Lewis's Topographical Dictionary notes that the earliest identifiable settlements in Kilcornan were Danish. The lands changed hands several times during the Tudor era. A large part of the parish was granted to Hardress Waller, one of Cromwell's generals. Curraghchase, the ancestral home of Aubrey de Vere is in Kilcornan. The parish was known as Stonehall until 1961 when under Canon Bluet it changed names to Kilcornan. In 1551 the rector of the parish, William Casey, was nominated by James, the Earl of Desmond to be the first non-Catholic bishop of Limerick.
