KILKEEDY

KILKEEDY, or KILKEADY, a parish, in the barony of INCHIQUIN, county of CLARE, and province of MUNSTER, 6 miles (N. E.) from Curofin, on the road to Gort; containing 3321 inhabitants. It is situated on the confines of the county, and comprises 15,390 statute acres, as applotted tinder the tithe act, a large portion of which is rough mountain pasture. There are several lakes, of which Lough Buneagh is of considerable extent. The principal seats are Rockforest, the residence of Bindon Blood, Esq., situated in a finely planted demesne extending nearly a mile along the road; Rockvale, of J. D'Arcy, Esq.; Carrignagoule, of J. Roughan, Esq.; Ratope, of the late J. Foster, Esq.; and Derryowen, of C. Lobdell, Esq. Fairs are held at Turraghmore on the 8th of June, and at Tubber on July 12th and Sept. 20th, chiefly for cattle; the first is numerously attended. Petty sessions are held at Derryowen every alternate week, and a court for the manor of Inchiquin is held occasionally for the recovery of small debts.

The parish is in the diocese of Killaloe: the rectory is partly appropriate to the prebend of Tomgrany, in the cathedral of Killaloe, partly impropriate in the representatives of the Right Hon. James Fitzgerald, and partly united with the vicarage, which forms part of the union of Kilneboy. The tithes amount to £144. 4. 0 ¼., of which £9. 15. 5. is payable to the prebendary, £13. 18. 11 ½. to the impropriators, and £120. 19. 6 ¾. to the vicar. The church is a small plain edifice, without tower or spire. The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church, and contains a large chapel at Boston, and a smaller one at Tubber. There is a school under the superintendence of the R. C. clergyman, in which are about 120 children. There are some remains of the castles of Rockvale, Fidane, Carrignagoule, Ratope, Derryowen, and Kilkeedy: the castle of Fidane is nearly perfect; that of Derryowen was a square tower, 116 feet high, with very spacious rooms, but part of it has fallen.