The High Sheriff of Clare was a High Sheriff title. [1] Records show that the title was in existence from at least the late 16th century, though it is not used today in the modern Republic of Ireland. The title existed within County Clare in the west of Ireland during the time of the Kingdom of Ireland and then as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The office was a position with some significant power, the sheriffs were responsible for the maintenance of law and order and various other roles. Some of its powers were relinquished in 1831 as the Lord Lieutenant of Clare was instated to deal with military duties. It was only in 1908 under Edward VII of the United Kingdom that the Lord Lieutenant position became more senior than the High Sheriff. Its previous roles were later taken up also by the High Court judges, magistrates, coroners, local authorities and the police.
In Clare, the office of High Sheriff was established when Connacht was shired around 1569 and ceased to exist with the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922.
County Clare is a county in the province of Munster in the Southern part of Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 127,938 at the 2022 census. The county seat and largest settlement is Ennis.
Bunratty Castle is a large 15th-century tower house in County Clare, Ireland. It is located in the centre of Bunratty village, by the N18 road between Limerick and Ennis, near Shannon Town and its airport. The castle and the adjoining folk park are run by Shannon Heritage as tourist attractions.
Kilrush is a coastal town in County Clare, Ireland. It is also the name of a civil parish and an ecclesiastical parish in Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe. It is located near the mouth of the River Shannon in the south-west of the county. Kilrush is one of the listed Heritage Towns of Ireland. The area was officially classified as part of the West Clare Gaeltacht, an Irish-speaking community, until 1956.
Newmarket-on-Fergus, historically known as Corracatlin, is a town in County Clare, Ireland. It is 13 kilometres from Ennis, 8 kilometres from Shannon Airport, and 24 kilometres from Limerick.
Ennis is a former United Kingdom Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one MP. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801.
Ennis was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until 1800, the lower house in the Irish Parliament of the Kingdom of Ireland. In the Patriot Parliament summoned by James II in 1689, Ennis was represented with two members. Following the Acts of Union 1800, it was succeeded by the Ennis constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.
Barnabas O'Brien, 6th Earl of Thomond, was Chief of Clan O'Brien and son of Donogh O'Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond. He succeeded his elder brother as earl in 1639 and was made lord-lieutenant of Co. Clare in 1640–41. He had his rents seized, 1644; admitted a parliamentary garrison to Bunratty Castle and went to England: joined Charles I; successfully petitioned parliament for £2,000 spent in the parliamentary cause.
Donogh O'Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond and Baron Ibrickan, PC (Ire), was a Protestant Irish nobleman and soldier, and Chief of Clan O'Brien. He fought for Queen Elizabeth during Tyrone's Rebellion and participated in the Siege of Kinsale. He obtained the transfer of County Clare, where most of his lands lay, from the Province of Connacht to that of Munster. He was made president of Munster in 1605.
Sir Daniel O'Brien, 1st Viscount Clare also called Donal was an Irish politician and soldier. He was born a younger son of Connor O'Brien, 3rd Earl of Thomond. He fought against the insurgents at Tyrone's Rebellion, but for the insurgents in the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the Irish Confederate Wars. He resisted the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. He joined Charles II of England in exile and was in his eighties made a viscount at the Restoration.
Francis Bindon was a popular architect and painter in 18th century Ireland. Bindon was highly regarded by his contemporaries and was commissioned to design buildings and paint portraits for some of Ireland's most prominent figures. Today, relatively little is known about the man, despite the number of paintings and buildings he has left as his legacy.
The High Sheriff of Westmeath was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Westmeath, Ireland from its creation under The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Westmeath County Sheriff. The sheriff had judicial, electoral, ceremonial and administrative functions and executed High Court Writs. In 1908, an Order in Council made the Lord-Lieutenant the Sovereign's prime representative in a county and reduced the High Sheriff's precedence. However the sheriff retained his responsibilities for the preservation of law and order in the county. The usual procedure for appointing the sheriff from 1660 onwards was that three persons were nominated at the beginning of each year from the county and the Lord Lieutenant then appointed his choice as High Sheriff for the remainder of the year. Often the other nominees were appointed as under-sheriffs. Sometimes a sheriff did not fulfil his entire term through death or other event and another sheriff was then appointed for the remainder of the year. The dates given hereunder are the dates of appointment. The following is an incomplete list: all addresses are in County Westmeath unless stated otherwise.
Ballycar Castle stood in the parish of Newmarket-on-Fergus, near the road between Limerick and Galway, 3 miles (5 km) from Sixmilebridge, 9 miles (14 km) from Limerick, and 7 miles (11 km) from Ennis it was said to have been built before 1570 and was a ruin before 1681 when it was sketched by Thomas Dineley.
The High Sheriff of Limerick was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Limerick, Ireland from the 13th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Limerick County Sheriff. The sheriff had judicial, electoral, ceremonial and administrative functions and executed High Court Writs. In 1908, an Order in Council made the Lord-Lieutenant the Sovereign's prime representative in a county and reduced the High Sheriff's precedence. However, the sheriff retained his responsibilities for the preservation of law and order in the county. The usual procedure for appointing the sheriff from 1660 onwards was that three persons were nominated at the beginning of each year from the county and the Lord Lieutenant then appointed his choice as High Sheriff for the remainder of the year. Often the other nominees were appointed as under-sheriffs. Sometimes a sheriff did not fulfil his entire term through death or other event and another sheriff was then appointed for the remainder of the year. The dates given hereunder are the dates of appointment. All addresses are in County Limerick unless stated otherwise.
Ballyhannon Castle is a medieval Irish castle dating back to the 15th century, located near the village of Quin in County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland. It is fully intact and in the Irish Governmental records it is registered as a National Monument and "Listed/Protected" structure, intended to protect its historic, architectural and aesthetic significance.
The sheriff of the City of Cork is the court officer responsible for the enforcement of civil judgments in Cork county borough. The current sheriff is a solicitor, Martin A Harvey. Sheriffs earn their fees from poundage (commission). Before 1842 two sheriffs were voted into office annually by the freemen of the city. After that time, the power of appointment of a single sheriff per year was vested in the crown.
Kilnasoolagh is a civil parish in County Clare, Ireland, and a townland within that parish. Church records mention the parish in 1256.
Tomfinlough is a civil parish in County Clare, Ireland. A Christian establishment was first made here around 540 AD. The parish lands were often raided by Irish, Viking, Norman and English forces in the years that followed. The church was allowed to fall into ruins during the period when the Catholic Church was penalized in Ireland.
Ennis Friary was a Franciscan friary in the town of Ennis, County Clare, Ireland. It was established in the middle of the 13th century by the ruling O'Brien dynasty who supported it for most of its existence. Following the suppression of the monasteries in the 16th century, the friary continued to function for a while despite the loss of its lands. In the early 17th century, the buildings were handed over to the Church of Ireland as a place of worship. It was used as such until the late 19th century. After the construction of a new Church of Ireland building, the friary fell into ruin. Managed by the Office of Public Works since the late 19th century, it was formally returned to the Franciscan Order in 1969.
John Ormsby Vandeleur was an Irish barrister, landowner and politician from Kilrush in County Clare. He sat in the House of Commons of Ireland from 1790 to 1800, and then in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1802.
Máire Rua O'Brien was an Irish aristocrat who married three times to retain family lands. Born into the MacMahon family of Thomond, her name, Máire Rua or Red Mary, derived from her red hair. First married to Daniel Neylon (O'Neillan) of Dysert O'Dea Castle in north County Clare, after his death in 1639, she married Conor O'Brien of Leamaneh Castle. With her second husband, she backed the Royalist cause against Cromwell's forces during the Eleven Years' War. However, after her second husband was killed in 1651, she married a Cromwellian officer; in a reputed attempt to save her estate. Remaining on her estate at Leamaneh for several decades, her son Donough O'Brien moved the family seat to the larger Dromoland Castle where she lived until her death in 1686. A sometimes notorious figure in Irish folklore, a number of exaggerated stories and legends are associated with her life.