Clare County Museum

Places to See | Co. Clare, Ireland

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The building within which the Clare Museum is housed was originally a Sisters of Mercy school and chapel. The congregation came to Ennis in 1854 at the invitation of Parish Priest Dean John Kenny.  Row House, on the site of the present Temple Gate Hotel was adapted for the use of the Sisters. A former occupant was Charles O’Connell, cousin of Daniel O’Connell who often visited the house during his 1820′s campaign for Catholic Emancipation.  The sisters soon became involved in teaching.  A new convent was built in 1861 to accommodate the growing number of sisters and Row House was incorporated into it.

The section of this museum attraction in Co Clare that is now the Clare Museum was constructed as a primary school in 1865 and the final portion of the convent complex, a chapel and classrooms was erected in 1869.

Address: Clare County Museum, Arthur’s Row, O’Connell Square, Ennis, County Clare, Ireland

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