Saturday in Dangan with Ann Mac

I only had one family contact in the area, Ann Macnamara, formerly a Lawlor, and Saturday turned out to be my chance to meet her. We met at Quin Abbey Tavern for breakfast at 10, and were done by 3. In the space of 5 hours I gleaned a huge amount of information about the Lynches, Lawlors, and various other clans with which I share blood. She pointed out that men tracing their roots tend to latch onto the male line, and asked to to recognise that I am equally a Lawlor as well as a Lynch. Fortunately, the family territories were only separated by a mile or so, in an area called Dangan, to the east of Quin. William Lynch married Mary Lawlor, who lived down the road at the otehr end of Dangan Townland, and they emigrated to Australia. The rest, including me, is history. 

Ann showed me around Dangan. I mean, she really showed me around - I saw the current Lawlor family property, as well the original Lynch house, where the owner (Ann Lynch) was good enough to take me on a guided tour. This included a view of the field where my ancestors had a house in the 1800s. I can't show you a majority of the photos I took, of distant cousins and the insides of people's houses, but suffice to say it was all very interesting, and probably a representative story of what was happening in the whole of Ireland at the time. 

Dangan also turns out to contain Magh Adhair (the Plain of Adair), which was an ancient inauguration site for the kings of Thomond, especially the O'Briens. (Adhair was said to be a Fir Bolg, one of the ancient non-human races of Ireland.)  Ann showed it to me from the car window, and I went back later on in the day for a proper look. 

Daniel and I have been on the hunt for traces of his ancestry in these parts, in a place he knew only as Duragh Dubh Rathcree. We now believe it is in the townland of Doora, near Cree, which is named Dubh Rath on the signs in that area. (Dubh Rath means black fort). It is about a mile and a half from Dangan, near Quin, meaning that we both share ancestry, not merely from Clare, but from a specific area. 

I'll send more pics to my relatives of the family history I have gathered. Several aunts and uncles have met Ann before, so many of them already know the story, but it was very nice to see and hear it for myself.