Mountshannon

History

The village was designed and built from scratch by Alexander Woods, a Limerick merchant, who intended it as a purely Protestant settlement from which the surrounding Catholic population would be so impressed by the thrift and industry of the settlers that they would quickly convert to the Reformed Church; even as late as the 1830s there was not a single Catholic resident in the village. In fact the reverse happened - it was the Catholics who colonised the village, and the picturesque Protestant church in a wooded churchyard bears mute testimony to Woods and his scheme.

Mountshannon was home to the last manually operated telephone exchange in Ireland. The exchange was finally converted to automatic service at noon on May 28, 1987.

Today

Mountshannon is an attractive village with 4 pubs, one of which is a hotel, a corner shop/cafe, a restaurant, a garage/shop and a pizzeria.

It is a starting point for visiting the nearby Inis Cealtra, or Holy Island. Now uninhabited, it was once a monastic settlement. It has a fine round tower, and the ruins of several small churches, as well as part of 4 high crosses and a holy well. The cemetery on this island is still in use, the coffins being transported from the Clare side in small boats. There is a stone with a hole in it, through which lovers held hands and promised to be true. Boat trips can be taken from the harbour to the island.

Mountshannon is on the route of the East Clare Way, walking trail.

A recent addition to Mountshannon is the maze built in the centre of town in a small park with views of Lough Derg. The maze features information about the development of the Irish spiritual tradition. Alongside is a picnic area made out of wood carved by local artists, encircled by willow hedging. In the entrance is a stone with a hole facing toward Holy Island. The island can only be viewed by the most penitent by kneeling on a stone in order to view the through the hole. To the rear of the maze is a fine labyrinth consisting of the lawn being cut at different heights, flower beds and hornbeam hedging. It is modelled on the pavement labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral in France. Mountshannon is a regular winner in the Tidy Towns having won the national prize in 1981, silver in 2004 and numerous bronzes over the years. It most recently took bronze in its population category (2010).

Harbour

Mountshannon Harbour, is a sheltered south facing harbour, very popular in the summer months with cruisers, who pull up for the night and head into the village for a couple of pints and some traditional music. A separate bathing area is very popular with local families. A slipway is available for launching small craft.

White-tailed Sea Eagles

A breeding pair of white-tailed eagles nested on a nearby island in Lough Derg in 2012. This marked a great success for the Irish reintroduction programme which started in County Kerry in the summer of 2007. In early May 2013, the first eaglets were born in Ireland since the re-introduction programme began; one in the Killarney National Park and two here. In 2014 and 2015 further chicks were hatched.

Roman Catholic parish

The village of Mountshannon lies in the civil parish of Inishcaltra. In 1898 the parishes of Inishcaltra and Clonrush were transferred from County Galway to County Clare. Today these two civil parishes make up the Catholic parish of Mountshannon (Clonrush) in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe. Churches are St Caimin in Mountshannon and St Flannan in Whitegate.

Church of Ireland parish

The Mountshannon and Tuamgraney parish encompasses the villages of Mountshannon and Tuamgraney, including St. Cronan's Church, Tuamgraney, the oldest church in continuous use in Ireland and the United Kingdom, built in the 10th centure.

Festivals

Mountshannon hosts a variety of events such as the Mountshannon Trad Festival and the Lough Derg Rally, but it is most well known for its annual Mountshannon Festival of Arts, or "The Mountshannon Hippy Festival", as its called by the youth. Every year the "hippies" descend from the mountains, where they have hibernated for most of the winter, and swarm in the Aistear where they set up games, music and stalls to entertain visitors, and it's a load of shite. To commence this annual festival, the mountain-folk gather for the yearly event of bathing one-another. The Festival of Arts is easily identified by the pungent aroma of these mountain-folk, leaking upward from the lake. This sudden flock of "hippies" significantly raises the atmospheric temperature and in turn, warms up the lake. It is a natural spectacle that is admired by the locals. From then until the end of the summer season, the water is warm enough for the locals to swim in. Townspeople praise these "hippies" for there yearly contribution to their small community.