Kiltoom, also Kiltomb (from Irish Cill Tuama), is a civil parish[1] as well as an electoral division[2] in County Roscommon, Ireland. There is also an eponymous townland in the parish.[3] Kiltoom is located northwest of Athlone on the southwestern shore of Lough Ree.
The main road in the parish area is the N61 between Athlone and Roscommon. Kiltoom formerly had a railway station on the Dublin to Westport line which opened in 1860 and closed in 1963.[4] The primary school, Ballybay Central National School, is a Catholic school.[5] The townlands and parishes of Kiltoom and Cam were used as examples in a study of rural communities in Roscommon in the century preceding the Great Famine of the 1840s.[6]
History edit
Historic sites are an ancient burial mound on which the first church in the village was built, near which is a holy well known as Tobar Pádraig or Patrick's Well. The Kiltoom rectory was served by Cluniac monks from Athlone in the 15th century. In the late 17th century a secular priest resided at Kiltoom. In the second half of the 18th century the Roman Catholic parishes of Kiltoom and neighbouring Cam were united.[7] The church of Kiltoom is dedicated to the Risen Christ, and the new central window (2014) in the sacristy depicts the resurrection of Jesus.[8] The old graveyard with ruins of a 12th-century church is situated in Kiltoom townland in the northern part of the parish.[9] Several stately homes were located in the area of the parish.[10] A hotel has been built at Hodson Bay on Lough Ree, near the site of one of these homes.[11]
References edit
- ^ "Civil Parish of Kiltoom, Co. Roscommon". Townlands.ie. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "Kiltoom Electoral Division, Co. Roscommon". Townlands.ie. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "Kiltoom Townland, Co. Roscommon". Townlands.ie. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "Irish Railways" (PDF). Railscot. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "Ballybay Central National School". Ballybay Central National School. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
- ^ Gacquin, William (1996). Roscommon Before the Famine: The Parishes of Kiltoom and Cam, 1749-1845. Irish Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-7165-2597-4.
- ^ "History of the Parish". Kiltoom Parish. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "The New Church Windows". Kiltoom Parish. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "Kiltoom Old Graveyard". Find a Grave. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ Samuel Lewis (1837). "Kiltoom". A Topographic Dictionary of Ireland.
- ^ Graham Horn (13 September 2008). "Hodson's Bay Hotel". Geograph Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 30 April 2019.