Lakes Woodland Roads Ancient Burial Sites Standing Stones Fulachta Fiadh
Forts Castles Ecclesiastical Sites Holy Wells Trades Cultural Life
Introduction
The parish of Inchicronan, 7 miles northeast of Ennis, straddles the main Limerick-Galway road (N18) as well as the Limerick-Claremorris railway line. It is a typical rural parish in most regards, but easy access and proximity to Ennis, Limerick, Shannon and Galway make it a most convenient place in which to live, even for those who work at some distance from it. All employment within the parish is either agricultural or service; there are no industries. Crusheen village, consisting of church, Garda station, three public houses, post office, a shop-cum-petrol station, funeral home, dispensary and little more than a dozen houses is not impressive, but what the huge number of passers-through on the N18 see is deceptive, for most of the development of the past 25 years has taken place on the Tulla road, close to the village but not visible to the casual viewer. These include the primary school, community centre, GAA pitch and the largest-ever housing development in the parish that built by the Rural Housing Organisation in 1978.
That there has been much change, including a measure of decline, since the Famine is far more evident in Ballinruan village than in Crusheen, but the village that existed in Carrahil (C50 up to that catastrophe should not be forgotten. Of its 35-40 houses no trace remains today. Balllinruan’s population in 1841 was 214, but only 77 by 1901, and the decrease in population has continued to take its toll, for both post office and school have closed in recent years.
Crusheen after having had its population halved – from 194 in 1841 to 88 in 1901 – has seen a revival in the past quarter century. In the parish as a while, the drastic nature of depopulation can be seen in the census returns of 1841 (5098 persons), 1901 (1645 persons) and 1991 (722 persons) though this trend shows a welcome reversal in the latest figures, 725 persons in 1996.
But of the 8 shops which helped village families eke out a living up to the 1950’s only one remains, the courthouse, in which petty sessions were once held once a fortnight, no longer exists, nor does the protestant chapel (built in 1863 and demolished in 1957), but the Garda station unmanned for several years in the 1990s once again has a resident officer. The cattle fairs held at Brodagh 4 times a year until 1875 are only a faint memory, as well as the faction-fight and death which caused the site to be abandoned. Far clearer are people’s recollections of the fairs, which succeeded them in the field by the church. But they are all gone now, together with the railway-station (today a private residence) from which so many thousands of the cattle bought and sold were transported.
Any visitor to the parish, whether sportsman, naturalist or mere sightseer, cannot help but be impressed by its lakes of which there are almost 40, some remarkable remote (e.g. L.Blarnagh (K60), Loughaun L.(K6), others on the very roadside (e.g. Attyquin L. (F8), Ballygassan l, (F6), Inchicronan L,(D4) and Doon L (H8). Access to most of them is readily available but the usual courtesies should be observed, i.e. always ask permission, close all gates and avoid damaging fences. Most contain trout, eels or coarse fish, but there is remarkable little angling; what little is done mainly by outsiders, which seems a pity since trout of up to 9 lbs weight and pike of over 30 lbs. are to be found in Inchicronan Lough alone. For those interested in the scenery, Doon Lough is the most impressive. Viewed from Ballinruan village on a summer’s day it might pass for a little piece of Killarney.
The best known of all the lakes, though is Inchicronan Lough or "The Island Lake", as it is known locally. This is partly because it is the largest of them all, partly because it has from early times been a focus of parish life, as eveidenced by the presence on its shores of the remains of Inchicronan Abbey and of two castles. The Battle of Inchicronan is also said to have been fought nearby in 1651 but its exact location has never been pinpointed. But perhaps it is for the "Island Lights" that not only this lake, but the very parish itself is famous. A death-warning to certain families of the locality, theses small blue lights rise in the island graveyard and make their way across the lake and to the house of the fated person. Inevitably a death follows. They have been seen as lately as the 1970’s.
Few of the lakes contain any verified crannógs, though some of the islands in Inchicronan Lough are claimed to be as such.
One has only to look at the Ordance Survey 6" maps to realize that in Inchicronan and the adjacent parishes to the east (Clooney, Tulla, Feakle, Kilnoe) there were formerly huge oak forests. The place-names with "Derry" in Westropp’s map in 1909 – most of which are in common use today – prove this; nams like Derryhumma, Derryskeagh, Derrybeg, Derryfadda, Derryvet, Derrymore, Derryvoagh, Derryboy, Derrygarriff and many more. As far back as 1277 some of the McNamara took shelter here from King Brian ruadh and these great oak woods of Slieve Aughty survived well into Tudor times to povide refuge for defeated Irish clansmen and others anxious to avoid unwelcome attention. According to Westropp there were still roughly 700 acres of timber, between mature and young trees, remainging in 1655 and in spite of ravages of the intervening years in 1981 Foras Forbartha report could state that in Derrymore and Derryhumma woods remnants of the natural oakwood were regenerating freely together with holly, birch and hazel.
Practically all the roads in use in the parish today were in existence at the time of the publication of the first O.S. maps in 1842. Sixty years previously the case was much different. In 1783 the 2nd. Ed. Of Taylor and Skinner’s map shows no sign of the present village street of Crusheen. At that date the Gort-Ennis road still ran in its ancient course, i.e. the present section of the Tulla road from the village south to the crossroads at the school – the "croisín" that gives the present parish its name; there it turned westward for almost half a mile until it emerged beside Fogarty’s cottage on the present road. Hard to believe now that the narrow overgrown track by the GAA pitch was once a busy thoroughfare over which Bianconi’s cars, among many others ran regularly.
Some time in the intervening 59 years the road which now runs under the railway bridge and past the church to join the old road at Clarkes was built. No doubt his new road, which was, in erect, a bypass, changed the whole center of gravity of the village from the old "croisín" to what we have today. In the process the only inn the parish possessed, Uniacke’s, must have found business gravely affected since it stood on the old road, near to where the school now is. Not a trace of this hostelry remains today.
In 1783 the little laneway between Fogarty’s and Clarke’s which crosses the railway and joins the Ruan road just beyond it was the road to Corofin. Only with the arrival of the railway in 1869 and the building of the station was the present station road made necessary and the old roadway declined to what it is today a mere pathway.
With the coming of motor transport many smaller pathways have fallen into disuse, some of them within living memory. Evidence of their very existence has in some cases vanished, but not in all. The two coffin stones (one for children, one for adults) on the former funeral-path to Inchicronan graveyard (D5) and Clock na nDeor at Doon (H8) were resting places for coffin-bearers on these paths in times gone by. The remains of another old road to Doon graveyard may still be seen just a quarter of a mile northeast of Ballinruan church (17)
Doubtless, other even more ancient paths still await discovery in parts of the parish covered in swamp or bogland. One such was found during turf cutting near Inchicronan Island some years ago, but the discovery was not pursued.
Among the most ancient survivals of human activity in the parish are those commemorating the dead. Of these monuments the best known is Caherphuca wedge-tomb, because of its accessibility and fine condition. But those at kildoydan South (D1) and Knockmael East (F7) are also worth a visit. Unfortunately one of those in Knockmael (the more northerly of the two shown on O.S. 6-inch sheet 18) no longer exists. It was destroyed during land reclamation in the 1980’s. A ring-barrow may be seen in the townland of Knockloaghan and a cist-grave in Srnagalloon townland. Neither is easy of access, so it is advisable to enquire for them locally.
Only two are known in the parish, both uninscribed, one at Carrownacloghy (B5) after which the townland is said to be named, and the other at Knockreddan (F5). What their purpose was it is hardly possible to say, though a story persists that the latter, south of Boscable House, marks the burial-place of a valuable horse owned by the Butlers of Castlecrine, landlords of the area in the nineteenth century.
Such stones countrywide are notoriously difficult to date. They may mark ancient boundaries, roadways, graves or the sites of notable events, or may merely be scratching-posts for animals. It is best to view each one individually and then judge for oneself.
Dozen of these ancient cooking-sites have been discovered recently within the parish and many others, no doubt, still await discovery. Horseshoe-shaped in the main, they occur where water was readily available and consist of a mount of burnt stones surrounding a trough in which meat was cooked by immersing stones heated in a nearby fire, thus boiling the water. Recent reconstructions have proved that it was a most efficient means of cooking. Excellent examples can be seen at (D1) to (D2)
As in most parishes in Ireland forts are numerous in Inchicronan (over 40 according to some authorities) These former fortified dwelling places continued to be occupied until the 17th century and are usually situated on rather high, dry, defensible sites, which often makes them quite distinguishable even when overgrown, as very many of them are. The reason that so few of them were, up to recently, damaged or destroyed was due to their being associated with the fairies. No one who did injury to such places would prosper, it was believed, and stories about of people who, through greed or stupidity, did so and paid the inevitable price – physical or mental disablement or even death.
Most forts contain a souterrain, an underground passage used a a place of sanctuary in times of attack or as a storage-place for perishable goods, but these have mostly been filled in to prevent injury to cattle and horses. An example of such adjacent to the village may be seen near the railway (D5) and one even more picturesque (Cloonalough Fort), though just outside the parish bounds (EO), overlooks Rathclooney Lake.
Of the remnants of the seven castles in the parish, only one, O’Brien’s castle (E1), is of any interest architecturally today. But all of them, particularly at Carrahil and Inchicronan, have had vivid hsitories, especially in the 17th centruy, a tiime when Ireland was in political turmoil. Changes of ownership wer frequent, often violent, as can be seen from the snatches that survive to us of the happenings of that time, e.g. on Sunday 13th March 1642 Inchicronan castle (D4) was beseiged by the O’Gradys (its former owners) together with Gilladuff o’Shaughnessy and the Burkes of Kiltartan. A year earlier, during the 1641 rebellion, the English settlers of Inchicronan, Ruan and Kilkeedy had been forced to take refuge in this castle and it was the statements of some of these survivors that were later used by the Cromwellians to justify their harsh measures against the native Irish. By 1651 the castle was held for Parliament by a Colonel Ingoldsby and at this time Donogh Neylon, a Franciscan friar captured in Ennis, was hanged here. In 1653 a Captain Stearne was cutting timber locally for the repair of several castles, including this one, and the soldiers remained until at least 1656. After 1664 no further recorded mention of castles occurs, and from what little remains today, a viewer would never imagine such stirring deeds to have taken place here.
Of nearby Carrahill castle (D4) only the foundations remain plus an intriguing submerged causeway to Eagle Island, which suggests that this latter may have been a crannog, perhaps a place of final refuge for the occupants of the castle.
What remains of Doon castle (H9) today is scant: a few scattered stones. Last occupied by the Butlers of Bunnahow, it seems to have been demolished by them when they moved to Bunnahow House, and the stones used to build a hunting lodge near Doon graveyard. Who built Doon castle is unclear but it is dated from the early 15th century and for the next two centuries changed hands frequently, being reported as in ruins by 1604. Renovated, it was owned by the Earl of Thomond in 1641 and in 1689 it was leased to James Butler who had been transplanted from Clonmel to Srangalloon in 1657. In 1703 the Butlers consolidated their grip with a 99-year lease to Sir Toby and it remained a Butler home until the completion of Ballyline House in the early 19th century. By then the family had established themselves not only as huge landowners but also as important functionaries in the administrative machinery of the county as a whole.
Close by, on a hill overlooking Doon graveyard (H9), is a folly in the shape of a little castle. From it a fine view of some of the nearby lakes may be had.
Three miles south of Crusheen village, at the left of the road to Tulla (E10) stands O’Brien’s Castle, still in a fine state of preservation. Why it has not shared the fate of the other three, since it was involved in the same wars and tribulations as they, is hard to account for. What is certain is that it is well worth a visit.
Built apparently by a Bishop O’Brien in the mid-15th century, its history over the next three centuries features many O’Briens and Butlers as owners. It was garrisoned by the Cromwellians in the 1650s and the doughty Captain Stearne repaired it with timber cut locally. At this time also, the native Irish were moved from within a radius of one mile of its walls, as in the case of Inchicronan castle. By 1808 it was uninhabited and has been unoccupied since.
Visitors may look around with the prior permission of the owner. The first few steps of the spiral staircase are missing, but it is not difficult to get across the gap and the climb to the tip is worthwhile. Features worth seeing include a large cut-stone fireplace and the remnants of interior plasterwork, as well as a large hole in one of the floors caused by lightning earlier this century. From the battlements fine views of the country round about can be had.
Of the several actual and possible church sites in the parish those most worth a visit today are St. Cronan’s parish church, Inchicronan priory or "the abbey", as it is known locally, and Kiltoola.
St. Cronan’s, on the village main street, near the railway bridge, dates from the 1830’s. It is a neat plain building interesting mainly for its for its fine wooden alter-back and German stations of the cross, both early 20th century.
Of Kiltoola there is little to say architecturally, since it is partly demolished, partly ivy-covered, but its situation in the townland of Carrowkeel More, near the river Fergus and Dromore Lake, is pleasant and peaceful. Inchicronan Abbey, though not easy of access, especially in wet weather, is doubtless, the best-known ecclesiastical site in Crusheen parish and attracts historians, folklorists and casual browsers. It is situated at the end of the long peninsula, which extends into Inchicronan Lake and consists of a heterogeneous group of buildings of different dates to which a graveyard, still in use, attaches. The transept arches and their delicate central pier are probably the most notable features, but a careful look about will reveal other details worth notice. For those interested in the paranormal it is the "Island Lights" that will provide most attraction to this place. The fame of these little blue lights, a death-warning to certain families of the parish whose burial place is the Island graveyard, is known internationally. Never a cause of terror, they have been seen by many, either on their way from the Island or hovering at the house of the family about to be bereaved. The most recent reported sighting was in the 1970s.
Four other holy sites of interest are the cillins at (D3), (F8), (G5) and (D0). In little burial-places like these countrywide were interred mainly unbaptized children but also occasionally suicides and strangers. Some of those in Inchicronan were last used as recently as the 1940s. The cillin at Kilvoydan South (D0) is adjacent to a holy well, as is the one recorded in Ordance Survey maps as Kilvilly (D3). The very name Kilvilly suggests that there was a sacred tree (bile) on the site. Whether the large beech tree now growing there is a descendant of this bile it is not possible to say.
Hardly any of the 6 holy wells in the parish are resorted too nowadays for cures, though a lingering belief in their power persists. Formerly both animals ( at St. Leonard’s well, Kilvoydan South (D0) and people (at all the others) were believed to benefit from visits to these sites and much local lore attaches to them.
Their present rather neglected state is bound to improve as more and more people search for the personal in religious belief, and the fact that everyone of these springs is probably as old as time itself will sooner or later draw devotees back to them again.
O’Donnell’s forge, adjacent to the Ballinruan crossroads in Crusheen village, is the sole reminder today of that world of local tradespeople, still very much alive up to the mid-century, which has now practically disappeared. A list of the trades formerly carried on in the parish reads now like and index to a vanished, an unfamiliar age, as indeed it is, not least in the insight it gives us into the far greater population then in residence. Up to the turn of the century and beyond , the parish could boast a carpenter, mason, shoemaker, weaver, butcher, tailor, baker, sapper, no less than 3 blacksmiths (two in Ballinruan)and a dancing-master (Liam a’Rince), who lived in the laneway behind Clarkes.
Today little more than the building trade is represented in the parish.
Cardplaying (especially "the old game") has always been extremely popular in the, among young and old alike and from September to May there are a least 3 games nightly every week, on Monday at Fogartys, on Thursday at Clark’s and on Friday at Ballnruan Community Centre.
Hurling has had a large and active following fro several generations and the opening of the new GAA pitch in 1990 for example, has been a great boon not just to the hurlers but to the wider sporting community also as proven by the advances made by the parish football teams in the past decade.
Certain traditional customs such as "the Wren" have been given a new lease of life in recent times, but one which has needed no reviving is the St. John’s Eve (June 23rd) bonfire at McNamara’s Bridge on the Tulla road (E2). Crusheen is one of the few places in Clare where this night is still celebrated through song, dance and music and as a consequence it has begun to attract outside attention, not least form the media.
Storytelling is alive in the parish and one of the largest collections of folklore on tape in Ireland is available on request to persons interested.