Co. Clare

<p>The Earl of Egremont had a substantial property interest in Ennis, but the corporation was controlled by the Marquess of Conyngham and <a href="/landingpage/2880" title="Sir Edward O’Brien" class="involume">Sir Edward O’ Brien</a>, 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.

<p>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.<fn><em>O’Connell Corresp</em>. i. 152.</fn> 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’.