The story of a maverick young priest from County Clare whose audacious bid to colonise much of California including the San Joaquin Valley with Irish families in the 1840s precipitated the Mexican-US War.

MacNamara’s Mexican project could have led to the founding of a ‘New Ennis’, ‘New Clare’ or even ‘New Ireland’, but it was thwarted by President Polk whose forces seized California.

Author John Fox spoke to Sean about Eugene MacNamara, a maverick young priest from Ennis, County Clare who sought to establish a colony for Irish families in the 1840s in Alta California, Mexico’s far north-western territory.

Had the ’10,000 ready volunteers from Limerick, Clare and Cork’ of whom he boasted, actually arrived, a ‘New Ennis’, ‘New Clare’ or ‘New Ireland’ could have been born.

‘El Proyecto Macnamara’: The Maverick Irish Priest and the Race to Seize California 1844-1846 published by Irish Academic Press

Listen to the interview here:

