Inishcaltra

INNISCALTHRA, a parish, partly in the barony of TULLA, county of CLARE, and province of MUNSTER, but chiefly in that of LEITRIM, county of GALWAY, and province of CONNAUGHT, 4 miles (N. E.) from Scariff; containing 2198 inhabitants. It takes its name from the celebrated island in Lough Derg (above described), by which it is bounded on the south and east; and comprises about 9000 statute acres, of which 2500 are arable, 4500 pasture, 1900 bog and waste, and 100 woodland. Much land has been reclaimed since 1820, and there is a large portion of the mountain land under pasture. Iron exists, which makes some of the springs chalybeate, and very fine limestone and sandstone are found at Sallarnane. The principal seats are Wood Park, the residence of P. Reade, Esq.; and Kilrateera, of E. Reade, Esq. Petty sessions once a fortnight and fairs are held at Whitegates, in the vicinity.

It is a vicarage, in the diocese of Killaloe, united in 1803 to the vicarages of Moynoe and Clonrush, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the rectory is impropriate in the representatives of G. Tandy, Esq. The vicarial tithes amount to £23, and of the union to £119. 8. 5½.  There is a glebe-house, with a glebe of 12 acres in the parish of Clonrush. The church, in Mount-Shannon (which see), is a neat building, and was erected by aid of a loan of £390 from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1789, and repaired by a loan from the same Board in 1831. In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of Clonrush, and has a chapel at Mount- Shannon. There is also a meeting-house for Wesleyan Methodists, and a place of worship for Baptists. About 110 children are educated in a public and 20 in a private school. Near the shore is a circular Danish fort; and silver coins of King John's reign, minted at Waterford, have been found in Wood Park bog.

from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.