Killeany or Kilhenny, Kilheny ( ga, Cill Éinne) 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in County Clare, Ireland. It lies in

the Burren The Burren (; ) is a karst/glaciokarst landscape centred in County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland.
Burren ...

region of the northwest of the county.

Location

Killeany is named for Enda of Aran, Saint Eaney, who died about 540. It is in the barony of Burren, about northwest of Kilfenora. The parish is and covers , mostly moorland. There is some rich grazing land, and limestone makes the soil very fertile. There is a cave named ''Poul Ilva'' that is over in depth. A stream runs through the bottom of the cave, emerging above ground about distant near the old parish church. In 1841 the population was 520 in 92 houses. The main hamlet was Toomaghera, the site of the Roman Catholic chapel.

Antiquities

There are three cahers, or stone

ringfort Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wales ...

s, each very dilapidated. They are Cahermakerrilla, Cahermaan, and Caher-na-teinné (the fort of the fire) in the townland of Lislarheenbeg. The remains of a

cromlech A cromlech (sometimes also spelled "cromleh" or "cromlêh"; cf Welsh ''crom'', "bent"; ''llech'', "slate") is a megalithic construction made of large stone blocks. The word applies to two different megalithic forms in English, the first being an ...

stand in Cooleamore. There is a holy well dedicated to Saint

Colman mac Duagh Saint Colman mac Duagh (c. 560 – 29 October 632) was born at Corker, Kiltartan, County Galway, Ireland, the son of the Irish chieftain Duac (and thus, in Irish, ''mac Duach''). He initially lived as a recluse, living in prayer and prolonged fa ...

in the townland of Cahermakerrilla. The original church has disappeared, The ruins of its replacement, built around 1300, were still in good repair in 1897. It contained a nave and choir separated by a fine arch. A stone in the wall of the roofless Catholic chapel of Toomaghera bears the inscription, "I. H. S. Pray for me Mortaugh Flanagan, priest of this parish, who built this altar in the year 1700." There is another stone built into the wall on which crucifixion has been carved with some skill.

Townlands

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 ...

s are Ballyconnoe North, Ballyconnoe South, Ballygastell, Cahermaan (sometimes spelled Cahermane or Cahirmane), Cahermakerrila, Cooleamore, Killeany, Lislarheenbeg and Slievenabillog.

References

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