Killala

Killala Cill Ala
—  Town  —
Killala Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 54°12′00″N 9°13′00″W
Country	Ireland
Province	Connacht
County	County Mayo
Elevation	2 m (7 ft)
Population (2002)
• Urban	650
• Rural	1,321
Time zone	WET (UTC+0)
• Summer (DST)	IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference	G206286

Killala (Irish: Cill Ala) is a village in County Mayo in Ireland, north of Ballina. The railway line from Dublin to Ballina once extended to Killala. To the west of Killala is a Townsplots West (known locally as Enagh Beg), which contains numerous ancient forts.

History

Killala was the site of the first battle of the French force of General Humbert in the 1798 Rebellion,which landed at nearby Kilcummin Harbour and quickly seized the town. The town was also the site of the last land battle of the rebellion on September 23, 1798 when the British army defeated a rebel Irish force in Killala. Killala was used as the major location for the 1981 multi-million-pound television series "The Year of the French" (based on the novel by Thomas Flanagan). In 1998 Killala celebrated the bicentenary of this event by twinning with the commune of Chauvé in France and Killala has established itself as a popular location for historians.

Ecclesiastical history

Killala Round Tower

The Roman Catholic bishopric of Killala (Alladenis in Latin) is one of the five suffragan sees of the ecclesiastical Province of the Archbishop of Tuam, comprising the north-western part of the County Mayo with the Barony of Tireragh in the County Sligo. In all there are 22 parishes, some of which, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean, consist mostly of wild moorland, sparsely inhabited. Lewis's Topographical Dictionary sets down the length of the diocese as 45 miles, the breadth 21 miles, and the estimated superficies as 314,300 acres (1,272 km²) — of which 43,100 acres (174 km²) are in the County Sligo and 271,200 acres (1,098 km²) in the County Mayo.

The foundation of the diocese dates from the time of St. Patrick, who placed his disciple St. Muredach over the church called in Irish Cell Alaid. In a well that still flows close to the town, beside the sea, local legend tells that Patrick baptized in a single day 12,000 converts, and on the same occasion, in presence of the crowds, raised to life a dead woman whom he also baptized. Muredach is described as an old man of Patrick's family, and was appointed to the Church of Killala as early as 442 or 443. His feast-day is on 12 August. It is probable that he resigned his see after a few years, and retired to end his life on the lonely island in Donegal Bay which has ever since borne his name, Inishmurray. At Killala Patrick baptized the two maidens whom he met in childhood at Focluth Wood by the western sea, and whose voices in visions of the night had often pathetically called him to come once more and dwell amongst them. He came, baptized them and built them a church where they spent the rest of their days as holy nuns in the service of God.

Little or nothing is known of the successors of Muredach in Killala down to the twelfth century. Of the sainted Bishop Cellach, for example, we learn merely that he came of royal blood, flourished in the sixth century and was foully murdered at the instigation of his foster-brother. His name is mentioned in all the Irish martyrologies. Beyond doubt the most illustrious of them all belongs to modern times. With pride the people of Killala recall that John MacHale, Archbishop of Tuam, was a child of their diocese, and served his 'apprenticeship' as bishop amongst them. He was born at Tubbernavine at the foot of Mount Nephin on 6 March 1791; became Coadjutor Bishop of Killala in 1825, bishop in 1834, and later in the same year was transferred to Tuam, where for nearly half a century he exercised a more potent influence on the civil and ecclesiastical history of Ireland than perhaps any of his contemporaries, with the single exception of O'Connell. He died on 7 November 1881, and is buried in the sanctuary of the Tuam cathedral.

After him came Doctor Finan, a Dominican priest of remarkable piety and attainments, but rather unfit, owning to his continental training, to direct the affairs of an Irish diocese. On his resignation in 1838, a parish priest of the Archdiocese of Tuam, Rev. Thomas Feeney, who had formerly been professor and president of St. Jarlath's College at Tuam, was chosen for the task of repairing the injury that ecclesiastical discipline had suffered during his reign. Feeney is said to have been a most happy selection under the circumstances. Thirty-five years of his firm and resolute rule obliterated practically all traces of the wretched controversies that distracted the diocese under his predecessor.

Along the left bank of the river are the ruins of several monasteries. Rosserk, a Franciscan house of strict observance, was founded in 1460. The Abbey of Moyne still stands on a picturesque site just over the river, and further on, north of Killala, was the Dominican Abbey of Rathfran. On the promontory of Errew running into Lough Conn another monastery existed as such till comparatively recent times. A round tower in Killala itself, still in perfect preservation, indicated the ancient celebrity of the place as an ecclesiastical centre.

In the early 20th century the Roman Catholic bishop was Dr. Conmy. In Maynooth he held a distinguished place in the class that produced such men as the Roman Catholic Cardinal Primate of Ireland and Archbishop Carr of Melbourne. After several years of fruitful labours as professor and missionary priest he was called in 1892 from the parish of Crossmolina to wield the crosier of Muredach. Amongst his services to the twin cause of religion and education was the building and equipping, from funds raised almost exclusively from his diocese's priests and people, of the seminary in the town of Ballina.

Killala also boasts a Church of Ireland Cathedral, a stone building dedicated to St Patrick. For those researching family history, an indexed listing of photos of the legible headstones in St. Patrick's graveyard and other local cemeteries, is posted at http://goldenlangan.com/headstones.html .

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). "Killala". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 

External links

• Community development in the west of Ireland: twenty years on in the Killala area. Community Development Journal 2007; 42: 330-347. Author: M.A. Brennan.
• Killala.ie - Official website for the Killala community.
• Five Pubs of Killala.
• Family history and headstones around Killala, Co. Mayo.