Cornelius O'Brien (County Clare)

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Sir Cornelius O'Brien (1782^[1] – 1857^{[citation needed]}), a descendant of Ireland's Brian Boru, the High King of Ireland, and the O'Briens of Bunratty Castle, Kings of Thomond,^{[citation needed]} built a tower, now referred to as O'Brien's Tower on the Cliffs of Moher in 1835 as an observation tower for the hundreds of tourists that frequented the cliffs during the time. O'Brien's Tower stands on a headland of the Cliffs of Moher.

O'Briens Tower is just visible in this panoramic view of the Cliff's of Moher.

Folklore holds that Cornelius O'Brien was a man ahead of his time, believing that the development of tourism would benefit the local economy and bring people out of poverty. O'Brien also built a wall of Moher flagstones along the Cliffs, and it is said in the locality that he built everything around here except the Cliffs. He died in 1857 and his remains lie in the O'Brien vault in the graveyard adjoining St Brigid’s Well.^{[citation needed]}

O'Brien's Tower and the Cliffs of Moher are located a short distance from the village Doolin, famous for its traditional Irish music. The tower is also near Liscannor a coastal village in County Clare, Republic of Ireland which is famous for its slate flagstones which were used at the time for fencing purposes. The local oral literature recounts that O'Brien, as Member of Parliament (MP) for Clare from 1832 to 1847,^[1] won a bet with his English counterparts that he could build a fence a mile long, a yard high and an inch thick.^{[citation needed]} These were the dimensions of the flagstones and they were quickly adapted as building material as well as floor covering in farmhouses throughout the 19th century. The flagstones bear the remarkable feature of the imprint of fossilized eels compacted over thousands of years.^{[citation needed]}

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