Clare Past Forum

The word “clachan” is used to denote a group of farmhouses in 18th and 19th century Ireland, but the word originated in Scotland and in Ulster (a province in Ireland), and I often wonder to what extent, if any, it was used in the rest of Ireland, and, in particular, in County Clare.
I first came ...

I was wondering who the organist from St. John’s Cathedral, Limerick, might be, and found a thesis by Mary Regina Deacy: "Continental Organists and Catholic Church Music in Ireland, 1860-1960": https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/5088/, which gives an account of the many continental ...

Ignatius Murphy, in his article “Building a Church in 19th Century Ireland,” ( The Other Clare , Vol. 2 (1978)), gives, firstly, an account of the building of a chapel in Kilkee, and, secondly, the building of a small chapel in Kilrush, plus a larger replacement.
In 1799, the chapel in Kilrush was a ...

Ignatius Murphy, in his article “Building a Church in 19th Century Ireland” ( The Other Clare , Vol. 2 (1978)), tells us that Fr. Comyn began collecting money in 1829 for a chapel* in Kilkee. Kilkee had lately become a popular seaside resort with many visitors during the Summer months, but the ...

Well, I am back quickly to say I am wrong about the Caherbanna Keanes having a shop in Ennis. I’ve looked at my own old notes and see that there was a Keane family living in Ballyashea, Kilnamona, who also used the name “Myles” or “Miles”. A Myles Keane died in 1879, in Market Street, Ennis, aged 70 ...

Although that newspaper report gives James Brady, seed merchant, as the employer of Daniel Considine, I still think it possible that Daniel lived with the Keanes in Gaol Street. I think that James “Brady” was James Brody; the record of death of a James Brody, in 1888, gives his occupation as Farmer ...

For a biography of Aodh Buí, see "Aodh Buí Mac Crúitín (c.1680-1755)", by Michael Mac Mahon: https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/literature/bardic/aodh_mac_cruitin.htm

Mac Mahon says that the dictionary includes an introductory poem by Mac Crúitín, in which he exhorts his country men and ...

says a headline in the Irish Times today, January 18, 2025. In an article by Sylvia Thomson, on page 18, she gives a short description of some of the items being sold online by Co. Offaly bookseller, Conor Purcell, including a dictionary part-written by Aodh Buí Mac Crúitín:
A first edition of one ...

I found another well, also in the parish of Dysert (or Dysert O'Dea), which is a much better match for "Springmouth". It is Tobar RabhartaÍ: https://heritage.clareheritage.org/places/holy-wells/tobar-rabhartai-toberarraghta-sometimes-called-tobar-oireachta-dysert-odea-kileenan. "Rabharta" means ...

Hi Sharon,

I'm sorry for confusing the matter by introducing Thaddeus Brew, who married Mary Curtin. It was the appearance of Catherine Schnell on that page of the Brew One Name Study that made me think I was on the right track. And I see now that I was mistaken in giving Thaddeus's year of death ...

Hi Sharon,

Thank you for posting about Catherine Brew Shnell. Her mother, Mary, was Mary Curtin, a relative of Roland Curtin, who is the subject of a post made by me in July 2016, entitled “Roland Curtin born in Dysert, in 1764”: http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=6798
Looking at the ...

Hi Barry,

Wikipedia has a piece on one Nicholas Purcell, born in 1651, commissioned Captain on 12 Feb 1686 in the army enrolled by Lord Tyrconnell to uphold the cause of King Jame II: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_ ... f_Loughmoe

Sheila

Hi Darren

I think you are right in guessing that it was Patrick’s wife, Kate Rodgers, who was related to Alfie Rodgers, rather than Patrick himself.
Nevertheless I looked the Scarriff baptisms (1852-1872) for a Guilfoyle-Rodgers connection and found this one: the baptisms of two children of a ...

Hi Jimbo

Good work. Your purchase of Fr. Ignatius Murphy’s The Diocese of Killaloe: 1850-1904 is paying dividends. I too failed to find a civil record of the death of Fr. John Clune, You found that the report of his death in the Freeman’s Journal of Mon 14 Jul 1890 gave “yesterday” as the date, but ...

Hi Bev

Just something to bear in mind in the course of your research is that Culligan was sometimes spelled “Quilligan”. I’ve looked at the transcription of the Kilrush (St Senan’s) baptisms and see that Sinon’s surname was always spelled Culligan, so that bit of information may not apply to your ...