19 Facts About County Clare

1.

County Clare is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean.

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2.

County Clare is the seventh largest of Ireland's 32 traditional counties in area and the 19th largest in terms of population.

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3.

County Clare is divided into the baronies of Bunratty Lower, Bunratty Upper, Burren, Clonderalaw, Corcomroe, Ibrickan, Inchiquin, Islands, Moyarta, Tulla Lower and Tulla Upper.

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4.

County Clare contains The Burren, a unique karst region, which contains rare flowers and fauna.

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5.

County Clare is one of the richest places in Ireland for these tombs.

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6.

County Clare'storians have found the tribes on the west of Ireland the most difficult to identify with known peoples; however, historians William Camden and Charles O'Conor speculated a possible connection between the Gangani and the Concani, one of the eleven tribes in the confederacy of the Cantabri in the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula.

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7.

One is that the name is derived from Thomas de County Clare who was deeply embroiled in local politics and fighting in the 1270s and 1280s.

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8.

An alternative hypothesis is that the county name Clare comes from the settlement of Clare, whose Irish name refers to a crossing over the River Fergus.

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9.

County Clare transferred Thomond from Munster to Connaught, which he shired, Thomond becoming County Clare.

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10.

About 1600, County Clare was removed from the presidency of Connaught and made a presidency in its own right under the Earl of Thomond.

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11.

Clare's county nickname is the Banner County, for which various origins have been suggested: the banners captured by Clare's Dragoons at the Battle of Ramillies; or the banner of "Catholic emancipation" raised by Daniel O'Connell's victory in an 1828 by-election for County Clare that led to Parliament passing the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.

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12.

Scattery Island, in the Mouth of the Shannon off the Clare coast, was transferred to Limerick Corporation and the county of the city of Limerick after the dissolution of the monasteries in the mid-16th century.

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13.

Since 1921, County Clare has been represented in Dail Eireann by the constituency of Clare, which currently has four Teachtai Dala .

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14.

At various times, portions of County Clare have been in other constituencies: Clare–South Galway, Galway West, Limerick East and Limerick City .

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15.

Prominent former TDs for County Clare include Eamon de Valera, who became Taoiseach and President and former president Patrick Hillery.

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16.

Ennis in County Clare is the birthplace of Grammy-nominated songstress Maura O'Connell whose grandmother started a fish market in the town.

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17.

Andy Irvine has written two songs celebrating County Clare: one is "West Coast of Clare", in which he mentions Spanish Point and Milltown Malbay.

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18.

County Clare won the Munster Final in football in 1992 beating Kerry.

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19.

County Clare is served by two national primary roads—a classification referring to the major routes between major urban centres in Ireland.

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