The Augustinian Houses of the County Clare:
Clare, Killone, and Inchicronan

Inchicronan

History

Little as we can recover about the history of the other Augustinian houses, less is extant about Inchicronan. Whose name it bears is absolutely forgotten: he may have been the monk connected with Tomgraney and Tomfinlough, who probably lived about 550. This site was granted to Clare Abbey in 1189, and legend says it was founded by Donald More: however, it was only a parish church in 1302. It was held by friars in 1584, and was repaired as a parish church in 1302. It was held by friars in 1584, and was repaired as a parish church by Donogh, Earl of Thomond, in 1615.
Reading between the lines, with the aid of the ruins, it becomes evident that a church, dating from about 1080 to 1100, stood on the site. To this was added a transept and small residence about 1400 to 1430. The building was probably not an abbey for 110 years after Donald More’s death; but some monks may have used it as a cell of “Forgy” during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; and it may have formed, from its loneliness and obscurity, a haven of refuge for the dispersed community during the reign of Elizabeth. The occupation by a body founded by Donald More left a misleading tradition to the writers of the following century. At any period it must have been a place in which it was fitter that wild fowl should nest than that human beings should spend their lives.^[12]