CAUTION
Extremely Slippy surfaces when wet!
Deep and fast-flowing water in the area!
Please take particular care if bringing children or
pets!
The Quay of Clare
CLARECASTLE was developed
by Sir Lucius O'Brien after the last Earl of Thomond died in 1738.
In 1760 he leased "all that piece of ground near the Town of Clare
whereon a barrack and barrack yard hath lately been rebuilt and
enclosed by a wall, with all buildings within, to the Hon. Henry
Loftus, Commissioner and Overseer of Barracks in the Kingdom of
Ireland on behalf of his Majesty George III."
The Inchiquin Manuscripts mention that Sir Lucius O'Brien began
construction work with 154 men and 24 horses. Wine imported at the
quay of Clare could be bought, "cash down," by gentry willing to
take 30 hogsheads at 18 pounds per hogshead. For this period there
are details of a spinning factory in the town, a proposed butter
market, and a Mrs. Gregg who spun silk. In 1813 a Protestant church
was built for the mainly English inhabitants of Clarecastle. Names
such as Simple, Bleach and Pinion appear on a 1779 list of tenants.
By 1770 Sir Lucius had added six two-storied slated houses, six
one- storied thatched houses for weavers, a large malt-house and
kiln, a linen factory, a market house, a lime kiln and salt works,
an extensive quay and a large deal yard adjoining. In 1815 an
eighty-foot-long quay was erected.
Clarecastle became the port for Ennis and by 1837 was used for the
export of grain and the importation of coal. It then had a thatched
chapel for Catholics, and two hedge schools. However a report in
1837 tells of the 1021 inhabitants who were living in sublime
poverty. Another account of 1830 described Clarecastle as
"luxuriant in dung and pigs." Agrarian outrages, committed by the
Terry Alts(a secret society in Ireland), kept the entire area in a
state of unrest for most of 1830 and 1831. The cholera epidemic of
1832 affected both town and garrison and in its aftermath destroyed
the landless labourers from whom the Terry Alts drew the most
support.
Text from... http://www.clarelibrary.ie
The cache
A concealed 35mm container with logbook only, BYOP! Located in the
bushes alongside the path.
The waterway is the River Fergus, a tributary to the river Shannon.
The area is at its best at high tide.
