| Mountshannon Baile Uí Bheoláin
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| — Town — | |
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Mountshannon
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Munster |
| County | County Clare |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Urban | 133 |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC-1) |
| Irish Grid Reference | R700870 |
Mountshannon (Irish: Baile Uí Bheoláin, meaning "townland of Ó Beoláin", historically anglicised as Ballybolan)[1] is a village in east County Clare, Ireland. The village is on the western shore of Lough Derg, north of Killaloe.
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The village was designed and built from scratch by Alexander Woods, a Limerick merchant, who intended it as a purely Protestant settlement from which the surrounding Catholic population would be so impressed by the thrift and industry of the settlers that they would quickly convert to the Reformed Church; even as late as the 1830s there was not a single Catholic resident in the village. In fact the reverse happened - it was the Catholics who colonised the village, and the picturesque Protestant church in a wooded churchyard bears mute testimony to Woods and his scheme.
Mountshannon was home to the last manually operated telephone exchange in Ireland. The exchange was finally converted to automatic service at noon on May 28, 1987.
Today, Mountshannon boasts 4 pubs, one of which is a hotel, a corner shop/cafe, a restaurant, a garage/shop and a pizzeria. Mountshannon is a very well kept and pretty village, and it is a jumping off point for a visit to the nearby Inish Cealtra, or Holy Island. Now uninhabited, it was once a monastic settlement. It has a fine round tower, and the ruins of several small churches, as well as part of 4 high crosses and a holy well. The cemetery on this island is still in use, the coffins being transported from the Clare side in small boats. There is a stone with a hole in it, through which lovers held hands and promised to be true. Boat trips can be taken from the harbour to the island.
A recent addition to Mountshannon is the maze built in the centre of town in a very well maintained small park, with lovely views of Lough Derg. The maze features information about the development of the Irish spiritual tradition. Next to the maze is a picnic area made out of wood carved by local artists, encircled in living willow hedging. In the entrance is a stone with a hole facing toward Holy Island. The Island can only be viewed by the most penitent by kneeling on a stone in order to view the through the hole. To the rear of the maze is a fine labyrinth consisting of the lawn being cut at different heights, flower beds and Hornbeam hedging. It is modelled on the pavement labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral in France.
Mountshannon is a regular winner in the Tidy Towns having won the national prize in 1981, Silver in 2004 and numerous Bronze over the years. It most recently took Bronze in its population category (2010).
Mountshannon Harbour, is a sheltered south facing harbour, very popular in the summer months with cruisers, who pull up for the night and head into the village for a couple of pints and some traditional music. A separate bathing area is very popular with local families.
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