Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

CLO
vince of CONNAUGHT, 3 miles (N. N. E.) from Eyrecourt;
containing 5915 inhabitants. This place, in the Irish
language Cluain-Fearth, signifying “a retired spot,” owes
its origin and early importance to St. Brendan, son of
Finloga, who, in. 558, founded here an abbey, which
afterwards became the cathedral church of the see of
Clonfert. In 744 this place was destroyed by fire, and
four years after again suffered a similar calamity; in
839 the Danes burned the abbey and killed the abbot,
and, in 841, entirely reduced the place to ashes. Four
years after it was again destroyed by fire, and in 949
the abbey was plundered; in 1031 the town was plun-
dered by O’Ruark, and in 1045 it was again destroyed
by fire. In 1065 Hugh O’Ruark, King of Breifné, and
Thady O’Kelly, King of Maine, plundered the abbey;
but on the day following they were defeated by Hugh
O’Connor, King of Connaught, who overthrew their ar-
mies aud sank or dispersed their fleet in the Shannon.
The subsequent history of this place is little more than a
repetition of similar disasters, notwithstanding which it
continued to nourish as the head of the diocese. During
the prelacy of Bishop John, the cathedral was enlarged
and beautified; the episcopal palace was rebuilt by
Bishop Dawson; and in the reign of Chas. II. the
cathedral, which had suffered from violence and dilapi-
dation, was wholly restored. The ancient monastery
existed independently of the bishoprick till the Reforma-
tion, when Hen. VIII., in the 35th of his reign, united
it to the prelacy. The parish is situated on the road
from Eyrecourt to Ballinasloe; it is bounded on the
east by the river Shannon, and is intersected by the
Grand Canal, in cutting for which through the bog an
ancient wooden causeway was discovered, that, soon
after exposure to the air, crumbled to dust. It com-
prises 12,335 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe
act, a very large portion of which is bog; the remainder’
is good arable and pasture or meadow land, of which
last there are large tracts bordering on the river. There
are two constabulary police stations in the parish, one
at Clonfert and the other at Clonfert bridge. It also
contains the village of Isker or Esker.
The DIOCESE of CLON-
FERT originated in the
monastery founded by St.
Brendan, who was its first
abbot, and in whose time
the church, previously fa-
mous for its seven altars,
became a cathedral. St.
Brendan, as are indeed many
of his successors, is by va-
rious writers styled indiffer-
entlyabbot or bishop, though
some contend that St.Moena,
whom St. Brendan, on his abdication, appointed his suc-
cessor, and whom he survived, was the first to whom
the latter title was given. St. Moena died in 571; and
St. Brendan, who was the founder of many other abbeys,
and is said to have presided over 3000 monks, died in
577, at Enachdune, whence his remains were removed
to Clonfert and interred in the abbey. Of the successors
of St. Moena, till after the arrival of the English in the
reign of Hen. II., very little is recorded. The abbey
was frequently plundered and burned by the Danes;
and in 845, Turgesius, at the head of a party of those
363
CLO
ravagers, not only burned and destroyed the houses in
the town, but reduced the churches and conventual
buildings to ashes. After the death of Bishop Thomas
O’Kelley, in 1263, the see remained vacant till 1266,
when John, the pope’s nuncio, and an Italian, was
appointed bishop; and on his translation to the arch-
bishoprick of Benevento, in Italy, the temporalities were
seized by the escheator of the Crown, but were restored
the same year to Robert, a monk of Christchurch, Can-
terbury, who was made bishop by the provision of Pope
Clement IV. John was a great benefactor to the cathe-
dral, and is supposed to have erected and embellished
the west front, which has been erroneously referred to a
much later period. Roland Linch, who succeeded to
the see of Kilmacduagh in 1587, received the see of
Clonfert, vacant by the death of Stephen Kerovan, to
hold in commendam; since which time the two dioceses
have constantly remained united under one bishop. This
bishop, however, greatly diminished the revenues of the
united sees, by granting the possessions of Kilmacduagh
at a nominal rent. Bishop Robert Dawson, who suc-
ceeded to the prelacy in 1627, repaired or rather rebuilt
and beautified the episcopal palace of Clonfert. Bishop
Wolley succeeded in 1664, and during his prelacy
repaired the cathedral of Clonfert; but after his death,
in 1684, the episcopal revenues were seized into the
hands of Jas. II. and paid over to the Roman Catholic
prelates, and the see remained vacant till after the Revo-
lution, when William Fitzgerald was advanced to the
prelacy by letters patent of William and Mary, dated
July 1st, 1691. From this time a regular succession of
bishops has been invariably maintained in the see, which,
with the united see of Kilmacduagh, continued to form
one diocese, suffragan to the archbishop of Tuam, till
December, 1833, when, on the death of the bishop of
Killaloe, it was, under the provisions of the Church
Temporalities act of the 3rd of Wm. IV., united to those
of Killaloe and Kilfenora, and the estates of the diocese
became vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. It
is one of the six dioceses that constitute the episcopal
province of Tuam, and comprehends part of the county
of Roscommon, a large portion of the county of Galway,
and one parish on the east side of the Shannon, in King’s
county. It is 37 Irish miles in length and 32 in breadth,
and comprises an estimated superficies of 250,000 acres,
of which 17,500 are in Roscommon, 193,100 in Galway,
and 4400 in King’s county. The lands belonging to the
see comprise 7794 statute acres, of which 3844 are pro-
fitable and the remainder unprofitable land; and the
gross amount of its annual revenue, on an average of
three years ending with 1831, was £2385. 8. 9¾. The
chapter consists of a dean; an archdeacon; the eight
prebendaries of Fenore, Annacalla, Kilconnell, Killas-
picmoylan, Kiltesldll, Droughta, Ballynoulter, and Kil-
quane; and a sacrist. There are neither canons nor
vicars choral, and no member of the chapter has either
cure of souls or official residence. The income of the
chapter, with the exception of that of the dean, arises
entirely from portions of tithes in various parishes; the
dean’s income is £457. 12. 7., arising from portions
of tithes in 23 parishes, and lands adjoining the village
of Kilconnell, containing 30a. 1r. 19p., let on lease at
£20 per annum, with renewal fines of £10 every three
years. There is no economy fund at the disposal of
the chapter: the repairs of the cathedral consequently
3 A 2