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seats are Ballykilcavan, the residence of Sir E. H. Walsh,
Bart.; and Brockley Park, of — Finer, Esq. The liv-
ing, formerly united to that of Killeny, from which it
has been recently separated, is a rectory, in the diocese
of Leighlin, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the
tithes amount to £233. There is no glebe-house; the
glebe comprises 2a. 39p. The church is a neat small
edifice in good repair. In the R. C. divisions the parish
forms part of the union or district of Stradbally; there
is no chapel at present, but it is in contemplation to
build one at Vickerstown.
CORCOMOHIDE, an ecclesiastical union, including
the civil parishes of Castletown-Conyers, Drumcolloher,
and Kilmeedy, in the barony of UPPER CONNELLO
EAST, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTER;
containing 10,742 inhabitants. These parishes, each
of which is described under its own head, are all con-
tiguous, and together comprise 14,370¼ statute acres,
as severally applotted under the tithe act; the tithes for
the whole amount to £900, of which £570 is payable to
the Countess of Ormonde, as lessee under the vicars
choral of the cathedral church of St. Mary, Limerick,
and £330 to the incumbent. There are two public
schools, to one of which Mr. Stevelly contributes £10
annually, and to the other Col. White subscribes 10
guineas and has given a house and garden: about 150
children are educated in these schools, and about 750
in 12 private schools.
CORCOMROE.—See ABBEY.
CORK (County of), a maritime county of the pro-
vince of MUNSTER, and the largest in Ireland, bounded
on the east by the counties of Tipperary and Waterford,
on the north by that of Limerick, on the west by that
of Kerry, and on the south-west, south, and south-east
by St. George’s Channel: it extends from 51° 12’ to
52° 13’ (N. Lat.), and from 9° 45’ to 10° 3’ (W. Lon.);
and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey,
1,725,100 statute acres, of which 1,024,340 are culti-
vated, and 700,760 are occupied by mountains, bogs,
&c. The population, in 1821, was 629,786, and in
1831, 700,359, of which latter number, 407,935 were in
the East, and 292,424 in the West, Riding.
The earliest inhabitants of the south-western part of
this extensive territory are designated by Ptolemy Uterni
or Uterini, and by other writers Iberni, Iberi, and Juerni.
They occupied most of the southern part of the country
subsequently called Desmond: their name and situation
prove them to have been of Spanish Iberian origin, and
the former, as well as that of the tribes from which they
sprung, and the designation Ibernia or Hibernia, applied
to the whole island even by Ptolemy, was derived from
the western situation of the country which they inha-
bited, From Ptolemy’s map it appears that the most
eastern maritime part of the county in the south of Cork
was, in the same age, inhabited by a people whom he
called Vodiæ or Voclii, but who are unnoticed both by Sir
James Ware and Dr. Charles O’Conor. The Coriondi,
whose name still bears some affinity to the Irish appel-
lation of this tract, were, according to Smith, the inha-
bitants of the middle and northern parts, particularly
near the present city of Cork, and are said to have
sprung from the Coritani, a British tribe occupying a
tract in the eastern part of England. The ancient divi-
sions of the country prior to the English settlements,
were intricate, and at present can with difficulty be
VOL. I.—401
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ascertained. The whole formed the southern and most
important part of the petty kingdom of Cork or Des-
mond, which comprised also the western portion of the
present county of Waterford, and all Kerry. Desmond,
signifying “South Munster,” was more properly the
name of only the south-western part of the principality,
which was divided into three portions, of which the
whole of that called Ivelagh or Evaugh, including the
country between Bantry and Baltimore, and also that
called Bear, lying between Bantry and the Kenmare
river, are included in the modern county of Cork. Bear
still partly retains its ancient name, being divided into
the baronies of Bear and Bantry; but Evaugh is inclu-
ded in the barony of West Carbery, which, with East
Carbery, Kinalmeaky, and Ibawn or Ibane and Barry-
roe, anciently formed an extensive territory, deriving its
name from its chieftain, Carbry Riada, and in which are
said to have been settled four of the eight families of
royal extraction in Munster, the head of one of which
was M c Carty Reagh, sometimes styled prince of Car-
bery. Kerrycurrihy was anciently called Muskerry
Ilane, and comprised also the barony of Imokilly, on
the north side of Cork harbour: the only maritime
territory remaining unnoticed, viz. Kinnalea, was for-
merly called Insovenagh. Besides Kerrycurrihy and
Imokilly, the entire central part of the county, between
the rivers Lee and Blackwater, formed a portion of the
ancient territory of Muskerry, which name the western
portion of it still retains. The north-western extremity
of the county, forming the present barony of Duhallow,
is in some old writings called Alia and Dubh Alia; and
its chief, who, to a very late period, enjoyed almost
regal authority, was sometimes styled prince of Du-
hallow. The remainder, to the north of the Blackwater,
formed, before the English conquests, a principality of
the O’Keefes, called Fearmuigh.
Henry II., about the year 1177, granted to Robert
Fitz-Stephen and Milo de Cogan the whole kingdom of
Cork except the city and the cantred belonging to the
Ostmen settled there, which he retained in his own
hands; but they were unable to take possession of more
than seven cantreds lying nearest the city, receiving
tribute from the other twenty-four. They introduced
other Anglo-Norman families and their retainers; and the
military colony thus established was never completely up-
rooted. Cork was one of the districts erected into a
county by King John, and the English power was gra-
dually extended by the divisions arising from female
inheritance and inferior grants; large tracts of country
were successively held by the Carews, De Courcys, and
other families, of whom the former, who were styled Mar-
quesses of Cork, built the castle of Donemark, in the wes-
tern part of the county, and others in Imokilly, for pro-
tection against the natives. The chief men of this family,
with many other English settled here,” removed into
England on the breaking out of the civil war between the
houses of York and Lancaster; while De Courcy, who re-
mained, besides divesting himself of some of his posses-
sions, which he gave in marriage with his daughters, lost
a considerable portion by the superior power of the na-
tives. The English were thus greatly reduced both in
numbers and power, and were subsequently further
weakened by the usurping measures of the Earls of Des-
mond, to whom Robert Fitz-Geoifry Cogan granted all
his lands in Ireland, including one-half of Cork; but
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