Ardfinnan () is a small village in

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is situated on the

River Suir The River Suir ( ; ga, an tSiúr or ''Abhainn na Siúire'' ) is a river in Ireland that flows into the Atlantic Ocean through Waterford after a distance of . The catchment area of the Suir is 3,610 km2.

and R665 regional road. The Catholic parish of Ardfinnan is made up of three areas: Ardfinnan, Ballybacon, and Grange. Ardfinnan is also a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the ancient

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

Iffa and Offa West Iffa and Offa West (Irish: ''Uíbh Eoghain agus Uíbh Fhathaidh Thiar'') is a barony in County Tipperary, Ireland. This geographical unit of land is one of 12 baronies in County Tipperary. Its chief town is Cahir. The barony lies between Clanwill ...

. The village is located 14 kilometers from the town of

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

and six miles from

Cahir Cahir (; ) is a town in County Tipperary in Ireland. It is also a civil parish in the barony of Iffa and Offa West. Location and access For much of the twentieth century, Cahir stood at an intersection of two busy national roadways: the Dublin ...

via the

R670 road The R670 road is a Regional road (Ireland), regional road in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The route runs from its junction with the R639 road, R639 and N24 road (Ireland), N24 at Cloughabreeda 2 km north of Cahir through Cahir town and onwards ...

. The population of the village is approximately 900 people.

Transport

During the week it is served five times a day in each direction by

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidia ...

route 245 linking it to

Mitchelstown Mitchelstown () is a town in County Cork, Ireland with a population of approximately 3,740. Mitchelstown is situated in the valley to the south of the Galtee Mountains, 12 km south-west of the Mitchelstown Caves, 28 km from Cahir, 50& ...

Fermoy Fermoy () is a town on the River Blackwater in east County Cork, Ireland. As of the 2016 census, the town and environs had a population of approximately 6,500 people. It is located in the barony of Condons and Clangibbon, and is in the Dái ...

and

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. At the weekend there are three buses each way.

7th century abbey

Saint

Finian Lobhar Saint Finian the Leper ( ga, Saint Finian Lobhar) was an early Irish saint credited by some sources with founding a church and monastery at Innisfallen in Killarney. Life Saint Finian was a disciple of St. Columba. He was a strict Irish abbot, w ...

(or Finian the Leper) founded an

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

for

Canons Regular of Saint Augustine Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...

with a

leper colony A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Af ...

here in the early 7th century, high up on the site of the now present castle, known as Fíonáin's height, where the village gets its name. In 908, King of Munster

Cormac mac Cuilennáin Cormac mac Cuilennáin (died 13 September 908) was an Irish bishop and the king of Munster from 902 until his death at the Battle of Bellaghmoon. He was killed in Leinster. Cormac was regarded as a saintly figure after his death, and his shrine ...

bequeathed one ounce of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

, one ounce of

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

, his

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

armour Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...

and

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

to the abbey. The abbey was plundered and burnt by

Cambro-Normans Cambro-Normans ( la, Cambria; "Wales", cy, Normaniaid Cymreig; nrf, Nouormands Galles) were Normans who settled in southern Wales, and the Welsh Marches, after the Norman invasion of Wales, allied with their counterpart families who settled ...

during the

Norman Invasion of Ireland The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly sanc ...

in 1178. A

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

abbey was later built on the opposite side of the river valley, known as Lady's Abbey, of which its ruin is still extant after it was destroyed during the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

. There was also a monastery for Franciscan Friars, Third Order Regular.

Ardfinnan Castle

A prominent feature of the village is the Anglo-Norman

Ardfinnan Castle Ardfinnan Castle, is the sister castle of Lismore Castle and was built circa 1185 to guard the river crossing at Ardfinnan (''Ard Fhíonáin'' in Irish) in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is situated on the River Suir, seven miles west of Clonme ...

, the sister castle to

Lismore Castle Lismore Castle ( ga, Caisleán an Lios Mhóir) is a castle located in the town of Lismore, County Waterford in the Republic of Ireland. It belonged to the Earls of Desmond, and subsequently to the Cavendish family from 1753. It is currently the ...

and was built by Prince John of England in 1185 to guard the river crossing. The 13 arch bridge was started soon after the castle was completed. The castle has a long and varied history of owners and is inhabited to the present. The castle is a private residence and is not open to the public.

Economy

Mulcahy-Redmond & Co.

Illustration of Prendergasts gristmill - Early 18th century

The former Ardfinnan Woollen Mills of Mulcahy-Redmond & Co., which produced its renowned Ardfinnan

tweeds Tweed is a rough, woollen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is usually woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure. Colour effects in the yarn may be obtained ...

and suitings was established in the village in March 1869. It was built on the site of a former

corn mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...

which had been in operation since before the Civil Survey of 1654 up until it was sold by the Prendergasts of Ardfinnan in the mid 19th century. The woollen mills became a leading firm in Irish textiles and was of great benefit to the village of Ardfinnan, providing employment to over 220 workers at its peak and electricity for streetlights and homes in the surrounding area long before the Rural Electrification Scheme was introduced. HM

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

visited the mill in the 1900s. It closed in 1973.

Developments

Ardfinnan was a location, used by

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

, for the manufacture of wooden video game arcade cabinets from 1974 to 1984. At its height 200 workers were building 2,000 arcade cabinets a month at the location just outside the village. The plant in Ardfinnan closed in 1989. Insulation manufacturer, ''Moy Isover'' were also based in the village since 1974 before finally closing in 2008. In January 2017, €800,000 was allocated for essential remedial works on the bridge by the government. As a public safety initiative, a traffic light one way system has been in place on the bridge since the end of 2015 after significant structural damage was discovered.

Sport

Ballybacon-Grange GAA is the local

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

club.

Ardfinnan GAA Ardfinnan GAA is a Tipperary GAA club which is located in County Tipperary, Ireland. The club, which competes at county level and in the "South" division of Tipperary GAA, is known by its supporters as "the village". The team's home ground is on ...

is the local

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

club. They were

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

county

champions in 2005. Ardfinnan Anglers have licensed fishing rights to approximately 15 km of river bank on the river

Suir The River Suir ( ; ga, an tSiúr or ''Abhainn na Siúire'' ) is a river in Ireland that flows into the Atlantic Ocean through Waterford after a distance of . The catchment area of the Suir is 3,610 km2.

Brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

and

Salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

can be caught in these waters. The river banks are maintained annually by club members who perform the work voluntarily before the commencement of the annual fishing season.

References

External links

Ardfinnan.net Archived Website
{{County Tipperary Towns and villages in County Tipperary Civil parishes of Iffa and Offa West