School: Tulach Sheasta, Clochair na Trócaire

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1. The Old Parish of Kilnerath (continued)

   

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   property that had been seized by local chiefs or held illegally by the crown; and as no details are given for Kilnerath, we may presume that there had been no interference with the property of this Church up to that time.
   The original Church of Kilnerath has completely disappeared. At the Reformation, the Church that stood there was pulled down and the site was used again for a small Protestant Church, in which Protestant services were held up to about 1780, and the ruins of which still stand in the cemetery there O'Donovan mentions that these ruins were "not worth minute description". In 1615 a Commission was set up by the English Parliament to report on the state of Protestantism in Ireland. This Commission reports on the Church of Kilnerath and mentions that there is no clergyman serving there.
   With the enforcing of the Penal Laws and the closing of Catholic Churches in the 16th and 17th centuries much of the Catholic parochial life disappeared. The old parish boundaries were such only in name. Wherever a priest could be got to say Mass in safety or to adminster the Sacraments there the people gathered. Often there was no priest for miles around and two or even three of the old parishes were attended to by a single fugitive

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Informant

   Rev. Patrick J. Lee

   Gender

   Male