Clostoken or Cloghastookeen is a small
townland
A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...
in the
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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
of
Kilconickny
Kilconickny is a civil parish in the county of Galway, Connaught, Ireland.
Location
Kilconickny covers .
It is mainly within the barony of Dunkellin, but parts are in the baronies of Athenry and Loughrea.
It is on the road from Loughrea to Galw ...
, near the town of
Loughrea in
County Galway
"Righteousness and Justice"
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, image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg
, map_caption = Location in Ireland
, area_footnotes =
, area_total_km2 = ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. It takes its name from an old ruined castle.
Name
According to ''O'Donovan's Field Name Books'' (1862), the
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
form of the name is Cloch stúincín, meaning "stone of the little prominence". Other forms include Clostoken, Closetaken, Cloghstockin, Cloghastockin, Cloghstokin, Cloghastookeen and Clostaken.
Joyce (1910) writes "Near Loughrea in Galway, is a townland called Cloghastookeen, the stone fortress of the little pinnacle, which received its name from a castle of the
Burkes, the ruins of which still remain.
The townland gives its name to Clostoken & Kilconieran parish.
There were three ecclesiastical parishes in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
; Kilconickny (now Clostoken), Kilconieran and Lickerrig (now Carrabane).
The three are now united in the large parish of Clostoken & Kilconieran.
Location
Cloghastookeen is in the Electoral Division of Kilconickny.
Bordering townlands are Carrowclogh to the south, Kilmurry to the east, Knockadaumore to the east, Saintclerans to the north and Srah to the west.
The area of the townland is .
O'Donovan writes; "This is a small townland, all arable and used as pasture land. It contains no antiquities, nor anything remarkable. It does have extensive ruins of a castle."
This is Cloastoken Old Castle.
People
The 1826 Tithe Appointment Books list 10 households in Cloghastookeen: Coniff, Glenane, Glenane, Glenane, Kelly, Kelly, O'Bryen, O'Laughlin, Walsh and Walsh.
The Miller family of Cromwellian settlers inherited part of the Cloghastookeen estate through marriage with a Croasdaile heiress.
In 1855 Croasdaile Bowen Miller was one of the principal lessors in the parish of Kilconickny.
Griffith's Valuation, published between 1847 and 1864, gives the area of the townland as .
The land value at that time was £.100-14s.-2d.
Four households were listed: Darcy, Walsh, Walsh and Miller.
In the 1911 census there was just one household, Sherry, with 10 people aged 5 to 65.
References
Sources
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External links
Web page at clonfertdiocese(archived)
Townlands of County Galway
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