ARDFIELD, a parish, in the barony of IBANE-AND-BARRYROE,
county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 5 miles
(S. by E.) from Clonakilty, containing 2023 inhabitants.
This parish is situated on the south coast, and is bounded
on the east by the bay of Clonakilty; it comprises 2313 statute
acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued
at £2053 per annum. About four-fifths are under cultivation:
there is very little waste land and no bog; the
poor bring the turf from Clonakilty. The soil, though
light and in some places very stony, generally produces
good crops. There are about 800 acres of land, called
the commons, wholly in the occupation of poor people
who have enclosed it; some of it is remarkably good,
and the whole is under cultivation. Indications of copper
ore appear at Duneen, and many excellent specimens
have been found: attempts to raise it were made several
years since, but the design was abandoned. There are
several large and handsome houses in the parish: the
principal are Dunmore, the seat of J, Beamish, Esq.;
Dunowen House, of G. Sandes, Esq.; the Tower, of Lieut.
Speck, R. N.; Greenfield, of H. Galway, Esq.; and Balliva,
of M. Galway, Esq. At its southern extremity
is Dunowen Head, off which lie the Shanbuee rocks;
and in the parish is Dunny Cove, where is stationed
the western coast-guard detachment within the district
of Kinsale. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of
Ross, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the rectory
is impropriate in M. Roberts and T. W. Foot, Esqrs.
The tithes amount to £203. 1. 6½., of which £110.15.4¾.
is payable to the impropriators, and the remainder to
the vicar. The church is in ruins; but divine service
is performed in a house fitted up for that purpose at
Dunny Cove. The glebe comprises eleven acres of excellent
land, but there is no glebe-house. In the R. C.
divisions this parish is the head of a union or district,
comprising the parishes of Ardfield and Rathbarry, in
each of which is a chapel; that of Ardfield is a low, plain,
but commodious edifice, situated on the commons. There
are schools in which 140 boys and 170 girls are taught,
also a school at Dunny Cove, a Sunday school under
the superintendence of the vicar, and one or two
hedge schools. The ruins of the old church are situated
on the highest point of land in the parish; and near
them is a building which during the war was used as a
signal tower, but is now the residence of Lieut. Speck,
who commands the coast-guard at Dunny Cove. Close
to the Cove are the ruins of a castle.