KILMANAHEEN

KILMANAHEEN, a parish, in the barony of CORCOMROE, county of CLARE, and province of MUNSTER, on the road from Ennis to Miltown-Malbay; containing, with the post-town of Ennistymon and the village of Lahinch (both of which are separately described), 5475 inhabitants. It comprises 8545 statute acres, of which a large portion consists of hilly pasture, and from its situation on the bay of Liscanor, the portion under tillage is manured with sea weed and sand, which is here procured in abundance: the state of agriculture is gradually improving.

The principal seats are Ennistymon House, the residence of A. Finucane, Esq.; the glebe-house, of the Ven. Archdeacon Whitty; Lahenzy, the property of A. Stackpoole, Esq.; Woodmount, of G. F. Lysaght, Esq.: and Moy, the occasional residence of Sir W. Fitzgerald, Bart.

The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Kilfenora; the rectory is united to those of Kilmacrehy and Killaspuglenane, constituting the corps of the archdeaconry; and their respective vicarages, together with those of Killeilagh and Kilmoon, form the union of Kilmanaheen, in the patronage of the Bishop. The tithes of this parish amount to £254. 2. 11 ½., the entire tithes of the archdeaconry to £393. 5. 7., and those of the vicarial union to £295. 1. 11 ½. The glebe-house is a modern building, towards the erection of which the late Board of First Fruits contributed a loan of £369 and a gift of a similar sum, in 1828: there is a glebe of 43 acres, subject to a charge of £10 per ann. late currency. The church at Ennistymon, built in 1831, is also a handsome structure, for the erection of which the same Board granted a loan of £1000.

In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Ennistymon, which also comprises the parish of Clouney, and contains the chapels of Ennistymon, Lahinch, and Kilthomas. In the public schools at Ennistymon about 340 children are educated, and there are also in the parish nine private schools. The ruins of the old church still remain in the burial-ground.