Knock, An Cnoc, Co. Clare

An Cnoc · Co. Clare

A small west Clare village on Clonderalaw Bay. The Clare Knock, not the Mayo one, and there is a difference worth knowing.

Knock in County Clare is not the Knock in County Mayo. There is no apparition, no basilica, no coach park, no candles. This is a small village on the north-western side of Clonderalaw Bay, a sheltered inlet of the River Shannon estuary, in the part of west Clare that does not announce itself. The R486 road passes through. The name An Cnoc means simply 'the hill'.

It was a post-town once, with a constabulary station and petty sessions held on a Friday. Samuel Lewis counted about thirty houses in 1837, some of them, he noted, ornamented in the rustic style with shrubberies and gardens. The parish of Kilmurry McMahon covers this stretch of estuary shore and takes in Labasheeda to the east as well. The numbers tell the long Clare story: a parish of nearly 8,000 before the Famine, 252 people at Knock in 2002, 228 by 2006. The Shannon is wide to the south, the west Clare countryside runs inland, and the place is quieter now than it has ever been.

Do not come expecting a strip of pubs or a visitor centre - there is no such thing here, and the nearest full services are in Kilrush about fifteen kilometres west. Come instead for the pier on Clonderalaw Bay, the long view across the estuary to the Kilkerrin peninsula, and the knowledge that the Killimer car ferry to Kerry is barely five minutes down the road. This is a stop on the Shannon Estuary Way, not a destination in itself, and it is honest about that.

Population

~228 (2006 census)

Founded

Pre-Famine post-town; about 30 houses recorded in 1837

Coords

52.6167° N, 9.1833° W

01 / 06

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 Not that Knock

The Clare Knock, on the Shannon. No basilica, no coach park.

An Cnoc, 'the hill'. A village of around 200 on the north-western shore of Clonderalaw Bay, part of the Shannon estuary. The famous Knock - the Marian shrine - is in County Mayo, a different place reached by different roads.

Stories & lore → 02 The pier

A small estuary pier that once shipped corn to Limerick.

Knock Pier sits on Clonderalaw Bay, a designated point on the Shannon Estuary Way. Sea manure landed here, corn went out by boat to Limerick, and for a while there was a salmon trade. Two piers still stand.

Walks & outings → 03 The Colleen Bawn

Ellen Hanley washed ashore near here in 1819.

The murdered girl who became 'the Colleen Bawn' - books, plays, an opera - came ashore at Burrane near Knock. She is buried in Burrane Cemetery, a few kilometres south toward Killimer.

Stories & lore →

02 / 06

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

The Clare one, on the Shannon

Not that Knock

The Knock that everyone knows is in County Mayo - the site of a Marian apparition in 1879 and now one of Ireland's largest pilgrimage destinations, with a basilica and its own airport. This Knock is a village of around 200 people on Clonderalaw Bay, part of the Shannon estuary in west Clare. The Irish name, An Cnoc, simply means 'the hill'. There is no shrine, no pilgrimage, no crowd. The two share a name and nothing else. If you have driven here looking for the Mayo Knock, you are in the wrong county by the width of Ireland.

Ellen Hanley, washed ashore at Burrane, 1819

The Colleen Bawn

Ellen Hanley was a fifteen-year-old from a Limerick farming family. Within weeks of her secret marriage to John Scanlan in 1819, Scanlan and his servant Stephen Sullivan rowed her out onto the Shannon and killed her. Her body washed ashore at Burrane, near Knock, on the Clare coast. The case became a sensation - the basis for a novel, Dion Boucicault's play 'The Colleen Bawn', and later an opera. She is buried in Burrane Cemetery, between Kildysart and Kilrush and close to the Killimer ferry, in a grave given by the scholar Peter O'Connell, who was later laid in the same ground. A monument with a bronze bust now marks the spot. The whole grim story begins out on the estuary water you can see from Knock.

Sea manure in, corn and salmon out

The pier and the ice-houses

Knock had a small pier on Clonderalaw Bay long before it had anything else worth a tourist's notice. Lewis recorded in 1837 that sea manure was landed here and corn occasionally shipped to Limerick by boat. There was a salmon trade too: the story goes that a postmaster's child would wait for the telegraphed London fish-market prices and then dash to the pier to set the day's trading. Ordnance Survey maps from 1888 to 1913 mark two ice-houses in the village, which fits a place that handled fish. Two piers still stand on the bay - an L-shaped east pier and a west pier - now a quiet point on the Shannon Estuary Way rather than a working harbour.

03 / 06

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Knock Pier and Clonderalaw Bay The pier on Clonderalaw Bay is the obvious stop - a designated point on the Shannon Estuary Way drive. The view runs across the estuary to the Kilkerrin peninsula. Flat, exposed, best on a clear day. Not a long walk, more a place to stand and look at the water.

Short, around the pierdistance

30 minutestime

Shannon Estuary Way (Knock section) Knock sits on the 207-km Shannon Estuary Way, the looping estuary route. In this stretch it is more a driving road than a footpath, but the bay viewpoints between Knock, Labasheeda and Killimer are worth the stops. The Killimer ferry to Tarbert is the natural end of the run.

Variable, drive with stopsdistance

As long as you give ittime

04 / 06

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Estuary birdlife is active and the bay is at its clearest. Very quiet.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings on Clonderalaw Bay. The estuary lies calm when the wind drops.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Atlantic weather arrives. The estuary is worth seeing in a darker mood, and the waders come in.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Exposed estuary, short days, little open. Services are in Kilrush, about 15 km west. A stop for the determined.

◐ Mind yourself

05 / 06

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Coming expecting the Mayo Knock

Wrong county, wrong Knock entirely. No apparition, no basilica, no shrine. This is an estuary village of around 200 people on Clonderalaw Bay.

Expecting pubs, shops or services in the village

There is no pub strip and no visitor centre. Kilrush, about 15 km west, is the nearest town with full services. Plan to fuel up and eat elsewhere.

Treating it as a day out on its own

Knock is a stop, not a destination - the pier, the view, the Colleen Bawn grave at Burrane, then the Killimer ferry or on to Kilrush. Give it an hour, fold it into the estuary drive.

Getting there.

By car

On the R486 on the north-western shore of Clonderalaw Bay, in west Clare. The Killimer car ferry to Tarbert in Kerry is about 3.5 km southwest - barely five minutes. Kilrush is about 15 km west, Kildysart about 10 km north. From Ennis, head for Kilrush on the N68 and turn off onto the estuary roads.

By bus

Public transport is thin. Bus Eireann and Local Link routes serve Kilrush and Kildysart rather than Knock itself; a car is effectively required to reach the village and the pier.

By air

Shannon Airport (SNN) is the nearest, roughly an hour by road via Ennis and the N68.

Next on the tour

Co. Clare

Labasheeda

East along the Shannon estuary in the same parish. The Kilkerrin Battery, a Napoleonic fortress, and a quiet reputation for traditional music.

Co. Clare

Kilrush

About 15 km west. The main town for the Loop Head peninsula - shops, pubs, a marina, and the gateway to Scattery Island.

Co. Clare

Kildysart

About 10 km north on the estuary. A proper village with pubs, a quay, and Canon Island offshore.

Co. Clare

Cahiracon

A short run south-west to the Shannon pier, where a Georgian house sits over quiet water.