Recently, I walked Clara’s Main Street and was again reminded of its relative short length and the relatively small size of its adjoining, almost hidden, Market Square. A square and street where much trade, barter and banter, laughter, disagreements, or agreements on family member marriages, and heated discussions on political reform, occurred on a regular basis for hundreds of years.
Many local hostelries were frequented, where typically a farmer and his wife and family would come to settle bills, visit the local medic for advice, or attend religious services. Today the square is modernly paved, almost hidden and its well-maintained former Market House now tucked away from the passing motorised traffic. Sadly, as in the case of many Irish provincial towns several old buildings have fallen into a state of disrepair and exude an aura of reduced circumstances.
Back in 1826, Clara’s Main Street and Market Square was a hive of activity and was where many notable families conducted their commercial business and resided upstairs. As I strolled the street and looked above the ground floor level of today’s shop fronts, I wondered who were these former resident families and what ever became of some of them?
Clearly, this is just a chosen snapshot of some Clara families, and I would be keenly interested to hear from family members of their stories from those days’ past.
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