Kilteely and Dromkeen is an

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly The Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church located in mid-western Ireland, and the metropolis of the eponymous ecclesiastical province. The cathedral church of the archdiocese is the Cathedral of the Assump ...

that is located in eastern

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The southern part of the parish is centred on the village of Kilteely ( or "The Church of Tidel") which is located at the foot of the Hill of Kilteely, about 14 miles south-east of the city of

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

. It is also 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 ancient

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 ...

Smallcounty Smallcounty or Small County () is a historical barony in eastern County Limerick, Ireland. Settlements in the barony include Hospital, Herbertstown, Fedamore and Knockainy. Location Located in County Limerick, the barony of Smallcounty is bor ...

. The northern part of the parish is centred on the village of Dromkeen ( or "The Smooth Ridge") which is located on the N24

–

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

road, halfway between Limerick City and

Tipperary town Tipperary (; ), commonly known as Tipperary Town, is a town and a civil parish in County Tipperary, Ireland. Its population was 4,979 at the 2016 census. It is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, ...

. It is also a civil parish in the barony of Clanwilliam.

Geography

The landscape in this parish is different from the rest of the landscape in County Limerick which is predominantly flat. This is because Kilteely-Dromkeen is situated in one of the most important

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

Volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

districts in either

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. A variety of

igneous Igneous rock ( ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial ...

rocks from two volcanic phases of about 300 million years ago can be found here. The volcanic plugs of Knockderk 220 m (782 ft) and Kilteely Hill 176 m (580 ft) are both conical in appearance, while in the neighbouring parish of

Pallasgreen Pallasgreen or Pallasgrean () is a village in east County Limerick, Ireland. It is on the Limerick–Waterford N24 road, around southeast of Limerick city. The name means "the Stockade of Grian," referring to an ancient Irish Goddess of L ...

stands the Hill of Nicker, where hardened lavas have formed a cliff of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

hexagons, similar to those found at the

Giant's Causeway The Giant's Causeway () is an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcano, volcanic fissure eruption, part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province active in the region during the Paleogene period. ...

. As the area is within the

Golden Vale The Golden Vale () is the historic name given to an area of rolling pastureland in the province of Munster in southwestern Ireland. The area covers parts of three counties: Cork, Limerick and Tipperary. Considered the best land in Ireland ...

, the land in this area is generally good, and is used primarily for the

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

and some

tillage Tillage is the agriculture, agricultural preparation of soil by mechanical wikt:agitation#Noun, agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning. Examples of manual labour, human-powered tilling methods using hand tools inc ...

. The

Mulkear River The River Mulcair, or Mulkear, rises in the Slieve Felim Mountains and Silvermine Mountains in Ireland, and flows through the east of County Limerick before joining the River Shannon near Annacotty. It flows through Counties Limerick and Tippe ...

flows through the eastern edges of Dromkeen parish.

History

Dromkeen is famous for the Dromkeen Ambush, an attack on

Black and Tan A black and tan is a beer cocktail made by layering a pale beer (usually pale ale) and a dark beer (usually stout). In Ireland, the drink is called a half and half. History The term likely originated in England, where consumers have blended ...

police forces during the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

in 1921. The attack was carried out near the old Church of Ireland church in a joint operation between the East Limerick and West Limerick Brigades of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

(IRA). A

flying column A flying column is a small, independent, military land unit capable of rapid mobility and usually composed of all arms. It is often an ''ad hoc'' unit, formed during the course of operations. The term is usually, though not necessarily, appl ...

force of about 40 ambushed two lorries carrying between them thirteen Black and Tan police officers. Two of these managed to escape, but the other eleven were killed. It was one of the larger operations carried out by the IRA during the War of Independence. In modern times, Dromkeen was well known for its ballroom of romance, "The Oyster Ballroom", owned by the Hayes family. Since its creation in 1958 through the 60s it enjoyed immense popularity and attracted large crowds – sometimes up to 2,000 dancers from counties Limerick and Tipperary – for the weekly Sunday night dance where the leading showbands of the day played on a regular basis. In 2015, the ballroom burned to the ground.

Education

The parish is served by two primary schools; Kilteely National School is located in Kilteely village, Cloverfield National School is located in Dromkeen parish.

Sport

There is a strong

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

(GAA) following in the area. Teams from Kilteely-Dromkeen GAA Club compete in the East Limerick Division at Junior and under-age competitions in

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

and

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

. Kilteely AFC

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club was founded in 1983 and plays in the Limerick city and county leagues.

People

* Joseph Bradshaw,

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

recipient *

Willie O'Dea William Gerard O'Dea ( ; born 1 November 1952) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Limerick City constituency since 2011, and previously from 1982 to 2011 for the Limerick East constituency. He has ser ...

(born 27 November 1952) -

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

TD for

Limerick City Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

and Minister for Defence.
John Francis Dillon
(born 24 July 1930 - died 18 August 1952) - Killed in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. *

William Lundon William Lundon (1839 – 24 March 1909) was an Irish nationalist politician and MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party represented East Limerick when electe ...

(born 1839 - died 24 March 1909) -

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nati ...

M.P. for East Limerick. *Major-General Liam Hayes (born 28 July 1892 - died 10 February 1959) Kilteely IRA, volunteer and injured in the Dromkeen Ambush which took place on 3 Feb 1921 and Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty) TD Limerick 1921-23 and father of international showjumper Seamus Hayes (born 1924 – died 1989).

Transport

*Dromkeen railway station opened on 2 February 1851, closed for goods traffic on 9 September 1963, and finally closed altogether on 6 September 1976.

References

WikimapiaGoogle maps
{{County Limerick Parishes of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly Civil parishes of County Limerick