Although the administrative townland is not part of the Quin Parish, the traditional village of Ardsollus and its rail station, has always been been associated with Quin, more so than with Doora or Newmarket-on-Fergus parishes. The tiny village had its own mill, blacksmith, ale house, eel-packing, toll bridge, race course, fair green and residents.
It sits on the old road linking Galway (plus Ennis) with Limerick and was a popular coach stop between the two. The building of the bridge here created a faster route for this journey than the old route via Quin-Spancil hill.
The name has inspired folk tales which have been passed on to this day (see Dúchas extracts below). The spelling of the placename has fluctuated over the years (see references from Logainm.ie at the bottom of this post). The actual meaning we now know, thanks to the work of the Placenames researchers, was inspired by the clarity of the water (solas) at the crossing point at the ford on the river (Áth). Whether this ‘clearwater’ crossing point coincides with the location of the current bridge or further up river where the water mill (CL042-018) was located, we do not know.
51.58 hectares / 0.5158 km² /127 acres
Ardsollus borders the following other townlands:
· Ballyhannan South to the north
· Ballykilty to the east
· Carrowmeer to the west
· Castlefergus to the west
· Kilkieran to the south
1821 Census(partial): Ardsollus townland
Population Statistics 1851-1911
1851 7 Houses, Population 38
1861 6 Houses, Population 34
1871 6 Houses, Population 30
1881 9 Houses, Population 38
1891 3 Houses, Population 13
1901 3 Houses, Population 19
1911 3 Houses, Population 20
Note the number of dwellings and the Corn Mill shown in this 1842 OS map.
1901 Census residents of 3 homes
• Robert and Margaret Heffernan (Tipperary), both Railway Station Masters
• Anne McInerney, her son Patrick (Patsy), blacksmith, her grandson Thomas Cassidy, blacksmith, her granddaughter Minnie McInerney, dressmaker
James and Annie Hannan (farmers), daughters Mamie, Madge, Amelia, Kathleen, sons Laurence, Timothy, John, James, Augustine. Servant Bridget Hennessy, apprentice blacksmith Robert Kennedy.
1911 Census residents of 3 homes
• William Humphries, Railway Station Master, daughter Katie, sons James, Thomas, William, Denis, Edmond.
• Patrick McInerney, nephew Thomas Cassidy, both blacksmiths, niece Mary McInerney, visitor Bridget Kilmartin.
James and Annie Hannan (farmers), daughters Pauline, Brigid, sons Laurence, John, James, Augustine, Patrick.
Entertainment here for man & horse 1742
Inscription found over the door of the malt house in Ardsollus.
Ardsollus and Quin railway station
Ard Sollus was a station on the railway from Limerick to Ennis and served the village of Quin. Opened by the Limerick and Ennis Railway at the beginning of the 20th century, the station was run by the Great Southern and Western Railway (GSWR). The station was then nationalised, passing on to CIÉ as a result of the Transport Act 1944. The passenger service ceased but freight traffic passed on to Iarnród Éireann in 1986.
During the Irish Civil War, two anti-Treaty IRA members were executed after being convicted of sabotaging Ardsollus station.
Ardsollus/Ayleacotty Race Course
This may have been part of the great plans of Sir Edward O’Brien to replicate the racing centre of Newmarket in England in proximity of his Dromoland residence. In the 1740s Sir Edward had the octagonal gazebo constructed on the hill to the west of the castle, over-looking the existing M18 motorway, to watch his horses being trained. Sir Edward appears to have over-stretched himself financially with his many grand projects as he was forced to sell his stud farm at Ardsollus in 1742.
The three mile race course hosted an annual meet which ran over six days. The race itself was a three day meet as other social events took place alongside it.
The heyday of this venue appears to be from early eighteenth to early nineteenth century, before the Latoon road bridge was built and while it was the main route for people travelling from Limerick to Ennis. The last mention of a race meeting here was in 1807 when the Clare papers announced that year’s event for April 25th. The papers reported that year being “very numerously and respectively attended. The unprecedented attendance of ladies exhibited a brilliant display of beauty and fashion.”
Sir Edward O’Brien, Fourteenth Baronet Dromoland
iWhen the bridge was later built at Latoon (c.1780), they could then travel the shorter route via Newmarket (on-Fergus) and the popularity of the race course waned. Samuel Lewis, in his History and Topography of County Clare 1837, reports that the races had discontinued a number of years previously. The first OS 6” map showed what then remained to be seen on the ground. Even today, some traces remain in the landscape of this race course.
On left: Henry Pelhams 1787 Grand Jury map showing the ‘Ardsallus Race Course’. He appears to be the first to record the placename replacing Áth with Ard.
On right: The first OS 6” map 1842 showing the Ayleacotty ‘Race Park’.
Public Gatherings
Griffen Hill is recorded as the gathering place for Daniel O’Connell’s address and also the place where Fr. Matthew, the temperance advocate, also gave a number of speeches. This placename is not noted on any map but is likely to be directly across from the old toll house (now the Moloney residence). The ‘Furzy Crag’ is the placename associated with these same gatherings in a Dúchas folklore record (see below). This record states that it was on Pat Sammon’s land in Ardsollus.
Ardsollus Cottage
The original house was a one-and-a-half storey, four bay, thatched house facing east, with a yard adjoining the north. There was a large bay window in the south gable, dormer windows, and also a small return to the rear. A large curtain wall separated the house from the kitchen garden and orchard the east. There was a lawn to the south. Coniferous and deciduous trees, including yew, were around the house. The new twentieth-century house stands on the original site.
Drawing of cottage by Hugh Weir
Logainm.ie-Explanation of placename as it appears throughout the country
https://www.logainm.ie/en/themes?pag=6
Featured Themes 16/9/2024
In last week’s note dealing with aspects of the meaning of solas in placenames, we saw that the translation Lightford in Mayo is most likely due to a later interpretation of the Irish name Áthán Solais as ‘(little) ford of (the) light’, when in fact solas in its earlier sense probably referred to the clarity of the water running through the ford. Translation of placenames, especially between two unrelated languages, can sometimes be quite a delicate matter, and might not always end up “right” or “wrong”, but somewhere in between:
While in the modern language solas is almost exclusively used as a noun denoting ‘light’ in various senses (see FGB s.v. solas), that does not seem to be how it tends to be used in Irish placenames.Solas “light” is not particularly common in townland names. We find two anglicized versions of Áth Solas in final unpalatalized (“broad”) –s, which in the modern era would usually be interpreted as a genitive plural noun and translated ‘ford of (the) lights’, namely Ardsollus in County Clare (logainm.ie #6185) and Assolas in County Cork (logainm.ie #10624). It may be noted in passing that the standardized English form Ardsollus in County Clare is a reminder of the danger of reliance on a single anglicized form of a placename, as it wrongly gives the impression that the underlying generic is Irish ard ‘height, hillock’. The original word is confirmed in the Irish references ‘áth solas’ (c.1350), ‘Áth s[.]l[.]is’ (1839). A defunct historical placename, ‘Aghsolish’ (Civil Survey IX, p. 262), referring to a ford on the Mine River at the townland of Aska More in County Wexford, reflecting Áth Solais with palatalized (slender) –s. The same name, but with a diminutive form of the generic element, occurs as Áthán Solais (#35733) in County Mayo, meaning ‘(little) ford of (the) light’. The official English version of the name is the translation Lightford.The collocation of áth and solas in placenames (i.e., the frequent occurrence of those two elements together) is quite striking. Why so many references to a ‘ford of (the) light(s)’? One suggestion formerly proposed was that such names referred to a practice of keeping flames lit at these crossing-points — similar to those kept near dark alleys in urban areas — from which travellers could light their “links” to guide themselves. But it is more likely that these placenames preserve the Old Irish use of solas as an adjective meaning ‘bright, clear, light-giving’ (eDIL s.v. solus). In the earlier period, the placename Áth Solas would be understood as ‘clear ford’, probably referring to the water. Furthermore, as the substantive form of the Old Irish adjective solus also had the meaning ‘clarity’ as well as ‘light’, even the genitive noun in Áth Solais could refer to the quality of the water, as if ‘ford of (water-)clarity’.
Historical placename references
|
c.1350 |
guisin áth solas |
CThoir. Leathanach: 6 |
|
1683 |
Ashollas |
Inchiquin Leathanach: 462 |
|
1683 |
Ashollish |
Inchiquin Leathanach: 462 |
|
1686 |
Agsollas |
CG Leathanach: 43 |
|
1728 |
Assollas |
Inchiquin Leathanach: 152 |
|
1742 |
Assollas |
Inchiquin Leathanach: 647 |
|
1753 |
Athsollas |
CGn. Leathanach: 164.59.108843 |
|
1761 |
Ahsollas |
Inchiquin Leathanach: 182 |
|
1767 |
Asullus |
Inchiquin Leathanach: 200 |
|
1770 |
Asollas |
CGn. Leathanach: 274.434.179896 |
|
1772 |
Assollas |
Inchiquin Leathanach: 491 |
|
1782 |
Assollas |
Inchiquin Leathanach: 575 |
|
1787 |
Ardsallas (River), (Race Course) |
|
|
1839 |
Ardsullus |
|
|
1839 |
ath solais |
|
|
1839 |
Áth s(o)l( )is |
|
Tomás Ó Míodhcháin(1730–1804)
A highly respected poet, he was the second son of John Meehan, farmer, of Ardsollus. Ó Míodhcháin, who described himself as a mathematician, received a good education – probably at a school in Limerick city. He travelled during the 1760s, spending some time in Limerick and working as a land surveyor at Milltown Malbay in west Clare. About 1770 he settled in Ennis, where he established a ‘mathematical school’ for older pupils. Advertisements for the school stressed such practical subjects as arithmetic, accounting, and geography. One would have to wonder if his path crossed that of the other Quin teacher, poet and scholar Padraig Ó Loinsigh.
Tomás Ó Míodhcháin never married and continued to teach till the end of his life. He died at Ardsollus on 9 December 1804 and was buried in the family plot at Quin friary. A handful of poems by his brothers Domhnall and Seán are also extant, though not as well studied.
https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/literature/clare_poets/tomas_o_miochain.htm
https://www.dib.ie/biography/o-miodhchain-o-miochain-tomas-meehan-thomas-a6404
Dúchas 1930’s Schools Folklore Collection
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5177635/5174852/5189196
Ardsollus (correct name means Athsollus or ‘the ford of the light’). There is a ford near it and near it is a high hill. It is supposed that lights of some kind were were lit on the hill near by, to show travellers the ford in the night. Near the ford was a famous tavern where the coach going from Limerick to Ennis, changed horses. On a stone inserted in a pier of a gate near the tavern was inscribed “Entertainment for man and beast but no mule” This stone was on the pier of the gate up to the time of The War of the Black and Tans, when it mysteriously disappeared, and the hole in the wall where the stone was, can still be seen. The date it bore was 1783.This was a famous Tavern, Daniel O Connell took refreshment there when on his journey to Ennis. It is said when some dispute arose over drink, he said to a fellow lawyer, you should go to Ardsollus Tavern to get the good drop of drink. All around the tavern were smaller hotels ,the ruins of which can still be seen. Not far from the Tavern, was the Ardsollus Race Course, where seven days’ races were held. Here enormous crowds used to assemble, and they were famous for the faction fights that used to take place every year. The weapon they used was a large stick, the size of the handle of a spade, and it was no uncommon thing for some of the factionists to go to the forge some days before the Races and many were hung for the offence. Great numbers of tents were erected in the fields near by, the sites of which are still pointed out. Singing, dancing, carousing and all kinds of amusements went on for the seven days.
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5177641/5175699/5197005
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0596, Page 134
Stephen Clune Quin.
Old Recollections. Dan Corbett, Ballykilty, Quin, relates how the old people used to point out a large stone in the “furzy crag” which is situated in Pat Sammon’s Farm, Ardsollus, Quin. It is said that Daniel O’Connell on his way to Ennis in the year 1828 addressed a large meeting of Tradaree men from this stone (CL045-145?). They also say that Father Mathew delivered a Temperance sermon from this stone also and administered the Temperance Pledge to thousands of people on the same occasion including my own grandfather Stephen Walsh, Kilkishen. At this time there was a small village in Ardsollus and also a Race Course in the vicinity. It is said the races used to be run in heats and that no more than one occasion the final heat was decided with candle light. There was a famous malt house in Ardsollus and that the still in connection with it was situated in the village of Kilkishen. The old road leading from Ardsollus to Kilkishen is still pointed out and parts of it here and there now form portion of the modern road to Kilkishen. The stuff used be conveyed to the still on horse cars the wheels of which were made of thick blocks of hard wood bound with iron bands. The road by which Daniel O Connell travelled from Limerick to Ennis on the occasion of the famous Clare Election in 1828 led by the Dr in Bunratty, then up Mill Road to the Hurlers Cross, then it ran beside the Bishops House, Deerpark through Drumlins, Rathlahins to Ballycar Mill ,then through Moohaun to Reynold’s Cross then by St Kieran’s Well to Ardsollus, then by Forgs through Ballyhannon to Coolshamrock. From Coolshamrock it ran across Jasper’s Bridge to Doora Catholic Church, then through Ballyortla to Knockanean School then by Gauris Mills and Corravorin to the town of Ennis. It is said he was accompanied by the Quin Band from Ardsollus to Ennis and the big drummer Tom Walshe, the Deerpark, Quin, beat the drum so hard that he broke the panes of glass in the windows of the town of Ennis. Daniel O Connell also addressed a meeting on Cullane Hill near Dangan School. Tom Walshe was the only drummer at the meeting to beat his drum up the steep side of the hill. I have one of the instruments a clarionet of this Band. The old people told me it was played by my uncle, James Clune. Father Daniel Corbett, parish priest of Quin marched at the head of the voters in his parish from Quin to Ennis to vote for O Connell.
National Monuments
See https://heritagedata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer
CL042-192 Enclosure
CL042-193 Enclosure
CL042-013 Ringfort-Rath
CL042-145 Standing Stone
Closing comments
Ardsollus Townland has a vibrant history due to the one-time presence of the vibrant village. Squeezed between the Ballykilty, Ballyhannon and Dromoland estates, it may have provided the place of residence and leisure for the labouring classes who worked these estates. Hopefully, the accompanying census and other records will provide some insight into who these people were. We know plenty of the landlord classes, particularly the O’Briens of Dromoland, who had a big impact on the shaping of this place.
We can see from the above census information that there was a sudden population decline from 1891. This is explained as ‘removal from townland in consequence to decreased employment’. Was this actually in consequence of road improvements which resulted in the destruction of dwellings in the old village. collapse of the horse racing and breeding businesses of the O’Briens or the loss of passing business? This surely requires a study in itself.
While the value of folklore can never be over-looked, we should remember that such lore was often created to explain that which could not be factually explained at a point in time. A time when records and information were limited. We now have better research tools available to scholars and professional researchers. Thanks to their great dedication and work we are now better informed when it comes to the origin of many of our placenames.
Other useful references:
Interview with Tom Fahy, Ballyhannon Parish Magazine 2008 (interviewed by Ann MacNamara & Siobhan O’Sullivan):
“Pat McInerney was the blacksmith at Ardsollus and he was an uncle to the McInerney woman who had the shop at Ardsollus.”
|
Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland 1845 Ardsallis A village on the Ardsallis river, 6 miles above its embouchure, Co. Clare, Munster. It stands on the road from Ennis to Limerick, about 3½ miles east-south-east of Clare, and upwards of 5 north-west of Six-mile-Bridge. It was formerly noted for its horse fairs and horse-racing. In its vicinity are the ruins of an ancient castle.
|
County Clare: A History and Topography 1837 by Samuel Lewis
Ardsallis
A village, in the parish of Tomfinlough, barony of Bunratty, county of Clare, and province of Munster, 51/2 miles (N. W.) from Six-mile-bridge, on the road from Newmarket-on-Fergus to Quin : the population is returned with the parish. Nearly adjoining it is a good race-course, which was formerly much frequented, but the races have been for many years discontinued. Fairs are held on the 12th of May and the 12th of August, chiefly for cattle, and were formerly well attended.
1901 census details for Ardsollus
1753.
Lease by Sir Edward O’Brien, 2nd Bart. to George Clanchy of a dwelling house and stables in the town of Assollass (Ardsollus), barony of Bunratty, which were lately held by Mathew Weeks, innkeeper, for 21 years at £4 4s yearly. 8 Jan. 1753. 1 membrane.
Sir Edward O’Brien (14th Baron Inchiquin) was also responsible for the fine eighteenth-century house which stood at Dromoland until the 1820s but his plans for a grander Palladian mansion were never realised. Such a fondness for extravagant living and building as this inevitably saddled the Dromoland estate with considerable debts as a significant portion of Sir Edward’s increasingly large annual income had to be expended on interest payments, annuities and payoffs to various creditors. In order to pay off some of his debts Sir Edward sold his stud farm at Ardsollus in 1742. It was clear that more extreme measures were required to tackle the severe indebtedness affecting the O’Brien estate
- Your Title Goes Here 50%
