MACLONEIGH

MACLONEIGH, a parish, in the barony of WEST MUSKERRY, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 2 miles (S.) from Macroom; containing 1520 inhabitants. It is bounded 011 the north by the river Lee, and comprises 3826 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £2876 per ann.: in some places the soil is deep and loamy, in others inclined to stiff clay, and in others light and friable; about two-thirds of the land are under tillage, and the remainder consists of rough mountain pasture and bog, of which latter there is a considerable portion near the river; agriculture is in a very backward state, the old heavy wooden plough being still used, and much of the land is cultivated with the spade.

The seats are Castleview, the residence of P. Ronayne, Esq.; and the glebe-house, of the Rev. R. J. Roothe. It is a rectory, in the diocese of Cork, forming part of the union of Kilmichael: the tithes amount to £250. The glebe-house, a neat mansion, stands on a glebe of 48 acres of good land: the church of the union is in Kilmichael.

In the R. C. divisions also it is part of the union or district of Kilmichael: the chapel at Toames is a small neat edifice, erected in 1831. The parochial school is supported by the rector; another school is aided by a bequest of £10 per ann. from the late Mrs. Margaret Browne, of Castleview; and there is a national school at Toames, for which a school-house was built in 1833, at an expense of £90. In these schools collectively about 190 children are educated. The ruins of the old church are situated near the glebe-house; it was a spacious edifice, nearly 80 feet long, of which the gables and south walls are still nearly entire; the doors and windows are of hewn stone, but of rude construction.