Clonaslee

CLONASLEE, an ecclesiastical district, in the barony of TINNEHINCH, QUEEN'S county, and province of LEINSTER, 7¼ miles (W. N. W.) from Mountmellick, and 47¾ (W. S. W.) from Dublin; containing 514 inhabitants, and in the village 79 houses. This place is situated on the river Clodiagh, over which is a good bridge, and has a penny penny post to Mountmellick. It is a constabulary police station, and has a patent for two fairs: petty sessions are held every Saturday, and a baronial court monthly, for the recovery of debts under 40s. Adjoining the village is Brittas, the fine demesne of Gen. Dunne. It is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Kildare, and in the patronage of the Incumbent of Rosinallis. The church is a handsome edifice with a well-proportioned spire, erected in 1814, under the direction and auspices of Gen. Dunne, aided by a gift of £800 and a loan of £300 from the late Board of First Fruits, and for the repairs of which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recently granted £377. 5. 6. The glebe-house was built by a gift of £450 and a loan of £50 from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1830: besides the vicarial glebe of Rosinallis, there is a glebe of 27 statute acres attached to the perpetual curacy. In the R.C. divisions it is the head of a union or district comprising the parish of Kilmanman and part of that of Reary; the chapel is a spacious building. There is a national school, and also a school in connexion with the trustees of Erasmus Smith's charity; the school-house, a large slated building, was erected at an expense of £300. At Clara Hill, about a mile from the village, are the ruins of an old castle, which was formerly the residence of a younger branch of the Dunne family; and near the east bank of the Barradois or Clodiagh river are the ruins of a castle, called Ballinakill, built in 1630 by Col. Dunne. To the south of this is Coolamona, once a place of considerable strength, forming an outpost of Tinnehinch, but now nearly demolished. In the neighbourhood are some raths, in one of which was found, in 1784, a rude kistvaen of unhewn flags, covered by a tumulus of earth and stones.