Paper delivered by Dr Gerard Moran lecturer in the Dept of History, NUI Maynooth, at Uncovering Our Connemara Roots, a genealogical conference held in Clifden on 30th May – 1st June 2012. ‘In Search of a Better Way of Life’: Emigration from Connemara in the late Nineteenth Century. While an […]
Nicholas Canny, by Gerrit Nuckton The American writer William Faulkner was once famously quoted as saying, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past”. This is especially true in Ireland, where the collective Celtic memory is a long one. For Clifden native Dr. Nicholas Canny, a well-respected author […]
Healy/Mulkerrin Family, Ardbear Clifden Patrick Healy was one of the early settlers of the new town of Clifden. The first documented mention of him is the list of freeholders published in the Connaught Journal in 1830. In the same newspaper published Nov 20 1834 he appears on a list of […]
As part of the Clifden 2012’s year long celebrations, the West of Ireland’s first Hedge School Seminar of 2012 was hosted, on Friday 16th March at 7pm in Clifden Station House Theatre. History Ireland Editor, Tommy Graham, hosted this lively round-table discussion with Mary Harris (NUIG), Conor McNamara (Notre […]
I have been following the Connemara holiday taken by Stephen L Gwynn MP in September 1907*. He set out from Galway on his bicycle, with his fishing rods and knapsack. He travelled along Cois Fhairrige to Clifden, through Connemara to Killary and Leenane, over the mountains through Joyce Country to […]
From Connemara to Coomooroo and beyond (with a few places in between) John Mannion, Australia. I will probably never know what my paternal, great, great grandfather, Michael Mannion, his wife Mary and their infant son, John Francis Mannion thought as they looked back at the shores of Ireland in c1865 […]
My great great grandfather, Patrick Monaghan, was born in Clifden about 1826, the son of John Monaghan and Mary Kennealy. I know nothing of the early life of Patrick or of his parents or if he had any siblings. During the period of 1845 to 1849, the West Coast of […]
Maurice Gorham 1902 – 1975 Noted broadcaster and author, and member of a Clifden family. Maurice Gorham was a household name in Ireland in the 1950’s … as Director of Broadcasting in Radio Eireann … for people who can remember the period of the radio soap entitled “The Kennedy’s […]
