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Clare sends four members of parliament
to Dail Erreann. The county is administered by a county council
based in Ennis. The town's of
Ennis and Kilrush have their own urban district councils.
In the east of Clare, the Slieve Aughty
and Slieve Bernagh mountains are formed of slate, shale, and
sandstone. These uplands rise to a height of 530 meter's.(1,736
Ft) Beneath them lies the picturesque Lough
Derg on the River Shannon,
where pleasure boating is popular.
The major transport route is the national
primary N18 road northward from Limerick through Ennis to
Galway. The national secondary N67 serves the west of the
county and is joined to Ennis by the N68. The railway carries
only freight traffic and follows a route similar to the N18.
The international Shannon
Airport is the country's second busiest airport and is
mainly for transatlantic traffic. It has the world's first
duty-free shop. Irish coffee was invented there. A car ferry
crosses the Shannon estuary from Killimer to Tarbert in Kerry.
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County
Clare from Samuel Lewis' Topographical
Directory of Ireland 1837
Clare
is a county on the west coast, it's area
amounts to 3,188 sq. Km (1,231 sq mi)
The name comes from the Irish An Clar (the plain) It is situated
in the province of Munster
and is surrounded by the sea on three sides. It is bounded
on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Shannon
estuary, and to the north by Galway Bay.
The River Shannon and
Lough Derg separate it from Limerick and Tipperary in the
east. The county has become known as the banner county because
it has produced more than its fair share of politicians..
Clare is
very beautiful and attracts a large number of tourists. Its
major towns are Ennis, Shannon, Kilrush, Newmarket on Fergus
and Kilkee.
Tourist
Information
Aurthurs Row
off O'Connoll Square
Ennis
Co Clare
Tel +353 (0)65 6828366
Fax: +353 (0)65 6821234
E Mail
Web
Site |
The
lowland Centre of the county lies on limestone. There
are many lakes on its surface. Some of these are turloughs
(lakes which dry up in the summer). The River Fergus
drains much of Clare and runs into the Shannon estuary.
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The land rises to a low plateau
in west Clare. In the north lies the unique Burren area of
barren limestone landscapes. The Ailwee Caves are open to
the public. There is no surface water in the Burren. But the
remainder of west Clare has a damp landscape, with many rushes
and peat bogs on top of shale's and sandstone's. These rocks
end on the west coast in the spectacular Cliffs of Moher,
which have a sheer drop of 200 metres (656 Ft.) into the Atlantic
Ocean. There are also beaches on this coast at the resorts
of Lahinch and Kilkee.
Ireland's largest power
station is at Moneypoint on the estuary of the River Shannon.
It burns imported coal. The country's first and largest river
hydroelectric plant uses the water of the Shannon at Ardnacrusha.
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n Tipperary
at the rock of Cashel, now a cluster of buildings on the crest of an ancient
mound. With a ruined Cathedral, round tower and the Romanesque Cormac's
chapel. The area around the lower Shannon appears to have been populated
from early times there are many prehistoric monuments. The most notable
of which are a cluster of sites around Lough Gur in Co Limerick and the
Poulnabrone Dolman on the Burren
grew
and developed in medieval times under the protection of the Irish chieftains.
However the region is better known for the monasteries which were founded
in the 12th century by the austere and reforming Cistercians, such as
Monasterananagh in County Limerick, and Kilcooly and Holycross in Tipperary.About
25 percent of Clare's people work in agriculture. Farming is almost entirely
pastoral with only about one per cent of the land used for growing crops
Farms are generally larger than other western counties the average being
about 20 hectares in area. Cattle rearing
and dairy farming are the main activities. Milk is sent to creameries
for processing and most of the cattle are moved to farms in the east for
fattening. Farmers raise sheep in northern and upland areas, and some
farmers raise horses. There is forestry in the upland districts of eastern
and western Clare. 
