Clonrush or Clonmulsk () is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

of Leitrim, now in

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

, Ireland. The largest settlement in the parish is Whitegate.

Location

Clonrush is to the southwest of

Portumna Portumna (- meaning 'the landing place of the oak') is a market town in the south-east of County Galway, Ireland, on the border with and linked by a Portumna bridge, bridge to County Tipperary. The town is located to the west of the point where ...

. It is and covers of which are in Lough Derg. The parish includes a belt of low-lying land along the lakeside, rising into mountainous country. The road from Woodford to

Scarriff Scarriff Central Statistics Office, Census 2002Population of Towns ordered by County and size, 1996 and 2002 or Scariff () is a large village in east County Clare, in the midwest of Ireland. The town is on the west end of Lough Derg and is best ...

crosses the parish.

History

The Clonrush graveyard was established around the 12th century in an early Christian settlement on a ridge beside Church Bay in Lough Derg. The parish church gave its name to the bay. A portion of the building remains, including a 12th-century window in the east gable, restored in the 16th century with cut limestone. In the early 1800s the church was used as a school, and was modified to accommodate a thatched roof. It is now ruined. There are records of a castle on the shoreline near the graveyard and a monument higher up, overlooking it. The graveyard contains a small vaulted house called St. Colman's Oratory, with a Gothic doorway from the 16th century. The parish in 1837 was in the Catholic union of Clonrush and Inishcaltra, each of which held a chapel. In 1841 the population was 3,115 in 516 houses. The parish in 1848 contained the hamlets of Whitegate, Furnace and Fogarty's. At that time it was within

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

. In 1898 the parishes of Inishcaltra and Clonrush were transferred from County Galway to County Clare. Today the civil parish is part of the Catholic parish of Mountshannon-Whitegate in the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe The Diocese of Killaloe ( ; ) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in mid-western Ireland, one of six suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Cashel and Emly. The cathedral church of the diocese is the Cathedral of Ss Peter a ...

. The church of St Flannan is in Whitegate.

Townlands

The

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

s are Ballinrooaun, Ballyglass, Ballyhinch, Ballynakillew, Ballynamona, Bargarriff, Birchpark, Boleynagoagh North, Boleynagoagh South, Cappagha, Cappantruhaun, Cartron, Clonrush, Cloonmohaun, Cloonoolia North, Cloonoolia South, Cregg, Derrainy, Drummaanadeevan, Drummaan East, Drummaan South, Drummaan West, Furnace, Garraun, Garryeighter, Gortnascreeny, Gweeneeny, Illaunmore, Kilcooney, Kilkittaun, Lakyle, Meelick, Rinskea, Tintrim and Whitegate.

References

;Citations ;Sources * * * * * * * {{Civil parishes of County Clare Civil parishes of County Clare