KILDIMO

KILDIMO, or KILDEEMO, a parish, in the barony of KENRY, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTER, 4 miles (S. E.) from Pallas-Kenry, on the road from Limerick to Tarbert; containing 3357 inhabitants. It comprises 4568 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, 600 of which are rich corcass land, 200 bog, and the remainder arable, which produces particularly fine wheat: the substratum is limestone. At the foot of the finely wooded hill of Dromore is a deep lake of about 30 acres, separated from another of about 45 by a small bog. The surrounding country is fertile and picturesque, particularly to the south of the village. The principal seats are Court Cottage, the residence of T. Rose, Esq.; Bollane Cottage, of Arundel Hill, Esq.; and Ballynolane House, of H. Potter, Esq. The village is small, and another, called New Kildimo, is rising up on the new road which was made for the mail from Limerick to Tralee, and is very level and good, but has been superseded by that which runs through Newcastle, which is much shorter.

The parish is in the diocese of Limerick; the rectory forms part of the union of St. Michael's and corps of the archdeaconry; and there is a perpetual curacy, instituted in 1815 and endowed with the tithes of five townlands, containing 672 acres, and in the patronage of the Bishop. The tithes amount to £406. 4. 7 ½., of which £276. 18. 5 ½. is payable to the archdeacon, and £129. 6. 2. to the perpetual curate. The church, which is small and very neat, was rebuilt in 1705. There is a glebe-house, for the erection of which the late Board of First Fruits gave £150 and lent £50, in 1810. The glebe comprises 7 ½ acres. In the R. C. divisions it is the head of a union or district, comprising the parishes of Kildimo, Ardcanny, and Chapel-Russell, and containing two chapels, one a large plain building in the village of Kildimo, and the other at Whiteforge. About 200 children are educated in six private schools; the parochial school-house is at present occupied by several poor families.

Near the western extremity of the parish are the ruins of a church, only 12 feet long and 8 broad, of which the walls and doors are tolerably perfect: it was built about 1290 by the Knights Templars, on lands given by Dermot O'Donovan. Kildimo Court, which is nearly entire, was the seat of the Hartstonge family. In the grounds of Mr. Hill are the ruins of Bollane castle, built by the O'Donovans in the 15th century; near the river Mague are the remains of Cullan castle, built by one of the Fitzgeralds in 1514, and taken by Sir Hardress Waller in 1651; and at Ballyculhane are the ruins of a third, the history of which is unknown.