County Clare Climate

The climate is cool, humid, and occasionally subject to boisterous winds, but remarkably conducive to health; frost or snow are seldom of long continuance. So powerful are the gales from the Atlantic, that trees upwards of fifty miles from the shore, if not sheltered, incline to the east. On the rocky parts of the coast these gales cause the sea, by its incessant attrition, to gain on the land, but where sand forms the barrier, the land is increasing. The soil of the mountainous district, extending from Doolan southward towards Loop Head, and thence along the Shannon to Kilrush, and even still further in the same direction, together with that of the mountains of Slieveboghta, which separate the county from Galway, is generally composed of moor or bog of different depths, from two inches to many feet, over a ferruginous or aluminous clay or sandstone rock, highly capable of improvement by the application of lime, which may be procured either by land carriage or by the Shannon. A large portion of the level districts is occupied by bogs, particularly in the baronies of Moyarta and Ibrickane, where there is a tract of this character extending from Kilrush towards Dunbeg about five miles in length and of nearly equal breadth. On the boundaries of the calcareous and schistose regions the soils gradually intermingle, and form some of the best land in the county, as at Lemenagh, Shally, Applevale, Riverstown, &c.

A piece of ground of remarkable fertility also extends from Kilnoe to Tomgraney, for about a mile in breadth. But the best soil is that of the rich low grounds called corcasses, which extend along the rivers Shannon and Fergus, from a place called Paradise to Limerick, a distance of more than 20 miles, and are computed to contain upwards of 20,000 acres. They are of various breadth, indenting the adjacent country in a great diversity of form. From 18 to 20 crops have been taken successively from them without any application of manure: they are adapted to the fattening of the largest oxen, and furnish vast numbers of cattle to the merchants of Cork and Limerick for exportation. The part called Tradree, or Tradruihe, is proverbially rich. These corcasses are called black or blue, according to the nature of the substratum: the black is most valuable for tillage, as it does not retain the wet so long as the blue, which latter consists of a tenacious clay. The soil in the neighbourhood of Quinn Abbey is a light limestone, and there is a large tract of fine arable country where the parishes of Quinn, Clonlea, and Kilmurry-Negaul unite.