Cliffs of Moher
W
e welcome you to Clare,
Ireland’s Banner County. Clare
is a romantic county in the
heart of Ireland’s Shannon Region, a place of
stunningly beautiful, unique landscapes and
seascapes with adrenaline-pumping activities
to match. Wonderful marinas and harbours
dot its shoreline: from the heritage town
of Kilrush to the river Shannon harbours of
Killaloe, Mountshannon and Williamstown
Harbour at Lough Derg. The thunderous
Atlantic crashes against the sturdy western
face of Clare and our ‘Great Wall of
Thomond’ - the Cliffs of Moher. The
Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience is
Lahinch
Ireland’s most visited attraction.
Clare has had a dramatic history which
has left a legacy of landmark heritage
attractions: from Dysert O’Dea Castle to
the Round Tower at Scattery Island and a
host of ancient churches and monuments.
The vibrancy of Clare’s traditional and
Doonbeg Golf Links
living culture is rightly celebrated
throughout the world. Its festivals
and impromptu traditional music
2 3
sessions from Doonbeg to Miltown Malbay, Doolin,
Lisdoonvarna and Feakle always bring people back
for more. Then there are the World Stone Throwing
championships held at Corofin for those who want to
get in touch with their Neolithic inner-selves! Try your
vocals at the Clare Shout festival in Kilkishen – our
version of the Swiss yodelling or the famed singing
bars of Ennistymon. Perhaps it is the stunning and
sometimes stark natural heritage of the county which
inspires the richness and eccentricities of Clare.
Our unique eco-system has also blessed Clare
with abundant fruits of nature. Sample the local
specialities at award winning restaurants, farmers
markets or gourmet shops. The many Clare Good
Food Circle restaurants promote traditional and slow-
food dishes through innovative chefs and exciting
menus. Experience the Dolphin Watch trips from both
Carrigaholt and Kilrush and learn first hand about our
maritime heritage. Clare is an international surfing
mecca with stunning coastal cycles, hikes and drives
from Loop Head to the Cliffs of Moher and along Black
Fishing near Tulla
Head. Relax at an array of world class hotels, with a
tradition of warm hospitality. Clare is Ireland in a bottle!
Come and savour the taste.
 A
visit to Clare, one of the landscapes. The magnificent scenic coastal route
world’s most stunningly between the resort town of Kilkee and the Loop Head
unique natural heritage peninsula, with its necklace of pretty villages such as the

regions is the beginning of a journey
through time. Nestling in the north of
the county, on Ireland’s west coast, is
the dramatic limestone karst landscape we know today as
the Burren (or in Irish, Boireann, meaning place of stone).
The Burren is sometimes aptly referred to as the
‘fertile rock’ due to its ecosystem. Yet what is truly
unique about the Burren is that its landscape has
also been shaped by its human story, and is a living
visual legacy of the interaction between natural
forces and humankind for over 6,000 years. Superb
Ballyalla Lake
popular sea-angling bases in Carrigaholt and Kilbaha, is
spectacular. Wonderful views of the Irish coastline open
up here and jaw-dropping sights of the eternal jousts
between the Atlantic and the coastline abound at every
turn, such as one of nature’s classics, the Last Bridge of
Ross.
In the Footsteps of Brian Boru –
East Clare and the Lakelands
The Gaelic poet Brian Merriman’s Cúirt an Mean Oíche,
The Midnight Court, is a masterpiece of Irish literature.

interactive displays at the Burren Centre, Kilfenora,
Europe’s first interpretative centre, are ideal
introductions to this gem of an Irish region.
The Last Bridge of Ross
Clare is known as a county of seascapes and
Fanore
River Fergus
A hike through the East Clare Way and the serene
countryside around Lough Graney brings you to his
country. East Clare is internationally renowned for its
great lake fishing. Ireland’s ancient ‘motorway’, the river
Shannon has allowed King Brian Boru’s homelands
in east Clare build

up a rich and diverse

cultural history, as
Carnashee, Kilkee

can be sampled at
scenic attractions
in Mountshannon
and Tuamgraney,
south to Killaloe and
O’Briensbridge and
inland to Feakle and
Tulla.
Cratloe Woods
4 5
 Towns
& villages
of Clare
E
nnis is at the beating heart of Clare. and the world’s first custom free

Enshrined within its foundation is a
tradition of hospitality. It was at the
invite of the ruling Donnchadh Cairbreach
O’Brien that a group of visiting Franciscan
Ennis
Lahinch
zone. This is appropriate, for it
was from nearby Mooghaun,
Ireland’s largest archaeological

site, that Clare people traded beautiful

friars established Ennis Abbey in the
thirteenth century. The atmospheric, winding
medieval streets of this historic market town
reveal intriguing characters and stories that shaped
its history and are brought to life by local walking
tour companies. Here the political careers of
de Valera and O’Connell were launched onto
the world stage and the ill fated romance
goldworks with Spain and North Africa
over 3,000 years ago! Killaloe is the
ancient capital of Ireland from the time
of Brian Boru, and today a charming
visitor base for exploring the Shannon.
Further up the river, Scariff is a
picturesque market and angling town.
Turning to the north, Lisdoonvarna

Feakle
between Parnell and Kitty O’Shea began. has been long famed for its Spa Ennistymon

Today, boutique shops along with high street names Wells as well as its annual matchmaking festival. Kilfenora,
abound and make for great in the heart of the Burren, is known in ancient manuscripts
retail therapy. Ennis Fashion as ‘the City of the Crosses’. Ennistymon has long been
Week is a new star fixture a bustling market town for the North Clare area and is
Shannon Airport

for Irish and interrnational renowned for its many attractive traditional shopfronts and
fashionistas. neighbours the popular resort of Lahinch. The heritage town
of Kilrush has fine attractions: from its marina, the Vandeleur
Shannon is Clare’s Walled Gardens to the Scattery Island Visitor Centre.
youngest Miltown Malbay
town and its is famed for its
international annual Willie
airport Clancy School
is the of Traditional
gateway Irish Music in
to the West July.
Lisdoonvarna

of Ireland

6 Kilrush Marina 7

sporting
heart
T
o watch or play a game of hurling or football
is to take in an experience of the lifeblood of
Gaelic culture. It was a Clare man, Michael
Cusack, who founded the Gaelic Athletic Association
way back in 1884. Located in Carron, the Michael
Cusack Centre is a treasure chest of living history.
Be sure to take in a local club match during your
stay, and feel the passion, witness the artistry of
ancient pastimes going back 3,000 years.
Clare is also a golfing paradise – if you can’t take
in a round at the Greg Norman designed Doonbeg
Links course, the Lahinch Championship course
or East Clare, there are
many other gems of
courses here to cater
for you. Clare
is also home
to rugby lions
and European
champions.
8 9
musical soul
Traditional music has always played a
powerful role in the life of Clare people.
It represents continuity with the past,
from wakes and weddings in houses and
pubs to gatherings at dances, festivals and
sessions. If in the sporting passions of the
Banner County you glimpse the heart of
Clare, it is at these musical gatherings
you see into its soul. Clare people, due
to the peninsular nature of the county
formed a tight knit community more so
than any other in Ireland. Doolin is
the spiritual home of Irish trad, and
thousands from all over Ireland and
the world make the annual pilgrimage
to the Willie Clancy School in Miltown
Malbay. Glór in Ennis is a state of the
art, multi-disciplinary, regional arts
centre, cafe and gallery with a focus on
Glór, Ennis
the traditional arts.
 Scattery Island
T
he ageless stone-built monuments which
abound in Clare whisper of a civilization
whose architecture was ancient by the
time the Egyptian pyramids were even conceived.
Farming practices such as winter grazing on the
limestone hills and the keeping of goat herds
have helped to shape the immense variety of
building styles found in the stone architecture of
Clare. It is literally a monumental land.
There are approximately 6,000 national
monuments in County Clare, the vast majority
of these located in the Burren. One of the
Ireland’s great
outdoor
Quin Abbey
Lemanagh Castle
Dysert O’Dea
10
most iconic Irish images – and the single most photographed monument in the country – is
Poulnabrone Dolmen. One of Ireland’s great national treasures, the Gleninsheen Gold Collar,
was discovered near here in 1932. Indeed the greatest find of gold ever discovered in the
western world outside of the Aegean
civilisation was made at Mooghaun in mid
Clare in 1854. Some of the remnants of this
horde are today amongst the most prized
of the National Museum’s collection,
highlighted at Clare County Museum in
Ennis. The Mooghaun Ring Fort near
Newmarket-on-Fergus is Ireland’s
largest archaeological site and has
many beautiful woodland walks.
museum
If there are many remains of early pagan beliefs here, there is also
a wonderful abundance of ancient sites and buildings bearing
testimony to Christianity in Clare from Quin Abbey to Killaloe and
Corcomroe. The high concentration of such accessible visual
heritage from our past in close proximity
to each other makes Clare Ireland’s
ultimate outdoor museum, hugely
popular with visitors and scholars alike.
Such an abundance of archaeological
remains testify to the vitality and
ingenuity of the Clare’s ancestral
inhabitants. These features now make
Clare one of the richest archaeological
landscapes in the world.
Holy Island
www.clare.ie 11
 The Knowledge Society
Clare has long had an ancient standing as
a centre of learning. See the remains of
Cahermacnaughten in North Clare and its once
great Brehon law school, the Harvard or Yale of
the old Gaelic order right up to the seventeenth
century. Under the old Brehon system of
society, such was the respect for learning that
the ollamh, professor, held equal rank to a
king or bishop. The wealth of our folklore and
music is inspired not just by its monumental
surrounds but by the learning environment
created by these schools.
Information Age Park Ennis
People
and
I
t is perhaps a natural follow-on then
that the county has produced some
brilliant scholars, musicians, innovators
and leaders. Its turbulent past has helped
to form its distinct personality. There seems
Dr Patrick Hillery
to be a form of magnetism between its
people and charismatic leaders, which
can be traced back to the time of probably
Ireland’s greatest leader, Brian Boru. Great
Irish historical names come alive throughout
Clare, leaping out from history books and
are part of the fabric of the county. Daniel
Eamon DeValera
O’Connell and the monument which
dominates Ennis today, was built by the
people to honour his watershed 1828
election victory. The people of Clare, on
12
Land of Our Fathers
M uhammad Ali’s mother Odessa Clay was the granddaughter of
Abraham O’Grady, from the Turnpike, Ennis. O’Grady had emigrated
to the US in the civil war era and married a free coloured woman. Now we
know that the Greatest was filled not just with Louisville lip but also with the
mystical Atlantic lyrics of Clare. Check out his heritage at the Clare Heritage
Centre in Corofin. Amongst other famed celebrities with Clare ancestry
are Gene Kelly and Russell Crowe. It was also a Clare man by the name of
Blackwell who was one of the leaders of the storming of the Bastille in France; it was a Clare
man who, as one of the earliest European explorers, first recorded the famed Amazonian female
tribes Check out the listed venues of the Clare Heritage Circle, at www.clarecoco.ie/Heritage/
Heritage_Circle.html to find out more on the best and newest exhibitions in Clare.
places
pain of eviction voted him in to open
up Catholic emancipation. Almost 100
years later the sole surviving leader of
the Easter 1916 Rising, Eamon DeValera
stood before their descendants,
Brian Boru
speaking of great freedoms and change;
and again the Banner helped lead the
country into a new era. From Shannon
Duty Free, the world’s first duty free
shop, to the Knowledge society and the
Information Age Town of Ennis, Clare
has been at the forefront of innovation
and invention; from the earliest pioneer
Michael Cusack
in Irish tourism, Cornelius O’Brien and his famous tower at
the Cliffs of Moher to John Philip Holland of Liscannor who
invented the submarine.
John Philip Holland
13
 Clare -
a natural
O
Mountshannon
ver 70 per cent of
Ireland’s 900
native
plant species are
found in Clare. This
diverse flora supports a wonderful
diversity of fauna, and such a rich ecology is the
result of a unique combination of geographical, climactic and
agricultural factors found only in Clare.
What lay beneath…
Doolin Cave
Aillwee Cave, over two million years old and featuring an
underground river and waterfall, remains ever popular. Close by
in the ‘underworld’ lay Poulnagollum,
the principal cave system in Ireland
with over seven and a quarter miles of
surveyed passage ways. Pól an Ionainn
at Doolin Cave, one of the world’s largest
stalactites, measures almost seven metres
in length and is a wondrous geological
phenomenon. These underground
systems all combine to make Clare a
speleologist’s heaven.
14 Goats on Slieve Elva, Fanore
place to stay
The many fine, atmospheric restaurants
of Clare, with imaginative chefs, as
highlighted by the Clare Good Food Circle,
reap the bountiful harvest of the sea to
provide regional culinary delights and
monkfish, bass and trout are specialities in
many of these eating-houses. Vernacular
foods can also be sampled on festive
occasions such as the Carrigaholt Oyster Festival, one of a number of
food festivals in Clare. Another culinary feature of Clare are the famous
Burren Lamb dishes served up throughout the county, with its inviting
taste, a product of the sweet pasturages of the Burren. Mionnán, or
kid goat is another trademark regional dish served up, which are often
accompanied by locally
brewed ales. There are
fine gourmet shops and
farmer markets throughout
the county selling award
winning local produce
which, like its county of
origin, will always leave
you with a taste for more!
15
 Clare -
with your family
F
or families touring Clare, you can at the UL Activity Centre near Killaloe, caving and
expect a relaxed and welcoming rock climbing at the Burren Outdoor Centre or the
attitude to children. Perhaps it thrills and spills of world class surfing for beginners
has been the cherished value locals and experienced alike, Clare has it all. Stunning sea
have traditionally placed on family cruises and dolphin discovery trips create lifetime
ties which have spanned the memories. The otherworldly natural phenomenon of the
oceans over the centuries, underground in Aillwee and Doolin grip the imagination.
but Clare has child-friendly Explore the amazing marine life at Lahinch Seaworld
facilities which are second to or navigate your way up the Shannon in the slipstream
none. Discover a destination of beautiful scenery, of the Emperor of the Irish, Brian Boru, and walk in his
unspoilt natural parks, of sandcastles and footsteps in Tuamgraney at the East Clare Heritage
historic castles while enjoying superb family Centre. The Atlantic coast of Clare is blessed with
friendly accommodations and restaurants. some of the most beautiful, pure and sandiest beaches in
western Europe. The county is famous for its local family
Clare is a county with that perfect blend festivals. This is a romantic and beautiful region with an
of tranquillity and adrenaline pumping exhilarating zest for life that young and old have enjoyed
activities. From its open farms and for generations.
traditional kitchens, such as at Moher
Hill Farm, to outdoor adventure activities Come to Clare, Live the Life…….
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18 19
 Ireland

For further information

www.clare.ie
Clare Tourism Forum,
Áras Contae an Chláir, New Road, Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland.
Tel: +353 (0) 65 68 46462

Produced by the Clare Tourism Forum

With acknowledgements to Clare County Council and Shannon Development

Text by Daniel McCarthy, Boru Cultural Enterprises

Designed by Shoreline Graphics, Ballyvaughan
Printed by D2 Print

y C l a re
Photographs by entrants of ‘Shoot the Mood’ of Clare Photography Competition, John Power,
s i t Count
John Murphy, Lahinch Surf School, Hilary Gleeson, John Kelly, Clare Champion, Doherty Landers,
Simon Berrows, Gerard Madden, Doonbeg Golf Club, Lynch Hotel Group, Dromoland Castle, Glór,
v i
Ennis Fashion Week, Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, Aliwee Caves, Burren Outdoor Adventure Centre,
Clare Library, Clare County Council, Shannon Development

www.clare.ie