Adare

For other uses, see Adare (disambiguation).
Adare
Áth Dara
Village

Main Street, Adare
Adare

Location in Ireland

Coordinates: 52°33′50″N 8°47′24″W / 52.564°N 8.790°W / 52.564; -8.790Coordinates: 52°33′50″N 8°47′24″W / 52.564°N 8.790°W / 52.564; -8.790
Country Ireland
Province Munster
County County Limerick
Dáil Éireann Limerick West
Elevation 5 m (16 ft)
Population (2006)[1]
 • Village 2,454
 • Urban 982
 • Environs 1,471
Dialing code 061-39****
Irish Grid Reference R460460

Adare (/æˈdeɪr/; Irish: Áth Dara, meaning "ford of [the] oak"[2]) (Population 2,454 (CSO, 2006)[1] is a village in County Limerick, Ireland.

General information

"Welcome to Adare" in Irish

Adare's origin is as a settlement by a crossing point on the river Maigue. It is situated 16 km (10 mi) from Limerick city. Renowned as one of Ireland's prettiest villages,[3] Adare is designated as a Heritage Town by the Irish government. Due to the influence of the Dunraven family, much of the village is formally planned.

Economy

Adare is a tourist destination and the local heritage centre, which gives insight into the history of the village, also hosts a number of craft shops. The town is also a popular wedding and conference venue. Adare has two 18-hole golf courses - the Adare Golf Club, which incorporates a driving range and which was the site of the 2007 and 2008 Irish Open, the Adare Manor Golf Club and a pitch and putt course. Adare also has an equestrian centre, Clonshire.

Accommodation

The village has three hotels: The Adare Manor, the Dunraven Arms and, to the east of the village on the road to Croom, the Woodlands House Hotel.[4]

Architecture

Tír na nÓg, a historic thatched cottage in Adare, pictured here in 2013. Built as part of the Dunraven estate in 1835–70, it was destroyed by a fire in June 2015.[5]

The main street combines typical Irish architecture with the English styled buildings and infrastructure purpose-built for the Dunraven estate. Examples of the latter architectural forms include the thatched cottages near the entrance to Adare Manor.

Schools

There are four primary schools in Adare: St Joseph's National School (Catholic, boys),[6] Our Lady's Abbey National School (Catholic, girls),[7] St Nicholas' National School (Church of Ireland, mixed)[8] and Shountrade National School (Catholic, mixed).

The village's only secondary school, Adare CBS, closed in 1973.

Transport

The main Limerick-Tralee road, the N21 passes through the village, causing heavy congestion. In late 2015 a corridor for the long-delayed bypass was chosen that realigns national route 21 north of the village as part of a new dual carriageway planned to link Foynes port to Limerick.

Adare is a stop on Bus Eireann's Limerick-Tralee/Killarney bus service and Dublin Coach's Dublin-Tralee/Killarney service. Both run hourly.

The abandoned "Limerick-Foynes" railway line passes half a mile to the north-west of the town.[9] Adare railway station, opened on 12 July 1856 by the Limerick & Foynes Railway company, was closed to passengers on 4 February 1963 and to freight on 2 December 1974. The line to Foynes continued to carry freight traffic until it was mothballed in 2001 and has seen no trains since 7 May 2002 when the annual Irish Rail weedspray train visited the line. The line, designated an engineers siding, is still officially open for traffic.[10]

History

The ancient town lay upon the eastern bank of the Maigue near the ford (crossing point) from which the village gets its name. Owing to the strategic importance of the river crossing the Desmond castle was built on the site, near Ardshanbally (derived from Ard an tSeanbhaile - 'high ground of the old town'), about half-a mile from the modern town on the western side. Historically a market town, in the Middle Ages, Adare boasted three monasteries. Owing to the influence of the Earls of Dunraven, who built the Adare Manor (now a luxury resort hotel) a strict plan was laid out for the town.

Augustinian Priory

"Augustinian Abbey, Adare
(with the castle of the Fitzgeralds and the Francescan Abbey)", 1842

The Augustinian Priory was founded in 1316 by John FitzThomas FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Kildare. The Priory was suppressed in the reign of Henry VIII. In 1807, the church of the Priory was given to the local Church of Ireland congregation as the parish church.[11] In 1814, the refectory was roofed and converted into a schoolhouse. Between 1852 and 1854, a second restoration of the church was undertaken by Caroline, Countess of Dunraven.

Franciscan Abbey

The Franciscan friary was founded in 1464 by Thomas Fitz-Maurice, 7th Earl of Kildare and his wife Joan, and completed two years later. It is currently a ruin and is located inside the Adare Manor Golf Club.[11] Every Easter Sunday a dawn mass is celebrated in the Abbey.

Trinitarian Abbey

Trinitarian Monastery

The Trinitarian Order established their only monastery in Ireland in Adare in 1230.[11] It is believed that the Trinitarian monks who came to Adare may have come from Scotland. The Abbey was restored in 1811 by the first Earl of Dunraven as the Catholic Parish church.

Desmond Castle

Desmond Castle

A castle or fortress is said to have first been built with an ancient ring-fort, by the O'Donovans, rulers of the region into the late 12th century, and afterwards to have passed into the possession of the Kildare branch of the FitzGerald dynasty, who may be responsible for the majority of the remains of the present fortress (which occurred with Croom Castle, also on the Maigue). Desmond Castle, as it is popularly known, stands on the north bank of the Maigue. An extensive renovation has been in progress on the castle since 1996 and supervised tours are offered in the summer months. This is one of a series of significant Desmond properties, which also include the banqueting hall in Newcastle West, another castle in Askeaton and Castle Matrix near Rathkeale, further west in County Limerick.

Annalistic references

Historic surnames in Adare

According to the census of Ireland in 1901 and 1911 some common surnames include: Brennan, Carmody, Chawke, Hickey, McNamara, Kelly, McMahon, Ryan, Smith, Hogan, Lyons, O'Donnell, O'Regan, Switzer, Fitzgerald, Walsh.

Sports

Interesting facts

Twin towns

See also

References

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Adare.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Adare.
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