What is recorded here

Clonroad Beg is a gatehouse at the southern edge of Ennis, built in the second half of the 15th century to mark entry into an island town that never needed walls. It stood straddling the street with a central archway, perhaps housing a gaol by 1595 and becoming the County Gaol from 1713. The building still exists as a bar and restaurant, its arch forgotten but its position unchanged, holding the same threshold between countryside and town that it has always guarded.

Situated at the S end of Ennis historic town (CL033-082----). According to Ua Cróinín and Breen (1992, 6), cited in Ó Dálaigh (2012, 2) a small castle (CL033-082007-) and gatehouse were built at the southern entry to the town in the second half of the 15th century. A pictorial map of Ennis made in 1703 by Thomas Moland as part of a major survey of the Thomond estate shows the basic street pattern with the market-house (CL033-082012-) at the junction of the three main streets. At the S end of what is now O’Connell St., a large building with tall chimneys on the gables and an archway in its centre, is visible straddling the street. Although not a walled town, the island nature of the town allowed this gate to mark a significant entrance into the town from the S. Its former arch was described in the Clare Freeman newspaper (18.1.1873). A gaol described as ‘lately erected’ in 1595 (CL033-082013-) may have been at this location. From 1713 this was also the location of the County Gaol. Now in use as a bar and restaurant. A tower house (CL033-082007-) is extant at the core of the adjoining Old Ground Hotel. Compiled by: Mary Tunney Date of upload: 19 May 2014

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