CLOMANTO, or CLOGHMANTAGH, a parish

CLOMANTO, or CLOGHMANTAGH, a parish, in the barony of CRANAGH, county of KILKENNY, and province of LEINSTER, 3 ½ miles (W.) from Freshford, on the road from Kilkenny to Thurles; containing 889 inhabitants. It comprises 3597 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £2413 per annum; about 480 acres are mountain and woodland, and the remainder arable and pasture. The system of agriculture is very much improved; and there is abundance of limestone, which is quarried for building, but chiefly for burning into lime, which is the chief manure. The principal seats are Woodsgift, the residence of Sir R. B. St. George, Bart., adjoining the demesne of which are temporary loughs, called Loghans, formed by springs which burst forth at the commencement of the wet season, but discontinue in the spring; and Balief Castle, the handsome residence of R. St. George, Esq., in the demesne of which are the remains of the ancient castle, a round tower in a good state of preservation. The Clomanto flour-mills, capable of manufacturing about 12,000 barrels annually, are impelled by a small river that intersects the parish; and attached to them is a large starch-manufactory, both belonging to Mr. W. Lyster.

The living consists of a rectory and vicarage united, and a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Ossory; the rectory and vicarage form part of the union of Freshford and of the corps of the prebend of Aghoure in the cathedral of St. Canice, Kilkenny; the perpetual curacy was instituted by act of council, in 1828, by detaching five townlands from this parish, and uniting them with the parishes of Urlingford and Tubrid, and portions of the parishes of Burnchurch and Tullaroan, together forming the perpetual curacy of Clomanto, which is in the patronage of the incumbents of the several parishes out of which it was formed, each of whom contributes to the curate's stipend. The tithes amount to £184. 12. 5. The old parish church is in ruins, and there is neither glebe-house nor glebe. A church has been recently erected for the district curacy; it is a handsome edifice, situated on the verge of the parish. In the R. C. divisions the parish is partly in the union or district of Urlingford, and partly in that of Freshford. There are two pay schools, in which are about 100 children. The remains of the old castle of Clomanto consist of a square tower in good preservation; both it and Balief castle belonged anciently to the Shortall family. On the summit of Clomanto hill is a circular mound of stones, 87 paces in circumference, enclosed by a circular barrier of stones including several acres, approaching nearest to the mound on the east. Part of this circle has been destroyed; the name Cloghman-Ta, signifying in the Irish language the "stone of God," is sufficiently indicative of the use to which this place was applied.