Check up your local area without ever leaving your home

Clare Champion, 13th May 2005

If you are looking for information on your town or village, you no longer need to travel to your local branch library or to the Local Studies Centre at the Manse in Ennis. Clare County Library’s website is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at - www.clarelibrary.ie. It’s a cultural one-stop shop for County Clare, attracting 300,000 visitors a year. Recently it passed the 1.5 million mark for hits.

One of the more popular sections of the website deals with places; information on 99 towns and villages is available at the touch of a keyboard. When you click the “Places” link on the home page of the website you are offered a menu showing the various sections. Under “Towns & Villages”, for example, the section on Ardnacrusha reveals the relevant extract from Guys Directory of 1893, as well as an illustrated history of the building of the Shannon Hydro Electric Station. If you want information on Kilrush, the historical background is readily available, together with numerous photographs of subjects like the West Clare Railway, and a major project on the history of Scattery Island. If you are looking for more details on the area around Kilrush, then visit Kilrush Parish and you will get a broad range of relevant information, including a map of the parish showing all its townlands. Then, when you have your bearings, a wealth of information unfolds including descriptions of the parish in 1837 and 1845, and hedge school teachers in 1824.

The Tithe Applotment Books of 1826, the Griffith’s Valuation of 1855 and the 1901 Census allow people to research their family tree on-line from anywhere in the world.

The “Townlands” section holds a complete list of all Clare townlands and their parishes in alphabetical order. You may also look at some excellent photographs of Clare by clicking on “FOTO: Clare images on-line” or view Burren flora in the “Krieger Burren Flora Collection”.

Complimentary to places is the section on people. Here you can browse through a collection of famous Clare People and learn about their lives and achievements. Do not expect any of our modern day heroes, as one must have passed away to qualify for this section. A wide range of famous people are included for example Brian Boru, Willie Clancy, William Smith O’Brien, Mike McTigue, Eugene O’Curry and many more.

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