and

1900 -1977 -2001

Ennis

Then and Now

from the Souvenir Magazine

An Bráithre Críostaí, Inis 1827 - 1977

On the following pages and elsewhere through this book are reproduced photographs of Ennis and one of Ballyalla as it is today.. These recent views are contrasted with photographs taken at the turn of the Century, as closely as possible to the same spot.

the old photographs are all from the Lawrence Collection, in the national Library. These early views were taken by Robert French, who photographes between 1880 and 1910 many thousands of views of the whole of Ireland for the firm of William Lawrence: they were used for picture postcards. The county Library has a collection of these prints which covers most of County Clare.

While much of the town has not altered that much in the eight odd years between the three sets of photographs, in some instances the ccontrasts are striking; the old Turnpike scene bears little resembl;ance to the new houses which have replaced it; the view from the Mill Bridge now is quite differnet from that of some years ago: Ballyalla has become the playground of Ennis instead of a place of recuperation.

The New Ennis undoubtedly is cleaner, healthier place but these photographs of what the Old Ennis was like bring back memories of old friends and old friendliness - something that seems at times to be missing today.