John D'Arcy (1785–1839) was the founder of town of
Clifden
Clifden () is a coastal town in County Galway, Ireland, in the region of Connemara, located on the Owenglin River where it flows into Clifden Bay. As the largest town in the region, it is often referred to as "the Capital of Connemara". Frequen ...
, recognised as the capital of
Connemara
Connemara ( ; ) is a region on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, ...
, in
County Galway
County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...
,
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 ...
. He was to reside at the mansion he had built,
Clifden Castle.
Life
D'Arcy was descended from the County Galway family, the D’Arcys of
Kiltullagh
Kiltullagh () is a village and civil parish in County Galway, Ireland. Located on the R348 regional road, the M6 motorway passes nearby. As of 2011, the townlands of Kiltullagh South and Kiltullagh North, in Kiltullagh civil parish, had a combin ...
, one of the "Fourteen tribes of Galway". D'Arcy was born in 1785. In 1804 he was to inherit family lands in Connemara, East Galway and Mayo in 1804 from his cousin Patrick. In the same year, on 4 June 1804, he way to marry Frances Blake, and she was to bear him four sons and two daughters.
While the inherited estates were traditionally managed from Kiltulla near
Athenry
Athenry (; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th-century street-plan. The town is also well known by virt ...
, D'Arcy, with his interest in sailing, seemed to prefer Connemara, and developed ambitions to develop a town at Clifden on the Owenglin River.
D'Arcy was appointed High Sheriff or Galway in 1811 but was to lose the position in the following year due to a controversial release of three Connemara men from Galway prison. This was also to mar his attempt to gain the parliamentary seat for County Galway in 1812; an election he was to unsuccessfully contest on four further occasions.
The date at which D'Arcy could be said to have founded the settlement he named Clifden might be said to be 1812 when he was to be granted patents to hold markets at fairs, this marking the transition from a village to a town.
D'Arcy's wife Frances was to die on 15 June 1815; prior to a move to a newly constructed mansion for himself,
Clifden Castle. In 1820 D'Arcy married the twenty-one year old Louisa Bagot Sneyd from Dublin, and she was to bear him eight further children.
Clifden grew slowly in the 1810s with there being only one house on the site up to 1815. By 1821 the town had grown to a population of 290 in 46 houses. A government grant in 1822 to relieve poverty in the area and this helped establish the fishing quay. The 1820s saw rapid expansion and by 1831 the census recorded a population of 1,257 in 196 houses, with schools, churches, a brewery and other industries established.
D'Arcy died in 1839, and, while having accomplished much, it had been at the expense of accruing debts against his estate.
Legacy
D'Arcy's chief legacy is the town of Clifden which continued to develop after his death. The debts D'Arcy had accumulated became and a problem with the impact of the famine, forcing his son and heir, Hyacinth, to become bankrupt. In 1850 the D'Arcy estates were disposed by the Encumbered Estates Court, being bought by Thomas and Charles Eyre for £21,245. Clifden Castle was inhabited during the 19th century but became a ruins by the 1910s.
A monument commemorating D'Arcy was built in the 1840s soon after his death on a hill at Cloghaunard to the south of and overlooking Clifden.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Arcy, John (1785-1839)
1785 births
1839 deaths
19th-century Irish landowners
People from Clifden