Restoring Clooney House Gates & Piers
The gates and piers to the entrance of Clooney house are prominently located in Clooney Village and are the starting point of the Clooney House walking trail which is currently under development. The heritage committee of the Clooney Spancilhill Community Development Group have undertaken to restore these gates & piers in order to restore their original beauty, prevent further deterioration and ensure their survival for decades to come. This project would not have been possible without grant assistance from the Heritage Council, who recognise the importance of this work.
Click for full details, video & photos
Clearing & Restoring our Bridges
The Heritage group received permission from Clare County Council engineers to procced with work to clear vegetation off two of our bridges and carry out minor restoration. The bridges concerned are Carrahan Bridge and Rylane Bridge. Local residents got to work immediately and the results have been fantastic! There has been much appreciation of the work by the local community. Clare County Council staff members visited the bridges and commended the Heritage Group and the local community on the work that was carried out. The Clare Champion highlighted the work in a feature article – see below..
Heritage Group : Our Goals!
The Heritage group has three main objectives :
- Promote and document our local heritage sites
- Clearing local bridges of ivy and vegetation
- Erection of signage to mark local townlands
Local Heritage Sites
Our community is rich in heritage sites. Our task is to document these sites in order to preserve their history and to promote the sites for the benefit of the community.
Magh Adhair is one of our most important sites. It is a former inauguration site of the kings of Thomond, including Brian Boru. The site contains many archaeological monuments, including a mound, standing stone, fulacht fiadh and a bullaun stone.
Magh Adhair is owned and managed by the National Monuments Service and we have requested that they reinstate the directional signs and the information board. It is also hoped that they will map the area.
Other heritage sites include :
- Historic Houses e.g. Clooney House
- Megalithic Tombs
- Muckinish Castle & Clooney Castle
- Standing Stones
- Cillíns
- Ring Forts
- Holy Wells
- Creamery Stands
- Mines
- Spancilhill Model Farm
Local Stone Bridges
Our aim is to clear some of our stone bridges of ivy and vegetation. Stone bridges are found at Carrahan , Rylane, Sandhill, Maigh Adhair and Caherlohan.
This work can not be done without the Council examining the bridges so, as a starting point, engineers from the Roads Department will soon examine Carrahan bridge and Rylane bridge to determine if the bridges can be cleared without undermining their structures.
Townland Signage
The group intends to erect townland signage to mark some of the townlands in the area, similar to the townland signage in Rathclooney. We are currently looking for grant assistance for this project.