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CLA
church is in ruins: there is a glebe of 15 acres. In
the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union
or district of Gowran, and has a neat,chapel. There are
two private schools, in which are 100 boys and 40 girls.
CLARAN-BRIDGE, a village, in the parish of
Stradbally, barony of Dunkellik, county of Gal-
way, and province of Connaught, 3½ miles (S.) from
Oranmore, on the mail coach road from Galway to Gort;
containing, in 1836, 450 inhabitants. A patent was
granted in 1820 for a market, which is held on Tuesday,
principally for oats and wheat. Fairs, chiefly for pigs and
horses, are held on the first Thursday after the 1 lth of Feb.
May, Aug., and Nov. The inlet of Ballinacourty runs up
to the bridge at this place, and great benefit would result
from the erection of a small pier, considerable quantities of
sea-weed being landed here for manure, and peat for fuel.
The village is the property of T. N. Redington, Esq.,
whose mansion of Kilcornan, in the vicinity, is about to
be partially rebuilt, with additions. In the demesne are
the ruins of an ancient, castle, stated to have been the
residence of Norah Burke, a cruel chieftainess of the
Clanricarde family. Near it is Kilcolgan Castle, the seat
of M. St. George, Esq. At the eastern entrance to the
village are the R. C. chapel and the monastery of St.
Patrick, built by the present proprietor’s grandfather
and father, who endowed the monastery with seven acres
of land, on condition that the monks should gratuitously
educate the poor children on the Kilcornan estate. The
late C. Redington, Esq., also gave the site, and his widow
is about to erect a house for the Sisters of Charity, at
the northern entrance to the village.—See Stradhally.
CLARE, an ancient village, in the parish of Bally-
mork, barony of Lower Orior, county of Armagh,
and province of Ulster, 2 miles (W. S. W.) from Tan-
deragee; the population is returned with the parish. It
originally formed part of the extensive possessions of
the O’Nials; after the attainder of Hugh, Earl of Tyrone,
it was granted by Jas. I. to Michael Harrison, from
whom it passed to Henry Boucher, Esq., who, in 1619,
erected a bawn of stone and lime, 100 feet long by SO
wide, and subsequently built a large stone edifice, which
was the origin of Clare castle, and located many En-
glish and Scottish families here. These settlers soon
afterwards erected a meeting-house, which was destroy-
ed, together with the whole village, in the war of 1641.
A patent for a weekly market on Tuesday, and a fair on
the l2th of May and two following days, was obtained
in the reign of Jas. I. The market has not been held
for many years, but the fair still exists, and is well
supplied with horses, cattle, and pigs. The village
is situated on the river Cusher, over which is an ancient
stone bridge; and on the river are very extensive flour,
meal, and flax-milk. Several important privileges were
formerly exercised as belonging to the manor, but the
estate having been sold by the Earl of Sandwich, in
1807, no manorial court has since been held. In the
village is a meeting-house for Presbyterians in connec-
tion with the Synod of Ulster, occupying the site of that
destroyed in 1641; and near it is one in connection
with the Seceding Synod. There are also male and
female schools. In the vicinity are the ruins of Clare
castle, standing on an eminence which commands ex-
tensive prospects over one of the best cultivated dis-
tricts in the North of Ireland: the castle is the pro-
perty of Robt. Harden, Esq., of Harrybrook, who
Vol. I.—329
CLA
intends to rebuild it in the ancient style.—See Bally-
more.
CLARE (County of), a maritime county of the pro-
vince of Mxjnster, bounded on the east and south by
Lough Derg and the river Shannon, which successively
separate it from the counties of Tipperary, Limerick,
and Kerry; on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and on
the north-west by Galway bay; while on the north and
north-east an imaginary boundary separates it from, the
county of Galway. It extends from 52° 30’ to 53°
(N. Lat.), and from 8° 15’ to 9° 30’ (W. Lon.) and
comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 802,352
statute acres, of which 524,113 are cultivated land,
259,584 unimproved mountain and bog, and 18,655
are occupied by rivers and lakes. The population, in
1821, was 208,089; and in 1831, 258,262.
The inhabitants of this tract, in the time of Ptolemy,
are designated by him Gangani, and represented as in-
habiting also some of the southern parts of the present
county of Galway: in the Irish language their appella-
tion was Siol Gangain, and they are stated, both by
Camden and Dr. Charles O’Conor, to have been des-
cended from the Concani of Spain. The present county
formed from a very early period a native principality,
designated Tuath-Mumkan, or Thomond, signifying “North
Munster;” and contained the six cantreds of Hy Loch-
lean, Corcumruadh, Ibh Caisin, Hy Garman, Clan Cui-
lean, and Dal Gaes. In Hy Lochlean, or Bhurrin, the
present barony of Burren, the O’Loghlins or O’Laghlins
were chiefs; in Corcumruadh, the modern Corcomroe,
the O’Garbhs, although that portion is stated by Ware
to have been occupied by the septs of O’Connor and
O’Loghlin; in Ibh Caisin, the present Ibrickane, the
Cumhead-mor O’Briens, this being the hereditary pa-
trimony of the O’Briens or O’Bricheans; in Hy Garman,
the modern Moyarta, the O’Briens Arta; and in Clan
Cuilean, the present Clonderlaw, the Mac Namaras;
Dal Gaes comprised the more extensive districts in-
cluded in the baronies of Inchiquin, Bunratty, and
Tulla, forming the entire eastern half of the present
county, and was ruled by the O’Briens, who exercised
a supreme authority over the whole, and who preserved
their ascendancy here from the date of the earliest
records to a late period. Few have more honourably
distinguished themselves in the annals of their country
than these chiefs and their brave Dalcassian followers,
especially in the wars against the Danes, who long op-
pressed this country with their devastations, and formed
permanent stations on the Shannon, at Limerick and
Inniscattery. From these and from the entire district
they were, however, finally expelled, early in the 1lth
century, by the well-directed efforts of the great Brien
Boroihmc, the head of this sept, and monarch of all
Ireland, whose residence, and that of his immediate suc-
cessors, was at Kinkora, near Killaloe. About the
year 1290, the Anglo-Norman invaders penetrated into
the Very heart of Thomond, and in their progress in-
flicted the most barbarous cruelties, especially upon
the family of O’Brien; but they were compelled to make
a precipitate retreat on the advance of Cathal, prince of
Connaught. De Burgo, in the year 1200, also harrassed
this province from Limerick; and William de Braos
received from King John extensive grants here, from
which, however, he derived but little advantage. Donald
O’Brien, amid the storms of war and rapine which laid
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