Clare Places: Parishes: Kilmurry-Clonderlaw: Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, 1845

Kilmurry-Clonderlaw

A parish in the barony of Clonderalaw, exactly mid-distance between Kildysart and Kilrush, Co. Clare, Munster. It contains the village of KNOCK. Length, 4 miles; breadth, 3¾; area, 10,457 acres, 3 roods, 39 perches. Pop., in 1831, 3,859; in 1841, 4,332. Houses 678. Pop. of the rural districts, in 1841, 4,217. Houses 657. The surface extends along three-fourths of the west side of Clonderalaw bay, from the head downward; and ascends thence northward into the moorlands of the barony. A district about a mile broad along the bay consists of fair arable land, and possesses a large aggregate of demesne embellishment; but nearly all the remainder of the surface is bleak, moorish, and comparatively unproductive. Two chief heights in the north have altitudes of 277 and 298 feet; and one of them is crowned with Reantassa fort. The hamlets are Kilmurry-MacMahon and Greenaune; and the seats are Cahirbane, Oaklands, Summer-lodge, Bridge-park, Thornberry, and Clonderalaw. The road from Ennis to Kilrush passes down the coast.—This parish is a vicarage, in the dio. of Killaloe. Vicarial tithe composition, £87 13s. 10¼d.; glebe, £25 13s. The rectorial tithes are compounded for £120; and are impropriate in Bindon Scott, Esq. The vicarages of KILMURRY, KILLOFIN, KILMACDUANE, KILFEDANE, and KILLEYMUR, constitute the benefice of Kilmurry-Clonderalaw. Length, 16 miles; breadth, 9. Pop., in 1831, 20,858. Gross income, £547 12s. 5¾d.; nett, £469 9s. 3¾d. Patron, the diocesan. The incumbent is also minorcanon of Limerick. A curate has a salary of £75. The church was built in 1810, by means of a loan of £553 16s. 11d. from the late Board of First Fruits. Sittings 200; attendance 70. The Kilmurry Roman Catholic chapel has an attendance of 1,500; and there are 5 other Roman Catholic chapels within the benefice. In 1834, the Protestants of the parish amounted to 176, and the Roman Catholics to 3,953; the Protestants of the union to 271, and the Roman Catholics to 22,104; 5 hedge-schools in the parish had on their books 198 boys and 108 girls; and 24 daily schools in the union had 896 boys and 504 girls.

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