Clare Places: Corofin: Parliamentary Gazeteer of Ireland, 1845

Corofin, Corrofin or Curofin

A small market and post town in the parish of Kilneboy, barony of Inchiquin, co. Clare, Munster. It stands on the road from Ennis to Kilfenora, and on that from Gort to Milltown-Malbay, 7¼ miles north-north-west of Ennis, 9 east by north of Ennistymon, 12 south-west of Gort, and 119 west-south-west of Dublin. It occupies a romantic site between the lakes of Tedano and Inchiquin, on the very brief stream which connects these lakes, and on the plain which lies between the rocky hills of Inchiquin and Burren. The lake of Inchiquin, immediately to the west, has a quay for the landing of turf; and the lake of Tedano, immediately to the east, points the way up a chain of lakes and loughlets, north-north-eastward in the direction of Kilmacduagh. Close to Inchiquin lake stand the ruins of a castle which was the residence of the O’Briens, the senior branch of the sept of the O’Briens of Thomond, and the ancestors of the present Marquis of Thomond, who is proprietor of the town, and of a considerable extent of the circumjacent country. Corofin, as a town, is a poor place; and derives nearly all the little importance it possesses from its commanding a pretty large extent of secluded country. Fairs are held on the day before Ascension-day, and on Nov. 22. A dispensary here is within the Ennistymon poor-law union, and serves for a pop. of 13,391; and, in 1839-40, its receipts and disbursements were respectively £85 10s., and £86 16s. 9d. Area of the town, 30 acres. Pop., in 1831, 900; in 1841, 909. Houses 147. Families employed chiefly in agriculture, 64; in manufactures and trade, 92; in other pursuits, 42. Families dependent chiefly on property and professions, 9; on the directing of labour, 90; on their own manual labour, 81; on means not specified, 18. The town, jointly with Rath, gives name to a Roman Catholic parish in the dio. of Killaloe.

The Parliamentary Gazeteer of Ireland, 1845
Courtesy of Clare Local Studies Project