Westropp — On the Churches of County Clare. 113 



■an " abbot and convent " existing at Askeaton in the thirteenth century, 

 while the Abbey of Scattery was old and famous. In 1408, Alanus 

 Linsius, or Lynch, " custodem ecclesiae coUegiatae de Iniscathy, 

 Limericen: dioc: " is mentioned ;^ this being an independent and 

 apparently indisputable proof. 



Pinally, an ancient visitation, probably of the time of Bishop 

 O'Dea (1410), copied by the E,ev. Jasper White in the later seventeenth 

 century, gives both Iniscatha and " Asketin, Asketton, or Ascetiny," 

 as in the Deanery of Eathkeale.^ 



The name Inisketty and Iniskefty occurs for Iniscatha in post- 

 Eeformation documents, and even such barbarous corruptions as " Innis- 

 cartts " and " Cathay " occur. 



We may suppose that the independent spirit of the tribes of Cor- 

 comroe prevented the fusion of KiKenora for a long time ; but, in the 

 end, " Wisdom was justified of her children," and the design of the 

 legislators of Eathbreasail was carried out in the later seventeenth 

 century, when the impoverished see of Kilf enora^ was annexed in turn 

 to one or other of its richer neighboui's. 



The Isles of Aran were anciently part of the bishopric of the Cor- 

 comroes, but were not included as part of it in 1302, and they could 

 not be recovered by Bishop Eider in 1615. It is even possible that 

 Corcomroe was in the bishopric of Aran in the later fifth centmy, and 

 perhaps the sixth ; but, if so, no records remain. The islands lie out 

 of the scope of this Survey. 



We must note that, in about 1194, Thomond is defined by 

 lEacgrath {c. 1350)* as extending "from CuchuUin's famous Leap to 

 Beal Boruma (the ford near Killaloe), from Birra (Parsonstown) to 

 Knockaney, and from the Eoghanacht of Cashel to the northernmost 

 part of Boirinn of white stones." This, save for a small poi'tion annexed 

 to the see of Limerick, corresponds to the present sees of Kilfenora and 

 Killaloe. 



The English Peeiod. 



The interference of the early English in chiu'ch matters in Thomond 

 had altogether little effect, and that merely for a time. Eobert Travers, 

 put into the see of Eiillaloe by the influence of his uncle, Geoffrey de 



1 Document in Brady's "Episcopal Succession," vol. iii., p. 53. 

 ^ Lenihan, " Limerick: its History," &c., p. 563. 

 ^ It was worth between £5 and £6 in 1302, and in Elizabeth' s reign. 

 * "Warsof Torlough." 



E.I.A. PEOC. SEE. m., VOL. VI. I 



