County Clare
Religious statues in Co. Clare
Clare is a county of holy wells and island monasteries, with the cathedral of the Diocese of Killaloe in Ennis and St Brigid’s Well at Liscannor still visited on her feast and on Garland Sunday.
Ennis and the Diocese of Killaloe
The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Ennis is the cathedral of the Diocese of Killaloe, which covers most of Clare and stretches into Tipperary, Offaly and Laois. It began as the parish church of Ennis — Mass was first said in the unfinished building in 1842 — and became the cathedral when the bishop made Ennis his home at the end of the nineteenth century. The north of the county, around Kilfenora and the Burren, is the old Diocese of Kilfenora, administered by the Bishop of Galway.
Wells and holy places
St Brigid’s Well, Liscannor
Near the Cliffs of Moher, the well is visited on St Brigid’s feast, 1 February, and was the scene of the great Garland Sunday gathering at the end of July. The passage to the well is lined with holy pictures, rosaries and notes left by visitors.
Scattery Island
In the Shannon estuary off Kilrush, the monastic island of St Senan, with its round tower and churches.
Holy Island on Lough Derg
Inis Cealtra, off Mountshannon, another early monastic island on the Clare shore of the lake.
Which statues suit
A house near a holy well often has a small shrine of its own. For an outdoor niche on the Atlantic side of the county, salt wind is hard on paint; marble is what we would recommend, and the grotto guide covers building a sheltered one.
Indoors, Our Lady of Grace, the Sacred Heart and St Joseph remain the statues most Clare families keep. For a statue of St Brigid or St Senan, ask about a commission.
For a Clare home or shrine
St Joseph
Hand-painted resin · plain or glitter
From €60
Our Lady of Grace
Hand-painted resin
€60
Our Lady of Lourdes and St Bernadette
Hand-painted resin · the pair
€240
St Joseph with the Child Jesus
Hand-painted resin · glitter finish
From €60
Our Lady of Knock
Hand-carved marble
€1,600
Our Lady of Lourdes (Fine Detail)
Hand-carved marble · 3ft 3in
€2,400
Questions from Clare
How much is delivery to Co. Clare?
Resin statues go by post to any address in Co. Clare for a flat €15 per order, however many statues are in the parcel. Marble is too heavy for the post, so we deliver it ourselves; the delivery charge for each marble statue is shown on its own page before you order. That includes the islands-side villages and the Loop Head peninsula; for marble we will agree a date with you by phone.
What is best for a statue facing the sea?
Marble. It weathers slowly and can be cleaned; painted finishes do not like salt air. Set it on a level, solid base out of the worst of the wind.
Do you supply parishes in the Diocese of Killaloe?
We supply any parish that orders from us. For a church statue, see our page for churches or ring us to talk through size and placement.
Choosing a statue for Clare?
Tell us where the statue will stand and roughly how tall it should be, and we will tell you plainly what suits. WhatsApp or ring +353 85 285 1015, or write to [email protected].
Updated
Read next
Religious statues in Ireland
Statues of Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints for the home, the parish and the garden — hand-painted resin and hand-carved marble, delivered to every county in Ireland.
Galway
Galway Cathedral, dedicated in 1965, is one of the last great stone cathedrals built in Ireland, and a statue of St Thérèse from St Ignatius Statues is pictured in it. Beyond the city lie Tuam, Clonfert and the Connemara pass where St Patrick is said to have blessed the west.
Limerick
Every June tens of thousands come to Mount St Alphonsus for the Redemptorists’ Solemn Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Limerick is also the county of St Ita of Killeedy, the ‘foster-mother of the saints of Ireland’.
Making a garden grotto
Grottos to Our Lady are part of the Irish landscape — at crossroads, outside schools and churches, in front gardens. A small one at home is within reach of anyone with a free corner and a weekend.