KILFEDANE

KILFEDANE, a parish, in the barony of CLONDERLAW, county of CLARE, and province of MUNSTER, 4 ½ miles (W. S. W.) from Kildysart, on the river Shannon, near its junction with the Fergus; containing 4165 inhabitants. It comprises 8981 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, including a large tract of improvable mountain and bog: the portion in tillage is generally manured with sea-weed and sand. Culm is found at Shanahea and partially worked. Within the parish are the mansion and principal part of the demesne of Cahircon, the seat of Bindon Scott, Esq., beautifully situated at the confluence of the Fergus and Shannon, of which an eminence near the house commands an extensive and interesting view, embracing a large portion of the shores of those rivers and the numerous islands by which their estuary is studded.

Adjoining the demesne is Clifton House, lately erected by Bindon Scott, and not yet tenanted; it occupies a beautiful situation contiguous to the shores of the Shannon, of which it commands an extensive view. There is a ferry from Clifton to Foyne's Island, on the opposite shore of the Shannon. The parish is in the diocese of Killaloe: the rectory is impropriate in Bindon Scott, Esq., and the vicarage forms part of the union of Kilmurry-Clonderlaw. The tithes amount to £267. 13. 10 ¼., of which £166. 3. 1. is payable to the impropriator, and the remainder to the vicar.

In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of Kildysart: the chapel at Coulmeen is a large building of recent erection; and at Cranny bridge, on the border of the parish, is another. About 60 boys are educated in a school, partly free, under the superintendence of the R. C. clergyman; and there are four private schools, in which are about 210 children. A school-house is about to be built at Coulmeen by subscription. There are some ruins of the old church. About 1780, when an East India fleet took refuge in the Shannon, an encampment was formed in the deer-park of Cahircon.