CRECORA, a parish

CRECORA, a parish, partly in the county of the city of LIMERICK, partly in the barony of COSHMA, but chiefly in the barony of PUBBLEBRIEN, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTER, 5 miles (S. W.) from Limerick; containing 1928 inhabitants. It is situated on the road from Patrick's Well to Bruff, and contains 3010 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, of which 194 are in the townland of Kilgobban, which is near Adare, and detached from the main body of the parish, forming one estate, generally called Adare Farm. The land is every where good, being based on a substratum of limestone, and about two-thirds are under tillage, the chief crops being wheat and potatoes: but on the Ashfort estate, consisting of 200 acres, the farmer is subject to a heavy penalty should more than 3 acres be at one time under tillage. Here are four detached bogs, comprising about 300 acres, which are become very valuable and could be let at a very high rent. The surface of the country is generally interesting, and ornamented by several handsome houses, the principal of which are Richmond Villa, the neat residence of Mrs. Wallace; Jockey Hall, now occupied by a farmer; Greenmount, the residence of John Green, Esq.; Doneen, of Villiers Peacock, Esq.; Ballymurphy, of Eyre Powell, Esq.; and Ashfort, of the Rev. Joseph Jones.

The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Limerick, and in the patronage of the Vicars Choral of the cathedral of Limerick, to whom the rectory is appropriate: the tithes amount to £210, of which £135 is payable to the lessee of the appropriators, and £75 to the vicar. There is neither church nor glebe-house, but a glebe of 17 ¼ Irish acres, 10 of which belong to the appropriators, and 7 ¼ to the vicar. In the R. C. divisions this parish is the head of a union or district, also called Loughmore, comprising the parishes of Crecora, Mungret, Knocknagaul, and part of Kilpeacon, and containing two chapels, situated respectively at Crecora and Mungret; the former is a large modern edifice. From the interesting ruins of the old church, which was destroyed in the war of 1641, it seems to have been well built and capacious: many of the wealthy families of the neighbourhood have vaults in the cemetery. About 100 boys and 60 girls are educated in three private schools here.