Shinrone holds fond memories for many who are lucky enough to be born there. For one weaver born just down the road, the local community has been a lifelong support.

Clarissa Webb was born a half mile from Shinrone. Now based in the neighbouring village of county Galway, her family has a rich history tied to the village and Bellefield House. Her childhood was shaped by an idyllic farm life: bringing in the hay, saving turf in the bog, milking cows and riding ponies across open fields. ‘I was always out in the tractor and working and helping’ she recalls. Silage season was her favourite time of the farming calendar, with neighbours lending a hand.

Her favourite memories of family and community were of yearly fundraising jumble sales with her mother and sister in the village hall, Cloughmoyle School, where she would meet up with all her friends from school, reminiscing, ‘it was a great sense of community.’

Clarissa attended school in nearby Roscrea. Though she admits she didn’t love the classroom, she found joy in Art encouraged by a very good teacher, Mr O’Meara. She also recounts joyful bus journeys to and from school, full of laughter with her schoolmates. After school, her studies took her to England, where she studied Cookery.

She found creativity in cooking, evolving recipes to create culinary delights. Taking up a position in the kitchens of Kilkenny Design Workshops unexpectedly exposed her to the world of Craft. There she encountered potters, jewellers and glassblowers and a world full of makers all working with their hands.

Inspired, she took to England again to study Textiles, supporting herself through cooking. There, she learned the traditions and techniques of weaving - skills rooted in patience, precision and touch. Returning to Ireland, she set up her own workshop with two looms, beginning a life that would balance community, craft and cooking.

Weaving, for her, is all about the wool. She works primarily with merino wool, which she sources from Donegal Yarns, drawn to its softness and tone. The threads themselves carry variation - flecks of colour spun together, giving the fabric a richness that changes with the light. ‘It’s flecked,’ she explains, ‘you don’t have flat colour.’ Her designs are distinctly Irish, inspired by the shifting colours of West Cork, where she spends time each year. Yet Shinrone remains her anchor. It is here that her work finds its most supportive audience.

Although she once sold to international markets in London and in Barneys in New York, she now prefers to stay local. She regularly she sells her homemade pies, cheeses and olives in the farmers market in the local town of Birr. Cooking, she says, has sustained her weaving financially over the years. ‘The cooking has supported the arts and crafts. It really has. I don't know how people survive now with just doing the craft’ she reflects. But together, the two form a life that feels balanced and complementary.

Markets, more than anything, sustain her way of life. She has participated in craft fairs held by the RHSI at Bellefield House, where people know her and show up to support local. Clarissa explains ‘I love the idea of selling through markets and meeting people. You like meeting the people you're selling to, and they like the story behind it, and they like chatting and then they know who made it. The people always want the person who made it to sell it.’

For her, Shinrone is more than a birthplace. It is a living network of family, traditions, and shared histories. Through her weaving, cooking and presence at local markets, she contributes to that network, keeping the fabric of the community strong.