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

Clondagad, or Clondegad

A parish in the barony of Islands, 6¼ miles south-west by south of Clare, Co. Clare, Munster. Length, west by south-ward, 7¾ miles; breadth, from 1 mile to 3½ miles; area, 16,978 acres, 17 perches,-of which 2 acres, 2 roods, 16 perches, are tideway of the Owenslieve river, 45 acres, 9 perches, are in lakes, and 37 acres, 3 roods, 26 perches, consist of islands. Pop., in 1831, 4,650; in 1841, 5,088. Houses 802. The surface is washed across its east end by the upper half of the estuary of the Fergus; and thence extends over the alluvial and other low grounds near the shore, away into the interior of the western upland district of the county. About one-fifth of the land is of first and second rate quality; one-fifth of third rate, and one-fifth of fourth rate; and the remaining two-fifths are bog and mountain. The highest grounds in the interior have altitudes above sea-level of 328 and 699 feet. The Owenslieve river flows chiefly in the interior, but partly on the southern boundary; and, while connected with the parish, it descends from an elevation of 536 feet to the level of the estuary of the Fergus. A rivulet which describes the western boundary, descends while there from an elevation of 531 to one of 258 feet. The seats are Annfield, Clondagad, Racket-Hall, and Cagbrien. The road from Ennis to Kildysart runs along the eastern border. This parish is a vicarage, and a separate benefice, in the dio. of Killaloe. Vicarial tithe composition, £147 13s. 10½d.; glebe, £28. Gross income, £175 13s. 10½d.; nett, £158 3s. 8½d. Patron, the diocesan. The incumbent holds also the sinecure prebend of Clondagad in Killaloe cathedral, and the benefice of Kilfentinan in the dio. of Limerick. A portion of the rectorial tithes is attached to the prebend, and compounded for £36 18s. 5½d.; and a portion, consisting of the tithes of 17 plough-lands, is impropriate in Bindon Scott, Esq., and compounded for £230 15s. A curate has a stipend of £30, and the use of the glebe and glebe-house. The church was built, in 18l0, by means of a gift of £553 16s. 11d. from the late Board of First Fruits. Sittings 150; attendance, from 20 to 30. The Roman Catholic chapel has an attendance of 700; and, in the Roman Catholic parochial arrangement, is united to the chapel of Kilchrist. In 1834, the Protestants amounted to 16, and the Roman Catholics to 4,976; and 5 pay daily schools-one of which was in Corney Island-had on their books 271 boys and 154 girls.

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