Clara, County Kilkenny


Clara is a Catholic Parish in the Diocese of Ossory : 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 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:

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.
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.