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Ireland > Connacht > County Clare

County Clare is one of the most dramatic sections of Ireland. Its coastline is dotted with little seaside resorts like Spanish Point, Lahinch and Kilkee. It is a wild and beautiful county still littered with signs of a dramatic and turbulent past, with over 2000 stone forts (cahers) dating back to pre Celtic times. County Clare offers many ancient Celtic battle sites, over 250 castles, including Bunratty Castle on the banks of the River Ratty. The county's wonders extend to the breathtaking (and often very windy!) Cliffs of Moher and the eerie and historic expanse of the Burren.

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The Burren in County Clare is one of Europe's wildest and strangest regions, it's name taken from the Gaelic term "an bhoireann" (a stony place). It is a vast limestone plateau created by glaciation, offering 85km of underground passageways and prehistoric megalithic tombs. The Arran Islands rise from nearby Galway Bay, and were once part of the Burren. Its an eerie and compelling place to visit, and its best seen by a hours walk out of your car as its appeal and interest is gradual rather than any type of dramatic `you-have-arrived-here' feel. It's now a national park.

Just north of Lahinch stand the Cliffs of Moher, defiant natural ramparts against the restless Atlantic Ocean. The cliffs rise to over 700 feet (215 metres) and stretch almost 8km. From O'Brien's Tower (built in the early 19th century) the view is as spectacular as they come. On misty mornings, landscapes become ethereal.

Clare Heritage Centre at Corofin portrays a traumatic period of western Irish history - from 1800 to 1860 - and gives an accurate account of famine and emigration. It also offers a professional genealogical service to visitors wishing to trace their Irish ancestry. (See www.ancestortravel.com)

Bunratty Castle and Folk Park is well worth a visit. The Castle was built in the 1400s by the powerful McNamara family and is fine example of the castle-builder's art and is a perfect restored example of a Norman-Irish castle keep. It's also one of Ireland's top tourist attractions, so try to visit early in the day to avoid crowds. "Medieval banquets" - a bit corny but great fun - are held in the Great Hall. The adjoining Folk Park comes complete with reconstructed traditional Irish village.

Gleninagh Castle is perched on a hillside across from lovely Galway Bay, located 3 miles north west of Ballyvaughan off the coast road to Lissdoonvarna, this extremely well-preserved sixteenth-century tower house stands guard over the northern shoreline of the Burren. It has a distinctive L-shaped plan comprising an oblong tower of four storeys with a projecting turret containing a spiral staircase. The entrance doorway, which may have been moved from elsewhere, lies at first-floor level with a protecting machicolation high above in the turret. Striking round bartizans are present on three corners of the main tower, while an attic in its roof was contained behind gables on all four sides. The third storey is vaulted and there is another over a dark basement, which may have been used as a prison. In the end wall a number of window embrasures were later blocked for fireplaces. The castle was built for the O'Loughlins (O'Lochlainn's), who were still resident there in the 1840s, and it remained occupied until the 1890s.

Lemaneagh Castle - the magnificent ruins of the great O'Brien clan stronghold of Lemaneagh stand on the southern fringe of the Barren and is located about 3 miles east of Kilfenora on the Carran-Ballyvaughan Road. The site can only be usually seen over the wall by the roadside, as the present landowner is not inclined to allow visitors. It is a lovely ruin with a tower dating back to around 1480. It was further added to in the late 16th- early 17th century with the addition of a four storey fortified house built by Sir Conor O'Brien. After Sir Conor died in battle, his strong-minded wife Mary married an influential Cromwellian to insure the inheritance of the estate by her 10 year old son. Legend has it she was not one to tolerate slackers, and hung recaltrient servants from the battlements and strung errant chambermaids out of the windows by their hair! The most famous story is however after her second husband (the Cromwellian) made a less than flattering remark about her first husband she pushed him out of the top window! It is a lonely bleak place, and it could be said maybe it is a surprising location for a splendid four-storey, high-gabled, early seventeenth-century mansion with rows of large mullioned and transom windows. From the outside it is no longer readily seen that the building was once surrounded by a walled bawn with a projecting defensive parapet. This was entered through a fine round-headed gateway with heavy corbels and two coats of arms, one the quartered bearings of Conor O'Brien, 1643, and the other those of his son Sir Donat O'Brien, 1690. An inscription states that it was "built in the year 1643 by Conor O'Brien and by Mary nee Mahon, wife of the said Connor". Unfortunately, this gateway was moved in the 1960s to Dromoland where it stands in the walled garden.

Poulabrone Dolmen is located about 6 miles past Leamaneagh Castle and is one of the most famous and most photographed of all the Irish dolmens. The name Poulabrone literally means 'The Pool Of Sorrows'. Dated around the mid-Neolithic period (approximately 2500BC), it has a huge thin capstone sitting on two 1.8m (6ft) high portal stones to create a chamber in a 9m (30ft) low cairn. The eastern portal stone was replaced in 1986, following excavations that gave up the uncremated remains of 14 adults and six children. Tests show that only one of the adults lived beyond 40 years, and the majority were under 30 when they died. An analysis of all the fragments of disarticulated bones revealed a hard physical life and a coarse diet; it was further proved that the bones were naturally defleshed elsewhere (by exposure or burial) and only then moved within the chamber at Poulnabrone. A number of important burial artefacts were found in the tomb including polished stone axes, stone disc beads, a perforated bone pendant, part of a bone pin, two quartz crystals, flint and chert arrowheads and scrapers, and over 60 shards of pottery. The dolmen is surrounded by a low mound, largely made up of stones, but it seems unlikely ever to have covered the whole monument. It is worth noting that in the same area there are about seventy other tombs. The farmer who owns the site does charge admission, with the price seeming to vary on his mood of the day, however it is open to the public and well worth a visit!





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