CLARE, the most northern of the six counties which form the province of Munster in Ireland, is bounded on the north by the bay and county of Galway; on the east by Lough Dearg and the river Shannon, which separate it from the county of Tipperary; on the south by the estuary of the Shannon, which flows between it and the counties of Limerick and Kerry; and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Its greatest length, measured in a northeastern direction from Loophead to Scariff Point in Lough Dearg, is seventy miles; and its breadth, from Blackhead in Galway Bay to Limerick city, forty-five miles. Its surface comprehends 802,352 acres, of which 524,113 are cultivated, 259,584 are mountain and bog, and 18,655 are covered with water.

According to Ptolemy, this county was anciently the residence of the tribe of the Gangani; afterwards it was called Tuadmuin or Thomond, which signifies North Munster, and was also known by the appellation of O’Brien’s Country, from the family of that name which then possessed, and still continues to retain, considerable influence there. In 1565 it was made shire ground, by the name it still retains, at which time it was annexed to Connaught, but was restored to Munster in 1602. The county is now divided into nine baronies, viz. 1. Bunratty; 2. Burren; 3. Clonderalaw; 4. Corcomroe; 5. Ibrickan; 6. Inchiquin; 7. Islands; 8. Moyarta; and 9. Tullagh. These baronies are subdivided into seventy-six parishes, besides two parts of parishes, the remainders of which are in the adjacent counties of Galway and Limerick.

In the ecclesiastical arrangements of Ireland, Clare is considered as forming part of the diocese of Killaloe, which also extends over the greater part of the county of Tipperary, and some small portions of the King’s County and of those of Galway and Limerick. Killaloe, near the western bank of the Shannon, is the episcopal seat, at a small distance from which stands Clarisford House, the bishop’s residence, built in the middle of a very beautiful demesne. The diocese of Kilfenora, anciently called Fenabore, and which has long been united with the preceding, comprehends the baronies of Burren and Corcomroe, and is the smallest see in Ireland. The town ofKil-fenora is remarkable only for its cathedral, the nave of which is full of old family memorials. A figure of St Feighan, the founder, is to be seen at full length in the choir. In the same cathedral are seven crosses, each formed of a single stone, and carved with antique devices. The yearly value of the united dioceses, including mensal lands, according to a return made to parliament in 1831, amounts to L.4600.

The surface of the country is hilly, and in some parts mountainous, but nowhere rising to heights of very great elevation. A considerable portion is covered with bog, particularly in the western baronies of Moyarta and Ibrickan. Bogs are frequent also in the mountainous districts in other parts, except in the limestone barony of Burren. It has been remarked that the large tracts of rocky country, which must always be used for grazing, and therefore require but a very small population, enjoy but a scanty supply of this valuable material for fuel. The inhabitants of several parts of Burren import it from the opposite shores of Connemara. Generally speaking, the eastern parts of the county are mountainous, with tracts of rich pasture lands interspersed; the west abounds with bog, and the north is rocky, and best adapted for grazing sheep. In the southern part, along the banks of the Fergus and Shannon, are bands of rich low grounds, called carcasses, of various breadth, and indenting the land in a great variety[7:6:725] of shapes. That part called Tradree, properly Tradruihe, or the King’s Land, a name supposed to be attached to it in consequence of its being the patrimony of the celebrated Brian Boroimhe, is proverbially rich. These carcasses are distinguished, from the nature of their respective substrata, into black and blue; the former is more esteemed for tillage, the latter for meadow. Indeed this county seems to be distinguished from most others in Ireland, by the peculiarity of containing such a variety of soils, from the rich lowland carcass to the light mountain gravel, as to include a gradation fitted to produce all the necessaries and many of the luxuries of civilized life. Every quality of ground exhibits itself, from the shores of the Atlantic, in regular progressive chains of varied productive fertility, from the luxuriant lowlands of Tradree to the rocky pasturages of Burren. The traveller cannot but be struck with the wonderful contrast between the cliff that frowns over the vale of Glanagarud, where the eye looks in vain for the scanty herbage that maintains the goats on its summit, and the banks of the Shannon, whose fertility cannot be exhausted by the most numerous herds of cattle, or by the uninterrupted tillage of many years. .

The climate is remarkably healthy. The strong gales from the Atlantic, though unfriendly to planting, insomuch that trees sixty miles inland, if not sheltered, incline towards the east, seem to produce no injurious effects on the human constitution. Yet low fevers are common, and often pass through whole parishes, cutting off numbers; but their frequency and malignity are attributed more to the slovenly habits and want of cleanliness too prevalent among the peasantry, than to any insalubrity in the climate. The frequent use of ardent spirits also contributes its baleful agency to increase the extent and virulence of this awful visitation.

Besides the Shannon, a portion of which forms the eastern and southern boundaries of the county, the most considerable river is the Fergus, which rises in the barony of Corcomroe, and after flowing through Lough Inchiquin and several other smaller sheets of water, passes through Ennis, where it is joined by the Clareen; then, expanding into a large and beautiful estuary, studded with picturesque islands, it unites itself with that of the Shannon. The Fergus is navigable for vessels of two hundred tons, ten miles up to Clare, and for small craft to Ennis. In consequence of the many mountain streams with which it is fed, it is subject to floods, by which the low carcass lands on its borders are frequently overflowed, and much injury is done to the stocks of hay and cattle. The Ougarnee joins the Shannon near Bunratty Castle, as does the Blackwater near Limerick. The former of these rivers presents peculiar advantages for extensive manufactures. The supply of water is equal to any expenditure, and in some parts the fall is so rapid that a mill could be erected at every hundred yards. The Ardsallas and Clarcen are branches of the Fergus. The Innistymon river divides the baronies of Ibrickan and Islands, and falls into Lisea-nor Bay. The Boagh or Bow forms part of the boundary between this county and Galway. A large stream rising in Mount Callan forms Lough Dulogh, and disembogues itself into the Atlantic.

The lakes are very numerous, amounting to upwards of an hundred, to which names have been given. The principal are Lough Graney, Lough Tedane, and Lough Inchiquin. They are, however, more celebrated for their picturesque beauties than their extent. Lough Terroig rests on the summit of the Slieveboghta mountain, in Tullagh barony; a stream from it feeds the beautiful Lough Graney, or Lake of the Sun, and, after a serpentine course of several miles, flows into the Shannon at the bay of Scariff. Besides the perennial lakes, large accumulations of water occur, either forced upwards from under ground of a higher level, or produced by collections of surface water draining down from more elevated spots. These dry up in summer, and are called turloghs or loghans. On the subsiding of the water, its place is supplied by a copious growth of fine grass, that affords pasturage to numerous herds and flocks. Many of these turloghs admit of easy drainage.

Although mineral and metallic substances have been found in many places throughout the county, they do not show themselves in sufficient abundance at any one spot to induce the application of capital for their extraction. The principal are lead, iron, and manganese.' Copper pyrites occurs in several parts of Burren. Coal has been discovered, but the seams are too thin to warrant the expectation of profit from their working on a large scale. Limestone is very general. Flags, easily quarried, and raised in blocks or slabs of considerable size, are procured near Kilrush; they are curiously connected by serpentine insertions between the layers. Thin flags, used for covering houses, are raised near Innistymon, as are slates for the same purpose in several places. A species of very fine black marble has been discovered near Ennis. It takes a high polish, and is free from the white spots with which the black Kilkenny marble is marked.

The mineral springs, which are found in many places, are chiefly chalybeate. That of Lisdownvarna has long been celebrated for its medicinal qualities, particularly in biliary obstructions: it is ferruginous, with an astringent taste and strong smell, yet not fetid. It possesses the additional advantage of being contiguous to the sea, thus affording the valetudinarian the option of sea-bathing, if deemed advisable. There are chalybeate springs of less note at Scool, Cloneen, Kilkishen, and Cassino, near Miltoun Malbay. Springs called by the people holy or blessed wells, are common; but their efficacy in performing cures in inveterate maladies is every day less valued. One of these, near Tomgraney, called St Cullen’s, is remarkable for the purity of its water: it was formerly overshadowed by a magnificent oak, the stump of which, measuring sixteen feet in circumference at four feet from the ground, still exists. At St Giaran’s Well, near Ennis, are the relics of a very large ash-tree.

This county, in common with most other parts of Ireland, is deficient in timber. Many miles square present themselves to the view, with scarcely the vestige of a tree to vary the monotony of the scene. This is the more to be deplored, because even the most rocky tracts admit of being planted, as the fissures of the limestone generally have a perpendicular direction, and are usually filled with a rich black earth. It is also well known that many tracts now bare of trees, and affording but a scanty herbage for sheep, were once covered with woods; and in spots where the soil is protected from the invasion of sheep and goats, plants of oak, quicken, hazel, and other species of useful timber, shoot up spontaneously, which, if properly protected and nurtured, would in a few years clothe these naked cliffs with an abundant and profitable foliage. Several proprietors have latterly been active in remedying this defect. The most extensive modern plantations are at Cratilow, near Limerick, where several hundred acres have been judiciously planted.

The results of inquiries respecting the population, at different periods, partly by private individuals, partly by order of government, give the number of houses as follows, whence, as the number of souls in each is now universally estimated at 5ļ, or 6 at the utmost, the total number of individuals in the county can easily be calculated.
[7:6:726]
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The enumeration of the population, taken by authority of parliament, exhibits the following results:
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The county was represented in the imperial parliament by three members; two for the county at large, and one for Ennis. The new arrangements under the reform act have made no change in this particular. The number of electors, previously to the disfranchisement of the fortyshilling freeholders, was 8557; subsequently to that period it was reduced to 1604; under the provisions of the reform act it amounts to 2515.

The peasantry possess most of the qualities, habits, and prejudices, usual among the agricultural classes throughout the south and west of Ireland. Under the ordinary circumstances of society, when not exposed to the influence of some unusual excitation, they are kindly and well-mannered towards each other, and hospitable to strangers, their intercourse with whom is marked, from the lowest ranks to the highest, with an almost undeviating civility and readiness to oblige. The cottages of the labouring classes are usually built of stone without cement, sometimes with sods, and thatched with straw, or, in lieu of it, with fern rushes, sedge, or even potato stocks. Their fuel is exclusively turf, drawn from their own extensive bogs, or from the neighbouring shores of Galway. Their usual food is potatoes, with milk in summer. On the sea coast their fare is occasionally improved by the addition of fish. Almost every cottar has a small garden planted with cabbage, varied, perhaps, with a small patch of onions or parsnips.

Their usual clothing is frieze wrought at home by the women of the family, whose industry generally enables them to produce an additional quantity for sale. The women used to wear pettieoats of home-dyed red flannel; but the introduction of cotton cloths is rapidly excluding all other kinds of manufactures for female dress here as well as elsewhere.

The state of education, as far as it has been ascertained from the returns of the census of 1821, and the reports of the parliamentary commissioners in 1824-6, gives the following numbers of pupils :—
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Of the number specified in the latter of these statements, 695 were of the established church, and 19,366 Roman Catholics. The total number of schools was 315, of which 249 were supported wholly by the fees of the pupils, whose number amounted to 15,070; the remaining 66 schools, containing 6320 pupils, were supported either by grants of public money, or by voluntary contributions of societies or individuals of various religious persuasions.

Though, from the general description already given of the soil and surface of the country, it would appear to be better adapted to grazing than tillage, yet in the richer lands the latter is carried on extensively, and the modern improvements in agriculture are rapidly gaining ground. Dairies are numerous. Spade culture is still practised in the mountainous and rocky parts: some of the best corn is raised in this expensive and laborious manner. At Ralahine, an establishment combining agriculture and manufactures, on a plan somewhat similar to that proposed by Mr R. Owen, late of Lanark, is successfully carrying on under the superintendence of the proprietor, J. S. Vandeleur, Esq. If the county be remarkable for the raising of any produce not in general cultivation elsewhere, it is for that of onions. Around Ennis this vegetable is raised in great quantities, and the very superior attention it requires gives employment to numerous labourers.

The usual rate of wages for field work is from 8d. to lθd. per day. But employment is not abundant, except in spring and autumn, at which seasons the number of hands is insuflicient for the demand. Near the sea good land is let to the peasantry to raise potatoes, at L.3. 10s. to L.4 per aere. This land they manure with sea-weed and sea-sand. In the interior potato ground is let without manure at from L.5 to L.7, and with manure at from L.10 to L.12 per aere. After paying for his cabin and potato garden, the labourer has very little remaining to purchase necessary apparel for himself and his family.

The general term for leases is three lives, or thirty-one years. Bishops’ land is let for twenty-one years, with liberty to renew annually, or at other periods, on payment of a proportionate fine. Much property is held by this uncertain and discouraging tenure. Some landlords retain a right of planting on the tenant’s land, allowing him the value of the part so planted. From a return very lately made as to the residence of the landed proprietors, it appears, that of sixty-three, the number stated in the return, forty-eight are resident on their respective estates, nine reside in other parts of Ireland, and six only are absentees. Yet this county has been as much disturbed of late years, and the peasantry are in as great a state of destitution, as in those in which absenteeism is prevalent. The names of the absentees are the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Egremont, the London Mercers’ company, Morrugh O’Brien, William Casey, and Crosdaile Morony, Esqrs.

Besides the manufactures for home consumption already mentioned, flannels and friezes are largely made for sale. In the western parts coarse yarn stockings are manufactured by hand, in such quantities as to be the common medium of barter. Coarse linens for sacks and packing are also fabricated. A species of coarse hat is manufactured near Scariff. Kelp is made in large quantities along the sea-shore; but in consequence of the negligent manner in which it is prepared, and of the fraudulent practice of mixing with it a particular kind of stone, hence called kelp-stone, its value in the general market is considerably less than that made in Scotland or other parts of Ireland.

The fisheries ought to be a source of much wealth and comfort to the inhabitants of a district so contiguous to the sea; yet such is by no means the case. Kilrush is the only harbour which engages largely in them. Here the herringfishcry is carried on, yet not to a great extent. Fishing piers have within these few years been built in several suitable situations. Shell-fish, especially oysters, crabs, and lobsters, abound. The salmon-fishery of the Shannon is very productive. Eels form a material article of consumption and traffie. They are found in every stream; yet the weirs constructed for their capture are thought to produce more injury, by the floodings arising from the water thrown back from them on the cultivated land, than benefit from the fish caught by them.

The amusements in which the country people chiefly indulge are hurling matches, here called goals, in which feats of surprising strength and activity are performed. Chairs are nothing more than night-meetings at public houses, where they give themselves up to conversation, dancing, and drinking. A curious custom prevails in some parts: [7:6:727]the head of every beast that is slaughtered is given to the blacksmith, a usage probably originating in a remuneration for the use of his sledge and arm in knocking down the animal. In many places it is customary among the lower classes to call the gentry by their abbreviated Christian names, without any addition of family name or title, and this is done with no intention of insult or degradation.

The county abounds with remains of antiquities, both military and religious. Of the former there are still visible 119 fortified castles, seven of which are inhabited. Raths are to be found in every part; they arc generally round, composed either of large stones without mortar, or of earth thrown up and surrounded by one or more ditches, on which was formerly placed a staked hedge. The list of abbeys and other' religious houses formerly existing here, some of which are now only known by name, comprehends upwards of twenty. The most remarkable are, Quin, said to be the finest and most perfect specimen of ancient monastic architecture in Ireland; Corcomroe, Ennis, in which a very fine window of uncommonlyelegant work-manship is still to be seen; and Inniscattery, situated on an island in the Shannon, said to be founded by St Senanus, and particularly noted for the total exclusion of females from its precincts. In the island is a round tower. Four others are to be found in various stages of preservation, at Drumelieve, Dysert O’Dea, Kilnabay, and Inniscal-tra. Cromlechs are found chiefly in Burren, though there are some in other baronies. That at Ballygannor is formed of a stone forty feet long and ten broad. The celebrated tomb of Conan, on Mount Callan, is still extant. Near the same place is a monument, called Darby’s and Graney’s Bed, to which the very singular custom is attached, that if a young woman goes thither with a stranger, she is bound to grant him any favour he asks.

There are no towns of considerable size or importance in the county. Ennis, the assize town, contains a population not much exceeding 7000 souls. It is situated at the junction of the Fergus and Clareen, about ten miles from the entrance of the joint stream into the Shannon. It is a post, market, fair, and borough town, and the only one which sends-a representative to parliament. The electors, under the new arrangement, amount to 237. The public buildings are, the parish-church, adorned with a handsome steeple; a Roman Catholic chapel, and a Methodist meeting-house. The market-house is a very fine building, as is the new jail, which is constructed according to the modern ideas of prison discipline. The latest reports to parliament describe it as holding a distinguished place among the best regulated establishments of this class. The town is a mart for flannels and linen; it is also the seat of an extensive corntrade. A school, on the foundation of Erasmus Smith, has been established here, besides which there are several private seminaries of education. The navigation of the river is obstructed by a bar which prevents the ingress of large vessels; but this defect, it is said, could be remedied at an expense of about L.10,000. Kilrush, on the estuary of the Shannon, is the next town of importance. Its population is about 4000, and from its situation and good harbour, aided by the exertions of a resident and improving landlord, it is yearly increasing in wealth and importance.

Dutton’s Statistical Survey of Clare ; Shaw Mason’s Parochial Account of Ireland ; Bog Reports ; Erck’s Ecclesiastical Register; Parliamentary Papers; Reports of the Commissioners of Education ; Returns under the Population Act ; Reports of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline.