicarages of the same parishes, he kindly collated him to them on the 26th of the above month.

These rectories should, for the interest of the church, be always united with the vicarages, and then the income of all would amount to £300 per annum. On this principle he did hope, that the Bishop or Archbishop would make him some compensation for the great sum of money expended on the glebe house, and other improvements, by procuring for him, in the usual way, the loan of £600 from the board, being double the annual income; or that the Bishop, on his proving to his satisfaction that he had actually expended £1000, as already mentioned, would, by his certificate (which he has not as yet obtained) order him, under those circumstances, to have a charge on his successor for £600 instead of £200, which he is entitled to under the original memorial. In both those shapes his request was refused, and, he thinks, undeservedly.

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