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TUA
the market, is chosen annually from the free burgesses
by a majority of that body, on the festival of St. John,
and is sworn into office on that of St. Michael; the free
burgesses fill up vacancies as they occur, by a majority
of their body, by whom also freemen are admitted, and
the officers of the corporation appointed. The charter
conferred upon the corporation the privilege of return-
ing two members to the Irish parliament, which they
continued to exercise till the Union, when the borough
was disfranchised. The borough court of record had
jurisdiction to the amount of five marks, but since 1826
few proceedings have issued from it, and within the last
few years it has been altogether discontinued. The
general sessions of the peace are held here twice in the
year, and petty sessions every Wednesday; a chief
constabulary police force is stationed in the town. The
court-house is a neat and well-arranged building:
annexed to it is a small bridewell, containing two day-
rooms and airing-yards, and eight cells.
The SEE of TUAM, as
before noticed, was founded
in the early part of the 6th
century by St. Jarlath, of
whose successors, who for
some years after his death
were styled comorbans,
bish-
ops, or archbishops of Con-
naught, but little is record-
ed, with the exception of
Muredach 0’ Dubhai, who
in 1143 convened a great
synod of 12 bishops and 500
priests at this place, to devise the best means of ran-
soming Rory O’Conor, son of Tirdelvac, King of Ire-
land, who had been taken prisoner by Tiernan O’Rourk.
That prelate was succeeded, in 1500, by Edan O’Hoisin,
who, at the synod held in 1152 by Cardinal Paparo, was
invested with the pall, and the see of Tuam became one
of the four archbishopricks of Ireland. The bishop-
ricks of Mayo, Killala, Roscommon, Clonfert, Achonry,
Cluan, and Duach were at that time made suffragan to it,
to which was afterwards united the see of Mayo, and in
1252 that of Enaghdune, on petition of Florence Mac
Flin to Hen. III.; it was, however, frequently held
separately, but, after many contests, became finally
part of the see of Tuam in 1421. Edward Singe, who
became archbishop in 1716, obtained an act in the first
meeting of parliament after his succession, by which
the quarta pars of the dues of the officiating clergy was
settled upon such rectors, vicars and curates within his
see as should personally discharge their respective cures,
Dr. Hort, who was translated to the archbishoprick in
1742, was permitted to retain the see of Ardagh, in the
province of Armagh, which he held in commendam,
in lieu of the see of Kilfenora, which had been pre-
viously held with Tuam, and his successors have ever
since continued to hold it; the Archbishop of Tuam is,
therefore, as Bishop of Ardagh, suffragan to the Lord-
Primate of all Ireland. The Archbishoprick or Ecclesi-
astical Province of Tuam comprehends the six dioceses
of Tuam, Elphin, Clonfert, Kihnacduagh, Killala, and
Achonry, comprising an estimated superficies of
2,356,750 acres, and with the exception of the county
of Leitrim and small portions of the counties of Sligo,
Roscommon, and Galway, includes the whole of the
647
TUA
civil province of Connaught. and a small part of King’s
county in the province of Leinster. Under the provi-
sions of the Church Temporalities act, the sees of Tuam,
Killala, and Achonry have been united; those of Clon-
fert and Kilmacduagh have also been united and are
held with Killaloe, the diocese of Elphin being still held
separately; consequently, two bishops only preside
over the dioceses of the province, and are suffragan to
the Archbishop of Tuam. Under the same act all
archiepiscopal jurisdiction will cease on the next avoid-
ance of the archbishoprick; Tuam, with the united
diocese of Ardagh and Kilmore, in the province of
Armagh, will be constituted one bishoprick, and with
the other dioceses of the province of Tuam, become
suffragan to the Archbishop of Armagh. The diocese of
Tuam is the most extensive in Ireland: it is 77 miles
in length and 63 in breadth, and comprises an esti-
mated superficies of 1,135,650 acres, of which 675,250
are in the county of Galway, 424,700 in Mayo, and
35,700 in the county of Roscommon. The lands
belonging to the archiepiscopal see, or the united
dioceses of Tuam and Ardagh, comprise 86,800¾ sta-
tute acres, of which 39,531½, are profitable land; and
the gross annual revenue, on an average of three years
ending Dec. 31st, 1831, is returned by the Eccle-
siastical Commissioners as amounting to £8206. 13. 9.
The chapter consists of a dean, a provost, an arch-
deacon, and the eight prebendaries of Kilmeen, Killa-
beggs, Teighsasson, Kilmoylan, Kilmainmore, Ballagh,
Faldown, and Laccagh. There is one vicar choral,
whose office is a corporation in itself, endowed with
several plots of ground and houses in the town, with
portions of the tithes of the parishes of Kilconly and
Kilbannon, and with 56 acres of land, altogether ‘pro-
ducing £200. 17. per ‘annum. The economy fund of
the cathedral arises from several parcels of land in the
parish, let on lease at a yearly rental of £76. 5.8½.
The diocese comprises 34 benefices, of which 19 are unions
of two or more parishes, and 15 are single parishes;
of these, two are in the patronage of the Crown, one in
that of the corporation of Galway, one in alternate
patronage, and the remainder in the patronage of the
archbishop or the incumbents. The total number of
parishes is 90, of which 86 are rectories and the remain-
der perpetual curacies; there are 31 churches and IS
other buildings in which divine service is performed, and
21 glebe-houses. The cathedral, which is also the paro-
chial church, appears to be only a portion of the original
building: it has some remains of Norman character, and
the arch at the entrance of the porch is of a kind of red
gritty stone not found in any part of the county; it was
repaired in 1688, and about 50 years since was con-
siderably damaged by an accidental fire.
The R. C. archbishop’s province comprises the
diocese of Tuam, with the bishopricks of Clonfert,
Achonry, Elphin, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora, Killala,
and Galway: the diocese of Kilfenora is alternately suf-
fragan to the archbishopricks of Tuam and Cashel; and
on the dissolution of the R. C. wardenship of Galway, in
1831, that portion of the diocese of Tuam was formed
into a separate see, the remainder constituting the dio-
cese of Tuam, which comprises 52 parochial unions, and
contains 103 chapels served by 52 parish priests and 57
coadjutors or curates. The parochial benefices of Tuam
and Kilmina, each served by an administrator and seve-
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