•  County Clare, Ireland

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In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles described County Clare like this:

Clare.-- a maritime co. of Munster province, anciently called Thomond; is bounded W. by the Atlantic Ocean, N. by Galway Bay and co. Galway, and E. and S. by the river Shannon, which divides it from cos. Tipperary, Limerick, and Kerry; greatest length, NE. and SW., 67 miles; greatest breadth, NW. ...

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and SE., 48 miles; average breadth, 21 miles; coast-line, 145 miles; area, 827,994 ac. (67,920 water), or 4 per cent. of the total area of Ireland; pop. 141,457, 97.9 per cent. of whom are Roman Catholics, 1.9 Protestant Episcopalians, 0.1 Presbyterians, and 0.1 Methodists. The Atlantic coast is bold and rocky, the cliffs being occasionally about 1000 ft. high. Extensive oyster-beds lie off the shore of Galway Bay; and the salmon fisheries on the coast and in the estuaries of the Shannon and Fergus are very important. The surface varies, rising from the central valley of the river Fergus into bleak upland or mountain on the E. and W. Clay slate is the prevailing rock; limestone is abundant; slate and lead are worked. The chief crops are oats and potatoes. (For agricultural statistics, see Appendix.) The co. comprises 11 bars.-- Bunratty (Lower and Upper), Burren, Clonderalaw, Coroomroe, Ibrickan, Inchiquin, Islands, Moyarta, Tulla (Lower and Upper); 80 pars.; and the towns of Ennis and Kilrush. It returns 2 members to Parliament -- 2 divisions, viz. East and West, 1 member for each.

Vision of Ireland presents long-run change by redistricting historical statistics to modern units. However, none of our modern units covers an area close to that of County Clare. If you want trends covering a particular location within the county, find it on our historical maps and then select "Tell me more".

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