Cooraclare

Cooraclare Cuar an Chláir
Village
Cooraclare Church
Cooraclare Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 52°42′14″N 9°25′06″W / 52.703889°N 9.418333°WCoordinates: 52°42′14″N 9°25′06″W / 52.703889°N 9.418333°W
Country	Ireland
Province	Munster
County	County Clare
Elevation	18 m (59 ft)
Population (2006)
• Urban	112
• Rural	548
Time zone	WET (UTC+0)
• Summer (DST)	IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference	R014627

Cooraclare (Irish: Cuar an Chláir, meaning "Recess of the Plain"), is a village near Kilrush, in County Clare, Ireland, and a Catholic parish by the same name.

Location

The village of Cooraclare is in the parish of Cooraclare (Kilmacduane) in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe. It is 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Kilrush on the road from Kilrush to Miltown Malbay. The old name for the parish is Kilmacduane, which was joined for a while to the parish of Kilmihil. In 1848 the two were again separated and Cooraclare took its present name. The parish includes the village of Cree, at times spelled Creegh.^[1] The parish has two churches, St Senan's in Cooraclare and St Mary's in Cree.^[2] Cooraclare lies on the River Doonbeg.^[3]

Amenities

There is a primary school, Montessori school, three public houses O' Doherty's, O'Keeffe's and Tubridy's is also a guest house, a post office (Garry's) two shops Daly's and Tom Macs country shop and a flower shop. Old Parochial House (c1872), a former Parish Priets's house provides self-catering in restored stables. The community centre in the village was inaugurated in 1993 and also there is a sports complex added to it the following year. The previous community centre was the Marion Hall situated at the back of Tom McNamaras country shop. It also has a GAA Sports Field situated just outside the village in the townland of Carhue. In 2012 St Senan's Community Playground was opened on the site of the old Marion Hall and is open 365 days a year and caters for children up to 12 years of age. The Playground boasts junior and senior play areas and swings and has a Zip Wire that can be used by all.

People

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1831	140	—
1841	178	+27.1%
1851	167	−6.2%
1861	201	+20.4%
1871	171	−14.9%
1881	163	−4.7%
1891	152	−6.7%
1901	125	−17.8%
1911	111	−11.2%
1926	80	−27.9%
1936	86	+7.5%
1946	98	+14.0%
1951	104	+6.1%
1956	112	+7.7%
1961	94	−16.1%
1966	91	−3.2%
[4][5]

There are about 140 people living in the village. Famous people include:

• Former government minister Brendan Daly
• Tom Morrissey, who played football for Clare in the 1992 Munster Senior Football Championship Final
• Chef Seán Kinsella was born in Cooraclare
• A great-grandfather of RTÉ presenter Ryan Tubridy. In March 2010 Tubridy presented his popular RTÉ Radio One programme from Tubridy's Bar & Restaurant in Cooraclare.

Sport and culture

Village sign

Cooraclare have won the Clare Senior Football Championship in 1915, 1917, 1918, 1925, 1944, 1956, 1964, 1965, 1986 and 1997, and also hosts the Rose Of Clare Festival every year in August.

A song associated with Cooraclare is entitled "The Chapel Gate Of Cooraclare".

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

References

1. "Cooraclare (Kilmacduane)". Diocese of Killaloe. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
2. "Cooraclare (Kilmacduane) Churches". Diocese of Killaloe. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
3. "Doonbeg River". Clare.ie. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
4. "Central Statistics Office : Census 2011". Cso.ie. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
5. "Histpop - The Online Historical Population Reports Website". Histpop.org. Retrieved 2014-02-08.