Clare Places: Liscannor: Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, 1845

Liscannor

A village in the parish of Kilmacrehy, barony of Corcomroe, Co. Clare, Munster. It stands on the north side of Ballyella or Liscanor bay, and on the new coast-road of the county, 2¼ miles west-north-west of Lehinch, and 4¼ west of Ennistymon. It has been entirely formed since 1775; and contained, in 1814, nearly 200 houses, about 10 of which were slated, and about 40 inhabited by fishermen. It stands on the estate of General Sir Augustin Fitzgerald. A pier at the village is exposed to the force of the Atlantic, and has been several times much injured; but it possesses much comparative value in consequence of the bold and dangerous character of the neighbouring line of coast, and affords considerable shelter to small craft, and is much used for the purposes of trade. The cost of constructing it was £3,031. "The plan of the harbour," says an official report published in 1836, "was originally made by Mr. Nimmo, and was designed to have an interior excavated basin, and a pier extending 600 feet from the root to low water-mark. Exclusive of the objections to interior excavation, which the unsuccessful result of the experiment that had been made afforded, the objection on account of expense caused the Board to order a plan on a more limited scale. The plan consists of a pier in continuation of the work that had been commenced, embracing a natural lough, and the only portion of anchorage-ground which the place affords, nearly all the remainder being rock. This pier measures 527 feet in length; and there was also a breakwater pier 120 feet in length." The village is a coast-guard station; and, in 1836, the district belonging to that station employed in the fisheries 42 row-boats and 122 fishermen. Not far to the west of the village commence the magnificent cliffs of MOHER. In the vicinity of the village are the ruins of Liscanor-castle, and the mansions and villas of Rock-lodge, Seamount, Castlepark, Liscanor-house, Moher-lodge, Moher-house, and Birchfield,— the last the seat of Cornelius O’Brien, Esq. Area of the village, 24 acres. Pop., in 1831, 506; in 1841, 562. Houses 83. Families employed chiefly in agriculture, 26; in manufactures and trade, 72; in other pursuits, 17. Families dependent chiefly on property and professions, 3; on the directing of labour, 22; on their own manual labour, 84; on means not specified, 6.

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