Claremorris

Town library

The town derived its name from Maurice de Prendergast, a Norman who came to Ireland in 1169.

The town was established during the 18th century. In 1822 the Roman Catholic Chapel was built, which was later demolished to make way for the town hall. The present Roman Catholic Church St Colman's Church, was built in 1911. St. John's Anglican Church, now the town library, was built in 1828.

The main landlord family in Claremorris was the Browne family, one of whom, the Hon. Denis Browne (1760-1828), was High Sheriff of Mayo during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and acquired the nickname of "Donnchadha an Rópa" (Denis the Rope) as a result of his treatment of captured Irish patriots.

At the 2016 census, Claremorris had a total population of 3,687 people, consisting of 1,720 males and 1,967 females. 24.3% percent of the population were non-Irish nationals and 89.7% of the resident population had lived at the same address as for the year before. Catholics constituted 82.9% of the population.[2]

Genealogical records for Claremorris consist of Roman Catholic church records of marriage which commenced in 1805 and baptisms which commenced in 1825. Church of Ireland records consist of baptisms from 1834 onwards, marriages from 1846 onwards and burials from 1878 onwards. These are held at the South Mayo Family Research Centre in Ballinrobe.

Claremorris Town Centre

Retail outlets in the area include the Silverbridge Shopping Centre. Supermarkets in the town include Aldi, Supervalu, Lidl, Certa and Tesco.

There are three hotels including the four-star McWilliam Park Hotel, which opened in 2006. The town also has several restaurants and many pubs. The town has two nightclubs, Rumours and Diceys.

A swimming pool and leisure centre opened on 1 September 2009. A Garda Síochána Station opened in 2008.

There are two secondary schools: St. Colman's College for boys and Mount St. Michaels for girls. There are also two primary schools, Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál and Claremorris Boys N.S.. Gaelscoil Uileog de Búrca, in nearby Loughanamon, provides primary education through the Irish language.

Local events include Claremorris Open Exhibition (an annual arts exhibition in the town held since 1978), and the Claremorris Drama Festival (an annual drama festival held since 1970).[8]

McMahon Park - Clare Lake is located just beside the town. It has tree-lined walks, angling platforms and areas suitable for picnicking. It's also home to Land of the Giants, a children's attraction.[9][10][11]

Claremorris has long been known by locals for its coarse fishing. There are many loughs located around Claremorris where species like Northern Pike, European Perch, European Eel, European Bream and European Roach can be caught regularly. The River Robe located outside the town has been known for its stock of wild brown trout and the Robe's tributaries are also hold a stable stock of smaller trout.

There is a number of sporting clubs including:

• Claremorris GAA, compete at levels from under-10s up to senior in both men's and ladies' competitions. The club have been Mayo senior hurling champions twice (1968 and 1971) and senior county Gaelic football champions four times (1961, 1964, 1965 and 1971).
• A swimming club trains at the Claremorris Leisure Centre, and incorporates water polo. The club was the first from Connacht to win the all-Ireland under 16 & under 19 boys championships, as well as being the first club to win the inaugural girls under-16 and under-19 championships.
• The Claremorris Leisure Centre opened in 2009 and has a 25-metre, 6 lane, short course competition pool. It also has a gymnasium and fitness studio.[12]
• A soccer club trains and plays matches at Concannon park.
• There is a local 18-hole golf course outside Claremorris on the Galway Road.
• An athletics club trains on a newly developed mondo athletics track.
• Claremorris Colts RFC was established in 2009 and meets at the Mount St Michael Convent Girls School pitch. The club has teams in underage grades. In April 2012 Claremorris Colts RFC was awarded the title of 'Club of the Year 2012' by the Connacht Branch of the IRFU.

Claremorris is home to one of Ireland's eight inland weather observing stations, located 2 kilometres from the town centre. It began recording weather in November 1943 and was run and staffed by a local family. During WWII Ireland provided detailed weather reports to the Allies. Weather reports from Claremorris and Blacksod Lighthouse (located on the west coast of Mayo) played a significant factor in selecting the date of launch for the invasion of France (D Day) on 6 June 1944. Many will remember the weather expert in the film "The Longest Day", imparting this information to Gen. Eisenhower and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 1949 it was decided that the Irish Meteorological Service needed observations on an hourly basis from inland stations like Claremorris. It was decided to staff the station with full-time permanent personnel. In 1996 staff were relocated to Ireland West Airport Knock and it now operates automatically with data uploaded to Dublin .[13]

Claremorris is the birthplace of:

• Patrick Cassidy, orchestral, choral, and film score composer.[18]
• Lucinda Creighton, former Teachta Dála and Minister of State for European Affairs.
• John Cardinal D'Alton, Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, 1946–1963.[19]
• Edward Delaney, sculptor.[20]
• John Gray, physician, surgeon, journalist, newspaper proprietor, and MP for Kilkenny City.[21]
• John Hegarty, 44th Provost of Trinity College, Dublin.[22]
• Conor Maguire, lawyer, revolutionary, politician, Attorney General, Chief Justice of Ireland, judge at the European Court of Human Rights, Chairman Irish Red Cross.[23]
• Greg Maher, footballer.
• Delia Murphy, Singer and collector of Irish ballads.[24]
• Catherine Noone, former senator.

• Claremorris church
• List of towns and villages in Ireland

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Claremorris.

• Claremorris Chamber of Commerce
• Claremorris