BONFIRES BY the shoreline and candles floating on the tide marked both the winter solstice and the bicentenary of Connemara’s capital, Clifden, last night.
Local choir Cantairí Chonamara also sang as part of an outdoor community ceremony celebrating the town’s 200th birthday, attended by Minister of State for Tourism Michael Ring.
One of the largest blazes was lit on the hilltop monument dedicated to Clifden’s founder, John D’Arcy (1785-1839).
Mr D’Arcy, who inherited land in Connemara, east Galway and Mayo, devoted himself to creating the market town after he was stripped of his position as county high sheriff over his controversial release of three Connemara men from Galway gaol.
He was granted patents to hold markets and fairs there in 1812, transforming a village into a town, and he granted leases at low rents to attract shopkeepers and craftspeople to the area.
Mr D’Arcy ran five times, unsuccessfully, for a seat at Westminster, and was a strong supporter of Daniel O’Connell and Catholic emancipation. O’Connell held one of his “monster meetings” in Clifden in September 1843, several years after D’Arcy’s death.
Key dates and figures associated with the north Connemara area over the past two centuries will be marked in a programme of events Mr Ring published on behalf of the Clifden 2012 organisers last night.
The town’s regular activities, including the annual pony festival and the 35th Clifden Community Arts Festival, are incorporated in the programme, and Connemara people who died in wars abroad will be commemorated on November 11th.
More details are available at clifden2012.org.