Clare

Clare, a maritime county in the province of Munster, Ireland, lying between Galway Bay and the Shannon. It is seventh in size of the Irish counties; length, 67 miles; greatest breadth, 43; average, 21; area, 1294 sq. m.—The surface is mostly hilly, with some mountains, bog, marsh, and rugged pasture. There is an undulating plain in the centre, from north to south. In the east the hills reach a height of 1758 feet. The sea-line is high and rocky, in parts precipitous, and occasionally from 400 to 680 feet high, with many isles and fantastic detached rocks. The chief rivers are the Shannon (q.v.) and the Fergus, running south 27 miles through the middle plain, and by an estuary 5 miles broad. The county has about 100 small lakes. Carboniferous limestone is a prevailing formation; the south-west third of the county forms part of the Munster coal-field. There are lead-mines, slate and marble quarries, and many chalybeate springs. The chief crops are oats and potatoes. The chief towns are Ennis (the county town), Kilrush, Ennistimon, and Killaloe. Pop. (1841) 286,394; (1851) 212,428; (1871) 147,864; (1891) 124,483, of whom all but some 2000 were Roman Catholics. The county returns two members to parliament. There are many cromlechs, raths, remains of abbeys, and old castles or towers, and several round towers, one at Kilrush being 120 feet high. Till the time of Elizabeth the county was called Thomond; its present name comes from Thomas de Clare, who received part of all the land he might conquer. See books by J. Frost (1893) and Father White (1893).