Clondermot Parish, Co. Londonderry, Northern Ireland in 1837
Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Ireland

Transcribed, Compiled and Submitted by
Len Swindley, Melbourne, Australia
len_swindley[at]hotmail.com

GLENDERMOT, or CLONDERMOT, a parish, in the barony of TIRKEEKAN, county of LONDONDERRY, and province of ULSTER; containing, with the town of Waterside, which is one of the suburbs of Londonderry, 10,338 inhabitants. This parish, which is separated from the city of Londonderry by the river Foyle, over which is a fine wooden bridge, 1,068 feet long, comprises 22,495 acres, of which 987 are water. A religious house is said to have been founded here by St. Patrick, which was probably the church of Kil Ard, of which the foundations are still traceable. St. Columbkill founded a monastery here in 588, at the place which still bears his name; and Ailid O’Dormit founded a nunnery at Rossnagalliagh, in 879, of which some traces remain. The founder of the extensive building, of which the ruins are on Lough Enagh, is unknown; it probably belonged to the Knights Hospitallers, and was afterwards a chapel of ease to Clondermot, and as such was confirmed to the Dean of Derry in 1609, under the name of Annagh. In the Earl of Tyrone’s rebellion the church of St. Columb and the parish church were destroyed; the former was not rebuilt, but some of its ruins are visible. The soil in the northern portion of the parish is rich and well cultivated, but there is a considerable quantity of moorland in the southern part. Quarries of slate and blue limestone exist. At Ardmore is a bleach-green, the first established in this part of the country, where 25,000 pieces of linen are finished annually; there is also one at the Oaks, and a large distillery at Waterside. The water for the supply of the city of Londonderry is obtained from an elevated spot near Prehen, and conveyed in cast-iron pipes over the bridge across the Foyle into the city. Besides that bridge, there is a handsome one over the Faughan, near Enagh; another on the Coleraine road, a little lower down, and a third at Drumahoe. The Bishop’s, the Goldsmiths’, and the Grocers’ manors extend over parts of this parish, but no manorial courts are held. The principal seats are Prehen, the residence of Col. Knox; Beech Hill, of Conolly Skipton, Esq.; Ashbrook, of W. H. Ashe, Esq.; Ardmore, of J. A. Smith, Esq.; Larchmount, of C. McClelland, Esq.; Lisdillon, of W. J. Smith, Esq.; Berryburn, of Capt. Reynolds; Ardkill, of R. Stephenson, Esq.; Bellevue, of the. Rev. J. D. Maughan; Bonds Hill, of J. Murray, Esq.; St. Columb’s, of G. Hill, Esq.; Glendermot: glebe, of the Rev, A. G. Cary; Caw, of A. Harvey, Esq.; Lower Caw, of J. Alexander, Esq.; and Coolkeragh, of R. Young, Esq. The living is a perpetual Curacy, in the diocese of Derry, and in the gift of the Dean of Derry; the rectory was united by patent in 1609, to Templemore and Faughanvale, the three forming the union of Templemore and the corps of the deanery of Derry, which is in the patronage of the Crown; the Ecclesiastical Commissioners recommend the dissolution of the union. The tithes amount, to £920. 11. 8. and the perpetual curate is paid by the dean. The church is a large handsome building, in the Grecian style, erected in 1753, and for the repairs of which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recently granted £609. The glebe house is situated on a glebe of 12 acres, purchased by the late Board of First Fruits in 1824, and is occupied by the perpetual curate. The rector’s glebe comprises 407 acres, and the deanery lands in Clondermot consist of 1,284 acres, In the R. C. divisions the parish is united to part of Lower Cumber; there is a small neat chapel at Curryneirin. At Altnagelvin are two meeting-houses for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod of Ulster, one of the first, the other of the third, class; and at Drumahoe is one connected with the Seceding Synod. There are parochial schools at Clondermot, on the glebe, and at the new church, aided by the dean; there are also schools at Salem, Ardmore, Lisdillon, and Drumahoe; the Grocers’ Company have built and maintain a school at Gortnessey; a school at Prehen is supported by Col. Knox and the perpetual curate; there is a national school at Curryneirin, and female work schools at Ardmore and Bellevue; also four Sunday schools. Col. Mitchelburne, who was a native of this place, and many of the other defenders of Londonderry, are interred in the burial- ground of Clondermot, in which are considerable remains of the old church.