It lies in the north of the barony of Kiltartan, close to the border with The Burren in County Clare, in the province of Munster.

It is roughly coextensive with the Ó hEidhin territory of Coill Ua bhFiachrach (wood of the Uí Fhiachrach),[citation needed] and this name was still in use in the mid-19th century as recorded by John O'Donovan in his Ordnance Survey letters.

[citation needed] In 1831, a large group of Terry Alts gathered between Kinvara and New Quay on Abbey Hill in County Clare, and challenged government troops to battle.

They also unsuccessfully attempted to ambush a detachment of soldiers at Corranroo in the west of the parish, which led to the death of one of their members.

[citation needed] The Great Famine in the 1840s, and a series of emigrations that continued until the 1960s, reduced the population of the village – once a thriving port and exporter of corn and seaweed – to no more than a few hundred people.