The Parish of Killnamona, in the Barony of Inchiquin and
Co. of Clare, is bounded on the north, east and west by the Parish of
Disert; and on the south by the Parish of Drumcliabh. See engraved Map
from the Down Survey.
The name of this Parish is partly of ecclesiastical and partly of local
origin; Cill, meaning a Church or cell; and na-Mona, of the bog or
turf; hence Cill-na-Mona,
the Church of the Bog. The ruined old Church of Killnamona stands in the Townland of that
name, with its walls in good preservation, measuring sixty two and
a half feet in length
and twenty one feet in breadth. At the distance of seventeen feet from a west
gable in the south side is a pointed doorway, one side of which only remains,
measuring six feet four inches in height and and three feet nine inches in
breadth, having a large Holy Water Font in the right jamb as one
goes in. There is a semi-circular
window in the same wall, two feet from east gable, six and a half feet high
and three feet eleven inches wide inside; four feet nine inches high,
eight inches
wide at top and eight and a half at bottom outside, with holes in the sides
for cross iron bars. There is a window in the east gable about eleven
feet in height
and seven feet three inches in breadth inside, eight feet eight inches high,
one foot three inches wide at bottom on the outside, the top so thickly covered
with ivy that its form could not be ascertained. This window too, has holes
in the sill and sides for iron bars. The walls are about fourteen
feet high, three
feet two inches thick and built of large and small stones in irregular courses.
There is a large burying ground attached
and a well a little to the south called Tobar Lachtin, much frequented
for the cure of divers diseases. St. Lachtain is venerated here on the
same day that his festival was observed at Freshford in the Co. Kilkenny,
namely, the 19th day of March. Another Holy Well called Tobar-na-Taise,
i.e., the Well of the Relic, lies a short distance to the southwest, shaped
like a coffin, in which delicate children are laid on the back as if in
a coffin for the restoration of their health.
Part of one side of an old Castle stands in the Townland of Shallee,
but no account of it appears in any of the documents that we have
access to. No other remains
of antiquity has been discovered in this Parish. I remain, Sir,
Your
obedient servant,
Eugene Curry.
Kilkee, 28th Oct. 1839. |