The Willie Clancy Summer School, Ireland’s great week of traditional music
For nine days from the first Saturday of July, Miltown Malbay becomes the centre of the traditional music world. Beds vanish for miles around, and these are the closest B&Bs in the directory, bookable direct with the owner.
A small town that becomes the capital of Irish music
The Willie Clancy Summer School has been held in Miltown Malbay every July since 1973, founded within months of the death of the great uilleann piper it is named for. It is widely described as the world’s largest traditional music summer school, drawing around a thousand students from all over the world, up to 150 teachers and thousands of listeners into a west Clare town of fewer than a thousand residents.
The rhythm of the week is unique. Mornings belong to the classes, in pipes, fiddle, flute, concertina, whistle and set dancing, spread through the town’s schools and halls. Afternoons bring lectures and recitals, and by night the pubs of Miltown Malbay hold some of the best sessions heard anywhere on earth.
What happens during the Willie Clancy week
The school proper is for enrolled students, but the town itself is open to everyone, and most visitors come simply to listen. Nightly céilís, concerts and recitals fill the halls, the memorial lecture opens the week, and a musical tribute is paid at Willie Clancy’s grave. Events spill into Spanish Point, Quilty and Mullagh when the town runs out of rooms to hold them.
For a listener the real programme is unwritten: the sessions. Every bar in the town has music from afternoon until late, played by students, teachers and the many great musicians who simply turn up. Nobody plans the best moments of a Willie Clancy week; you just need a seat and patience.
Miltown Malbay and the west Clare coast
Miltown Malbay sits on the N67 coast road on the Wild Atlantic Way, with the Blue Flag beach at Spanish Point about three kilometres away, Lahinch and its surf up the coast, and the Cliffs of Moher within an easy drive. A bed here in early July serves both the music and one of the finest stretches of coastline in Ireland.
Accommodation pressure during the school is severe, since the town is small and the crowd is not. Beds in Miltown Malbay itself go many months out, which makes the B&Bs of Lahinch, Ennistymon and the surrounding coast the realistic and entirely workable alternative, all within fifteen or twenty minutes of the sessions.
B&Bs and guesthouses near the Willie Clancy Summer School
The closest listings in the directory to Miltown Malbay, distances shown on each. The week fills the whole coast, so contact owners as early as you can and book direct.
Frequently asked
Willie Clancy Summer School, common questions
Do I need to enrol to attend the Willie Clancy Summer School?
No, enrolment is only needed for the daytime classes. The nightly céilís, concerts and pub sessions that most visitors come for are open to everyone in the town.
Where do you stay for Willie Clancy week if Miltown Malbay is full?
Beds in Miltown Malbay itself go many months out, so Lahinch, Ennistymon and the surrounding coast are the realistic alternative, all within fifteen or twenty minutes of the sessions.
When is the Willie Clancy Summer School held?
It runs for nine days from the first Saturday of July every year, and has done since 1973.
Going this year?
Book a bed near the Willie Clancy week direct
The Willie Clancy Summer School fills west Clare faster than any other week of the year. A B&B booked direct with the owner puts you minutes from the sessions with a real breakfast before the first class.