NOUGHAVAL

NOUGHAVAL, a parish, in the barony of BURREN, county of CLARE, and province of MUNSTER, 2 miles (N. N. E.) from Kilfenora, on the road from Ennis to Burren; containing 408 inhabitants, of which number, 64 are in the hamlet. It comprises 4521 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, only a small portion of which is under tillage, the greater part consisting of rocky limestone pasture, yielding a rich though scanty herbage: there are about SO acres of pasturable mountain.

The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Kilfenora, united at a period unknown to the vicarage of Carrune, or Carne, together constituting the union of Noughaval and the corps of the precentorship of Kilfenora, in the patronage of the Bishop.

The tithes amount to £35, and of the entire benefice to £70, the whole payable to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, by whom the benefice is at present held in sequestration: the glebe comprises 26a. 0r. 22p.

In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Carrune, or Carne: the chapel is at the village of Noughaval. About 35 children are educated in a private school. The ruins of the church stand on the glebe: and at Banroe, Ballymurphy, and Ballygannor are the ruins of the castles respectively so called. Within the limits of the parish are three ancient forts, attributed to the Danes; and at Ballygannor is a cromlech of extraordinary dimensions, the table stone being nearly 40 feet long and 10 broad, and supported by upright flag stones, rising about six feet above the ground.