Clifden CastleClifden Castle - built by John D'Arcy in thee 19th century overlooks Clifden Bay. The D'Arcy family to which John belonged were at that time very wealthy and owned all the land from the sea to Ballinahinch but in 1800 their whole estate was sold and purchased by Thomas Eyre.Clifden Castle was built many years before the town of Clifden. In the year 1814 there was a thatched cottage where Mr Connolly, the solicitor, now lives. The foundation of Clifden was laid by John D'Arcy of the Clifden estate and after his death it was proposed to erect a monument to him on a hill overlooking the town now known as Monument Hill. For some reason the monument was never completed.At that time Clifden had the largest corn market in Ireland. Hookers were loaded daily at the graneries which are now derelict on the Quay Road. It was Nimmo, the famous engineer, who planned the roads and built the bridges in Connemara. He also built Nimmo's Pier in Galway. His residence was at Maam and he owned the place where the present Franciscan monastry is built in Roundstone.

Clifden is built on a lake and on a bog. where the Railway Hotel is now the lake was. Men long ago used to cut turf where the Railway station is. Clifden is in a valley. A dam is built near Clifden. The river is about 5 miles long. And 20 yds wide. There are salmon in the river also.

About one hundred years ago there was a family living in Clifden named the Eyre's. They were a very noble family and were known all over Connemara and some places in England. They knew the king and invited him to see its splendid harbour and to give the people a grant to build a wooden dock but the people of Clifden were not satisfied with a wooden one.
They wanted a stone one so they said that they would not let the king into Clifden unless he would grant a stone one. When the parish priest heard this he gathered up a posse and went out to Clifden Castle and made Eyre tell him when he was to come. When the time came the Parish Priest went with his posse out to Recess a district thirteen miles from Clifden and lay in

Maire Nee lives in Cashleen. She was married to a man James Fitzpatrick. She died about 45 ago. She was about 70 years when she died. She was always knitting when she was walking. One day when she was going to Clifden she met Mr. Burke, Mrs. Blake's brother at Letterfrack.
Mr. Burke had a horse and was going by the road. She was going across the mountain. When she was leaving him she said 'I will welcome you to Clifden'. Then she went across the mountain. When she arrived in Clifden she found out that Mr. Burke was not there.
Then she started out to meet him. She met him at the church in Clifden. He brought her into a house in Clifden and gave her a glass of whiskey. He told her she

On the 14th of March 1921, two R.I.C policemen were shot at Edward King's corner Clifden. the other R.I.C. men sent to Galway a message for the Black and Tans to come to clifden. On the morning of the 17th of March the Black and tans came to Clifden at about 3 o'clock in the morning. They brough Dr. O'Malley of Galway with them with them in the train for fear they would be attacked or ambushed. When the landed at Clifden they were so much afraid that thye would be attacked that they crawled up from the station
on their hands and

One night all the people of Clifden were told that from Mr Kings house to Mr Stanley's house all the houses between were to be put on fire. All the people were to go to the workhouse. That was during the Black and Tan war. Two houses were put on fire that night, Mr B King's house and Mr Joyce's house. St Patrick night was a very bad night in Clifden. The Black and Tans said they would shoot every-body they saw. They said they would shoot the late Canon of Clifden. They shot three men.

Once two fishermen from Clifden were out fishing in Clifden Bay in the nighttime at about twelve o clock. They were just going around Errislannin Point when they saw a big ship coming and it was all lit up with lights but no one could been seen on board but still all her engines were going. At last one of the life boats was lowered down and it started moving towards them and after a while the boat drew up beside the Clifden mens boat and one of them heard someone say "If you don't go home you will be drowned."
The men did not take any heed to what they heard so they went on fishing. The were fishing for a while when a terrific storm arose and they were being swept towards the rocks when they

About sixteen or seventeen years ago the Irish Free State soldiers occupied Clifden and The Rebels were trying to drive then out of it. The Rebels occupied Letterfrack barracks and there were iron shutters on the windows of Letterfrack barracks.
The Rebels thought of an idea and this is what they decided to do. To get the steel shutters from the Letterfrack barracks and to put them oba car so it would be bullet-proof. One morning the home made armoured car came rattling into Clifden and stopped outside Clifden barracks

One night a great many years ago. a Clifden man was going home with his friend and one another of them had a bicycle and it was on a Saturday even and it was getting dark before they left Clifden. The two men were living in the same village. It was a few miles out side Clifden. On their way they would pass a grave-yard. It was dark when they were passing the grave-yard and they were talking to one another. when one man was talking to the other man and he thought that he was with him

The man's name was John Joe McDonnell he was an ex-soldier. The day that the Black and Tans came to Clifden they were looking for the "Sinn Feiners" who were in Clifden. The R.I.C. told the Black and Tans and J.J. Mcdonnell's first cousin was one of them. John Joe heard some shooting out on the street and he went out to see what was wrong and the Black and Tans mistook him for his cousin and started hitting him with the butts of their revolvers. Patrick O'Conner heard his

lives now. At that time there was a lake or pond where the present weigh house stands and brown trout were caught there. Turf was cut on the site of the present Railway Hotel. The foundation of Clifden was laid by D'arcy of Clifden. There is a monument erected over looking the town, for some reason it was not finished.

to Ballyconneely.
Clifden (An Clochán)A bee-hived shaped house - according to Sowe (?). According to others - a row of stepping stones across a river. In this case the stones are to be seen at the waterfall where the river enters the sea. Some observers are still of opinion that Clifden - Cloghan takes its name from the site of an ancient Cloghan which once was to be seen in the old Clifden Catholic cemetery, now closed for burial. The ruins of an old church dedicated to St. Fechin, patron saint of the parish can still be seen.
Clochanard, about half a mile west of Clifden retains the old name. On High Island, the Cloghans are still in a good state of preservation.
St Fechin's Cloghan in Omey Island where the ruins of his church are still to be seen, was once a great seat of learning. It is mentioned among the local people that students from Spain and other continental countries were educated here.

Some years ago a man named Michael Flagherty from South Connemara was admitted to the Co. Home Loughrea which is a home for aged and infirm persons.
On his admission he gave the names of his nearest relatives as Mrs. Ward Clifden, to whom notification would be sent in case of his illness or death.
At the same time another man of the same name from Connemara was admitted and both appeared on the same page in the Co. Home books.
The second named died, and immediately by mistake Mrs. Ward was notified of the death. She felt the loss keenly and called at the Co. Home to take the remains home to have them interred with his father and mother in Clifden.
When the man was about two weeks buried, the first named decided to leave for home for a time to see his niece Mrs. Ward and he set out. When he reached Clifden consternation half mingled with fear, reigned in Clifden when his niece and pals saw him, and thought

Edward Eyres was the landlord of this district. He lived in Clifden. His residence was called Clifden castle. He never evicted any one from their land if they tried to pay the rent. All the people liked him, and he had great power over tenants. It was under his direction that land should be divided into farms.

There was a poor man and his wife living in the district of Clifden. They had two children two boys. They dearly loved each other. One day the childrens' mother died and the poor man got married again. After a short time a famine came over the country. The farmer's wife said to her husband "We will bring the children to Capula wood a mile from Clifden."
In the morning they brought the children to the wood. They lit a big fire in the hearth of the wood. The children sat down by the fire and very soon the children fell asleep. When they awoke they found themselves alone. They began walking deeper and deeper into the wood in search of a house, but they found no house.

Long ago when the people used to believe in fairies stealing babies and brides there lived near Clifden a noggin maker who used to live alone and sometimes used to go out in the country and on the moors trying to sell some noggins. One day while he was going out on the moors a wedding took place in Clifden. The bride was very beautiful and the fairies wanted to steal her but they could not steal her without some human witness.
So the fairies held a meeting to see who would they enchant and one of them selected the noggin maker out on the moors

There is a mass rock in Dooneen about one mile out side Clifden. In the penal days when the English forbade the Irish to say mass or teach school, the priests used to select a rock in the mountains and all the people went there about five or six o' clockin the morning so that the English would not see them. This is the rock what the Clifden people had for saying mass. Beside the rock is a fern growing it tastes like liquorice. A medal was found about one hundred years old. It is belonging to Father Matthew

It was November's night about six years ago. Two men were coming from Clifden in a cart, the two men were drunk. On their way from Clifden they went into a house for a drink of water. When the lads saw the two men going into the house they took the horse and cart to the garage and they made two holes in the door. They then put the horse into the garage and put the two shafts into the two holes. One of them went into the garage and tied the horse to the cart. Off with them them then. In half an hour the two men came out, and when they saw the cart without the horse they were boiling with temper.

In that same Knockfiorna there lived the king of the fairies, Dun-Firinne, and also two blacksmiths named, Fox and Clifden. Fox was a sulky, dour kind of fellow but Clifden was a big, genial, lovable kind of man, generous almost to a fault, you'd say.
One day Dun Firinne, on his way to a Council of Fairies to be held at a moat thirty miles away, had to pass the village of Knockfiorna. His horse cast a shoe and he called into Fox's forge and asked him to nail it on again. Fox refused gruffly and Dun Firinne left him at once, carrying the shoe in his hand. He called to Clifden, who was quite pleased to help him, but on looking at the shoe he decided that he'd put on a new one in case the cast-shoe wouldn't last the journey. Dun Firinne then suggested that the smith would look at all the shoes and, having done so, he thought it would be safer still to put on another new one. He three the two old shoes in among a heap of others behind the anvil. The fairy King (for so it was, although the smith believed him to be a fine gentleman) thanked Cifden and, putting his hand in his pocket, offered him generous money. The smith indignantly refused saying he had worked for travelling men for thirty years and had never taken a penny.
"Well" said the Fairy King," you must have your

One road is branching off to Glann and the other is going straight on to Clifden.All those roads are in use yet. There is another cross-roads in Claremount. The old Clifden road and the Claremount road are branching off the Clifden road. Some of those roads are supposed to have been made the time of the famine.There are a good many of old paths around Oughterard. There is one going through Plantation and it is used by people to go for spring-water. There is a path leading from Cregg road up to the "Giants Cave." This cave was built by the Danes and it goes underground from Cregg wood out under the Galway road and over through Lemonfield. One of the twelve tribes of Galway wanted to kill the O'Flahertys and they used to escape out to Cregg. It is not used very much now. There is a road going out to Shanafeistin. It goes between mountains about two miles out. There is a path branching off it in to Bunnagipaun and another road going up to Rusheeney.There are stepping-stones going across the river opposite Mac Donagh's house as there is no other way but by a private bridge. The stones are there for a great number of years.