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“The O'Brien Family of Dromoland” by Colm Liddy

The O’Brien’s of Dromoland were one of three branches of a family which could trace its ancestry back to an ancient king of Ireland and possessed even in this period very considerable estates in Clare. Such qualifications were conducive to a rather prickly sense of pride. O’Brien’s father was often reported as pressing himself upon the Castle’s attention, an attitude which, as it went with the qualities of ‘thinking well of himself’, being ‘a frequent, tiresome and ungraceful speaker’ and having an ‘indigested’ fund of knowledge, did not meet with great success.1 Thus when his son succeeded to the baronetcy and returned himself for Ennis, family pride needed some palliative.

O’Brien opposed the Union and, having lost his seat for Ennis by ballot in 1801, determined to become Member for Clare and sole patron of Ennis. In 1802 he succeeded in both objectives, after an expensive contest for the county and after declaring himself a supporter of the government.

Colm Liddy runs a facebook page called ‘Long Ago in Newmarket on Fergus’. Mostly social history, it features a varied mix of old photos and stories from the locality, his ultimate goal is to make a digital archive of the entire parish. Colm has written two books “Long ago in Newmarket” and “Long ago in Dromoland”

Here is the link to the recording

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Clooney Graveyard Inscriptions Book
by Jane Halloran Ryan

Jane Halloran Ryan’s Book in conjunction with Clare Roots Society is now on sale. The book contains a history of Clooney Graveyard, with almost 200 monuments and over 500 names transcribed with dates going back to the 1700s. It is photographed, transcribed and mapped beautifully. The survey of the old section of the graveyard holds the cherished names of families from the Singleton to the Miller/Browne’s to the monuments of the late Denis Duffy 1798 and the Clooney Martyrs. 

This book is part of a growing library, and is just one of 30 plus books published to date by the Clare Roots Society. Jane Halloran Ryan has family members buried in Clooney and so the project held a special interest for her, we thank Jane for her time, dedication and precise detail she has given to this historical account. Jane and Clare Roots wish to thank the Clooney Graveyard Committee, in particular, Tom McNamara who has contributed and assisted to this work with his local historical knowledge. Tom’s knowledge of the history and heritage of the area adds to the research and presentation of this work. 

Unfortunatly with current Covid 19 restrictions an official book launch could not take place for this publicaion.

Clooney Graveyardby Clare Roots Society goes on sale at: Ennis Book Shop, Mary Kelly's Newsagents O'Connell Street, O'Connor's Newsagents the Market, Clooney Stores and Quin Post Office. Cost €15.00 All proceeds go to Clare Roots Society towards the cost of publication. 

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Old Mill Street (Including Cornmarket, Considine’s Terrace and Old Cloughleigh) Book by Gerry Woods.

Gerry Wood’s Book in conjunction with Clare Roots Society is to go on sale on Friday next the 10th September. The book is a collection of articles, poetry, sport, maps and photographs. The contents of the book were originally to be included in the upcoming book on Hermitage but due to the quantity of material available on the area the decision was made to publish separately. 

Old Mill Street has a long history which dates back to 1712, a date linked to the old Mills of Ennis. Originally linking Mill Street (Parnell St.) to Old Cloughleigh Road, the area begins at Long’s Corner (or Guerin’s Shop that was on Hermitage Road or O’Donoghue’s Cross. 

Prior to the construction of Cusack Road / Victoria Road (Bridge) officially opened in 1841, Old Mill Street was the north-western entrance to the town via Claureen Bridge.

Guerin’s shop was originally known as Dan Murphy’s and was mentioned in Johnny Patterson’s famous song ‘The Stone outside Dan Murphy’s Door’.  Johnny also wrote “The Garden Where the Praties Grow”.  Johnny Patterson experienced the terrible trauma of the famine years in Ennis before emigrating and turning to Ireland where death took place tragically in Tralee in 1889.

The Old Mill Street Harriers hunted by following their beagles on foot across the rough countryside terrains. Just a hunting horn sounding at O’Donoghue’s Cross every Sunday morning for over 100 years summoned this famous pack for a day’s sport in the hills surrounding the town of Ennis.  Sadly the horn no longer sounds to summon the Old Mill Street Harriers for the hunt. The articles recalls the following families associated with the Harriers: Browne, Casey, Coffey, Coote, Considine, Crowe, Cullinan, Fahy, Flynn, Grace, Guerin, Grady, Heffernan, Kenny, Linnane, Lyons, Molloy, Moloney, Moroney, Murphy, McAllister, McCarthy, O’Brien, O’Connor, O’Dea, O’Gorman, O’Loughlin, Roughan, Ryan, Smythe, Spellissey, Stack, Sullivan, Summerly, & Touhy.

In GAA we read about the formation of The Rovers Hurling Club founded in 1926 with connections to the Ball, Burns, Coleman, Gilligan, Houlihan, Kearney, Linnane, Mahony, McCarthy, Mounsey, O’Loughlin, Power, Rice, Woods families. 

We read about A Lying-in hospital situated on Circular Road that opened in 1939 and closed in 1847. Between these dates 2,409 children, 1,423 boys and 986 girls were born there. Most were probably illegitimate.

In 1906 poor sanitation, traced to a cesspool in Old Mill Street, caused an outbreak of typhoid in the town.

The book lists all the residents of the area from 1855 using the Griffiths Valuation, 1901 & 1911 Census returns, grave stone inscriptions, obituaries, war records, voting registers, and local relocations. It also includes family profiles on the Gilligan & Hayes families & a picture parade with over 100 photos’...   

Unfortunately due to current Covid 19 restrictions an official book launch could not take place for this publication.

Old Mill Streetby Clare Roots Society goes on sale this Friday at:Ennis Book Shop,Mary Kelly's Newsagents O'Connell Street, O'Connor's Newsagents the Market. Cost €20.00all proceeds go to Clare Roots Society towards the cost of publication.