St. Patrick's, or Kilquane (), 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 ...

situated on both banks of the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( or archaic ') is the major river on the island of Ireland, and at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of I ...

near 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 ...

in Ireland. It is unusual in that it is distributed over three

baronies 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 ...

Bunratty Lower Bunratty Lower () is a barony in County Clare, Ireland. This ancient unit of land division is in turn divided into fourteen civil parishes. Legal context Baronies were created after the Norman invasion of Ireland as divisions of counties and we ...

, Clanwilliam and the barony of the City of Limerick. Besides the suburbs of the city, it also contains the villages of

Ardnacrusha Ardnacrusha () is a village in County Clare, Ireland, located on the northern bank of the River Shannon. By road, it is north of Limerick. The name derives from the phrase ''Ard na Croise'' meaning "the height of the cross", due to a large cro ...

and Parteen. It is known for the

Ardnacrusha power plant The Shannon hydroelectric Scheme was a major development by the Irish Free State in the 1920s to harness the power of the River Shannon. Its product, the Ardnacrusha power plant, is a Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power station located near Ar ...

, a major hydroelectric plant.

Location

The parish lies on both sides of the River Shannon. As of 1845 the portion of the parish in County Limerick was partly in the borough of

, where it included the Chapelry of Singland, and partly in the barony of Clanwilliam. The portion in County Clare was in the barony of

, and was known as the Kilquane district. It contains the village of

. The parish is and covers of the borough, of Clanwilliam and of Bunratty. The Blackwater river, which runs into the Shannon from the north, at one time powered flour mills. Ardnacrusha is the site of a major hydroelectric power plant driven by water diverted from the Shannon near Parteen Villa, and carried by canal to the site.

Antiquities

There are, or were, three castles. King John’s Castle was built by

John, King of England John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empi ...

(ruled 1199–1216) at Parteen on the bank of the Shannon. Castlebank, a stronghold of the Earls of Thomond that was completely ruined by 1897, was not mentioned in the list of Thomond castles of 1580. It had probably not yet been built. Dromin Castle is also not in the 1580 list. The bridge at Parteen has a Latin inscription saying it was made by Peter Creagh, son of Andrew, at the expense of the city of Limerick in 1635. In 1841 the total population was 4,132 in 656 houses.

Catholic parish

The name Kilquane () means 'church of Chuáin', the patron saint of the parish. The ruins of the church of Kilquane, with a graveyard beside it, stand in the townland of Kilquane near the Shannon. The site is about from the river on a low, sandy ridge that runs parallel to the river. It is flooded annually. It contains large tombs of members of the Holmes and Fitzgerald families. In 1849 Kilquane was part of the Catholic district of Parteen, which also includes the parish of Killely or Meelick. It contained the chapels of Ardnacrusha, a handsome building of hewn stone, and of Parteen. Kilquane is now in the parish of St. Patrick's in Parteen, a parish in the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick The Diocese of Limerick ( Irish: ''Deoise Luimnigh'') 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 St ...

Townlands

* Located in the barony of Bunratty Lower, in the county of Clare :: Athlunkard, Ballycannan, Ballyfinneen, Ballyglass, Ballykeelaun, Blackwater, Castlebank, Cloonoughter, Drummin, Fairyhill, Garraun, Gortatogher, Kilquane, Knockballynameath, Lakyle, Parkroe, Parteen, Quinspool North, Quinspool South, Reanabrone, Rosmadda East, Rosmadda West and Shannakyle. * Located in the barony of Clanwilliam, in the county of Limerick :: Park, Reboge, Reboge Meadows, Singland * Located in the barony of the City of Limerick :: Corbally, Grove Island, Reboge Island

References

Sources * * * * * * * {{Civil parishes of County Clare Civil parishes of County Clare Civil parishes of County Limerick Parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick