Ennistymon
| Ennistymon Inis Diomáin
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| — Town — | |
 Ennistymon
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| Coordinates: 52°56′N 9°17′W / 52.94°N 9.29°WCoordinates: 52°56′N 9°17′W / 52.94°N 9.29°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Munster |
| County | County Clare |
| Population (2002) | |
| • Urban | 881 |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC-1) |
| Irish Grid Reference | R134877 |
Ennistymon or Ennistimon (Irish: Inis Diomáin) is a country market town in County Clare, near the west coast of Ireland. A popular tourist spot, it has a typical Irish main street, with many traditional pubs. The River Inagh, which has some small rapids known as "the Cascades" runs through the town, behind the main street. A bridge across the river leads to nearby Lahinch, on the N67 national secondary road. The town is connected to Ennis by the N85 (which is actually the main street through the town).
Ennistymon was the birthplace of Kootenay Brown (by birth John George Brown, 10 October 1839 – 18 July 1916), the Irish-Canadian polymath, soldier, trader and conservation advocate.
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[edit] Name
The town's official name is Ennistimon, although Ennistymon is the spelling most widely used.[1] Historically, it was spelled Inishdymon.[1] This is believed to derive from Inis Diomáin meaning "Diomán's island".[1] However, Míchéal Ó Raghallaigh argues that the name is derived from Inis Tí Méan meaning "island of the middle house" or "river meadow of the middle house".[2]
[edit] Transport
The West Clare Railway formerly passed through the town, connecting it to Ennis and the West Clare coastal towns and villages. Ennistymon railway station opened on 2 July 1887. The railway finally closed on 1 February 1961.[3]
Nowadays the town has a bus service to Ennis and other towns as well as the 337 which departs every morning at 8:45 am and every afternoon at 1:35pm and goes to Ennis, Limerick and onwards to Dublin.
[edit] Memorial
The 'An Gorta Mór' Memorial was erected a mile outside Ennistymon on the road to Lahinch to commemorate the memory of the victims of the great potato crop failures/famine of 1845 to 1850 known as the Great Hunger (An Gorta Mór). It was dedicated on August 20, 1995 – the 150th anniversary of that tragedy. Located across from Ennistymon Hospital, itself built on the grounds of the local workhouse, it was erected by a combined effort of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) Board of Erin and Board of America and the Clare County Council.
The Falls
The monument was designed by an artist from Co Kerry and depicts an account found in the Minutes of the Meetings of the Boards of Guardians for Ennistymon Union held in the County Archives. [1] The account centered on a note that was pinned to the torn shirt of a barefoot orphan boy who was left at the workhouse door on the freezing cold morning of February 25, 1848. The note read:
Gentlemen, There is a little boy named Michael Rice of Lahinch aged about 4 years. He is an orphan, his father having died last year and his mother has expired on last Wednesday night, who is now about to be buried without a coffin!! Unless ye make some provision for such. The child in question is now at the Workhouse Gate expecting to be admitted, if not it will starve. -- Rob S. Constable''
One side of the memorial depicts a child standing before the workhouse door, while across from that is the head of an anguished mother and two hands clenched in frustration or anger above the sorrowful text of the pleading note.
[edit] Parish of Ennistymon
The Parish of Ennistymon has three churches; Ennistymon, Lahinch & Clouna. In recent times the church in Furglan was closed reducing the number of churches from four to three. The church at Ennistymon was built in 1831. The current church in Ennistymon was built in 1954.
[edit] Education
Ennistymon has two primary schools and three secondary schools. Scoil Mhainichin and Mol an Oige Steiner School make up the primary education. Ennistymon CBS,[4] the Vocational School and Scoil Mhuire provide secondary education.
[edit] Cultural
In November 2009, Ennistymon played host to the first Irish Discworld Convention, based around the works of author Terry Pratchett. It will do so again between the 4th and 6 November 2011. The town is memorialized in the song "Ennistymon on the Inagh" by Tadhg Ó hEagráin.
[edit] Twin cities
Pozzoleone, Italy
Schimatari, Greece
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Placenames Database of Ireland
- ^ Míchéal Ó Raghallaigh:Scríobhaí ó Inis Díomáin, "The Other Clare", vol. 16 (Shannon, 1992),p. 18. http://books.google.com/books?id=XIsJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA442&lpg=PA442&dq=Inis+Diom%C3%A1in+meaning&ct=result#PPA442,M1.
- ^ "Ennistymon station". Railscot - Irish Railways. http://www.railscot.co.uk/Ireland/Irish_railways.pdf. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
- ^ Ennistymon CBS Home Page
