Moyasta () is a hamlet in

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 Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, situated between

Kilkee Kilkee () is a small coastal town in County Clare, Ireland. It is in the parish of Kilkee, formerly Kilfearagh. Kilkee is midway between Kilrush and Doonbeg on the N67 road. The town is popular as a seaside resort. The horseshoe bay is pr ...

and

Kilrush Kilrush () is a coastal town in County Clare, Ireland. It is also the name of a civil parish and an ecclesiastical parish in Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe. It is located near the mouth of the River Shannon in the south-west of the county. ...

on the N67. The hamlet is bordered by the Moyasta River, flowing from the

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s to Poulnasherry Bay.

History

Moyasta was part of the Vandeleur Estate. In the post-famine era, the name Vandeleur became synonymous with the worst of landlord evictions, with over 20,000 evicted from the part of their estate in the Kilrush Union. On 13 March 1921 a Moyasta farmer and

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

magistrate named Tom Shannon was murdered in his home by unknown assailants. According to the Irish Times on 7 April 1921, which based its article on a report from British government, the killing was done by other Sinn Féin supporters. The government report claimed that Shannon, a magistrate in the Sinn Féin courts, was trying to distance himself from the courts and had refused to pay local Sinn Féin taxes. In fact, it was clear that the assailants spoke with a strange accent, something the English Court Of Inquiry was not told by the

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ga, Constáblacht Ríoga na hÉireann; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the country was part of the United Kingdom. A separate ...

. Due to the lack of information, the Court could only conclude that the murder was committed by "persons unknown". This gave the government the opportunity to use the event for some anti-Irish propaganda. According to more recent research, the murder of Tom Shannon was part of a "secret murder campaign". This campaign was directed at prominent people, often elected representatives and magistrates. As a magistrate, Shannon fell victim of this campaign.The Shooting of Tom Shannon, forgotten hero of the War of Independence in West Clare
by Eoin Shanahan

Railway

Moyasta Junction railway station The West Clare Railway (WCR) originally operated in County Clare, Ireland, between 1887 and 1961. This narrow-gauge railway ran from the county town of Ennis, via numerous stopping-points along the West Clare coast to two termini, at Kilru ...

is the junction of the

and

branches of the

West Clare Railway The West Clare Railway (WCR) originally operated in County Clare, Ireland, between 1887 and 1961. This narrow-gauge railway ran from the county town of Ennis, via numerous stopping-points along the West Clare coast to two termini, at Kilrush ...

, from which point a single line continues to

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 ...

and

Milltown Malbay Milltown Malbay (), also Miltown Malbay, is a town in the west of County Clare, Ireland, near Spanish Point. The population was 829 at the 2016 Census. Name There is a townland on the southern edge of the town called Poulawillin or Pollawillin ...

. The station forms a museum, and is also the headquarters of the narrow-gauge West Clare Railway in its restored format as a seasonal

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

Notable people

Nell Galvin Ellen (Nell) Galvin (1887 - 5 September 1961) was a fiddle and concertina player from County Clare, Ireland. She was originally from Ballydineen, Knockalough, near Kilmihil. Nell Galvin learned to play when she was young. She was taught by Ga ...

, fiddle and concertina player

Gallery

File:Eviction of Michael Connell, Moyasta, Co.Clare (23618242349).jpg, An eviction at Moyasta in the 1880s. File:WCR Slieve Callan at Moyasta.jpg, Original WCR locomotive ''Slieve Callan'', now preserved at Moyasta.

References

Towns and villages in County Clare {{Clare-geo-stub

History

Railway

Notable people

Gallery

See also

References