Cranny () is a small
village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
in
County Clare
County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...
,
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, situated south-west of
Ennis
Ennis ( , meaning 'island' or 'river meadow') is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in Cou ...
. It lies on the banks of the
Cloon River, which flows into the
Shannon Estuary
The Shannon Estuary in Ireland () is a large estuary where the River Shannon flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The estuary has Limerick City at its head and its seaward limits are marked by Loop Head to the north and Kerry Head to the south. Th ...
at
Clonderlaw Bay.
Etymology
There are two claims as to the name of the village. One stems from a bridge of tree trunks across the Cloon River, known as Crownee Bridge. Another stems from an edible
dulse known as ''creathnach'', which was distributed as food near Crownee Bridge during the
Great Famine, or plants resembling ''creathnach'' that grew near the bridge, giving it the Irish name ''Droichead na Creathnaighe''.
While there is no townland near Cranny and no such address the name is listed in the Register of Electors, the name of the village is now well-established. The village is situated in the townland of Carrowreagh, although the official Irish name for Cranny is ''An Chrannaigh'' and not ''An Chrannach'', as it was previously.
History
A topographical survey carried out by the
Irish Tourist Association
Irish commonly refers to:
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the island and the sovereign state
*** Erse (disambiguati ...
in 1943 noted the presence of a Catholic church, a
curate
A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...
's residence, a
National School, a
creamery
A creamery or cheese factory is a place where milk and cream are processed and where butter and cheese is produced. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has ...
, a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
and two
pubs
A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
in the village.
The village creamery was built in 1931 and officially opened in 1932, but has since been demolished.
Facilities
Cranny Rural Renewal Project was set up in 1997, in an effort to reverse the trend of depopulation and migration and to revitalise the area. A virtual
public library
A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...
, believed at the time to be the first of its kind in the world, was opened in 2003.
Cranny is part of
Coolmeen parish, which is part of the Radharc na nOileán pastoral area in the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe
The Diocese of Killaloe ( ; ) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in mid-western Ireland, one of six suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Cashel and Emly.
The cathedral church of the diocese is the Cathedral of Ss Peter a ...
. St Mary's Church in the village was constructed in 1832 using funds raised from a crusade across Ireland. The church was renovated in 1880 and 1906, while further renovations were carried out in 1981, when the gallery was removed and the building extended by towards the main road.
The local
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...
club,
Coolmeen GAA
Coolmeen GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Coolmeen, County Clare, Ireland. It takes part in competitions organised by the Clare GAA county board. It fields teams in Gaelic football.
History
Coolmeen GAA club was formed in 1 ...
, was founded in 1887. It won the
Clare Senior Football Championship
The Clare Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association club competition organised by Clare GAA between the top twelve gaelic football clubs in County Clare, Ireland. The winners represent the county in the Munster Senio ...
in 1919 and 1922, as well as the
Clare Intermediate Football Championship
The Clare Intermediate Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Clare County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association for the second tier football teams in the county of Clare in Ireland.
The 2024 Interm ...
on three occasions and the
Clare Junior Football Championship
The Clare Junior A Football Championship (abbreviated to Clare JAFC) is an annual Gaelic football club competition organised by the Clare County Board of the GAA for clubs below the Intermediate and Senior grades. It is contested by the top-r ...
on six occasions.
Cranny
National School is a co-educational primary school under the patronage of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe. As of 2015, there were 21 students and two teachers in the school.
The post office in the village closed in the 1960s, while there is also a
pub
A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
and a
post box
A post box (British English; also written postbox; also known as pillar box), also known as a collection box, mailbox, letter box or drop box (American English), is a physical box into which members of the public can deposit outgoing mail intend ...
.
TFI Local Link
TFI Local Link, or simply Local Link, is a set of local bus services in Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided ...
route 337 stops at Cranny National School once a day.
Notable people
*
Peadar Clancy
Peadar Clancy (; 9 November 1888 – 21 November 1920) was an Irish republican who served with the Irish Volunteers in the Four Courts garrison during the 1916 Easter Rising and was second-in-command of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Repub ...
, Irish republican
See also
*
List of towns and villages in Ireland
References
{{County Clare
Towns and villages in County Clare