Schools in Ennistimon
The following schools were held in Ennistimon:
Birthplace of Brian Merriman
This west Clare town is celebrated for many features: its spectacular cascade; its late 18th century seven‑arch bridge across the Cullenagh (Cuileannach = "abounding in holly") river; the hill overlooking the town, with its cemetery and ruined church, adding to the town’s distinctive appearance; its shop fronts, regarded as fine specimens of vernacular street architecture; as the place of birth or residence of poets and indeed as a resort of poets; the Falls Hotel (where the Merriman Summer School is being held); its suburbs of Lahinch and Liscannor... To some it is known only from Percy French’s great song on the West Clare Railway Are Ye Right There, Michael? (Long ago it was the station for the spa in Lisdoonvarna. Incidentally, such was the importance of the spa that Lisdoonvarna its self is still often called "Spa" by locals.)
Uphill the ould engine is climbing
While the passengers push with a will;
You’re in luck when you reach Ennistymon,
For all the way home is downhill
It is accepted universally that Brian Merriman (c1749 – 1805) was born here; his father happened to be building a stone wall around the Deerpark. Séamus Mac Cruitín (1815 – 70), school master and "last of the hereditary bards", died in the town’s poorhouse. Mac Cruitín’s Ennistymon friend, Michael O’Reilly (c1790 – c1853), a tradesman, made those great collections of Clare’s Gaelic poetry now in Maynooth and the Royal Irish Academy. Nearly seventy years ago the poet Francis Mc Namara (1884 – 1946) from nearby Doolin owned the Falls Hotel; one of his daughters was married to poet Dylan Thomas (1914 – 53), and his friend painter Augustus John (1878 – 1961), flamboyant and unconventional, was also a frequent visitor. Poet Michéal F. Ó Conchúir (1928 – 98), a native of the parish, is widely anthologised in Gaelic collections and his last work, O’Conor Corcomroe: a bilingual history, 1996, has many references to the town. His note on "Ennistymon House" states:
This house was built to encompass the original castle built by the O’Conors in 1582. This house was built by Edward O’Brien in the mid‑eighteenth century. Francis Mc Namara converted it into the Falls Hotel in the 1930s. The castle, built by Donnchadh Ó Conchúir, gives its name to Ennistymon, Inis Tí Meáin, The Inch of the Middle House, it being situated between two O’Conor castles at Glan and Dough.
Inch can mean "island" or "river meadow" and the more prosaic meaning of the name Ennistymon is "Diomán’s river meadow".
In its size, character, intimacy and literary associations Ennistymon is ideal for the Merriman Summer School. After class, seminar or lecture school participants will easily find congenial company in the interesting streets and shops or in any one of the great variety of small public houses. And within a half‑hour’s drive is the wonderland of the Burren. The best short account of the town is the Thomas Davis lecture by Dr. Margaret Mac Curtain in Irish Country Towns, 1994.
Quotes
Looking down on Ennistymon from the hills on the northern extremity of the town, its schematic layout demonstrates how well the designers of the town adapted roof lines and street junctions to the spatial limitations of a scooped-out hollow. Built by the best stone‑masons in Ireland, there is a congruence of shape and form about this place which comes from a long tradition of knowing how to express vernacular art in stone.
Margaret Mac Curtain.
The tradition of painting the shop front in strong bright colours is still very much alive and small towns like Ennistymon provide rare panoromas of contrasting colours and a lively rhythm of shapes and planes of a truly human scale.
Seán Rothery in The Shops of Ireland, 1978.
Innstymon in the barony of Corcamroe is a rising Village, ornamented with an elegant Bridge, and a delightful Waterfall — here is an old Chappel, and a new Church, with two noted Capital Fairs in the Year; here is a large and plentiful Market every Saturday, and as well stock’d with Stockings, as Killaloe is with Eels.
John Lloyd in A Short Tour…, 1780.
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