CLONAKILTY, or CLOUGHNAKILTY, a market-town and post-town and sea-port (incorporated),
formerly a parliamentary borough, in the parish of KILGARRIFFE, East
Division of the barony of EAST-CARBERY, county of
CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 25½ miles (S. W. by
S.) from Cork, and 151½ miles (S. W.) from Dublin;
containing 3807 inhabitants. This town, anciently called
Tuogh Me Cilti, appears to have had a corporation at an
early period, for, in the records of the city of Cork, there
is a petition from the portreeve and corporation of Clonakilty,
dated July 5th, 1605: it, however, owes its importance
to the family of Boyle. Sir Richard Boyle, first
Earl of Cork, obtained for the inhabitants, in 1613, a
charter of incorporation from Jas. I. On the breaking
out of the war in 1641, the English settlers in the town
were compelled to flee for refuge to Bandon, carrying
with them the charter and muniments of the borough.
In the following year. Lord Forbes, with his English
regiment from Kinsale and some companies from Bandon,
arrived here, and leaving two companies of Scottish
troops and one of the Bandon companies to secure the
place till his return, proceeded on his expedition towards
the west. This force was, soon after his departure,
attacked by multitudes on all sides; and the Scottish
troops refusing to retreat, were cut to pieces. The Bandon
company defended themselves, with great difficulty,
in an old Danish fort on the road to Ross, till a reiforcement
came to their relief, when they unitedly attacked
the Irish, and forced them into the island of
Inchidony, when, the tide coming in, upwards of 600 of
them were drowned. The troops then returned to the
town, to relieve a great number of their friends who had
been taken prisoners, and were confined in the markethouse.
In 1691, the town was attacked by 800 Irish
troops in the service of Jas. II., but they were quickly repulsed
by the garrison, consisting of 50 dragoons and
25 foot. During the disturbances of 1798, a skirmish
took place here between the king's forces and the insurgents,
in which many of the latter were killed and the
remainder dispersed.
The town is situated on the Gorar or Farla river,
which falls into the bay close to the principal street,
and in a pleasant fertile valley environed by hills ‘of
moderate elevation, which descend to the harbour. It
consists of four principal streets diverging at right angles
from the centre, and is well supplied with water from
two public pumps erected by the Earl of Shannon. It
has been much improved recently by the erection of
several good houses and a spacious square, the centre of
which is planted and laid out in walks, so as to form an
agreeable promenade. Some excellent roads have also
been made in the neighbourhood. A public library was
established by a body of shareholders, in 1825: there
are also three news-rooms and a lending library for the
poor. Balls are occasionally given in the rooms over
the market-house, during the sessions week. There are
commodious infantry barracks for 4 officers and 68 privates.
The staple trade of the town is the linen manufacture,
which furnishes employment to 400 looms and
1000 persons, who manufacture to the amount of £250
or £300 weekly, but when the trade was in the height
of its prosperity, the weekly sales were frequently £1000.
The cotton-manufacture also employs about 40 looms.
A spacious linen-hall was built some years since by the
Earl of Shannon: it is attended by a sworn salesman,
and three deputies, by whom all the cloth brought to
the hall is measured and marked. The corn trade is
carried on chiefly by agents for the Cork merchants,
who ship it here and receive coal as a return cargo.
There are 14 lighters of 17 tons burden each regularly
employed in raising and conveying sand to be used hi
the neighbourhood as manure. The harbour is only fit
for small vessels, the channel being extremely narrow and
dangerous, and having at the entrance a bar, over which
vessels above 100 tons can only pass at high spring
tides: large vessels, therefore, discharge their cargoes
at Ring, about a mile below the town. It is much
used as a safety harbour by the small craft for several
miles along the coast. The market is held on Friday,
and is amply supplied with good and cheap provisions;
and three fairs are held under the charter on April 5th,
Oct. 10th, and Nov. 12th, and two subsequently established
on June 1st and Aug. 1st, all for cattle, sheep,
and pigs; the Oct. and Nov. fairs are noted for a large
supply of turkeys and fowls. A spacious market-house
has been built, at an expense of £600; and shambles
were erected in 1833, by the corporation, on ground
let rent-free by the Earl of Shannon, who is proprietor
of the borough. A chief constabulary police force has
been stationed here.
By the charter of Jas. I. the inhabitants were incorporated
under the designation of the "Sovereign,
Free Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of
Cloughnakilty;" and Sir Richard Boyle was constituted
lord of the town, with power to appoint several of the
officers, and to a certain extent to superintend the
affairs of the corporation, which was to consist of a
sovereign and not less than 13 nor more than 24 burgesses,
assisted by a serjeant-at-mace, three constables,
a toll-collector, and weighmaster. The sovereign is
annually elected by the lord of the town out of three
burgesses chosen by the corporation, and the recorder
is also appointed by him. Vacancies among the burgesses
are filled up by themselves from among the
freemen, who are admitted solely by favour of the cor-
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poration. The sovereign and recorder are justices of
the peace within the borough, the limits of which extend
for a mile and a half in every direction from a point
nearly in the centre of the town, called the Old Chapel.
The charter conferred the right of sending two members
to the Irish parliament, which it continued to exercise
till the Union, when the £15,000 awarded as compensation
for its disfranchisement was paid to the Earl of
Shannon, a descendant of Sir Richard Boyle. The
sovereign and recorder were empowered to hold a court
of record, for the recovery of debts and the determination
of all pleas to the amount of £20 late currency;
but since the passing of the act limiting the power of
arrest to sums exceeding £20, it has been discontinued.
A manorial court is held every third Wednesday by a
seneschal appointed by the Earl of Shannon, which
takes cognizance of debts and pleas not exceeding 40s.;
and the sovereign and recorder hold courts of petty
session in the market-house, every Monday. Petty sessions
are also held every Thursday by the county magistrates;
and the general quarter sessions for the West
Riding of the county are held here in July. The county
court-house is a neat edifice of hewn stone, ornamented
with a pediment and cornice supported by two broad
pilasters, between which is a handsome Venetian window.
Connected with it is a bridewell, and both were
erected at the expense of the county.
The parish church of Kilgarriffe is situated in the
town, on an eminence to the north of the main street:
it is a plain edifice, with a square tower at the west end,
and was rebuilt in 1818, at an expense of £1300, of
which £500 was a loan from the late Board of First
Fruits, and the remainder was contributed by the Earl
of Shannon and the Rev. H. Townsend. In the R. C.
divisions this place gives name to a union or district,
comprising the parishes of Kilgarriffe, Kilnagross, Ternpleomalus,
Car'rigrohanemore, Desart, Templebryan, and
parts of the parishes of Kilkerranmore and Inchidony:
the chapel is a spacious building, and there, is a place
of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. A classical school
was established in 1808, under the patronage of the
Earl of Shannon, who has assigned a large and handsome
house, with land, for the residence of the master:
there are more than 60 boys on the establishment. A
dispensary, a house of industry, and a benevolent society
have been established, which have been found highly
beneficial, and are liberally supported by the Earl of
Shannon and the inhabitants generally. The late Michael
Collins, D. D., R. C. Bishop of Cloyne and Ross,
who was author of several tracts on the state of Ireland,
and. was examined before a committee of the House of
Commons, in 1825, was a native of this place. About
a mile north of the town is a tolerably perfect druidical
temple, some of the stones of which are nearly as large
as those of Stonehenge; the centre stone of the circle
is very large, and is composed of one mass of white
quartz.