Notice is hereby given, pursuant to the statute 30th and 31st Victoria, cap 54, that John Cahill, late of Ballyreen, in the county of Clare, Gentleman, who died on 23rd day of February, 1871, did by his will, bearing date the 23rd day of February, 1871, bequeath the sum of Fifty Pounds towards the building of a New Chapel at Knockfin, in the said county of Clare. And Probate of the said will was on the 5th day of January, 1872, granted by the principal Registry of her Majesty’s Court of Probate in Ireland, to John Cahill, Farmer, Ballyreen, Lisdoonvarna, in the said county of Clare, Gentleman, one of the Executors in said will named.
Dated this 25th day of May, 1872. James Shannon, Solicitor for the said Executor, No. 34, Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin, and Ennistymon, county Clare. To the Commissioner of Charitable Donations and Bequests in Ireland, and all others concerned.
£50 was a lot of money in 1872, but John Cahill seems to have been very well off - the entry in the Calendar of Wills shows that he left effects worth up to £8,000: http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchiv ... _00053.pdf
Civil record: Death, at Leminagh, Kilnaboy, 24 Feb. 1871, John Cahill, aged 74, bachelor, Farmer; informant: James Sweeny, Leminagh, occupier: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/ ... 286402.pdf
At first I could not find the location of Knockfin church, but eventually found that A History and Topography 1837, by Samuel Lewis, mentions a church at Knockfin in the parish of Killeilagh: https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... gh1837.htm.
A photo of Holy Rosary church, Knockfin, shows a much newer church – this might be the church that benefitted by the bequest of John Cahill. The unusual doorway looks like it might have been taken from an older building: http://www.lisdoon.ie/churches/doolin/
Sheila