Welcome to the parish website of Killenummery and Killery, part of the Catholic Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise and commonly known as the Island Parish. We are bordered to the east by the parish of Inishmagrath and to the west by Dromahair, both in the Diocese of Kilmore, while Riverstown in the Diocese of Elphin lies to the southwest.

This site offers information on our parish’s history as well as up-to-date details about parish life, our churches, schools and burial grounds. We extend a warm welcome to parishioners living and working abroad.

Cill an Iomaire

In Irish, Cill an Iomaire means “the church of the ridge.” As the most northerly part of the diocese and separated from the rest by what Bishop MacNamee quaintly called “three radio miles,” it is often thought of as our island parish. Straddling counties Leitrim and Sligo and bordering Lough Gill, the area naturally evokes images of Bee-Loud-Glade-like shoreline and the soft lap of lake water.

Several explanations have been offered for its inclusion in the Diocese of Ardagh. These range from historic Conmaicne connections to the possibility that diocesan boundaries, drawn after the Synod of Kells in 1152, were influenced by Bishop Magrath O’Moran—who may have been linked to the local erenagh family. Another suggestion points to the displacement of the Calraighe by the Conmaicne from ancient Longford in times long past.

Killenummery, in the barony of Dromahair, comprises 23,183 statute acres and had a population of 1,240. Christian origins here may even trace back to St. Patrick, though more certainly to St. Hugh, who ministered by unusual routes to avoid detection by the Redcoats. The old Church of Ireland still stands, and nearby are the remains of a 14th-century nunnery that was later used as a hospital.

Local tradition also recalls Aodh Béo, who passed through Tullynascreena—now the site of the mass rock—on his route from Ard-Carn through Inis Mac Grath to Ballintogher. During the Penal era, Mass was celebrated using that flat-topped rock as an altar. To mark the parish Millennium, Mass was celebrated there again; in preparation, people processed to the rock, and a group reenacted the Penal-era practice by coming up the stream in period costume.