This article is from page 27 of the 2011-08-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 27 JPG
HAVING closed the book on their latest research project, members of the Clare Roots Society are already putting the finishing touches to a new history of one of Ennis’ best known streets.
Speaking at a book launch in the Old Ground Hotel on Thursday night, local historian Larry Brennan said the society have pieced together a history of the people that have lived and worked on O’Connell Street.
Larry, who along with Eric Shaw complied Dr umcliff Cemeter y –The Hidden Histor y of Ennis , said the new project would be unveiled at a presentation in Ennis in the coming months.
He says, “I had flagged it two years or three years with regard to the change of name. There is so much history in O’Connell Street right from the square up to Darcy’s Corner. The street does not go from the Height right up to the Cathedral. It goes from the Height up to Darcy’s. Darcy’s is the last house on O’Connell Street. There were guns taken at Darcy’s Corner. There is the story of the Old Ground Hotel, the jail. The first cinema in Ennis was the Town Hall. There is so much information out there on O’Connell Street that hopefully very shortly we can stimulate interest in it and bring it out. We’re nearly in the finished process. Its nearly there.”
Larry also has his eye on future projects, in particular a history of one of Ennis’ oldest areas, Steeles Terrace. He explains, “There is an amazing history of the 30 houses in Steele’s Terrace. There were known initially as the artisan dwellings. There were tradesmen and craftsmen living at the side. At the same time then you had the labourer’s cottages built down in St Flannan’s Terrace. You had two distinct developments going on in Ennis at the same time.”
Larry says more needs to be done to record the history of Ennis. He adds, “Only for the work of Sean Spellissy, the historian, and Ciarán Ó Mhurchadha and a few more, Ennis is lacking in information with regards to the people and the buildings. We’re fortunate in the past few years that online we have the baptismal records, we have the death records and we have the marriage records for Ennis. We have school records with Ennis National School. We have burial records with Drumcliff graveyard and Corrovorrin graveyard. We have an amount of information that we could actually do your family tree by sitting at your computer at home and have a fair amount of it done within an hour.”