History of Liscannor

John Philip Holland, inventor of the modern submarine, was born in Liscannor at Castle Street (now renamed Holland Street) on February 29, 1840, in the coast guard’s station in Liscannor. Holland attended St. Macreehy’s National School and probably spent a number of years in the Christian Brothers School in Ennistymon. His father died in the 1840s, and the family moved to Limerick in 1853. Holland was fascinated by the sea, and in particular with models of underwater vessels. In 1873, he moved to America, where he continued to teach and design his submarine. His motivation was that one day his vessels might sink British warships. The Irish Republican Brotherhood financed Holland's one-man model and continued with the necessary finance until the launching in 1881 of the Fenian Ram. This submarine was 31 feet (9.4 m) long with a 19 tons displacement and could carry a three-man crew. The Fenian Ram "the intended scourge of the British Navy", never saw warfare, but survives intact in the museum in Patterson, New Jersey. After many near hits, the Liscannor man finally perfected his design with the launching of the Holland in May 1897; this was to provide the prototype for the first mass-produced submarines. John Holland, the father of the modern submarine, died in August 1914, a few days before the outbreak of World