Kilmihil () is a village in the Barony of Clonderlaw, west

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

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 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

and 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 priest ...

in the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe The Diocese of Killaloe ( ; ga, Deoise Chill Dalua) is a Roman Catholic diocese 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 S ...

. The area was officially classified as part of the West Clare

Gaeltacht ( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially recog ...

; an

Irish-speaking 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 th ...

community; until 1956. St Michael's Shrine Kilmihil Co Clare

History

It is believed that St. Michael's Church was founded by St. Senan around 530AD. He dedicated this church to St. Michael. For centuries it became a place of pilgrimage to St. Michael, especially in September, as his feast day is on September 29. In 1937, the Curate of the parish, Fr. Patrick O’Reilly, organised the improvement of the well, and the surrounding area. The well is now enclosed, and over this building is the Statue of St. Michael, enclosed in glass. Tradition credits the founding of a church here to St. Senan, in honour of Michael the Archangel. During the reign of

Pope Gelasius I Pope Gelasius I was the bishop of Rome from 1 March 492 to his death on 19 November 496. Gelasius was a prolific author whose style placed him on the cusp between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.The title of his biography by Walter Ullma ...

, (AD 492-496), an apparition of the Archangel was reported to have taken place on the summit of Mt. Garganus, in Apulia, in Italy. This apparition report, and the founding of the church in Kilmihil, both took place during St. Senan's lifetime (488 – 554 AD). After visiting Rome about 530 AD, he returned to Ireland, wishing to foster devotion to Michael. While travelling from

Scattery Island Inis Cathaigh or Scattery Island is an island in the Shannon Estuary, Ireland, off the coast of Kilrush, County Clare. The island is home to a lighthouse, a ruined monastery associated with Saint Senan, an Irish round tower and the remains of a ...

to Doolough, he stopped in Kilmihil, where he founded the church.

Amenities

The village has two grocery stores, a pharmacy, four pubs, a post office, and butcher's shop. Other amenities are the credit union, library, garage, doctors health Centre, creche, retirement village, church, and a community centre.. There is a primary school and a secondary school (St. Michaels Community College) in the village and a further primary school in the townland of Cahermurphy.

Sport

Kilmihil GAA Kilmihil () is a village in the Barony of Clonderlaw, west County Clare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is also a Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe. The area was offic ...

club won the

Clare Senior Football Championship The Clare Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association club competition organised by Clare GAA between the top twelve gaelic football clubs in County Clare, Ireland. The winners represent the county in the Munster Senior ...

in 1980, its sole victory in the championship's history. Kilmihil's soccer club is named St. Pat's. Olympians

Thomas O'Donahue Thomas O'Donohue (born 12 December 1887, Kilmihil, Ireland. Died 6 November 1951) was an Irish athlete who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics for Great Britain and Ireland. He finished 23rd in the high jump competition. In the Olympic tria ...

and Michael Ryan were born in Kilmihil. Kilmihil Athletic Club founded in 1942 is one of the oldest active athletics clubs in County Clare..

Clare senior football team The Clare county football team represents Clare in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Clare GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Irelan ...

manager

Colm Collins Colm Collins is a Gaelic football manager, associated with Cratloe GAA club. Career Collins is a native of Kilmihil. He began managing Clare in late 2013 and became the longest-serving inter-county football manager when Mickey Harte left Tyr ...

is from Kilmihil.

Events

Kilmihil conducts an annual "Festival of Fun" every year over the August Bank Holiday weekend. It includes a parade, a vintage rally, a raft race on Knockalough Lake and various other activities.

Parishes

The Catholic parish of Kilmihil is part of the

. The parish church is St Michael's, Kilmihil. Kilmihil is one of the larger parishes in West Clare. It is well known for its Holy

Shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

to St Michael, which attracts pilgrims due to its ''holy'' water. The

is part of the historical

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 ...

Clonderalaw Clonderalaw is an historical barony in County Clare, Ireland. Baronies are geographical divisions of land that are in turn is divided into civil parishes. Legal context Baronies were created after the Norman invasion of Ireland as administrat ...

. There are 22

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 in the civil parish. The townlands are Ahaga, Ballydineen, Boulynameal, Carraige, Cahercanavan, Cahermurphy, Castlepark, Cloonakilla, Cragg, Glenmore, Greygrove, Kiltumper, Knockalough, Knockmore, Lack East, Lack West, Lacken, Lietrim, Lissenair, Sorrel Island, Shyan.

In popular culture

Kilmihil is mentioned in several books. ''O Come Ye Back to Ireland: Our First Year in County Clare'', a memoir in which Niall Williams and Christine Breen, describe an Irish/American couple's move from New York back to the cottage of their forebears. (and subsequent books ''When Summer's in the Meadow'' and ''The Luck of the Irish''). Kilmihil and environs are also the backdrop for the ''Born In'' trilogy by Nora Roberts.

References

{{Coord, 52, 43, 17.18, N, 9, 19, 14.3, W, scale:12500_type:city_region:IE, display=title Towns and villages in County Clare Civil parishes of County Clare Parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe