Co. Clare

The Earl of Egremont had a substantial property interest in Ennis, but the corporation was controlled by the Marquess of Conyngham and Sir Edward O’ Brien, who each returned a Member for Ennis to the Irish parliament. This arrangement was undermined by the disfranchisement of one of the seats at the Union.

Ironically, since it was to be the scene of his triumph in the famous Clare by-election, Daniel O’Connell* found Ennis, which lay in the parish of Drumcliff, unwelcoming and depressing on his visits as a barrister at the assizes.O’Connell Corresp. i. 152. Reckoned to be one of the most dismal county towns in Ireland, it was reported by the Scot Robert Graham of Redgorton in 1835 to consist mainly ‘of a string of wretched looking cabins on both sides of the entries to the town’.