placenamesKnock
An Cnoc
Knock on Clonderlaw Bay preserves the history of a small trading port and a memorable local story about a contest on its pier.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- An Cnoc · Irish · main form · validated name
- Knock · English · main form
Place & story
A quay serving farms and fisheries
Knock's quay on Clonderlaw Bay linked the village with the Shannon's trading routes. Killimer Local History records fish and shellfish exports to England, turf carried to Limerick and limestone brought back for burning in the local kiln. The resulting lime improved farmland. A boathouse and ice house belonged to this working waterfront, where storage, fishing and agricultural supplies depended on the movement of boats. [2]
The post office and village services
The local history group dates Knock's post office from 1804 to 1988. Alongside it, the village had a dispensary, a smithy, a courthouse and a constabulary barracks. These services made the small settlement a centre for the surrounding countryside. Its history is therefore broader than the surviving houses and quay: Knock also provided places where people collected post, sought treatment and conducted local business. [2]
The tug-of-war rope
A locally remembered story places a fiercely contested tug of war on Knock pier around 1910. Teams from Killimer and Kilmurry McMahon pulled without either yielding, until a priest cut the rope to stop the struggle. Killimer Local History preserves the tale in its sporting memories. It is an attested local anecdote, rather than a claim that every detail can be independently verified. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Clare
- Barony
- Clonderalaw
- Civil parish
- Kilmurry
- Within
- Knock
- Coordinates
- 52.62984, -9.32936 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1412561 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Knock. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Knock: the Burrane Triangle heritage trail · Killimer Local History Group
- Tug of War: a pull that caused a stir · Killimer Local History Group
- Knock village on Clonderalaw Bay, County Clare illustration: based on a Knock Village on the shore of Clonderalaw Bay, Co. Clare by P L Chadwick. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.