Somewhere about Rahoon lies an estate with a remarkable story behind it. A young Galway man named Joyes was captured by an Algerine corsair on his passage to the West Indies and spent 14 years as a slave in Algiers. His owner, a wealthy Turk who worked as a goldsmith, saw that Joyes was tractable and ingenious, and taught him the trade. When William III came to the throne, he sent an ambassador to Algiers demanding the release of all British subjects held in slavery, and the dey reluctantly complied. Joyes's master then offered him his only daughter in marriage and half his property if he would stay, but Joyes resolutely declined. He returned to Galway, married, followed the goldsmith's trade with considerable success, and having acquired what the record calls a handsome independence, he purchased the estate of Rahoon from Colonel Whaley, one of Cromwell's officers.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The history of the town and county of the town of Galway, from the earliest period to the present time (vol. n/a) (1926), Hardiman, James, Internet Archive historyoftowncouhard, Chapter 21 · source

This is Galway. In 1812 the census counted only 24,484 people in the town and its liberties, but the enumerators later accused each other of gross neglect. The general opinion was that the population stood closer to 40,000, and among that number were vast ranks of the poor, increasing daily, without trade, manufactures, or adequate employment. Many inhabitants laid the blame for this growing misery on neglect by their parliamentary representatives. They argued that members acquainted with the town's situation, and solicitous for its welfare, would have prevented these evils and adopted measures for its benefit. A vacancy then occurred in the representation. The sheriffs, expecting no resistance, returned the Hon. Frederick Ponsonby, the nominee of Mr. Daly. Colonel Richard Martin, John French Madden, and Richard Maunsell formally protested, calling the proceeding illegal for want of due notice. Their objections were over-ruled, and the member was declared duly returned. These gentlemen then addressed the townspeople, who had assembled merely from curiosity. They told them that the repetition of what they had that day witnessed had occasioned all the wretchedness of poverty, all the immorality and vice, by which they were on every side surrounded. This, they said, though the people appeared unconscious of it, was the real and sole cause of all their distress. Hence their prisons were crowded with debtors and malefactors, their quays left without shipping, their store-houses empty, their poor without employment.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The history of the town and county of the town of Galway, from the earliest period to the present time (vol. n/a) (1926), Hardiman, James, Internet Archive historyoftowncouhard, Chapter 158 · source

As you pass through Galway, this is the city where the Assizes once tried one of the strangest cases on record. Sir J. Barrington tells of his grandfather, a Mr. French of County Galway, married to one of the Clare O'Briens. A certain Mr. D. Bodkin had been annoying French, and one night before a large company Mrs. French said she wished the fellow's ears were cut off, that might quiet him. At supper the old butler, Regan, presented her with a huge snuff box, and on opening it, out fell a pair of human ears. He told her he had passed the word to Gahagan the gamekeeper, who took a few boys with him, and here were Dennis Bodkin's ears. Mr. French and his wife were tried at the Galway Assizes along with the servants, but all were acquitted on the plea that it was all a mistake from beginning to end.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The story of an Irish sept : their character & struggle to maintain their lands in Clare (1896), Macnamara, Nottidge Charles, 1832-1918, Internet Archive storyanirishsep00macngoog, Chapter 120 · source

As you pass through Galway, Market Street behind St. Nicholas's Church holds the Lynch Stone. In 1493, Mayor James Lynch Fitzstephen condemned his own guilty son Walter and executed him on that spot, for murdering a Spanish guest out of jealousy. Below the memorial is a stone carved with a skull and cross-bones.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from On an Irish jaunting-car through Donegal and Connemara (1902), Bayne, Samuel G. (Samuel Gamble), 1844-1924, Internet Archive onirishjauntingc00bayn, Chapter 1 · source

Galway holds a story of a judge and his son. The son had committed murder, and the judge sentenced him to death. Relations and friends begged for a reprieve. The young man's family knelt in tears, and a young lady stood in despair. But the judge would not be moved. He would not yield to popular clamour, nor to the odium it would bring upon his name, nor to the prayers of his kneeling family, nor to the yearnings of a father's heart. At night he went down to the dungeon where his son lay, holding a lamp, accompanied by a priest whose account later told what happened. He locked the gate, kept the keys fast in his hands, and seated himself in a recess of the wall. His son drew near and asked, with a faltering tongue, if he had anything to hope. The father answered, "No, my son; your life is forfeited to the laws, and at sun-rise you must die." He told him that with the world he had done for ever, and that if he dared hope, he should implore that Heaven would not shut the gates of mercy on the destroyer of his fellow creature. Then he joined the priest in prayer, and they administered the rites of the church. The woeful night passed in intervals of silence. At daybreak the father rose and assisted the executioner to remove the irons that still bound his son. He unlocked the door, ordered him to stand between the priest and himself, and lean upon an arm of each. They ascended a flight of steps lined with soldiers and passed on to the street, where a strong escort waited to go with them to the usual place of punishment at the eastern extremity of the town.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The history of the town and county of the town of Galway, from the earliest period to the present time (vol. n/a) (1926), Hardiman, James, Internet Archive historyoftowncouhard, Chapter 68 · source

You are coming through Galway now. In 1847 this city was a departure point for people leaving Ireland, but for one family it was a place they could not afford to leave from directly. A man who had emigrated to Baltimore wrote a letter home to his wife Judy in that year. He told her he was in good health and asked about her and the children. He said he was doing for them as well as he could. He sent home ten pounds. He could not make up enough to bring them from Galway. He told her he expected to bring them all from Liverpool instead, because he would rather keep them together than separate them from each other. He asked her to let him know how the passage was in Galway, and how much it would take to get them to Liverpool, for he reckoned that was where he must bring them from. He told her the steamer leaves Liverpool every Saturday and not to delay. He asked her to send all particulars about the children, for he was very uneasy until he heard from them. If any of them were dead, he asked her not to deny him that knowledge. He said the uneasiness for her and the children was wearing him, and that there was no comparing it to anything. He asked after his mother, and after friends named James McDonough, Mr. Fary, Margaret Conner, Mary Bird, Thomas McDonough, and Mr. Curtin. He asked whether Edward Burke had written home since he went, or where he was in America. He told William to be a good boy, that he was doing his best to get them all there. He said everyone in that country washes their faces and combs their hair three times a day.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from A Visit to Connaught in the Autumn of 1847: A Letter Addressed to the ... (1848), James Hack Tuke , Society of Friends Dublin Monthly Meeting . Central Relief Committee, Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends (Dublin, Ireland), Internet Archive avisittoconnaug00irelgoog, Chapter 1 · source

Somewhere around here, in 1643, batteries on the points of Rinmore and Rintinane blocked a naval relief effort in Galway Bay. Rear-admiral Brooke arrived in the ship Providence at the beginning of June, carrying provisions and arms for the fort. But the Confederate batteries on those two points kept him from approaching. He tried under cover of night to throw in supplies by long boats. The town's boats met his, and forced his men to retire. Captain Willoughby, denied succour, asked Colonel Burke for leave to deliver the fort to Lord Clanricarde. Burke refused, in what the record calls the moment of success, unless the earl would take the oath of union or association and agree not to dispose of the place without the consent of the several persons named in the terms. Among them were the titular archbishop of Tuam, Lord Mayo, Colonel Bermingham, Colonel Burke, Lieutenant-Colonel O'Flaherty, Serjeant-Major O'Shaughnessy, and many captains and gentlemen of Burke, Kelly, O'Flaherty, Brabazon and other names. Lord Clanricarde rejected the terms entirely. Willoughby then had to treat for surrender to the Confederates. Articles were agreed and signed, and he surrendered that important fortress on the 20th.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The history of the town and county of the town of Galway, from the earliest period to the present time (vol. n/a) (1926), Hardiman, James, Internet Archive historyoftowncouhard, Chapter 98 · source

A poet's retreat, Belmont, was where Thomas Grady wrote political verse. Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun said he knew a wise man who believed it mattered not who made the laws if he had the making of the ballads. Those times were rife in ballads and poetical pamphlets. When a happy thought struck Grady, it was his custom, at dead of night, to ring the bell, ask the servant to strike a light, proceed to the library, and there sit up, perhaps till morning, throwing off in verse the sentiments by which he was actuated, lest by postponement he should forget them. There were other and not bad poets too, and ballad rhymers, at the time. Just about the very time when the courtiers and flatterers of George the Fourth, and some sanguine Irish patriots who believed in the reality of his favourable intentions towards Ireland, were calculating upon the happy results of the Royal visit in August 1821, disturbances of a very serious character again broke out in the County Limerick, and parts of Cork and Tipperary, as if in mockery of the predictions of the tranquilising effects of that visit which were made by Plunket, and other admirers and beneficiaries of that deceitful and profligate sovereign. Plunket had always acted with the small, but noble and energetic party who represented Irish national interests in the English House of Commons, the friends and followers of Grattan, Ponsonby Shaw, and Sir John Newport. He had been appointed his Majesty's Attorney-General.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Limerick, its history and antiquities; ecclesiastical, civil, and military,from the earliest ages, with copious historical, archaeological, topographical, and genealogical notes (1884), Lenihan, Maurice, 1811-1895, Internet Archive limerickitshisto00leni, Chapter 255 · source

This is the tower house at Merlinpark, on a short rise in what was once the demesne of Merlin Park House. It was called Doughiske Castle until the mid-18th century and was already standing in 1574, when it belonged to Stephan Lynch. What survives is a well-preserved four-storey rectangular tower over a basement. A doorway in the east wall gives access via a lobby to the ground floor, to a spiral staircase in the south-east corner, and to basement stairs in the north-east. Subsidiary chambers and latrines sit south of the main rooms on the ground and first floors, with an intramural passage in the same position on the second floor. Stone vaults exist between basement and ground floor and between the second and third floors. Fireplaces are set in the north wall of the basement, second, and third floors. Two small chambers, one concealed, occupy the vault thickness between second and third floors. The gabled roof held a garret and wall-walks with machicolations at parapet level. Apart from horizontal gun slits on the ground floor, windows are single or double lights with ogival heads. A sheela-na-gig is carved on the spandrel of an ogee-headed window on the second floor of the south wall. A later extension adjoined at the east. A pitched roofline, a doorway off the spiral stairs, and a raised platform suggest a former two-storey building, possibly 17th-century.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), GA094-023---- · source

Oranmore in Galway is a town on the sea. In 1642, Clanricarde found himself in what he called "great distraction." His arms and goods from England had been seized, and men from the county and Mayo gathered to lay siege to the fort. He resolved, in his own words, to "seal my loyalty with my blood." He called on his friends and within days marched there with 700 foot and near 200 horse. But the besiegers were many, and they had planted ordnance on the craggy passages near the town, which made horse of no use to him. So he decided to besiege the besiegers. He had convenient castles there, placed strong garrisons round about them, and his horse scoured between to keep all relief from them. The critical effort came by sea. Though the enemy had store of boats to guard the passage, he found means, with much difficulty, to supply the fort from his castle on the sea.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The life of James, Duke of Ormond; containing an account of the most remarkable affairs of his time, and particularly of Ireland under his government: with an appendix and collection of letters, serving to verify the most material facts in the said history. New ed., carefully compared with the original MSS (vol. 5) (1851), Carte, Thomas, 1686-1754, Internet Archive lifeofjamesdukeo05cartuoft, Chapter 140 · source

Near Oranmore, an old castle marks where an underground river reappears. The river and a bog extend about a mile and a half north-east from Galway, then end together. The river sinks under ground at the foot of a large hill, but appears again at the old castle, where it runs into the utmost creek of the bay. A narrow ridge of land lies between the bog and the bay towards the east, and could be fortified without great difficulty. Without it, the town could not be defended, since an army could approach under cover of the ridge within less than a hundred yards of the wall. The record dates from 1691 to 1693.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The history of the town and county of the town of Galway, from the earliest period to the present time (vol. n/a) (1926), Hardiman, James, Internet Archive historyoftowncouhard · source

You are coming through Oranmore now, a town in County Galway. In 1651 this was one of three castles seized by parliamentary forces as they closed in on Galway. The Irish commander Preston had fallen back into Galway with a few troops and was entrusted with the chief command there. Sir Charles Coote and commissary-general Reynolds invested the town and quickly reduced it to a state of blockade. The castles of Tirellan, Oranmore and Clare-Galway were all taken. On the 12th of August 1651 the enemy pitched their camp between Lough-a-thalia and Suckeen, within a few hundred yards of the walls. After Limerick surrendered on the 27th of October, Ireton held a council of war to decide whether to march on Galway. Some officers argued their men were worn down by sickness and severe service and that winter was near, so it was resolved instead to summon the town to accept the conditions originally tendered to Limerick. On the morning of the 9th of November, dispatches arrived from the lord deputy for the governor. He told him that if he freely communicated the proposals to the town's people and was himself, "waving the frivolous impertinencies of a soldier's honor or humor rather," inclined to capitulate, he might share in the benefit of those conditions. But if he suppressed them, his head would pay for the trouble that followed.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The history of the town and county of the town of Galway, from the earliest period to the present time (vol. n/a) (1926), Hardiman, James, Internet Archive historyoftowncouhard, Chapter 105 · source

Up ahead is Oranmore, a town in Galway with a church story going back to 1487. In that year the archbishop, by his letters dated the feast of the Conception, united the rectory and vicarage of the parochial church of Furanmore, as Oranmore was then called, to the collegiate church. The diocese was Annaghdown. He reserved twenty-one ounces of silver annually out of Furanmore, and also united the vicarage of Meary in the same diocese, reserving seven ounces from it. The following year brought more unions. On the 12th of April 1488, the archbishop united the vicarage of the parish church of St. Mary of Rathuna, now Rahoon, which had become vacant by the death of Donat Y Donaill, its last possessor. Then on the 8th of June, Theobald de Burgo, described as chief of his nation, granted all his right of patronage over the rectories of Moycullen and Rahoon to the collegiate church in free and perpetual alms. The deed recited apostolical letters from the holy see directed to John de Burgo, canon of Annaghdown, concerning the union of those parish churches in Gnobeg. The condition was that the warden and vicars and their successors should continually pray for him and for the souls of his predecessors and successors. On the vigil of All Saints that same year, Cornelius O Hallurayn, perpetual vicar of Moycullen, resigned his living to the archbishop of Tuam to complete its union. On the 8th of February 1491, the archbishop united the vicarage of the parish church of Skryne to the collegiate church, following the free resignation of John de Burgo as perpetual vicar.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The history of the town and county of the town of Galway, from the earliest period to the present time (vol. n/a) (1926), Hardiman, James, Internet Archive historyoftowncouhard, Chapter 193 · source

This is a holy well at Parkroe in Galway, named Toberroe on the Ordnance Survey maps of 1838 and 1920. It sits at the eastern edge of rocky scrub and marshland, south of where a cluster of houses once stood. The well is a rectangular drystone chamber built of rounded limestones, roofed with three stone lintels, reached by a series of steps. The water inside is about 1 metre deep. On inspection it was overgrown with thorns and brambles and appeared disused. No evidence of any religious association was found. According to local information, it was only ever used to provide domestic water.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), GA095-115---- · source

A tower house, Cregganna Castle, stood in elevated pastureland and mixed woodland in the townland of Cregganna More, County Galway. It was in existence in 1574, when the castle called Kragane was in the possession of Walter Mcffregha. The building remained inhabited until the 18th century, by which time it had been much altered and modernised. When the antiquarian Holt visited in the years around 1911, the tower house stood three storeys high but was unroofed. The west gable was intact, but the top half of the east gable had fallen. The upper corners of the walls were crumbling and the foundations at those corners were damaged. A base-batter rose to about 2.7 metres. A pointed arched doorway in the east wall led into a small lobby, off which similar doorways gave access to a spiral staircase and the main ground-floor room. The doorway to the guardroom was square headed. There was a vault between the first and second floors. Fireplaces were visible on both floors, the upper one modernised. The surviving windows were single-light ogee-headed openings, with larger openings on the third floor that probably held mullioned windows. A garderobe chute was visible in the north wall. By 1944, an Irish Tourist Association survey noted that only a few steps of the spiral stairs remained and none of the subsidiary chamber floors survived. A report in 1956 noted further loss: decorated spandrels on some windows, and one of the pointed arched doorways Holt had recorded had been removed. Two coats of plaster were still evident on the walls of the main second-floor room. The ground-floor room was being used as a store or byre. There was a breach in the north wall, and stonework had been removed from the south-west corner. By February 1983, the Galway Survey found the tower house fully restored and occupied.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), GA095-021001- · source

Coming up through Clarinbridge here in Galway. The old annals say the western coast of Ireland was peopled as early as any other part of the island, and that the district now comprehending the town of Galway and its vicinity was one of the first positions chosen for habitation by the original settlers. Galway, or the place on or near which it stands, was frequently made a chief point of division in the most ancient and celebrated partitions of Ireland. The reason given is that it lay almost due west of Dublin, so a line drawn from one to the other would nearly divide the kingdom into two equal parts. The first division of Ireland is attributed to Partholanus, a Scythian, who is said to have effected a settlement here some centuries after the flood, and to have divided the kingdom into four equal parts among his four sons. Fearon, the third son, received the territory extending from a place in Munster, afterwards called the Island of Barymore, to Athcliath na mearuidhe, now Clarinbridge, near Galway. So this town marks the boundary of Fearon's share. From here to Oileachneid in the north was assigned to the fourth son, Feargna. The second, the Firbolgian partition, is stated to have taken place in the year 2500 before the common era, when Ireland was divided into five provinces. Connaught fell to Geanann, one of their five principal commanders, and extended from Limerick to the bay of Donegal, including the place where Galway stands.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The history of the town and county of the town of Galway, from the earliest period to the present time (vol. n/a) (1926), Hardiman, James, Internet Archive historyoftowncouhard, Chapter 35 · source

Coming up through Clarinbridge, in County Galway, you're reaching the western end of an ancient boundary line called Eiscar Riada, a chain of gravel hills that once ran all the way from Dublin to here. Around the year 150, a bitter struggle for the supreme rule of Ireland was fought between Con of the Hundred Battles, the recognised King of Ireland, and Mogha Xuadhat, King of Munster, of the Silver Hand. Con claimed as representative of the line of Eremon, and Mogha insisted on his right as head of the line of Eber. After much waste of life and destruction of property, the two reached a compromise and partitioned the island. Con took the northern half, called Leathcuin, or Con's half, and Mogha ruled the southern half, called Leathmogha, or Mogha's half. The Eiscar Riada gravel hills formed the boundary between them. The treaty must have made a profound impression on the Irish mind, because the recollection of it is well and universally preserved, even though the arrangement itself lasted for little over a year. The blessing of peace was only just beginning to be felt when the old rivalry flamed out again.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 8 · source

Somewhere around here stood the castle and manor of Kylcolgan, the centre of a bitter dispute in 1547. Pierce Martin of Galway and Dame Mary Lynch petitioned the Duke of Somerset that year, claiming that articles drawn up at the time of her marriage had settled the manor and castle on her for her natural life. But the Earl of Clanrickard, her husband, had failed to carry out any of his covenants. The petition described her at the time of marriage as "a woman of great substance," and said she was entitled to the third part of all his real and personal property. Despite the Duke's order to the lord deputy and council of Ireland to hear their complaint, the petitioners could get no final resolution. All they received was an order for the return of certain goods: a gold chain with a cross hanging from it, of fourteen ounces, valued at 36 pounds and 10 shillings; a silver cup called a nutte with a gilt cover, of sixty-eight ounces, valued at 17 pounds; and another standing gilt cup of forty-three ounces, valued at 10 pounds, 16 shillings and 4 pence. These were meant as part payment of 100 marks received with her in marriage, 50 marks bequeathed to her, and 25 pounds and 13 shillings belonging to the children of her first husband, which she had delivered to the earl. They begged the Duke, for the love of God, to have the cause examined. An order was then sent from England to Sir Thomas Luttrell, chief justice of the common pleas, Walter Cardiff, second justice, and Patrick Barnewall, serjeant at law.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The history of the town and county of the town of Galway, from the earliest period to the present time (vol. n/a) (1926), Hardiman, James, Internet Archive historyoftowncouhard · source

This is a children's burial ground in Tooreen West, in pastureland on the north side of a by-road. Local information places it at the north end of the field where a cross stands. Human bones were uncovered during deep ploughing of the field below the cross, and when the road was widened, more bones came to light in the field opposite. A graveslab about 140 metres to the north-east is said to have originally stood in the field across the road from the cross.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), GA103-187002- · source

The burial ground at Ballyclery in Galway is a rectangular plot, about 50 metres east to west and 36 metres north to south. It appears on the 1922 edition of the OS 6-inch map. Modern graves occupy the eastern half. In the western half a deep linear fosse runs north to south, known locally as the famine grave. East of the fosse stand a number of small headstones, aligned north to south, similar to those found in a children's burial ground.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), GA113-009---- · source

A holy well at Ballyclery, in Galway, named Tobermacduagh. It sits at the foot of a steep south-facing slope in rough pastureland, defined by an overgrown rectangular drystone chamber filled with stones. No relics or votive offerings were noted. When Fahey recorded it in 1893, the Turas associated with the well was still being observed. About 5 metres south-east is a small cairn, 6.5 metres east to west and 5 metres north to south, 1 metre high, surmounted by a cross dated 1820. Two other covered spring wells lie about 15 metres west and about 22 metres south-west.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), GA113-010001- · source

Somewhere around here stands Dunguaire Castle, a 16th-century tower house on the southeastern shore of Galway Bay, near Kinvara. Its name comes from the fort of King Guaire, the legendary king of Connacht. The 75-foot tower and its defensive wall were restored in the 1980s, but the castle has been closed since 2023. Its owner, Shannon Airport Group, offered it for sale to Galway County Council, who declined due to lack of funds. So the gates stay shut, and frustration grows in Galway over the funding dispute.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), en.wikipedia.org: Dunguaire Castle · source

Somewhere around here is Kinvara, a sea port village in the southwest of County Galway. Its Irish name, Cinn Mhara, means head of the sea. It sits in the civil parish of Kinvarradoorus, in the north of the barony of Kiltartan.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), en.wikipedia.org: Kinvara · source

This is a children's burial ground at Rossalia, in Clare, on a gentle north-facing slope overlooking Aughinish Bay. The 1842 Ordnance Survey map named it Gardeenrossalia, and the 1915 edition added the words Burial Ground, Disused. A small village of about 20 houses stood in the fields to the east on that 1842 map, but it was gone by 1915. The ground itself is a largely unenclosed rectangular area marked by small unmarked headstones, fieldstones and some small flags, some set in north-south lines. At the south end stands a folly-like structure, a thick rubble wall faced with unworked mortared stone, partially collapsed on its south and west sides and ivy covered on top. A wall runs perpendicularly north from it, perhaps the remains of a wall that was meant to enclose the burial ground but was destroyed or never finished. About 300 metres to the south-south-east is a holy well dedicated to Saint Patrick.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL003-020---- · source

Rossalia holy well is a ritual site on a narrow terrace on the north-east face of Abbey Hill, with wide views to the north. A natural spring emerges from low bedrock and is enclosed by a mortared stone wall. There is a blocked entrance at the north-west and an alcove at the north-west corner where votive offerings are left. Some of the structural stones inside bear carvings, inscriptions and graffiti. The largest stone carries what has been called rock scribing or folk art, a carved human figure. Nick Geh reported this and noted 19th-century graffiti on that slab and on two others. On the main slab there is a harp with the words God save Ireland and the year 1867, along with the name W. Williamson, Curranrue, August 3rd 1867. A second slab bears a Latin inscription, Libertas et natale solum, with berries and leaves to left and right. A third slab reads M. Byrne RIC, AD 1916, Kinvara. Immediately north-east of the well is a subrectangular enclosure of drystone and mortared walling. The foundations of a structure lie about 10 metres to the east. A leacht cuimhne, a memorial to the Comyn family, stands about 30 metres to the north-north-west and bears a carved human face similar to the one inside the well. According to Coffey in 1995, the rock scribing at the well was originally part of the leacht.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL003-021001- · source

Indicated on maps from 1842 as Killeen Grave Yard, this burial ground at Mortyclogh in Clare stands on the west end of a low ridge with views in all directions, overlooking a ringfort to the south-west and the site of another to the north-east. A roughly trapezoidal area, 45 metres east to west, is enclosed by a stone wall and entered through a gate in the west wall, from which a concrete path crosses the interior. Burials are spread evenly, except at the west end where there are no obvious markers. The graves carry inscribed headstones, some fallen, some upright. The earliest legible grave is of a young girl aged two years and three months, dated to 1856. A small plaque set on the outside base of the west wall, now practically illegible, is dated to 1813. The graveyard continues to be used. When surveyed in 1997, it had recently been cleaned up as part of a local community project.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL003-011---- · source

Somewhere around here, on the 15th of August 1317, two armies of roughly 9,000 men each met in a pitched battle near Corcomroe Abbey in north County Clare. It was part of a fight for control of the Uí Briain chieftaincy and the wider Anglo-Norman wars in Ireland. Diarmait Ó Briain commanded forces loyal to Muircheartach Ó Briain, against Donnchadh Ó Briain, who was allied with Mathghamhain Ó Briain and Richard de Clare. Diarmait's forces won. This battle would be a precursor to the Battle of Dysert O'Dea.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), en.wikipedia.org: Battle of Lough Raska · source

Somewhere about Corcomroe Abbey, in 1317, the Dalcasians carried their wounded and dead into the monastery after battle. The wounded were in extremity, soldiers mutilated, leaders in dead faint, and young men made lamentation. The battle was reckoned the third summit of honour achieved by the far-western clans. Magrath tells us that in the fighting, a spear was put through Maccon Macnamara's foot, the only part of his body not covered with armour. He adds that if this was done to pin him to his place, there was little need to so severely harm it, for in all battles his step was as deliberate as bold, solidly maintained no less than lively taken. He had fine command of his strong fast-striking arm and polished long blue Danish blade, that shore and rent and laid about whenever any measured swords with him. In all phases of war his heart was firm, daring, hardy to undertake. Never fear nor anxiety assailed his nature for enemy's numbers that he saw drawn up against him. The poet made quatrains to expound this: "A hero's qualities has Maccon."

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The story of an Irish sept : their character & struggle to maintain their lands in Clare (1896), Macnamara, Nottidge Charles, 1832-1918, Internet Archive storyanirishsep00macngoog · source

This is a tower house, the castle known as Muckinish nua, standing on the west shore of Pouldoody Bay in the townland of Muckinish East, County Clare, where two small tidal inlets form natural landing points and pastureland rises gently to the south. The name Muckinish nua comes from a legend that it was built three years after Seanmuckinish castle. Thomas Johnson Westropp tentatively dated its construction to the 15th century, and by 1837 it was already recorded as in ruins. It appears marked and named on the 1842 and 1915 editions of the Ordnance Survey maps. For most of the 16th century it was an O'Loughlin castle. Through the 17th century it passed through several hands. The Neylons held it, including Daniel Neylon, the first husband of Máire Rua, and later their son William. Máire Rua and her third husband John Cooper also possessed it. In 1659 a man named John Tully was a tenant, probably under lease from Cooper or the Blakes, one of whom was farming the land by 1705. What remains today is the north wall and portions of the east and west walls, standing almost to full height, of a four-storey tower house built of roughly dressed limestone rubble. There are remnants of vaulted ceilings over the ground and second floors, and a garderobe shaft runs the full height of the building in the west wall. Five flat-headed loops light the interior, four in the north wall and one in the west. Two double-light ogee-headed windows open into the solar, one in the north wall and the remains of another in the east. A lintelled opening on the second floor leads to a chamber in the west wall that may have served as an oubliette or lock-up. To the south, large rubble fragments lie scattered, among which parts of a chimney flue and stairwell can still be made out, suggesting they were blown down with gunpowder.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL003-008002- · source

This is a tower house at Muckinish West in Clare, standing on a narrow isthmus about 60 metres wide connecting Illaunmuckinish island with the mainland, between Muckinish Bay and the estuary into Ballyvaughan Bay. Marked as Shanmuckinish Castle on the 1842 and 1915 Ordnance Survey maps, it likely dates to the 15th century. It was called Shanmuckinish to distinguish it from Muckinishnua, another local castle said to have been built three years later. In 1574 the tower house belonged to the O'Loughlins. In 1584 Turlough O'Loughlin was taken prisoner by Donal O'Brien of Ennistymon and later executed in Ennis. James I granted the lands of Muckinish to Valentine Blake in 1622. The Blakes seem to have kept some form of ownership for much of the next 200 years, but possession of the castle passed between the O'Loughlins, Blakes, Neylons, MacNamaras and perhaps a John Tully during the 17th century. Under the MacNamaras it was called Ballinacragga Castle, after their former home in South Clare. In 1836 Captain Kirwan bought it from the Blakes and carried out extensive refurbishments. The north side collapsed in 1890. What remains is a four-storey rectangular tower house along the north wall of a bawn. The north side has fallen into the sea and the south-east foundation appears to be shifting. The surviving portion stands almost to full height on the south and parts of the east and west walls, about 6 metres. It is built of mortared rubble limestone with finely cut limestone quoins. Narrow-looped windows light the ground floor through deep embrasures. Partial vaults survive over the first and second floors. A jamb of a 17th-century fireplace can be seen at second-floor level. The third floor has a later three-light mullioned and transomed window. Dressed corbels support a parapet with two machicolations, and rendering survives on almost all interior walls.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL003-002---- · source

This is Shanmuckinish Castle, a tower house in Muckinish West, built about 1450. It was a freestanding square-plan tower, four storeys of rubble stone, with a base batter and battlements and machicolations at the parapet. There were square-headed windows and gun loops. A bawn wall once stood with it, now partially rebuilt. It is in ruins today.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (CC-BY 4.0), NIAH 20400311 · source

As you travel through the parish of Drumcreehy here in Burren, you're passing the ground where Conor O'Brien met his end. He had already forced the clans of North Tipperary and north-east Clare back into paying tribute, and marched this way with a smaller force against the O'Loughlins, O'Connors, O'Deas and O'Hehirs. They met him at the wood of Suidene and defeated him with great loss. Conor himself was slain, along with his son and daughter, her son O'Grady, an O'Loughlin who had taken his side, and many others of note. A section of his own O'Briens stood in the victorious camp, headed by his cousin Dermot, who claimed the chieftaincy as son of Conor's elder brother. The Dalcassian clans rejected that claim and soon killed Dermot for the part he played, and Brian Rua became prince of Thomond without further opposition. Conor is remembered from the place of his death as Conor-ua-Suidene. He had married the daughter of the chief of the MacNamaras, and much of his success in arms came from the support of that powerful clan.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 68 · source

As you come through Ballyvaughan, there is a fountain here that records a public benefactor. A nobleman, now some years deceased, erected at his sole expense a water supply system for this valley of north Clare. It was believed to be the first work of such magnitude for rural supply in Ireland, benefiting a wide district that suffered water-famine every summer or in dry seasons.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Holiday haunts on the west coast of Clare, Ireland (1891), Harris, H. B, Internet Archive holidayhauntsonw00harr, Chapter 1 · source

Coming up now is Ballyvaghan in Clare. It was on the hills of Burren above this town that Donough Brian Roe gathered his supporters, after he failed to win recognition as King of Thomond. De Clare had tried to persuade the government in Dublin to grant him that title, but the attempt failed. Donough Brian Roe, who had already brought trouble on Thomond, resolved to appeal to arms. He threw himself on his former supporters and the chiefs west of the River Fergus, and most of those chiefs rallied round him and assembled on those hills above Ballyvaughan. While this was happening, Dermot O'Brien, in the absence of his brother Mortough in Dublin, summoned the chief landholders of his territory to meet in council. They gathered to discuss how best to assail their enemies. Magrath reports that Mac-con-Macnamara was a member of that council, and he said, if the sept of Clancuilein alone were called upon to meet the enemy it would be impossible to keep them from doing so. The Clan Mahons, ClanTeigue, a branch of Clancuilein, the O'Conors, O'Deas, and many other septs were full of enthusiasm to join their chief. The council drew up its plans and broke up, without a shadow of misgiving. Its members returned to their homes to prepare for that formidable encounter, towards the recovery of their patrimonial rights, on which they were resolved. The place they appointed for the last muster before the march was Ruane, of the grass-clad caves.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The story of an Irish sept : their character & struggle to maintain their lands in Clare (1896), Macnamara, Nottidge Charles, 1832-1918, Internet Archive storyanirishsep00macngoog, Chapter 57 · source

Ballyvaghan Castle stood on a small level promontory projecting west into the south neck of Ballyvaghan Bay. There are no visible remains today, but the castle was listed in the O'Brien rental of 1380 and was initially an O'Loughlin possession. It passed to the O'Briens after a dispute over cattle in 1540. In 1569 it was reduced by the Queen's Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, and after that it passed between the O'Loughlins, the O'Connors, the O'Briens and the Nugents. It was still standing at least as late as 1646, when it was granted to Christopher O'Brien, but by 1837 only what were described as some old vestiges remained. Several large quay stones, totalling 5 metres in length, lying 6 metres west of the promontory, may be the remains of a pier or may be part of seaward fortifications associated with the castle. Westropp, writing in 1901, described the site of a peel tower which once adjoined a great caher. There are remains of a large cashel fitting his description, but these lie about 150 metres north-north-east. Even in Westropp's time the tower was, in his own words, entirely perished. The site is marked on the 1842 edition of the Ordnance Survey map and named as Ballyvaghan Castle, site of, on both that map and the 1915 edition.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL002-051---- · source

Coming through Ballyvaghan now. The author of one old holiday guide thought nowhere had such a wealth of rock as this valley of limestone around the town, not even Arabia Petra. The bold mountain range above the place still shows peculiar marks on the face of the rock. He took them as signs that the sea once reached its limit there. The sea may have receded, or an upheaval of the coast left valley and mountain high and dry.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Holiday haunts on the west coast of Clare, Ireland (1891), Harris, H. B, Internet Archive holidayhauntsonw00harr, Chapter 1 · source

Tobercornan is a holy well in Gleninagh North, on roadside ground with rocky ground rising to the south, where the spring rises. It appears on the 1842 and 1915 Ordnance Survey maps under that name, and on Robinson's 1977 map of the Burren as Pinnacle Well and Tobar Chornáin. The well is a partially quarried rock pool, 1.5 metres north to south by 1.2 metres east to west, and 0.2 metres deep, fed by a natural spring. A 19th-century Gothic Revival wellhouse encloses it, built from dressed limestone blocks with corner buttresses capped with pinnacles and a corbelled rubble stone roof with dressed stone gable copings. You enter through a pointed-arched doorway in the north wall, over a small blocking stone, and three steps lead down to the water. Cunningham noted the name could refer to the Irish word for Pennywort, a plant, or to a person named Cornan.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL002-010001- · source

A 16th-century tower house stands on level ground in Gleninagh North, on the south shore of Galway Bay, midway between Ballyvaughan and Black Head. It is a 4-storey rectangular castle with a stair tower protruding at the south-east corner, giving it an L-shape. Built of coursed limestone with a slight base batter, it has rounded bartizans at three corners and was occupied until the mid-19th century. The earliest reference to Gleninagh is the granting of the lands to Richard Harding by King Henry VIII in 1544. From 1574 it was essentially an O'Loughlin stronghold. In the early 17th century the lands belonged to the see of Kilfenora. In 1650, during the Cromwellian campaign, Murrough O'Brien sailed into exile from Gleninagh. The O'Loughlins then regained possession and remained until the 19th century. The Ordnance Survey Letters noted the castle was "in good repair and thatched with straw which gives it rather a homely appearance." The castle is entered through a pointed doorway in the west wall of the stair tower, approached by a ramp and protected by a machicolation at 4th-floor level. Inside, a barrel-vaulted ground-floor chamber measures 6 metres east to west and 4.35 metres north to south. One source refers to a subterranean pit-prison, another to a window-less vaulted cellar, but inspection in 1999 found no trapdoor. The first floor has a fireplace, cupboards, and a garderobe. The second floor was reached only by a wooden ladder and trap-door. The 17th-century 3rd floor has two-light rectangular windows and a garderobe with a blocked chute. The attic, also added in the 17th century, has chimney stacks and bartizans with pistol loops. The line of a possible bawn lies west of the tower. Tobernacrovaneeve holy well, Gleninagh church and graveyard, and a fulacht fia are all nearby. Gleninagh Castle is a National Monument in State care, number 509.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL002-007001- · source

Somewhere about Black Head, a story is told about the sight of the Aran islanders. Dr. Kean reported that on a clear day, any of them could make out a small black sailing boat here, twenty miles distant, with the naked eye, before he himself could see it through his binoculars. Their hearing was just as sharp. They were honest and straightforward people. Illegitimacy was almost unknown among them. Mr. P. Lyster, a magistrate of the islands, said they were, as a body, "extremely well-behaved and industrious people." Disputes among them were about land. Drunkenness was rare. He could recall two months passing without a single case brought before him. In four years he had not sent more than six or seven persons to gaol without the option of a fine. There was no gaol on the island. Theft was very rare. He remembered only one case of positive stealing sent for trial. They were singularly unmusical. No piper, fiddler, or musician of any sort lived on the islands. Irish was their language, but they could understand and speak English with strangers. Most weddings took place just before Lent. There was no courtship. A young man went straight to the house of an eligible girl and asked her to marry him. If refused, he went elsewhere, and a man was known to ask three girls the same evening before he was accepted. Wakes were held even for those who died abroad. A corpse was always let out through the back door, for the Aranites believed in fairies, banshees, and ghosts. If at a marriage anyone repeated the benediction after the priest and tied a knot on a string at each sacred name, the marriage would be childless for fifteen years, unless the string was burned.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The story of an Irish sept : their character & struggle to maintain their lands in Clare (1896), Macnamara, Nottidge Charles, 1832-1918, Internet Archive storyofirishsept00macn, Chapter 10 · source

This is a children's burial ground at Murrooghkilly in Clare. It sits on low-lying improved pasture, about 150 metres east of sand-dunes and 0.8 kilometres east of the sea. The old maps name it Killamurroogh Graveyard, on the 1840 and 1915 editions of the Ordnance Survey. The ground is roughly rectangular, about 40 metres by 30 metres, bounded by a modern field wall, field clearance material, and a low scarp. The interior is overgrown and uneven. There are no obvious grave markers and no church is visible. It is known locally as a children's burial ground, marked as such on Robinson's map of 1977, and listed as a church site and burial ground by Swan in 1991.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL001-004---- · source

This is a possible burial site on a low sandy rise at the margin of the high dunes on the south-east side of Fanore beach, in the townland of Murrooghtoohy South, County Clare. In the winter of 2019, twelve human teeth were found lying on hard-packed sand in a loose cluster covering a small area, about a quarter of a metre across. A few loose seashells lay nearby, and a midden sat about 7 metres to the south-south-west. The teeth were incisors, premolars and molars, and they showed considerable wear. They were collected and sent to the National Museum. Osteological analysis found they came from the lower jaw of an adult aged between 25 and 35 at death. The teeth showed evidence of a pathological defect called dental enamel hypoplasia. Radiocarbon analysis of one tooth returned a date of Cal AD 1491 to 1637, with a median probability of AD 1565. In the week after the discovery, a storm removed the entire sandy layer where the teeth had been found. By 2021, no archaeological material was visible on inspection.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL001-036---- · source

A tower house and bawn stand on the flat top of a steep-sided limestone outcrop in Ballynalackan, in County Clare. The outcrop rises from hilly pasture and woodland. The castle may have been built in the 15th century, perhaps by one Lochlainn MacCon of the O'Connor family, who had long held this district. Even then, the O'Connors were paying dues on this land to the O'Briens. By the 1570s and 1580s, different branches of the O'Brien family owned the castle. It may have been dilapidated by 1654, but it was repaired and occupied until the late 18th century. In 1938 it was sold to the O'Callaghans. The tower house is built of large mortared limestone blocks, thirteen metres east to west and nine metres north to south, rising to nineteen metres at its highest. The narrow east section held the stairwell and bedrooms across six storeys, while the wider west section held the halls across four. The walls carried ogee-headed windows, and a large machicolis sat at the centre of the third floor on the north wall, with another over the main entrance in the east wall. The ground floor contained a circular stairwell, a vaulted lodge, and a hall. A secret chamber, bolted from outside, was built into the thickness of the south wall on the first floor. The second-floor hall held a large broken fireplace dated to the 16th century. On the third floor, an ornate fireplace in the east wall carried the date 1641 on its keystone. A small room on the fourth floor had a fine 17th-century fireplace, and a hexagonal chimney flue of neatly fitting carved stones rose above it. An inspection in 1998 found the tower house unaltered, though the upper floors could no longer be reached.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL008-032---- · source

Somewhere around here stands Ballinalacken Castle, a two-stage tower house in Killilagh parish, County Clare. It is of uncertain date, but most likely was built in the 15th or early 16th century. That is about all the record tells us.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), en.wikipedia.org: Ballinalacken Castle · source

This is a wedge tomb in Cahermacrusheen, standing near the top of a gentle south-east-facing slope in pasture, within a large multiperiod field system. The 1842 and 1920 editions of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map labelled it Dermot and Grania's Bed. The OS Name Book of 1840 called it a stone altar. According to Borlase in 1897 and Westropp in 1905, the tomb collapsed in the late 19th century. Both antiquarians described the remains as oriented east to west and embedded or partly embedded in a cairn that had already been removed. The north and south sidestones lay flat, side by side, each broken in the centre. The original standing height of the tomb chamber was estimated at 1.22 metres. The roof-slab overlay the north sidestone. Under these large prone slabs were two smaller slabs thought to be endstones. Because the west endstone was longer than the east, Westropp concluded that there was the usual eastward taper, in height or width. De Valera and Ó Nualláin found no trace of the monument in 1952. During a field inspection in 1998, a trapezoidal area was identified that may mark its site. It measured 9 metres from north-west to south-east, 7 metres across the north-west side and 5 metres across the south-east side. Its south-west side was defined by a field wall, and its other sides consisted of collapsed, grass-covered banks. The interior was piled with heavily overgrown field-clearance rubble.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL008-022---- · source

This is the site of a castle at Ballyvoe in the barony of Corcomroe, County Clare. The grounds of a modern farmhouse in pasture are one of several traditionally suggested locations of Knockfin Castle. Knockfin Castle was first mentioned in the castle list of 1570, when it was owned by the MacClanchy family, the hereditary brehons of the O'Briens of Thomond. Together with the rest of the family inheritance, this castle was taken and given to Patrick Sarsfield after the Irish Rebellion of 1641, and soon after it was given to the Purdon family. After the Cromwellian invasion of 1649 to 1653 the castle changed hands several times, before being rented to the William McNamaras in 1752. At some point before 1787 the castle appears to have fallen into disrepair. Local people believe that a high mound across the road from this farmhouse was the site of the MacClancy law school. There are no visible remains of the castle. According to the owner of the farmhouse, in about 1980 he demolished the very wide south gable of the house, which incorporated two narrow loops in splayed embrasures. The stone from this wall was used to rebuild the farmyard entrance immediately to the south. This stone was examined by Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen in 1997, who considered it to be typical 15th-century dressed masonry, including three rounded corbels and the base of a late 16th-century square-mullioned window with holes for glazing bars.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL008-119---- · source

Somewhere close to Doolin, in 1746, Antony McDonogh was living here. His son, a nephew of Dermot O'Brien, had gone to Paris and obtained a commission in the Irish Brigade through an introduction his uncle gave him to Lord Clare, who was living there at the time. The young McDonogh was then sent back to collect recruits in Ireland for the French army. He returned to Burren and enlisted the Irishmen he needed. He was, in the words of his own grandson's account, "obliged to collect by stealth" the recruits he gathered. Ships arrived off the coast of Doolin carrying smuggled claret, and when they departed they took back the wool of that part of the country, and the recruits with it.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The story of an Irish sept : their character & struggle to maintain their lands in Clare (1896), Macnamara, Nottidge Charles, 1832-1918, Internet Archive storyofirishsept00macn, Chapter 122 · source

Doonmacfelim is a tower house standing on a natural mound on the west bank of the Aille River, in hilly pastureland with wide views. It is shown on the 1842 map, named there as Doonmacfelim Castle in ruins. It was probably built by the O'Connors, but by 1570 it belonged to Turlough O'Brien. In 1577, one of O'Brien's probable tenants, Owen, son of Richard McGillereogh, gentleman, of Doonmacfelim, was pardoned but fined one cow and ordered to keep the peace. After the 1641 Irish rebellion the tower house was taken from Donough O'Brien and given to John Fitzgerald, then passed through several owners until recorded as the property of William MacNamara in 1752. By the time of his visit, Westropp found it to be, in his words, a mere fragment, quite defaced, and with a vaulted lower room. What remains is a rectangular tower house, poorly preserved, about 10 metres north to south and 8 metres east to west. Only the south wall stood to almost its full height, about 9 metres, showing it was at least three storeys high. It was built of dressed limestone, with a vaulted ceiling over the ground and first floors. The entrance, now demolished, was in the north wall. The circular stairwell stood in the north-west corner. There was a wide garderobe at the north end of the east wall, its shaft leading down from the second floor. The first floor held a secret chamber in the thickness of the south wall, lit by a small loop and fitted with a circular spy-hole looking out through the back of an aumbry. A water conduit ran into this chamber through a carved stone. Access was solely through a trapdoor on the second floor, a drop of almost 4 metres. An inspection in 1998 found the tower unaltered, apart from refuse inside and evidence of burning.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL008-059002- · source

This is Doonnagore Castle, a tower house standing on a natural rise in hilly pastureland in Doonnagore, County Clare. It is a well-preserved but restored four-floored cylindrical tower house, built of random-coursed local flagstones. It was probably built by the O'Connors in the 14th or 15th century. By 1570 the castle was under the ownership of Sir Donnel O'Brien. In 1582 Brian MacCahill O'Connor was recorded as the owner, suggesting that perhaps the O'Connors were still living there under the O'Briens. Toward the end of that century the castle became a possession and residence of the MacClancy family, brehons of the O'Briens of Thomond. Local tradition holds that Boetius MacClancy tried and sentenced to death many survivors of the Spanish Armada at the castle. In 1601 the O'Connors were again recorded in connection with Doonnagore, but it appears that the MacClancys held the castle until the 1641 rebellion, after which it was taken from them. The castle passed to John Sarsfield. By 1719 Francis Gore owned Doonnagore and subsequently granted it to John Vandeleur of Kilrush. The Ordnance Survey Letters of 1839 recorded that the castle had been, in their words, 'lately repaired by Counsellor Gore'. The entrance doorway, a pointed arch, sits at the north-east, with a machicoulis above it supported by two corbels. Inside, stairs ascend within the thickness of the tower wall. The third-floor room has an elaborate conical oak roof with a central king-post, and a curved oak door fitted to the doorway shape. A steep intramural staircase leads up to the wallwalk on the conical roof, ringed with high crenellations. One small chamber off the second floor could be bolted from within in case of attack. Another was bolted from the outside and may have been a prison cell.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL008-087---- · source

Doonnagore Castle is a freestanding circular-plan tower house, built about 1500. It was ruined in 1916 and extensively reconstructed about 1970, and is now in use as a private residence. It has a slate conical roof with metal finial, rubble stone walls with base batter, battlemented parapet and machicolation, gun loop openings, and a round-headed door opening.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (CC-BY 4.0), NIAH 20400823 · source

The children's burial ground at Derreen sits on a south-east-facing slope in pasture, with wide views. It appears on the 1842 first edition of the OS 6-inch map as "Ardkill Children's Burial Ground," and again on the Cassini edition of 1920. The subcircular ground is enclosed by a modern stone wall with vertical coping, with a gate and stile at the south-south-east. Eight graves are visible inside, marked by horizontal graveslabs in the grass. A ninth grave shows in outline just west of the centre, where a cut-stone cross stands on a circular plinth with steps on the east side. This monument has been said to mark the grave of a 12 year-old daughter of local landlord Cornelius O'Brien, who lived from 1782 to 1857. Two modern headstones bear the dates 1965 and 1976. In the eastern part of the ground, four roughly parallel east-to-west grass-covered walls have collapsed. The south-west quadrant has been levelled and cleared.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL014-020---- · source

Coming up now is Liscannor, a fishing station on the bay. An ancient castle and a coast-guard station of modern build stand near each other on a prominent cliff, visible for miles around. Liscannor has its little harbour, where vessels load and discharge their cargoes. Extensive flag quarries in the neighbourhood ship stone to other parts of Ireland and to England, a traffic that has grown into a large industry of late years. Coal is imported here, and seaweed is burned and converted into kelp, then shipped from Liscannor in large quantities. A number of men work in deep water fishing, but they have only frail canoes to face the dangers of the sea and follow their perilous occupation. The result is that their earnings are precarious. A local gentleman has been endeavouring to improve their position, but so far has not been very successful in his efforts to ameliorate their condition or to provide larger boats.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Holiday haunts on the west coast of Clare, Ireland (1891), Harris, H. B, Internet Archive holidayhauntsonw00harr, Chapter 1 · source

As you pass through Liscannor, there is a silver chalice in the parish that carries a Latin inscription. It records that Lord Daniel O'Kuoney, Governor of Ferrol under the Spanish Catholic King, who commanded his navy on many occasions, bestowed the chalice on his native parish of Killanaspuglenane in 1756. The parish lies in the diocese of Kilfenora and was dedicated to the patron saint of Killaloe.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 167 · source

This is a holy well at Liscannor, known as Tobermacrehy. It sits in flat, poorly drained ground beside a stream close to the north shore of Liscannor Bay, with clear views south across the bay, overlooked by higher ground to the north. The well was marked and labelled Tobermacrehy on the 1840 and 1916 Ordnance Survey six-inch maps. In 1839, Curry noted the well, "now neglected and unfrequented, though formerly in great repute for curing diseases of the eyes and other diseases." It is a small dry well with a drystone-lined rectangular shaft, covered by a single large Liscannor flagstone.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL015-081---- · source

As you come through Liscannor, you are in a place that once went by another name, Dough O'Connor. In the 1660s, Donogh O'Brien of Dough received a grant of 4,340 acres here, at a rent of 41 pounds, together with the castle, manor, town, and lands of the old settlement. The grant was part of a wider distribution of land across Clare after the Restoration, recorded alongside awards to men like Edmund MacGrath, Bartholomew Stackpoole, and Henry Ivers. O'Brien's portion took in the castle and the town itself, the same ground the road runs through now.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 152 · source

Built by the O'Conors of Corcomroe by at least the 1420s, Dough Castle stands on a slight rise in sand dunes flanking Liscannor Bay, with the Inagh River to the north and east. In 1422, Rory, son of Conor O'Conor, Lord of Corcomroe, was slain by a relative, in the words of the record, 'in his own town of Caislean Dumhcha'. By the mid-16th century the castle was held by the O'Briens. In 1582 the O'Conors formally handed Dough and other castles to the O'Briens, and in 1583 Turlough O'Brien entered into surrender and regrant with the crown for these and other lands. The O'Briens of Dough converted to Protestantism. During the 1641 Rebellion, Sir Daniel O'Brien of Dough came to the aid of English settlers. In 1642 he was noted as holding the 'strand hasse' of Dough, and in 1652 he petitioned that it might not be demolished. Dough was spared by the Cromwellians, and he recovered his lands after the Restoration, continuing to reside there. The family moved from Dough to Ennistymon at the end of the 17th or early 18th century. The east wall fell before 1839, and further portions, including a chimney, fell about 1878. What remains is a six-storey tower house, 13.5 metres north-west to south-east and 9.8 metres north-east to south-west. Only the north-west wall survives to full height, built of roughly coursed limestone flags bound with lime mortar. The north-west wall has five large late-17th or 18th-century window opes in splayed embrasures, and the south-west wall has three surviving windows of the same style. There is no evidence of an internal vault, and the floors were supported on timber joists. A short section of wall on the steep scarp south-east of the castle may be traces of a bawn.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL015-089002- · source

As you pass through Lehinch, you are travelling a place marked by a violent family killing. O'Connor of Corcomroe was slain here in 1471, killed by his own nephews in a bitter episode of internal clan conflict. His death came two years after his son fell at a place called Glanog, in the barony of Clare-Galway, during a failed cavalry attack on a retreating northern army that had plundered the territory of MacWilliam Oughther. That earlier battle was part of a wider web of Dalcassian alliances and feuds. O'Connor had joined MacWilliam of Clanrickard in war against the O'Kellys of Hy Many, whose supporters included the rival MacWilliam Eighther and the O'Donnells. The opposing forces met at Cros-magh-croin, near the city of Galway, where many fell on both sides, including two sons of O'Kelly and leading O'Donnells. Victory went to the Dalcassians, but it only brought more strife. The O'Donnells returned with MacWilliam Eighther, plundering and raiding, which led to the fight at Glanog and, in turn, to O'Connor's murder at Lahinch at the hands of his own kin.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 79 · source

You're passing through Lahinch now, and this coast saw its share of O'Brien bloodshed. After Sir John Perrot and his escort left Clare, the Dalcassians went straight back to making war at their own will, O'Briens plundering and slaying O'Briens over a petty quarrel between two chiefs. The O'Briens of South Clare called in disbanded gallowglasses of the Geraldines, along with Butlers and MacSwineys, soldiers of fortune fighting for pay. They swept through the whole northwest of the county, taking people by surprise, seizing everything they could, even plundering the church of Kilnaboy. They did not stop until they reached the hill of Knocachip at Moy, near Lahinch, late at night. A rapid muster was already underway against them. Teigue, son of Morogh of Inchiquin, and Donal of Ennistymon gathered their own people, with some Burkes, MacSheehys, and even MacSwineys among them. They kept their opponents in view and encamped for the night about three miles east, at Carn-Mic-Tail. So on this ground two O'Brien forces stood within sight of each other in the dark, the raiders laden with plunder and the men of the north gathering to answer them.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit · source

Coming up through Lehinch, the place is known for its golf links, 18 holes laid out on the sandhills by Liscannor Bay. There is a large hotel of Norwegian style of architecture that aims at exclusiveness, delightful for those who can afford it. Kerin's Aberdeen Arms is the comfortable alternative. The place itself calls for little remark, but the golf has made its name.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Guide to Galway, Connemara and the West of Ireland (1912), Lang, Robert Turnbull, 1870-, Internet Archive guidetogalwaycon00lang, Chapter 27 · source

As you pass through Lehinch, this is where a Franciscan monastery was begun in 1821 by Brother Lewis M. Delahunt. Brothers from Mount-Bellew arrived in 1848, and a new building costing about £4,000 had its first stone laid during Dr. Cantwell's episcopacy. Several brothers and priests are buried in its cemetery with inscribed monuments.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The Diocese of Meath: Ancient and Modern (vol. 2) (1867), Cogan, Anthony, 1826-1872, Internet Archive dioceseofmeathan02cogaiala, Chapter 27 · source

A holy well at Carrowntedaun in Clare, a spring well on a cliff edge just south of a small beach, some 3 kilometres south of Lahinch. It sits immediately inside a field wall. A wall of mortared sea-rolled stones encloses it, and a cross stands over the well with the inscription, "St. Senan's Holy Well, 2003." Beside the cross, a canopy of the same mortared sea-rolled stones is built over an opening that houses statues and candles. In 1937, the Schools Collection recorded that the well was known to cure sore eyes and pains in the legs. Rounds were performed at the well, the record stating that this was known to have been done some 20 years before. No detail is given of who performed them or in what manner. The well is indicated and named on the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL023-067---- · source

Somewhere around here, on 22 September 1920, the Mid Clare Brigade of the IRA carried out an ambush during the Irish War of Independence. They attacked a Royal Irish Constabulary lorry at Drummin Hill and killed six officers. Shortly after, ten lorry-loads of British soldiers who had been searching for a missing magistrate came upon them, but the IRA held them off long enough to retreat in good order, with only two wounded. In reprisal, RIC Auxiliaries and British forces raided three local villages, killed five civilians, and burnt 16 houses and shops in the surrounding area.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), en.wikipedia.org: Rineen ambush · source

You are coming through Milltown Malbay, on the coast of Clare, where the land meets the Atlantic. The Spaniards gave this stretch its name, Malbay, after the Armada disaster. It sits between the precipitate Moher cliffs to the north and Baltard cliffs to the south, a low, broken, rocky coastline dotted with rough islets. The Annals of the Four Masters record that more than a thousand years ago, an earthquake struck here. It buried the land that then stood here, with over a thousand inhabitants, in the depths of the sea. The sunken aspect of the coast, pressed between those high cliffs on either side and scattered with islets, is said to corroborate that old account. At very low tides, a reef sometimes becomes visible outside the bay. The fishermen call it the Monastery, or St. Stephen's Church. Some now living will tell you that in the clear water you can see a submerged church tower and the roofs of houses beneath the surface. Whatever truth lies in it, the Atlantic itself seems to keep stirring over the place, tossing and fretting and moaning as if some great trouble stirred its inmost depths. The broad water stretches huge and vast, sometimes placid as a lake, but nearly always restless along this shore, where the old annals say the ground opened and the sea came in.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 2 · source

As you pass through Milltown Malbay, this is where Parnell came in January 1884, the only county meeting he addressed after his release from prison. The town itself could not hold the crowds that gathered, so the meeting was held on the lawn before the Parochial House, with every parish in the county represented. He turned the first sod of the railway, only just secured after a long struggle, before he spoke. The day was fine for the time of year, and the gathering was full of bands and banners swaying in the Atlantic breeze. The crowd agreed to keep order themselves if the police stayed away, and they did, so neither hitch nor disturbance marred the proceedings. People felt it was one of the old county's red-letter days. The writer called the spectacle second only to Ballycoree in O'Connell's time, and said this day had much to do with the dogged spirit with which so many clung to Parnell afterward.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 195 · source

As the road brings you through Milltown Malbay in Clare, this town was one of the two places most harried under the coercion regime, the other being Bodyke. Evictions were carried out here for the non-payment of rents that the Land Courts later declared to be grossly unfair. A fierce conflict followed. At Bodyke, after an interchange of shots between the police and the people, and a series of evictions from barricaded and well-defended houses, a fair settlement was reached in the end. Here at Milltown Malbay the struggle was kept up all along. It lasted owing to the obstinacy of one individual, backed up as a matter of course by the authorities. That obstinacy led to the imprisonment at various periods of many of the most inoffensive and respectable people of the parish. When the strife was in some degree dying out, the agent on the Carroll property renewed it by letting part of an evicted and highly rack-rented farm. That brought on more excitement, more prosecutions, and more imprisonments. The writer says the elements of the long-continued strife, though somewhat subdued, are there still. He closes his history of Clare without dealing with the division in the National ranks caused by the fall of Mr. Parnell, reserving that for wider ground. While the last lines were being written, Mr. Gladstone was for the second time pressing a Home Rule Bill through Parliament. The writer fondly hopes that whoever takes up the thread of Clare narrative in the future will find a subject more encouraging than fell to his lot.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 196 · source

In 1880, Milltown Malbay in Clare saw renewed hunger. The Relief Committee book for the parish survives. One entry, from February 13, records ticket orders for bread-stuffs filled for 316 applicants, numbering 1261 individuals. The expenditure was £42, 12 shillings and 6 pence, averaging 8 pence per head per week. The whole population was then under 5000. Local landowners gave very inadequate contributions. Mrs. Morony of Miltown House offered £10 from a rental of over £2000, but on condition of getting £10 worth of broken stones. Major George Studdert and Captain Ellis represented the best side of the landowners' class through their contributions and exertions.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 195 · source

In 1822, a young man came to Miltown Malbay in County Clare to visit a friend, a younger brother of a highly respectable family, who lived on his property there. The friend was a thorough sportsman, and had held out every inducement to tempt the narrator from home to try his native sports in all their wildness and diversity. He had not exaggerated. The narrator felt such admiration and delight as he had never known, whether contemplating the grandeur of the bold coast, with the formidable billows of the Atlantic thundering on its cliffs and shores, or the wild inland scenery of mountain, lake, and trackless bog. The friend was beloved by his tenantry for his kindness, and the narrator marvelled at the devoted, warm-hearted feelings of the peasantry towards a kind and indulgent landlord. He called them the poor, the despised Connaughtmen, and feared that from absenteeism, illiberal landlords, and harsh agents, much of that fine spirit was already passing away. The narrator was very young at the time, but of a strong wiry frame, trained to hardy exercises, and soon became inured to the fatigues of the bogs. The summer passed delightfully. They fished all the lakes within their reach, and many were the fine salmon and white-trout that graced their bags from the Anna, Annagieragh, Cri, and Dunbeg rivers, all within seven miles south of the town. Knowing the country tolerably well, and able to attempt a smattering in Irish, he would often venture by himself when his friend was otherwise employed, exploring every part with eager delight to gain fresh additions to his collection of curiosities, plants, and stuffed birds. Natural history and botany were to him sources of endless delight, whether rambling with his gun among the wild mountains and bogs, or along the rocky coast.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Rheban Castle, County Kildare (1835), Enna, Internet Archive jstor-30003532, Chapter 2 · source

As you pass through Milltown Malbay in Clare, there is a parochial house built in 1876 and 1877 while the author of the source book had charge of the parish. The town also saw defiance of the coercion code imposed by Lord Salisbury and Mr. Balfour. Balfour had boasted in Parliament that the National League was a thing of the past, but on the 8th of April 1888 open assemblies were held simultaneously in the proclaimed counties, at Ennis, Kilrush, and Milltown-Malbay. Priests and members of Parliament who attempted to speak fully expected arrest and prosecution.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 195 · source

This is the graveyard of the former Church of Ireland church in Milltown Malbay. Interments began in 1802. Two limestone mausolea stand in it, gable-fronted, each with a cross finial. Various cut-stone grave markers remain. The church itself was demolished around 1985.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (CC-BY 4.0), NIAH 20300609 · source

This holy well at Quilty West stood at the north edge of a low sea cliff, eroded by the sea. It was named Tobernahallia on the Ordnance Survey maps, but it is no longer visible at ground level, and there is no evidence that it was venerated.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL038-008---- · source

This is a holy well site at Shandrum in Clare. It lies on flat ground on the north-west side of a ridge, about 130 metres north-north-west of Kilmurry Church. The OS maps named it Tobermurry, from Muire, and the Ordnance Survey Letters called it a defunct holy well. When inspected in 2002 it was a natural pool with a stream running off to north-north-west. No structures remained, and it was not known locally as a holy well.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL038-009---- · source

Somewhere close to Doonbeg, fishermen told of Jack Dogherty, who befriended Coomara the Merrow and dined with him beneath the sea. There Jack found lobster-pot soul cages holding "the souls of drowned sailors." He made Coomara drunk twice, so he could slip down and set the imprisoned souls free.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888), ed. W. B. Yeats, Project Gutenberg #33887, Chapter 18 · source

Somewhere close to Doonmore stands the gloomy tower of Dunmore. Connor Crowe, a man of this west Clare country, kept vigil one night over a black coffin resting on the white strand. He told of prisoners murdered long ago in the vaults under the castle, none of them buried decently, not one among them with a coffin. He said it was often he heard lamentations and great mourning coming from those vaults, but blamed the dismal waves working through the cliffs and hollows of the rocks, fretting themselves to foam. He called it a gloomy-looking tower on a gloomy day, with gloomy hills behind it. When one had gloomy thoughts on their heart and saw it like a ghost rising out of the smoke made by the kelp burners on the strand, there was as fearful a look about it as about the Blue Man's Lake at midnight. It was a moonlight night. Nothing around but dark rocks and the white pebbly beach, where the sea broke with a hoarse and melancholy murmur. Connor, for all his draughts from the whiskey bottle, felt queerish and almost repented his curiosity. It was a solemn sight, the black coffin on the white strand. His imagination turned the deep moaning of old ocean into a mournful wail for the dead, and from the shadowy recesses of the rocks he saw strange and visionary forms. He called on St. Senan to stand between him and all kinds of harm.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888), ed. W. B. Yeats, Project Gutenberg #33887, Chapter 19 · source

Somewhere about Loop Head there's a stretch of coast where the sea has cut a deep chasm between the mainland and a small island lying just off the shore. The rocks are rugged and the water seethes beneath, and the island itself was either torn adrift by the Atlantic in ages past or cast off by some upheaval of nature. A local gentleman set out to span that gulf with a bridge, meaning to reach the island. But he could not get a landing on the far side, so he had no way of working from the island and building back toward the mainland. He had to run the whole job from the mainland alone, and that made the difficulty so great he gave it up. The bridge was about halfway across when the work stopped. There it is, crumbling in mid-air, going nowhere.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Holiday haunts on the west coast of Clare, Ireland (1891), Harris, H. B, Internet Archive holidayhauntsonw00harr, Chapter 1 · source

Coming up through Kilkee now. In 1835 a ship called the Intrivsk perished near here amid scenes of great distress. As the ship sank and women drowned, people on the cliff watched a seagull hover above the wreck. Then the bird turned shoreward and dropped a lady's glove among the watchers. The story has stayed with the town ever since.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Guide to Galway, Connemara and the West of Ireland (1912), Lang, Robert Turnbull, 1870-, Internet Archive guidetogalwaycon00lang, Chapter 17 · source

Near Kilkee, the same ingenious gentleman who attempted the bridge created a garden on a shelf of rock beneath an overhanging cliff. He had earth carried to that shelving rock and turned the dreary spot into a miniature pleasure ground for his amusement. He reached it through a natural gallery under the cliff, and the descent was by a step-ladder placed down a steep cavity in the earth, from which the gallery branched off towards the rock. But like everything else that man contrives, the hand of time had left little trace of the garden, and its creator was no longer alive. The writer describes standing beside this fragment of man's ingenuity, looking across at the almost perpendicular sides of a derelict island rock opposite, bending over to catch a view of the rushing waters deep below as they beat against the cliff, taking in the great height of the cliffs at both sides and the loneliness of the situation, so that one shudders at the sight.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Holiday haunts on the west coast of Clare, Ireland (1891), Harris, H. B, Internet Archive holidayhauntsonw00harr, Chapter 1 · source

Coming up through Kilkee now. After the famine, the people were still in poverty and despondency, and a large-scale attempt at proselytism was made in the parish of Carrigaholt. The peninsula was almost an island and badly provided with schools, so it was regarded as a suitable field by those who sought to tempt the starving poor. An agent, supported by the Kildare Street Society and by his father-in-law the landlord, set himself to Protestantising the peninsula. Schools were rapidly built, a staff of parsons, Scripture readers and teachers provided, and his own brother planted down as resident superintendent at a good salary. Some progress was made among the very poor and the small farmers, tenants-at-will at the mercy of landlord and agent. The new parish priest, Father Meehan, who succeeded the cholera-stricken Father Duggan, devoted all his great energy to counteracting the proselytisers. The struggle went on with great vigour and bitterness on both sides for about ten years. When Father Meehan could not get a site for a chapel in the most remote and populous part of the parish, he got possession of a house from an emigrant and called it St. Patrick's Church. He was evicted from it. In his extremity he built a timber movable hut, fixed an altar in it, and placed it on the sea-shore. He called it The Ark, and the people flocked round it in all weather to hear mass. Dr. Cahill, the eminent preacher, while staying at Kilkee, heard of this. He went to the Ark, preached from it, and called public attention through the press to the conduct of the proselytisers in West Clare. The agent was compelled by the strong feeling aroused to give a site.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 191 · source

Coming up through Kilkee in Clare. In 1689, James MacDonnell was a captain in Lord Clare's Dragoons, a regiment that followed the fortunes of King James to France and became known in the continental wars as the regiment of Clare. He was a scion of the House of Dunluce, and he married Penelope, sister of Honora, the second Viscountess Clare. In 1703, he purchased a very large portion of the forfeited estates of Daniel Viscount Clare, buying them jointly with Francis Burton and Nicholas Wesby. Those lands passed down through his family and are now held by his descendant William Edward Armstrong MacDonnell of New Hall and Kilkee, who served as High Sheriff of Clare in 1853 and is a major in the Clare Militia. In 1858 he married the Honourable Juliana Cecilia O'Brien, eldest daughter of Lucius, thirteenth Baron of Inchiquin. They have a son and heir, Charles Randal, born on the 29th of March 1862, and two daughters, Mary Gertrude, born the 9th of November 1859, and Honora Grace, born the 29th of November 1860. The regiment James MacDonnell served in had its colonelcy preserved by the personal interposition of the French king, who held that a family who, in supporting the cause of James the Second and the Catholic faith, had sacrificed all except their sword and their honour, should not lose the command of their proprietary regiment. No descendant of the third Viscount Clare remains in Ireland. His male line ended with Charles O'Brien, sixth Viscount Clare, known as Marshal Count Thomond, who commanded the Irish cavalry at Fontenoy and was heir to his cousin the Earl of Thomond, who died in 1741.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Limerick, its history and antiquities; ecclesiastical, civil, and military,from the earliest ages, with copious historical, archaeological, topographical, and genealogical notes (1884), Lenihan, Maurice, 1811-1895, Internet Archive limerickitshisto00leni, Chapter 353 · source

Kilkee is a watering place set in a horse-shoe shaped bay on the Atlantic coast of Clare, sheltered in a recess of the shoreline. It is a maritime town without shipping or manufacturing, features the author finds objectionable in places where one wishes to be free from worry, excitement, and hustle. There is an Esplanade and a West End, the fashionable quarter. The cliffs hold natural curiosities. The Puffing Hole, the Amphitheatre rock formation, extensive caves, the Arch Cliff, George's Head, and Look-out Hill are all accessible to visitors. People too often bring the conventionalities of home life with them to the seaside, which causes discomfort and detracts from enjoyment. The shores are where one is "not usually trammelled by those rigid rules of etiquette" that govern life at home.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Holiday haunts on the west coast of Clare, Ireland (1891), Harris, H. B, Internet Archive holidayhauntsonw00harr, Chapter 1 · source

Somewhere around here is Bishop's Island, near Kilkee, with an early oratory on it. The legend tells of a bishop who fled the famine-stricken mainland to feast on his private island store. When the famine ended and he sought to return, the raging sea had widened the chasm and chained him to his solitary fate.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Guide to Galway, Connemara and the West of Ireland (1912), Lang, Robert Turnbull, 1870-, Internet Archive guidetogalwaycon00lang, Chapter 16 · source

Somewhere around here, in 1691, the last transport carrying Irish soldiers sailed from Carrigaholt after the Treaty of Limerick. But the ink was not dry on that Treaty when the men who purchased Lutterel broke it in unmistakable terms. No sooner had the transport left than every promise was abandoned. The people became helpless and wretched, the sport and pastime of insolent, bigoted, outrageous foreigners. The source calls them "aliens in blood, aliens in language, aliens in religion." They sighed to leave Ireland for France or Spain, or any other land where they might freely perform the duties of their religion. By a curious coincidence, Lauzun and other French officers who had fought in Limerick met the English afterwards on the plains of Steynkirk, where Talmash and others fell. And on the fatal field of Landen, Patrick Sarsfield gave out his life blood, exclaiming "O that this were shed for Ireland." One of the great complaints against King James was his want of money and his coinage of brass and gun money. When he arrived in Ireland in March 1689, he found his government sadly deficient in funds, having no money in cash. The civil war had drained the country of gold and silver by the flight of the wealthier classes to England, who left as little as they could behind them. The King raised the value of gold 20 per cent and English silver 8 and one-third per cent, so what little money remained might go further. When money still did not come in fast enough, the king set up mints, one in the deanery house in Limerick, the other in Capel Street in Dublin. On the 18th of June, King James issued a proclamation for making two sorts of money, of brass and copper mixed metal, current in the kingdom, one for twelve pence and the other for sixpence.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Limerick, its history and antiquities; ecclesiastical, civil, and military,from the earliest ages, with copious historical, archaeological, topographical, and genealogical notes (1884), Lenihan, Maurice, 1811-1895, Internet Archive limerickitshisto00leni, Chapter 160 · source

A 15th century tower house, Carrigaholt Castle, stands within a small bawn on a rocky headland on the north bank of the Shannon Estuary, with extensive views over the Shannon and Carrigaholt Bay. It was the principal residence of the MacMahon chiefs of West Corkavaskin. Turlough MacMahon and his son Tadhg Caech, called the Short-sighted, signed Sir John Perrot's tripartite deed in 1585. Tadhg was besieged in the tower by Sir Conyers Clifford in 1598, but the siege failed. Shortly afterwards the Earl of Thomond took the castle from him. Daniel O'Brien then took it over and built the 5th-floor fireplace dated 1603, and probably inserted many of the present windows. In 1651 Cromwell's General Ludlow took the castle and kept a garrison there until 1652. Charles II restored it to the O'Briens in 1666. In 1691 William of Orange gave it to Keppel, Earl of Albemarle, who sold it to the Burton family, who held it until the 19th century. The tower is five storeys high, built of roughly coursed local flagstone with limestone doors and windows, and stands 18.8 metres tall. The entrance on the east wall has a murder-hole overhead and a gun loop. Inside, the ground floor is vaulted, with a north chamber lit by narrow loops and showing wicker centring in its vault. Red brick storage units were later inserted there and used for wine. The spiral stair is of local thin flagstone and is no longer safe. A fine limestone fireplace on the fourth floor bears the inscription "D.B. 1603." Excavation revealed likely foundations of a late 17th-century mansion that once stood against the south wall, along with 17th-century tin-glazed earthenware. The castle is a National Monument in State care, number 427.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), CL065-100001- · source

As the road takes you through Kilbaha, out in the remote west of Clare, this is where the Fenian rising of March 5, 1867, left its only mark in the county. The Fenians were out that night across all of Clare, but the single clash came at the coastguard station near here. It was not much of a fight. One Fenian and one coastguard were wounded rather badly. The Fenian could not escape. He was arrested, tried by Judge Keogh, and sentenced to ten years' penal servitude. The others known to be in the attack, after many hair-breadth escapes and much harassing of the district, were got out of the country. So ended what was regarded as a very formidable organisation. After the rising broke apart, the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended and the jails filled fast. Clare stayed remarkably steadfast. Only two persons, both of indifferent character, could be got to turn on their comrades. In the western district, where the trouble was greatest, not even one could be induced to give information. Poor people who could have secured money by telling where fugitives were sheltered scorned to do so, and helped them escape at no small risk to themselves. They had been warned from the bench at Kilrush that anyone giving aid or countenance would be as guilty in the eye of the law as those who rose up in arms.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 194 · source

Somewhere about Loop Head, in 1563, a ship carrying pirates came ashore. Donald O'Brien, who had lately been driven back from the castle of Rosroe and had withdrawn to a place near Corcomroe in Burren, seized some of the unfortunate sailors. He hung not a few of them, and burnt others, according to the measure of their crime. Acts of this description demonstrate the laxness with which English law and order was administered in Clare at this time. That same year, the Earl of Thomond had been staying with Sioda Macnamara at his castle of Rosroe. Dineley, in his Diary, left a sketch of it as he saw it in 1680, describing it as, in the words of the source, "a fair seat, situated among good lands and orchards, with a very pleasant and profitable large port or lough on the one side thereof, abounding with large trout." There were also plenty of wild fowl. About a mile and a half from there by water, between the castles of Rathlahem and Rathblan, the lough of Rosroe runs underground for half an English mile, opposed by hills and rocks. The earl had retreated to Rosroe to obtain protection from his relative, Donald O'Brien of Inchiquin. But Donald O'Brien attacked the castle, was driven back by Sioda Macnamara, and pursued across the river Fergus. He then betook himself to a place near Corcomroe in Burren, and it was from there that the pirates landing near Loop Head met their fate. Another instance of the condition of this part of Ireland comes from 1569. Sir H. Sidney received a petition from Galway, stating that on the borders of Thomond certain outlaws, being bastard sons of the Bishop of Killaloe, robbed all travellers and had put a raid on a castle which they meant to defend. This bishop was an O'Brien, and after his death in 1569, the English Government appointed the first Protestant bishop of Killaloe, a young man named Morrogh O'Brien.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The story of an Irish sept : their character & struggle to maintain their lands in Clare (1896), Macnamara, Nottidge Charles, 1832-1918, Internet Archive storyofirishsept00macn, Chapter 85 · source

As you pass through Kilkee, the famous cave here lies about 2 miles from the town, best reached by boat from the harbour. The arched entrance stands about 60 feet high, and you are drawn straight away to the stalactites hanging from the roof and the rich metallic tinges from copper, iron, and other minerals held in the water. The cave gradually narrows as you go deeper inside. The coastal walks are well worth it too, especially heading south, where dark rocks broken into fantastic shapes by the Atlantic form a grand setting for the luminous blues, greens, and snowy foam of the breakers.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Guide to Galway, Connemara and the West of Ireland (1912), Lang, Robert Turnbull, 1870-, Internet Archive guidetogalwaycon00lang, Chapter 17 · source

Kilkee is a town on the coast of Clare, a place someone once called the Queen of watering places in Ireland. They said nature has done everything for it, and art has contributed much towards making it what it is. There are caves to visit and rocks to lounge on, but the writer thought it was never intended that people who can afford to pay for enjoyment should be forever burrowing in caves, or like barnacles, stuck to the rocks, when they come to Kilkee for a holiday. What they wanted was a better use of the sea and the river Shannon, which is so conveniently situated for pleasure alongside the other seaside attractions. They pointed out that a great deal of the success of first-class watering places and health resorts in England is due to the facilities afforded for amusement and recreation of every kind. They wondered why none of the steamship owners will do for Ireland what is being accomplished for Norway and other foreign places, employing steamers to take passengers to see the sights.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Holiday haunts on the west coast of Clare, Ireland (1891), Harris, H. B, Internet Archive holidayhauntsonw00harr, Chapter 1 · source

Somewhere around here ran the West Clare Railway, a narrow-gauge line that operated from 1887 to 1961, stretching from Ennis along the West Clare coast to two termini at Kilrush and Kilkee, with the routes splitting at Moyasta Junction. It stopped at places like Ennistymon, Lahinch, and Milltown Malbay, and was the last narrow-gauge passenger system running in Ireland. It was notorious for poor timekeeping, which led to litigation and a celebrated comic song. A preservation society now keeps a railway museum at Moyasta Junction station, and re-opened a section as a heritage line with diesel traction in the 1990s, adding steam from 2009.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), en.wikipedia.org: West Clare Railway · source

As you come near Kilrush, this is the town where one of the saddest departures in Irish history met the sea. On the 16th of October 1691, nearly 20,000 Irish soldiers sailed down the Shannon into exile. Wives and sisters and daughters clung to the men, tried to force their way into the boats that conveyed them to the ships, and yielded only when they were forcibly driven back. The story is told that hands were slashed with swords to make them loose their hold of the boats, though it is to be hoped that is not true. It was a sad sail down the Shannon. Many were looking with fond gaze on the hills and valleys of Clare, where they had spent the merry days of youth. Near here, one of the ships foundered, with the loss of about 100 men. All the others weathered the gale, and passing under the frowning cliffs of Clare, turned their prows southward round the majestic Brandon mountains, and joined the fleet that had sailed from Cork, all laden with a living cargo of stout though sorrowing hearts for the battlefields of Europe. An Irish song written soon afterwards described the spirit in which they went. Maugan rendered the first verse into English: "Farewell, O Patrick Sarsfield, may luck be on your path. Your camp is broken up, your work is marred for years. But you go to kindle into flames the King of France's wrath, though you leave sick Eire in tears."

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 151 · source

The town of Kilrush saw a battle on the 15th of April, 1642. Ormonde had been marching back from Maryborough, where he had relieved several fortresses, his force much reduced. He found himself confronted here by a vastly superior Irish rebel army under the command of his own great-uncle, Lord Mountgarret. Ormonde was encumbered with empty baggage waggons that had carried supplies to outposts, and with sick soldiers withdrawn from those posts. The English held the high road. The Irish had thick woods and a bog to cover their flank. For some miles the two armies marched alongside one another within view, drums beating and colours flying. But it became clear that the Irish, moving more easily, would intercept the English at a narrow pass they had to make their way through. Ormonde called a council of war under a thorn hedge. His men and horses were alike worn out by forced marches. The bog stood out black and menacing against the green countryside, the Irish horde sombrely clad upon it. An honourable retreat was no longer possible. Ormonde told his council that he was resolved to fight the enemy, though all the rebels in Ireland were there together. He ordered Sir Thomas Lucas to advance and secure the pass. Lucas did so, and Ormonde rejoined him at the head of a corps of gentlemen volunteers and the main body of his small army. The enemy was routed. Seven hundred were killed against Ormonde's losses of about sixty.

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The life of James, first duke of Ormonde, 1610-1688; (vol. 1) (1912), Burghclere, Winifred Anne Henrietta Christina Herbert Gardner, Baroness, 1864-1933, Internet Archive lifeofjamesfirst01burg, Chapter 37 · source

Coming up through Kilrush now. In 1850, the Reverend S. Godolphin Osborne, with help from Captain Kennedy, exposed conditions at the workhouse in the pages of the Times. It was built for 4654 paupers but held 5005 in March of that year. Two hundred and three died in three weeks that month. The published total for the half-year, signed by chairman C. M. Vandeleur, stood at 1014. The Board of Guardians spent eleven pence a week per head on food and two pence on clothing. Osborne blamed them for the improper diet of the indoor paupers and the insufficiency of outdoor relief given to the destitute. He wrote that when he looked on the Crystal Palace and thought of Kilrush workhouse as he had seen it and now knew it to be, he felt, as a Christian and the subject of a Christian Government,

Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of Clare and the Dalcassian clans of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway ... with an ancient and a modern map (1893), White, P. (Patrick), Internet Archive historyofclareda00whit, Chapter 184 · source