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History of the Building
The building
within which the Clare Museum is housed was originally a Sisters of Mercy
school and chapel. The congregation came to Ennis in 1854 at the invitation
of parish priest Dean John Kenny. Row House, on the site of the present Temple
Gate Hotel, was adapted for the use of the Sisters. A former occupant was
Charles O'Connell, cousin of Daniel
O'Connell, who was a frequent visitor to Charles’ home during his
1820's campaign for Catholic Emancipation. The sisters soon became involved
in teaching.
A new convent was built in 1861 to accommodate the growing number of sisters,
and Row House was incorporated into it. The section occupied by the Museum
galleries was constructed as a primary school in 1865 and the final portion
of the convent complex - a chapel and classrooms - was erected in 1869. As
well as schools, the order had an orphanage and several small industries on
the site.
Sisters from Ennis convent established foundations overseas:
United States: Connecticut - 1872, California - 1859 and 1963
Australia: New South Wales - 1875
New Zealand: Hokitika - 1878
In Ireland, branch houses and schools were also set up in
Killaloe and Spanish Point, along with Colaiste Muire in the town of Ennis.
The sisters acted as administrators and nurses in the workhouses in Ennis,
Corofin, and Roscrea.
In 1994, declining numbers of nuns and dry rot in the building resulted in
the congregation selling the convent to Ennis Urban District Council. The
following year the main convent building was demolished, with only the present
section surviving. The sisters now live in smaller accommodation, but their
work continues and many of the schools which they founded still flourish.
Development
of the Museum and building
The surviving section of the convent building, formerly St Xavier's School
and Chapel, was scheduled for inclusion in the Derelict Sites Register, and
was transformed from a dilapidated building into a major cultural resource.
The Museum was developed by Ennis Urban District Council in association with
Clare County Council and the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the
Islands. Financial assistance of £1,000,000 was received from the Department’s
Cultural Development Incentive Scheme under the Operational Programme for
Tourism 1994 - 1999. The character of St Xavier's School and Chapel has been
retained and the new Museum development has been carried out in accordance
with the character of the building prior to redevelopment. The combined floor
area of the building at present is 7,500 square feet.
The museum galleries with its Riches
of Clare exhibition opened to public in October 2000.
Since 1999, Shannon Development and later Tourism Ireland rented a ground
floor unit in the building for use as a Tourist
Office, while the lobby area of the museum is frequently used by the Arts
Office for exhibitions.
St Xavier’s chapel was used as Clare County Council’s meeting
chamber until the new County Council building was opened at New Road, Ennis,
in 2008. Two other rooms – the O’Curry Room and the Westropp Room
– we both used as meeting rooms for both the Council and Community groups
and occasionally for museum exhibitions and activities.
Since 2009 Limerick Institute of Technology has used the vacated Council chamber
and both meeting rooms as a lecture theatre and offices as part of their Ennis
campus.