Calling all MacNamaras to the Cliffs of Moher - 23 June at 3p.m.

The McNamara name was one of the most popular names in Co. Clare in the 1901 census with 2736 McNamara’s recorded. Visitors to the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience can enjoy a talk on the McNamara name in Co. Clare on Sunday 23rd June at 3.00pm by Lorna Moloney (Irish Ancestral Research Centre) as part of the celebration of names for the year of the Gathering. There is an ongoing exhibit of 160 names in the Visitor Centre and the most reoccurring names are featured each week for 2013. The McNamara name will be celebrated on 17th June – 23rd June. Visitors with the McNamara name will receive a complimentary commemorative certificate and a goodie bag along with entry for a grand prize at the end of the year. All are welcome. “We shall find that the members of our Sept, from the early part of the fifth to the middle of the seventeenth century, dwelt in a well defined district of Clare, a county which until comparatively recent times was isolated from the rest of Ireland; its southern and eastern boundary being formed by the river Shannon, which throughout this part of its course was only fordable at one place situated below the town of Killaloe… The geographical position of the county was such as to preserve its inhabitants from successful invasion, or from being occupied by foreigners until late in the sixteenth century; thus not only did the people of Clare retain their independence but also their old Brehon laws and customs for two if not three centuries after much of the rest of Ireland had passed into the hands of Englishmen…”(Charles MacNamara History of the MacNamaras). The above quote has been Referenced from Martin Breen (ed) (The Story of An irish sept, N.C. MacNamara MacNamaras, see http://homepage.eircom.net/~asdfgh/macs/macs.html to purchase same. A wonderful publication.

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The MacNamara - Origins, history and distribution on the Name MacNamara - 23 June 2013 at Cliffs of Moher