Clare Places: Parishes: Dysert: Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, 1845

Dysert

A parish in the barony of Inchiquin, 1¾ mile south by east of Corrofin, Co. Clare, Munster. Length, 10 miles; breadth, 4; area, 7,250 acres, 3 roods, 28 perches,— of which 169 acres, 2 perches, are water. Pop., in 1831, 1,666; in 1841, 1,933. Houses 290. The greater part of the parish is rocky and mountainous; a large proportion is unprofitable; and scarcely any consists of good land. The river Fergus traces the western boundary; some rivulets which flow westward to the Atlantic drain a large part of the surface; and some lakes tamely variegate the series of bleak landscapes. The old castle of Dysert was not long ago inhabited; and possesses hardly a feature to distinguish it from the six score, or thereabouts, which are sprinkled athwart the county. The ruined church of the parish is supposed to have been built during the halcyon hour of the fine arts in the reign of Turlough O’Conor; and contains an exquisitely sculptured round doorway, in a style which different schools of antiquaries would variously pronounce Saxon, Norman, and Lombardian. Remains of a pillar still exist to the height of about 30 feet; and are thus described by Mr. Hely Dutton, the statist of the county: "About 20 feet from the ground, there is a door; and, about 10 feet higher, the remains of another; at each of which, the dimensions of the tower diminished. Remains of windows at different heights are seen, by which it seems to be quite different from some other towers that have windows only at or near the summit, as that of Kildare, and many other places; the workmanship also seems to be different from that of many others. On the outside of the second story the tower has the remains of a projecting flag, like our modern belting-course, running round the building, and about 8 inches broad; it also appears to have had battlements." This parish is a vicarage, and part of the benefice of KILNABOY, in the dio. of Killaloe. Vicarial tithe composition, £83 17s. 7d.; glebe, £2 12s. 6d. The rectorial tithes are compounded for £165 1s. 2 ¾ d., and are appropriated to the prebend of Rath. The Roman Catholic chapel has an attendance of 400. In 1834, the parishioners consisted of 7 Churchmen, 67 Protestant dissenters, and 1,714 Roman Catholics; and 2 daily schools, — one of which was salaried with £20 from Mr. Synge and £16 from the London Hibernian —Society, and one with £4 from Mr. Synge and £4 from the London Hibernian Society - had on their books 280 boys and 221 girls.

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, 1845
Courtesy of Clare Local Studies Project