DROMDEELY, or TOMDEELY

DROMDEELY, or TOMDEELY, a parish, in the barony of LOWER CONNELLO EAST, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTER, 1 ½ mile (W. by S.) from Askeaton, on the south bank of the Shannon; containing 430 inhabitants. It comprises 1275 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act: the land, which is nearly all arable, is generally light and much intermingled with limestone. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Limerick, and in the gift of the Precentor of St. Mary's cathedral, Limerick; the rectory forms part of the union of Nantinan, and the corps of the precentorship: the tithes amount to £75, of which £50 is payable to the precentor, and £25 to the vicar. In the R. C. divisions, the parish forms part of the union or district of Askeaton. Several islands in the Shannon belong to it; the largest is Greenish (which see), containing 45 acres. There are ruins of the old church, and, not far distant, of Dromdeely castle, a small square tower built by the Mahonys, and which, since the final expulsion of the Geraldines in 1580, has been gradually falling into decay.