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LISSYCASEY

CO. CLARE · IE

Lissycasey
Lios Uí Chathasaigh, Co. Clare

The Wild Atlantic Way
STOP 07 / 07

Lios Uí Chathasaigh · Co. Clare

A ribbon village strung along the N68, the gateway to West Clare - and home to one of the oldest family-run pubs in Ireland.

Lissycasey is a ribbon village - it does not so much sit at a crossroads as stretch for about three and a half kilometres along the N68, the main road between Ennis and Kilrush. It calls itself the gateway to West Clare, and that is honest: this is the last bit of lowland farmland before the road tips you out toward the Loop Head peninsula and the estuary towns. Ennis is about seventeen kilometres east, Kilrush a similar run west.

The name in Irish is Lios Uí Chathasaigh, the ringfort of the Caseys, and the fields around here carry the circular earthworks that the name remembers. In medieval times this was East Corcabaiscinn; when the territory was split in two around 1488, a branch of the MacMahon family took the eastern half. The parish is Clondegad-Kilchrist, in the Diocese of Killaloe. The present church in the village was dedicated in 1978, on the site of an earlier one that first opened in 1860.

What you actually stop for is short and worth it. Fanny O'Dea's, the thatched pub on the Kilrush road, has been an inn since 1695 and licensed since 1790 - one of the oldest family-run pubs in the country, still in the same family. And the Cascades Loop, an easy walk through a thirty-acre ecology park behind the village, where the pine marten lives in the undergrowth. Beyond that, Lissycasey is a working village that you pass through on the way to the coast. It does not pretend otherwise.

Population

390 (2022)

Pubs

1and counting

Walk score

The Cascades Loop starts beside the church in the middle of the village

Coords

52.7436° N, 9.1597° W

01 / 07

At a glance.

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

01 The pub

Fanny O'Dea's - an inn since 1695, licensed since 1790.

A long, low, thatched pub on the Kilrush road, run by the same family for over three centuries. The house speciality is the Egg Flip, a hot whiskey-and-egg drink from a recipe handed down for two hundred years. The reason most people stop at all.

Pubs & pints → 02 The walk

The Cascades Loop through a 30-acre ecology park.

An easy 2.1 km loop off the back of the village, through a small ecology park that is home to the pine marten - Ireland's rarest mammal. Marked in red arrows, child and buggy friendly, gym equipment along the way. The one genuine reason to leave the car.

Walks & outings → 03 The name

Lios Uí Chathasaigh - the ringfort of the Caseys.

The farmland around the village is dotted with the circular ringforts the name remembers. In the late 1400s this was the eastern half of Corcabaiscinn, ruled by a branch of the MacMahons. The history is in the fields, not on a sign.

Stories & lore →

02 / 07

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

Fanny O'Dea's

Historic, family-run, properly old

Thatched pub & restaurant, Kilrush road

A long, low, thatched pub with orange-wash walls on the Ennis-Kilrush road - an inn since 1695, licensed since 1790, and held by the same family the whole way through. The house speciality is the Egg Flip, a hot drink of egg with a choice of whiskey, brandy or Baileys, from a secret family recipe more than two hundred years old. Live music at weekends, traditional food seven days in summer with Sunday lunch the pull, and a big beer garden out the back. The local folklore says it is unlucky to pass it. Take the hint.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

Lios Uí Chathasaigh, and East Corcabaiscinn

The ringfort of the Caseys

Lissycasey means the ringfort, or lios, of the Caseys, and the farmland around the village is genuinely thick with the circular earthen forts that the name records - the ordinary defended farmsteads of early medieval Ireland. In the wider scheme this was East Corcabaiscinn, a territory in West Clare. Around 1488 Corcabaiscinn was divided into east and west, with a branch of the MacMahon family ruling each. There is no single monument to point a camera at here; the history is spread across the fields and the townland names. Worth knowing, not worth a special trip.

Tobarniddaun and St Ruth at Frure

The holy wells

The parish carries several holy wells that locals have visited for generations - Tobarniddaun among them. At Frure, a short way off, St Ruth's Well is held locally to have healing powers. These are the quiet kind of heritage site: a well, a few rags or coins, a tradition kept up by people who live here rather than by signage. If you go looking, go respectfully and ask locally for the way.

Clare football champions, 2007

Lissycasey GAA

Football is the village's claim on the wider county. Lissycasey GAA were Clare senior football champions in 2007, and took the Cusack Cup the same year - a genuine high point for a parish of a few hundred people. In a county that lives and dies by hurling, a West Clare football title carries its own weight. A championship weekend still empties the village toward the pitch.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

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

Lissycasey Cascades Loop An easy loop through the thirty-acre Lissycasey Ecology Park, a local beauty spot home to the pine marten - Ireland's rarest mammal - and some endangered plants. A gentle 35 m climb, marked in red arrows on white, child, dog and buggy friendly, with outdoor gym equipment along the way. The trailhead is by the community garden beside the church, on the right as you come in from Ennis. Free roadside parking, and coach and car parking at the church.

2.1 km loopdistance

45 mintime

Mid Clare Way (local section) Lissycasey sits on the Mid Clare Way, a 148 km long-distance loop that links to the East Clare Way and counts Ben Dash, in the foothills above the village, as its highest point. More a waymarked route across farmland and forestry than a tidy footpath, but the local sections give you the heathered uplands behind the village rather than the road.

Variabledistance

Depends on sectiontime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The Cascades Loop at its best, the ecology park coming into leaf, and the N68 quiet. Good light over the farmland.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Fanny O'Dea's serves food seven days and the beer garden comes into its own. The road to Kilrush and Loop Head is busy; Lissycasey is the calmer stretch with a reason to pull in.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

West Clare farmland in October, the loop walk quiet, the pub fire going. GAA championship season in the parish.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

A passing stop in winter. The pub keeps going but check hours; the wider services are in Ennis or Kilrush.

◐ Mind yourself

06 / 07

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

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

Making a special trip

Lissycasey is on the way to somewhere - Kilrush and Loop Head west, Ennis east. With Fanny O'Dea's and the Cascades Loop it earns a stop, but it is a waypoint, not a destination in its own right.

Expecting a town

This is a ribbon village strung along three and a half kilometres of main road. There is the pub, the church, a school and a shop. For a supermarket, a hotel or a proper meal out, it is Ennis or Kilrush, each about twenty minutes away.

A monument to photograph

The heritage here - the ringforts, the holy wells, the medieval Corcabaiscinn history - is real but diffuse. It is in the fields and the townland names, not on a viewing platform. Adjust your expectations and it rewards you; turn up looking for a castle and it will not.

Getting there.

By car

On the N68, midway between Ennis and Kilrush - about 17 km from Ennis, a similar run to Kilrush. Shannon Airport is around 40 minutes east.

By bus

Bus Éireann route 336 (Ennis - Kilrush - Doonbeg) stops in Lissycasey, near the cemetery and opposite Fanny O'Dea's, several times a day. Check current timetables before relying on it; a car opens up West Clare considerably.

By air

Shannon (SNN) is the nearest airport, about 40 minutes by road.