Clara, County Kilkenny facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Clara
Clárach
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parish/townland
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 Clara
Location in Ireland
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| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | County Kilkenny |
| Time zone | UTC+0 |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-1 |
Clara (Irish: Clárach, meaning plain/district) is a Catholic Parish in the Diocese of Ossory (Roman Catholic): also one of the Civil parishes in Ireland. Both parishes are located in County Kilkenny in the Republic of Ireland.
Clara Catholic Parish
The Catholic Parish of Clara in the Diocese of Ossory was created c1852 from the old Catholic parish of Gowran.
Clara church Parish consists of the Civil Parishes of:
- Clara, Blackrath (upper), Blackrath (lower), St. Martin's and Tiscoffin.
Clara Civil Parish
The civil parish may consist of around one thousand inhabitants, and is situated three miles east of Kilkenny city.
Clara civil parish consists of the following townlands:
- Ballynamona - Baunmore - Churchclara - Clara Upper - Clarabricken - Clifden or Rathgarvan - Clohoge - Coneygar - Eagleshill - Kilmagar - Kingsland - Scart.
Notable Places and People
Saint Colman's church is situated at the centre of the parishes and Saint Colman is considered the patron saint of Clara. St.Colman's church is actually located just within Rathgarvan townland and not the neighbouring townland of Churchclara, wherein lie the remains of the old church of Clara.
- St.Colman is a very popular Saint's name in Ireland. The Martyrology of Donegal lists ninety six saints of this name and the Book of Leinster records no less than two hundred and nine. In addition there seems to be some confusion in ancient texts between Colman (Colmanus in Latin) and Columbanus.
Clara is also home to Clara Castle, a five-storey tower house built in the fifteenth century by the Shortall family.
Sport
The civil parish is home to the Clara GAA club, which has produced some famous inter-county hurlers such as Jim Langton, Paddy Prendergast, Lester Ryan and Harry Ryan.
One of the team's milestones in sport came in 1986, when they won their first Senior Hurling Championship. More recently, they won the 2013 Senior Hurling Championship.
