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A pretty and well-kept one-street village with a good small harbour on Lough Derg; this makes it hugely popular with boating people during the summer months. Iniscealtra - Holy Island (q.v.) is reached from here by the East Clare Heritage launch (see under Tuamgreaney) and is well worth a visit.
Mountshannon is also a shooting and fishing centre. |
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The village was designed and built from scratch by Alexander Woods, a Limerick merchant, who intended it as a purely Protestant settlement from which the surrounding Catholic population would be so impressed by the thrift and industry of the settlers that they would quickly convert to the Reformed Church; even as late as the 1830's there was not a single Catholic resident in the village. In fact the reverse happened - it was the Catholics who colonised the village, and the picturesque Protestant church in a wooded churchyard bears mute testimony to Woods and his scheme. Some of the original surnames of these Protestant settlers survive in the locality. View our geneaology pages for more information about local surnames.
The village had to support itself by means of flax-growing and linen-making, and Woods established the infrastructure for this (There is no flax produced in Mountshannon now either).
The history of Mountshannon is set down in 'Mountshannon', by Gerard Madden, director of East Clare Heritage.
The village won the National Tidy Towns competition some years ago, and the village still maintains a high standard of neatness. The local Catholic church is a simple but attractive stone building.
There are recycling facilities to be found in the town, they accept both glass and drink cans. There is also a Guardai station, but this appears to be un-manned most of the time, so if you require assistance you maybe better contacting Scariff or Killaloe stations.
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A very interesting booklet about Inis Cealtra - Holy Island called 'Holy Island - Jewel of the Lough' wriitten by Gerard can also be obtained from East Clare Heritage.
A brief excerpt from the booklet concerning Mountshannon and the Island is to be found below (reproduced with kind permission of the author): |
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"During the 18th century, the Island and parish of Inis Cealtra were owned by the Daly family of Dunsandle, Co. Galway. In a very interesting deed bearing the date 14 October 1738, and made between James Daly of Carrownekelly, Co. Galway and Alexander Woods a linen draper of Limerick City, James Daly leased Holy Island and the townlands of Cooledorragh, Clounty, Coogey, Knockafort and Kilrateera to Alexander Woods. The terms were for the duration of his own life, the life of his son Alexander, and Margaret his wife. The rent for the first four years was to be a mere peppercorn on condition that during those four years, Woods would build, '50 staunch and tenantable houses fit for tradesmen and manufacturers to dwell in'. He was also to build within the four years, a market house, a school and a slated house for religious worship, ie. 'for the use of protestant dissenters commonly called presbyterians'. Thus began the present village of Mountshannon which was Ireland's tidiest village in 1981.
Alexander Woods, Senior died in 1766. His only son and heir died soon afterwards and his grandson was also dead by 1790. Their untimely deaths and subsequent litigation greatly undermined the linen industry which was the primary occupation of the majority of the inhabitants of Mountshannon. The industry also went through various fluctuations, due to bad harvests, downturns in demand and changes in the marketplace. In 1773, linen prices collapsed and this had a lasting impact on Mountshannon."
Inis Cealtra 'Holy Island' - history of the monastic settlement located on Lough Derg not far from Mountshannon village
www.mountshannon.com - the villages 'official' web-site with up-to-date information about local community matters and events, incl. the Inis Cealtra festival etc
Other towns of County Clare
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