Doora () is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

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, just to the east of the town 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 ...

Name

In Irish the word ''Dúr'' means "water", and ''Dúire'' means "of water", so the name means the parish of the water or bog.

Location

The parish is on the western border of the barony of

Bunratty Upper Bunratty Upper () is a barony in County Clare, Ireland. This ancient geographical division of land is in turn divided into six civil parishes. Legal context Baronies were created after the Norman invasion of Ireland as divisions of counties and ...

, just east of the town of Ennis. It is and covers . The land includes bog, upland pasture and farmland. It is drained by the River Quin, which runs southwest into the

River Fergus The River Fergus () is a river within the Shannon River Basin which flows in County Clare, Ireland. The river begins at Lough Fergus in north Clare and flows into the Shannon Estuary. The source is at Lough Fergus in the townland of Kilmore N ...

. The population in 1841 was 2,365 in 370 houses. While the original eponymous hamlet decayed, a new village developed around Doora Church.

Antiquities

The history of

Saint Brecan Saint Brecan was an Irish saint active in the 5th century AD. There are legends concerning Brecan from Clare and Aran, and wells and churches are dedicated to him in various places in Ireland. His main monument is the ''Tempull Breccain'' comple ...

of Arran says he founded a church in Daclais that is named after him. According to James Frost the

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

of Kilbreckan holds the ruined church of Carrantemple, a very old building, which may be this church. In fact Carntemple lies in the adjacent townland of Noughaval. Doora Church may have been founded by Saint Brecan around 500 AD. If Brecan was the founder, as tradition states, it would have been one of the first central mission churches in Clare. An 1842 map notes that the church was in ruins and shows it about southwest of what was then the hamlet of Doora, in the west of the townland of Ballaghboy. It was about east of the

, opposite the town of

. There is also a ruined church named Kellavella. Two holy wells in the parish are dedicated to Saint Breccan. The parish has the remains of two castles. Ballyhannon Castle was the property of William Neylan in 1580. Renamed Castlefergus, it was still well preserved in 1893. The castle has since been restored and may be rented. The other castle, Clonmore, was completely ruined by the end of the 19th century. As of 1845 the principal hamlets were Dowry and Ballaghboy. The parish name at that time was variously spelled Doora, Dowry, or Dowrie. A notable native of the parish was Michael Considine of Castletown townland, who composed the famous folk song Spancil Hill in the early 1870s.

Sports

The

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 ...

(GAA) club, St Josephs Doora-Barefield GAA, has its grounds in the parish with three playing pitches in the Gurteen townland ().

Catholic parish

In 1837 the parish was united in the Catholic church with the parish of

Kilraghtis Kilraghtis () is a Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Clare, Ireland. It covers an area northeast of the town of Ennis, and includes the Ennis suburb of Roslevan, Ennis, Roslevan. Location The parish of Kilraghtis is in the baro ...

. Doora today is in the Catholic parish of Doora-Barefield, also called Doora and Kilraghtis, 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 ...

Townlands

The parish contains the

s of Ardsollus, Ballaghboy, Ballyglass, Ballyortla (North), Ballyortla (South), Ballyvonnavaun, Bunnow, Castlefergus, Castletown, Cloonawee, Cloonmore, Corebeg, Creggaun, Deerpark, Dooneen, Drim, Drumdoolaghty, Finanagh, Gaurus, Gortataggart, Gorteen, Kilbreckan, Kilfeilim, Killawinna, Knockanean, Knockaskibbole, Knockhogan, Monanoe, Moyriesk and Noughaval. The townlands of Castlefergus and Ardsollus are isolated from the rest of the parish, a small distance to the south. The town of Ennis includes the townlands of Ballaghboy, Bunnow, Gaurus, and Knockanean. File:Junction, Ennis, Co Clare.jpg, Junction of country road with R469, Ennis File:Ennis Area - Junction of N85 with M18 - View to North.jpg, Junction of N85 with M18 - View of the M18 to North from the N85 File:Reedbed, Kilbreckan, County Clare.jpg, Reedbed in the townland of Kilbreckan File:The L4104 road near Finanagh, Co. Clare (geograph 3546708).jpg, L4104 road near Finanagh

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Civil parishes of County Clare Civil parishes of County Clare Towns and villages in County Clare