Castleconnell
Sir Richard Bourke
From 1811 up until the 21st century, Thornfield in Ahane was the home of the Bourke family. Its most famous resident was General Sir Richard Bourke K.C.B. (1777-1855) Born in 1777, Richard was educated in England, joined the army in 1798 and saw service in Holland, South America and Spain. At the end of the…
Read MoreShooting at the Shannon Hotel
Excerpt from Village by Shannon, The Story of Castleconnell and its Hinterland Joe Carroll & Pat Tuohy, 1991 “On 17th April 1921 … The G Company of the RIC Auxiliary Division at Killaloe were on their way to investigate a report phoned from Castleconnell that suspicious characters were in O’Donovan’s Shannon Hotel. … Two officers…
Read MorePride of Place
One Day in August At 1.45 in the afternoon of 8th August 2012 the door gently closed and the vintage car containing the two judges pulled out down Castle Street, turned left on to the back road and away from the village. The TG4 van was loaded up, the local garda giving a wave as…
Read MoreMighty Mick Mackey
Mighty Mick Mackey Mick Mackey is widely regarded as one of the greatest hurlers in the history of the game and in Ahane, he is considered a legend. He was born in 1912 in Castleconnell, the eldest son to John and May Mackey (née Carroll). The family had a long association with the game of…
Read MoreMesolithic burials at Hermitage
The earliest recorded inhabitants of Ireland date back to the Mesolithic period, arriving by at least 8000BC and crossing the sea in small boats. In 2001, Ireland’s oldest recorded burial site was discovered at Hermitage, Castleconnell. Following test trenching by Limerick County Council in advance of a pipe-laying scheme, Aegis Archaeology was contracted to excavate…
Read MoreHistoric Graves
In the cold winter months of 2012/13, the memorials in the graveyard at All Saints Church, Stradbally North, Castleconnell, were recorded by a group of over 30 local volunteers, They came armed with gloves, torches and mirrors to help in the reading of the older inscriptions and a determination to decipher and record the huge…
Read MoreHermitage
Hermitage In 1789, George Evans Bruce, a Limerick banker, bought the estate at Hermitage and built an imposing mansion there. We are told he made his fortune gambling in the casinos of Paris and London and he spared no expense on his house. It was in a spectacular location with views over the Falls of…
Read MoreThe Fitzgibbon Monument
The Fitzgibbon monument The Fitzgibbon monument, as it has become known, borders the N7 road near Lisnagry School and is an important landmark in the area. This 19th century public water fountain was originally installed at Carrowkeel, near Finnegan’s Cross. The original pump had been placed at the site by John Fitzgibbon, Earl of Clare…
Read MoreCastleconnell Banner
Historic Castleconnell Banner First printed in An Caisleàn – The Castleconnell, Ahane, Montpelier Annual 2002 I first heard of the Castleconnell Banner in the summer of 2000 when my good friend, Pearse Magee, a native of Castleconnell, and now living in Kilmacanogue in Counaty Wicklow, told me the fascinating story of the old emblem that…
Read MoreBlack Jack Fitzgibbon
Black Jack Fitzgibbon, first Earl of Clare, lived at Mountshannon House Excerpt from Village by Shannon, The Story of Castleconnell and its Hinterland Joe Carroll & Pat Tuohy, 1991 John Fitzgibbon, or ‘Black Jack’ as he became known, “entered politics in 1780 and soon made his mark rising quickly to the position of Attorney General.…
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