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Ennis (=="island"), county and market
town (Saturdays) on the Fergus, parish of Drumcliff (q.v.), Mid
county Clare, Ireland, 23 miles NW of Limerick ; acreage 469. The
original name, of which the present is an abbreviation, denoted
"the island meadow of the long rowing" ; Ennis was so called from
its being surrounded by the Fergus. It is a neat and somewhat
quaint little town, with narrow streets, but many good houses. A
charter of incorporation granted by James I. has lapsed, and since
1885 the town has ceased to be a parliamentary borough. It is
stated that at a period subsequent to the Anglo-Norman Conquest of
Ennis was a flourishing seat of learning under the protection of
the O'Briens, Princes of Thomond. About 1240 a Franciscan monastery
was built here by Donogh Carbrac O'Brien, a portion of which was
altered in modern times, and used as the church of the Protestant
parish ; there is now a handsome new Protestant church replacing
the old one. The remains of the abbey include a very fine Early
English window of five lights, and within is preserved the carved
chair of the abbot. The Roman Catholic church of Saints Peter and
Paul, the cathedral of Killaloe diocese, is a large and imposing
structure. A new Roman Catholic Diocesan College has recently been
erected. The Court House, a very handsome edifice of the Roman
Ionic order, dates from 1852. The other buildings include an
Erasmus Smith grammar school (1689), which has been closed since
1891, Presbyterian and Methodist chapels, a Franciscan friary, the
town-hall, Union workhouse (1841), county infirmary and lunatic
asylum, and the market house. A column commemorating Daniel
O'Connell (1865) stands on the site of the old court-house, and
outside the town there is a monument to the "Manchester Martyrs,"
executed in 1867. Ennis has large flour-mills, and grain and timber
are shipped from Clare Castle, two miles farther down the river,
coal being the chief import.
Population: 5,460.
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Ennis - WCR
