This parish contains, according to the recent Trigonometrical Survey, 9,188A. 3R. 13P., of which 971A. 1R. 34P. are covered with water. The land was valued for assessment at £3,811 11s. 8d. per annum. Ecclesiastically considered, the rectory is impropriate in Viscount Lorton, without patronage, while the vicarage is comprised, with six others, in the Union of Ardclare, alias Clonygormacan, from all of which, however, this is remote ; the Diocesan presents to the union. The rent-charge, now £105, is payable in equal moieties to the impropriator and the incumbent. In the Roman Catholic division this parish is partly in the Union of Croghan and Ballinameen, and partly in that of Ardcarne and Crosna. The principal proprietor of this is Mr. Hugh Barton. Its population was returned in 1821 as 3,614 persons; increased, on the return of 1831, to 4,433, of whom it was calculated only 233 were members of the Established Church. The late Census states the total, including the inhabitants of Battle-bridge, as but 4,180. There is no church in this parish, but, on the townland of Tumna are some massy old walls of the ancient parochial edifice, measuring in area about 16 yards by 10, having near it a little chantry, 7 yards by 5; these ruins lie close to the junction of the Boyle water with the Shannon, on a swelling slope, and are surrounded by a grave-yard. The Boyle, at west of this point, expands into a fine sheet of water, encircled by which is an island of 19 acres, called Inchatyra, to which projects, from the Roscommon side, the beautifully wooded promontory of Drumharlogh, part of the Hughstown estate. On the opposite side of the river, westward, are the ruins of Killeen church, around which, extending from the eastern side of Upper Oakport Lough to Battlebridge, lies the Cootehall property, deriving its name from Colonel Chidley Coote, to whom it was granted soon after the Restoration. Some years since it was purchased by the present proprietor, Mr. Barton. The face of this tract consists of hills, chiefly of limestone gravel, with good parcels of soil interspersed among reclaimed bog. When Mr. Weld published his "Survey of the County of Roscommon" (1832), he stated, that, in several of the then newly erected cottages on this estate, he found the wool-spinning assiduously practised, and looms crowded to excess, for the manufacture of coarse flannels, striped woollens, and cotton stuffs ; there is, however, no manufacture or trade here now, and the place presents a mixture of wretched cabins, with a Roman Catholic chapel wholly unworthy of religious appropriation. There are two fairs held annually, on the 18th of May and 14th of November. The old hall is situated on the summit of a gentle eminence, and originally presented a large, quadrangular enclosure, or bawn, of about 100 yards square, bounded by lofty walls, with spacious, but low, round towers, at each angle. The habitable part occupied nearly the whole of the eastern side, and what remains of it (for it was burned down in 1798 by the insurgents) is now, together with the northern tower, converted to a farmhouse. From the terrace in front of the building a fine view opens of Oakport Lough, with the woods round the house. The approach to the hall was, and still is, up a straight inclined plane, the front of which is filled by a conically topped, gable-like wall, perforated with three Saxon arched portals, the centre for carriages, and the sides for foot-passengers. The ascending avenue leads hence to another Saxon arch, opening into the court south of the hall. The river, where it passes out of the Lough of Oakport, is crossed by an old straight bridge of seven arches, on the off side of which, as sketched in the annexed engraving, is an excellent police barrack, also fitted up for holding the district Petty Sessions. Where the Cootehall estate terminates, at the Shannon, a small village of cabins appears on the Roscommon side, and is called Battle-bridge, the river being here crossed by a six-arched bridge, 150 feet long, and 13 wide.
There are various forts in this parish; six on Cootehall; five on Annaghbeg; four on Cloonskeveen; four on Cleagheen ; three on Shanballybawn, Lisfarrellboy, Drumsillagh, Tumna, and Dervarry, respectively; two on Brackloon, on Cloonacarrow, on Cloonmaine, on Cuiltyconeen, on Cloonkeen, and on Loughill; and one on each of the following, viz., Cloonfad, Meera, Moigh, Carrigeen, Foxhill, and a remarkably large one on Inchatyra.
from: The History of Ireland: From the Earliest Period to the Year 1245 by John d' Alton, Dublin, 1845
