Inagh ( ; ) 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

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 118,81 ...

, 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 Cloonanaha () (less often Clounanaha) is a small village and townland in County Clare, Ireland. The village of Cloonanaha is just off the R460 road to the west of Inagh. It has a small school called Cloonanaha National School. Cloonanaha is ...

Location

The parish is part of the

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

of Inchiquin. 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 Slievecallan or Slieve Callan (), also historically called 'Mount Callan', is a mountain with a height of in west County Clare, Ireland. It is the third highest mountain in the county. There is a small lake and two megalithic tombs on the south ...

. 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 Lahinch or Lehinch ( ''or'' ) is a small town on Liscannor Bay, on the northwest coast of County Clare, Ireland. It lies on the N67 national secondary road, between Milltown Malbay and Ennistymon, roughly by road southwest of Galway and no ...

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 p ...

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 onl ...

are played at

Inagh-Kilnamona GAA Inagh-Kilnamona GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in the parish of Inagh and Kilnamona, County Clare in Ireland. The club field teams in hurling. The present club was formed prior to the 2008 season when Inagh GAA and Kilnamona ...

. 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 St Tola goats cheese is a range of handmade goat's milk cheese made in Inagh, County Clare. A range of cheese are produced varying from fresh soft cheese to a Gouda style hard cheese. History Originally, the business was set up by Meg and D ...

Catholic Parish

The Catholic parish of

Inagh and Kilnamona Inagh and Kilnamona is a parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe in County Clare, Ireland. It is mostly coterminous with the civil parishes of Inagh and Kilnamona that lie to the west of the county town of Ennis in the ancient barony ...

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 stories ...

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 langu ...

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 Róisín Garvey (born 5 July 1973) is an Irish Green Party politician who has served as a Senator since June 2020, after being nominated by the Taoiseach. Early life Garvey grew up in Inagh and attended Coláiste Muire, Ennis and NUI Galway. ...

(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