Inagh ( ; ) is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

, Ireland. It is situated 14 km west of

Ennis Ennis () 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 County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

on the Inagh River. It contains the villages of Inagh and Cloonanaha.

Location

The parish is part of the barony of

Inchiquin Inchiquin ( ga, Inse Uí Chuinn) is a barony in County Clare, Ireland.Placenames Database of ...

. The ''Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, 1845'' describes Inach (then including Kilnamona) as:

Village

The village is clustered around seven of the parish's townlands that lie north-east of Mount Callan. It was once called ''Breintir Fearmacach agus Cormacach'', meaning "fetid district of Cinel Fearmaic and Cormaic". It was later called Breintre, then Inagh. The village is situated on the N85,

Ennistymon Ennistymon or Ennistimon () is a country market town in County Clare, near the west coast of Ireland. The River Inagh, with its small rapids known as the Cascades, runs through the town, behind the main street. A bridge across the river leads ...

/ Lahinch road, making Inagh a tourist route serving north and west Clare. There are a number of community and sports groups in Inagh including a youth club, angling, walking, golfing and reading clubs.

Hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of pla ...

and

camogie Camogie ( ; ga, camógaíocht ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game of hurling (which is played by men only ...

are played at Inagh-Kilnamona GAA. Inagh has had a strong tradition of Irish music and dancing. Inagh is also home to the organic

goat cheese Goat cheese, or chèvre ( or ; from French ''fromage de chèvre'' 'goat cheese'), is cheese made from goat's milk. Goats were among the first animals to be domesticated for producing food. Goat cheese is made around the world with a variety of ...

farm of St Tola.

Catholic Parish

The Catholic parish of Inagh and Kilnamona has its parish office in the village of Inagh. The first church of ''Eidnach'' was said to have been built by

Mac Creiche Mac Creiche (or Maccreehy, MacCrecius) of Liscannor is described by various old texts as an early Irish saint, a hermit who slew monsters and persuaded kings to submit to him through miracles. He was probably not a historical figure. The stori ...

in his old age, around 580. Fragments of the "Teampul na glas aighne" remained in 1839, but were later demolished. The church at Inagh, called in Irish ''Teampul-duv-na-h’Eidhnighe'', does not seem to have had a patron saint. The present church is dedicated to the "Immaculate Conception".

Ruins

As of 1893 there was only one castle in the parish, Bothneil, which was very dilapidated. In 1580 the castle was the property of Teige, son of Murrough O'Brien. Near the castle is a stone named ''cloch-an-agraid'', bearing an inscription in

Ogham Ogham (Modern Irish: ; mga, ogum, ogom, later mga, ogam, label=none ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish langua ...

characters. According to Professor O'Looney of the Catholic University, who examined it in 1844 and 1859, the inscription reads: ''FAN LIA DO LICA CONAF (N) COLGAC COSOBADA (C)'', meaning "Under this stone is laid Conaf (n) the fierce ndturbulent." Nearby there was a

cromlech A cromlech (sometimes also spelled "cromleh" or "cromlêh"; cf Welsh ''crom'', "bent"; ''llech'', "slate") is a megalithic construction made of large stone blocks. The word applies to two different megalithic forms in English, the first being an ...

named ''altoir-na-Gretne'' (altar of the sun), where the local people once met on certain days each year.

Townlands

The civil parish consists of the following

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

s: Ballyduff Beg, Ballyduff More, Ballyea North, Ballyea South, Ballynoe, Bauntlieve, Boolavaun, Boolinrudda, Boolyduff, Boolynamiscaun, Carrowkeel East, Carrowkeel West, Cloonanaha, Cloonmackan, Cloontysmarra, Coolshingaun, Curraghodea, Derry, Derryharriv, Drumanure, Drumcarna, Drumcullaun, Drumduff, Drumlesh, Drumnagah, Formoyle Eighteragh East, Formoyle Eighteragh West, Formoyle Oughteragh East, Formoyle Oughteragh West, Garvillaun, Garvoghil, Glennageer, Gortalougha, Gortbofarna, Knockalassa, Knockogonnell, Kylea, Letterkelly, Maghera, Magherabaun, Meelick, Muckinish, Sileshaun West, Sileshaun East and Skaghvickincrow.

Notable people

* George Tottenham (1890-1977), first-class cricketer and Indian Civil Service official * Róisín Garvey (born 1973), Green Party senator

References

External links

Inagh.com - The Inagh community website

Inagh Angling Club

St. Tola organic goat cheese
{{Civil parishes of County Clare Towns and villages in County Clare Civil parishes of County Clare