NOUGHAVAL, a parish, in the barony of BURREN,
county of CLARE, and province of MUNSTER, 2 miles
(N. N. E.) from Kilfenora, on the road from Ennis to
Burren; containing 408 inhabitants, of which number,
64 are in the hamlet. It comprises 4521 statute
acres, as applotted under the tithe act, only a small
portion of which is under tillage, the greater part conNUR
sisting of rocky limestone pasture, yielding a rich
though scanty herbage: there are about 80 acres of
pasturable mountain. The living is a rectory and
vicarage, in the diocese of Kilfenora, united at a period
unknown to the vicarage of Carrune, or Carne, together
constituting the union of Noughaval and the corps
of the precentorship of Kilfenora, in the patronage of
the Bishop. The tithes amount to £35, and of the
entire benefice to £70, the whole payable to the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners, by whom the benefice is at
present held in sequestration: the glebe comprises
26a. Or. 22p. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms
part of the union or district of Carrune, or Carne: the
chapel is at the village of Noughaval. About 35 children
are educated in. a private school. The ruins of the
church stand on the glebe: and at Banroe, Ballymurphy,
and Ballygannor are the ruins of the castles respectively
so called. Within the limits of the parish are three
ancient forts, attributed to the Danes; and at Ballygannor
is a cromlech of extraordinary dimensions, the
table stone being nearly 40 feet long and 10 broad, and
supported by upright flag stones, rising about six feet
above the ground.