KILMACOEN

Samuel Lewis

A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland

1837

KILMACOEN, or KILMACOWEN, a parish, in the barony of UPPER CARBERY, county of SLIGO, and province of CONNAUGHT, 4 ½ miles (S. W.) from Sligo, on the Ballysadere channel; containing 2296 inhabitants. The name signifies the "Church of the Sons of Oen." St. Diermit, eldest brother of St. Cormac, founded a church here on lands given by Flann-Dubh, dynast of the Hy Fiacrii.

The parish comprises 3393 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £5132 per ann. The soil is light and stony, and the land is principally under tillage: there is a small quantity of bog. Here is Clover Hill, the seat of W. Creighton Chambers, Esq. It is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Elphin, forming part of the union of St. John's, Sligo: the tithes amount to £180. 15. 4 ¼.

In the R. C. divisions also it is part of the union or district of St. John's, Sligo. There are two public schools, one of which is supported by Mrs. Chambers. The burial-ground of the old church, which is in ruins, is still used for interment. Here are some druidical altars and cromlechs: and a golden torques was found here some time since.

Search Topographical Dictionary of Ireland »

Featured Books

An American widow’s account of her travels in Ireland in 1844–45 on the eve of the Great Famine:

Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger

Sailing from New York, she set out to determine the condition of the Irish poor and discover why so many were emigrating to her home country.

Mrs Nicholson’s recollections of her tour among the peasantry are still revealing and gripping today.

The author returned to Ireland in 1847–49 to help with famine relief and recorded those experiences in the rather harrowing: Annals of the Famine in Ireland.

See more of our books »

The Ocean Plague: or, A Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant Vessel is based upon the diary of Robert Whyte who, in 1847, crossed the Atlantic from Dublin to Quebec in an Irish emigrant ship. His account of the journey provides invaluable eyewitness testimony to the trauma and tragedy that many emigrants had to face en route to their new lives in Canada and America. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Irish in America by John F. Maguire provides a substantial and invaluable account of the extreme difficulties faced by pioneer Irish immigrants in North America during the 19th Century. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Scotch-Irish in America tells the story of how the hardy breed of men and women, who in America came to be known as the ‘Scotch-Irish’, was forged in the north of Ireland during the seventeenth century. It relates the circumstances under which the great exodus to the New World began, the trials and tribulations faced by these tough American pioneers and the enduring influence they came to exert on the politics, education and religion of the country.

Show fewer titles