Drumcreehy

Drumcreehy
Droim Críche
Parish

Drumcreehy
Coordinates: 53°06′54″N 9°08′59″W / 53.115099°N 9.149644°W / 53.115099; -9.149644Coordinates: 53°06′54″N 9°08′59″W / 53.115099°N 9.149644°W / 53.115099; -9.149644
Country Ireland
Province Munster
County County Clare, County Limerick
Time zone WET (UTC+0)
 • Summer (DST) IST (WEST) (UTC-1)

Drumcreehy or Dromcreehy (Irish: Droim Críche[1]) is a civil parish in County Clare, Ireland. It contains the village of Ballyvaughan.

Name

The name "Drumcreehy" comes from the situation of the original parish church on a hillside or ridge in the territory of Crioch Maille or Droim Críche, possibly derived from Droim Críche Uí Maille ("the ridge of O'Malley's territory").[2][3]:85

Location

The parish is in the north of the Barony of Burren on Ballyvaughan bay, on the south shore of Galway Bay. It is 10.5 miles (16.9 km) northwest of Corofin. The parish is 4 by 2 miles (6.4 by 3.2 km) and covers 6,285 acres (2,543 ha). The land was once rocky and mountainous, and mostly unsuitable for farming. It rises to 1,023 feet (312 m) above sea level at Cappanavalla hill on the western boundary.[4]

History

A battle was fought in 1317 beside Lough Rask which is near Ballyvaughan.[2]

In 1834 there was neither church, chapel nor school in the parish. Villages in 1845 were Ballyvaughan, Ballyconree, Ballinacraggy and Loughrask. In 1841 the population was 2,331 in 362 houses, mostly living along the coastline.[4]

Antiquities

There are many stone ringforts and caves in varying condition in the parish.[2]

Attempts to date the church of Drumcreehy currently place its construction from the 11th/12th to the 13th/14th century. A church definitely existed here in the 14th century as it was mentioned in a tax list, but at the time likely consisted only of the nave (collapsed today). The chancel was probably added only in the 15th or 16trh century. As of 1897 the church was partly ruined, surrounded by a large cemetery.[2][3]:85 A few hundred meters from the church there are the remains of a religious house on the lands called "The Bishop’s Quarter", but there are no records of the establishment. The Bishop of Kilfenora drew rent from 120 acres of land here in the early 17th century.[5][3]:86

The parish contains the remains of four castles or tower houses:

All four castles were owned by an O'Loghlen in 1580.[2]

Townlands

Townlands are Acres, Ballycahill, Ballyconry, Ballyvaughan, Bishopsquarter, Dangan, Killoghil, Knocknagroagh, Lisnanard, Loughrask, Muckinish East, Muckinish West, Newtown and Tonarussa.[7]

References

Citations

Sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.