GLANKEEN

GLANKEEN, a parish, in the barony of KILNEMANAGH, county of TIPPERARY, and province of MUNSTER, on the road from Thurles to Nenagh; containing, with the post-town of Burris-o'-leagh 6585 inhabitants. It comprises 14,215 statute acres, of which 230 are re-claimable mountain. Limestone is quarried for manure, and coal is supposed to exist in the mountains. Summer Hill, the residence of J. H. Harden, Esq., and Callohill Castle are in the parish. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Cashel, and in the patronage of the Archbishop; the rectory forms the corps of the prebend of Glankeen in the cathedral of Cashel, and in the gift of the Crown. The tithes amount to £600, of which £400 is paid to the archbishop, as prebendary of Glankeen, and £200 to the vicar. There is a glebe-house, with a glebe of 11 acres. The church is a plain building, erected about 1776, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have lately granted £147 for its repairs.

The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church, and is called Burris-o'-leagh; the chapel is at that place, and there is another at Heigh. The parochial school, to which the late Lady Caroline Damer gave 1 ½ acre of land, is aided by the rector; and there are three national schools; they afford instruction to about 350 children. About 280 children are taught in seven private schools. Large horns of an elk have been dug up here. There are the ruins of an ancient church, partly covered with ivy, and containing a monument to the family of Burke; and at Kilcuilawn, situated in the mountains, the celebrated relic called Barnaan-Cuilawn was found in a hollow tree many years since. It is composed of iron and brass inlaid with gold and silver, having some resemblance in shape to a mitre, and is supposed to have been the top of a censer belonging to St. Cuilen, who founded a church here in the 10th century; it is now in the possession of Mr. Cooke, of Parsonstown, and forms the subject of an article in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. In 1821 the remains of an ancient mill were discovered near the church.—See BURRIS-O'-LEAGH.