Practically all the roads in use in the parish today were in existence at the time of the publication of the first O.S. maps in 1842. Sixty years previously the case were much different. In 1783 the 2nd. ed. Of Taylor and Skinner’s map shows no sign of the present village street of Crusheen. At that date the Gort-Ennis road still ran in its ancient course, i.e. the present section of the Tulla road from the village south to the crossroads at the school – the “croisín” that gives the present parish its name; there it turned westward for almost half a mile until it emerged beside Fogarty’s cottage on the present road. Hard to believe now that the narrow overgrown track by the G.A.A. pitch was once a busy thoroughfare over which Bianconi’s cars, among many others, ran regularly.
Some time in the intervening 59 years the road which now runs under the railway bridge and past the church to join the old road at Clarke’s was built. No doubt this new road, which was, in effect, a bypass, changed the whole centre of gravity of the village from the old “croisín” to what we have today. In the process the only inn the parish possessed, Uniacke’s, must have found business gravely affected since it stood on the old road, near to where the school now is. Not a trace of this hostelry remains today.
In 1783 the little railway between Fogarty’s and Clarke’s which crosses the railway and joins the Ruan road just beyond it was the road to Corofin. Only with the arrival of the railway in 1869 and the building of the station was the present station road made necessary and the old roadway declined to what it is today, a mere pathway.
With the coming of motor transport many smaller pathways have fallen
into disuse, some of them within living memory. Evidence of their very
existence has in some cases vanished, but not in all. The two coffin
stones (one for children, one for adults) on the former funeral-path
to Inchicronan graveyard and Cloch na nDeor at Doon were resting-places
for the coffin-bearers on these paths in times gone by. The remains
of another old road to Doon graveyard may still be seen just a quarter
of a mile north-east of Ballinruan church. Doubtless, other even more
ancient paths still await discovery in parts of the parish covered in
swamp or bogland. One such was found during turf-cutting near Inchicronan
Island some years ago, but the discovery were not pursued.
O’Donnell’s forge, adjacent to the Ballinruan crossroads
in Crusheen village, is the sole reminder today of that world of local
tradespeople, still very much alive up to the mid-century, which has
now practically disappeared. A list of the trades formerly carried on
in the parish reads now like an index to a vanished, an unfamiliar age,
as indeed it is, not least in the insight it gives us into the far greater
population then in residence.
Up to the turn of the century and beyond, the parish could boast a carpenter,
mason, shoemaker, weaver, butcher, tailor, baker, sapper, no less than
3 blacksmiths and a dancig master, who lived in the laneway behind Clarkes.
Today little more than the building trade is represented in the parish.
Cardplaying has always been extremely popular in the parish,
among young and old alike and from September to May there are at least
3 games nightly every week, on Monday at Fogarty’s, on Thursday
at Clarke’s and on Friday at Ballinruan Community Centre.
Hurling has had a large and active following for several generations
and the opening of the new G.A.A. pitch in 1990 for example, has been
a great boon not just to the hurlers but to the wider sporting community
also as proved by the advances made by the parish football teams in
the past decade.
The development of Dromore Lake and wood amenity area a mile to the
rest of the parish has added greatly to the attractiveness of the locality,
as the proposed walk way and pony-trekking facility in Ballinruan is
bound to do. Music and dancing are alive and well and drama classes
are available, all in the Community Centre. In fact, it can fairly be
said that never have so many people, the young especially, been so well
catered for in matters cultural.
Certain traditional customs such as “The Wren” have been
given a new lease of life in recent times, but one which has needed
no reviving is the St. John’s Eve bonfire at McNamara’s
Bridge on the Tulla Road. Crusheen is one of the few places in Clare
where this night is still celebrated through song, dance and music and
as a consequence it has begun to attract outside attention, not least
from the media.
Storytelling is alive in the parish and one of the largest collections
of folklore on tape on Ireland is available on request to persons interested.
