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Moate (; ) is a town in
County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Sovereign state, Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces o ...
, Ireland. The name ''An Móta'' is derived from the term
motte-and-bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...
, as the
Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...
built an example of this type of fortification here. The earthwork is still visible behind the buildings on the main street. The town later became an important marketplace and
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
village. It has made the town much more wealthy. There are several extant examples of Quaker houses on the main street, which itself is typical of an Irish marketplace.


Location

Moate is on the Cloghatanny River, also known as the Moate Stream, which is a tributary of the
River Brosna The River Brosna ( ga, An Bhrosnach) is a river within the Shannon River Basin in Ireland, flowing through County Westmeath and County Offaly. The river rises in Lough Owel north of Mullingar and is a tributary of the River Shannon. It meets t ...
. The confluence between the Cloghatanny and Brosna is to the southeast of Moate. The town is on the
R446 road The R446 road is a regional road in Ireland. The road connects Kinnegad in County Westmeath to Galway City. Prior to the construction of the M6 motorway the R446 formed the main N6 road connecting Dublin and Galway (via the N4 at Kinneg ...
between
Kinnegad Kinnegad or Kinagad () is a town in County Westmeath, Ireland. It is on the border with County Meath, near the junction of the M6 and the M4 motorways - two of Ireland's main east–west roads. It is roughly 60 km from the capital, Dublin ...
and
Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...
. Before July 2008, this was the N6 road, a national primary route, and Moate was a serious traffic bottleneck. The new
M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at t ...
bypasses the town.


Amenities

Moate is a growing town with an amenity and heritage park, a greenway running through the town, golf club, tennis courts, astro turf pitch, a pastoral centre and a community centre. There are also many businesses such as supermarkets, petrol stations, a post office, a bike shop, hairdressers, clothes shops, a sports shop, a pharmacy, coffee shops, restaurants, pubs and a hotel. Many new building ventures have taken place in recent years, including a complex of apartments and shops at the site of the old Convent of Mercy on Station Road.


Culture and heritage

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 is the Moate All Whites. The club's name and playing kit colours are based on the white religious habits worn by the Carmelite White Friars, a long established Moate institution. Tuar Ard Arts Centre is a Community lead project which opened its doors in October 2000. The Centre strives to develop an awareness of and provide as broad a range of visual and performing art forms through creative artistic programming incorporating professional / non-professional activities so that the involvement of all age groups can be expanded and enriched through participation in and access to the arts. It holds a 173 tiered seating auditorium. Dún na Sí Amenity and Heritage Park is a community park located on the outskirts of the town, encompassing ecology, play, heritage, arts and education. The park comprises the ''Scéal Exhibition'' in the ''Comhaltas Teach Cheoil'', heritage trail,
sensory garden A sensory garden is a self-contained garden area that allows visitors to enjoy a wide variety of sensory experiences. Sensory gardens are designed to provide opportunities to stimulate the senses, both individually and in combination, in ways that ...
, pet farm, walking trails, native Irish woodland, turlough, playground and tea rooms. The former gaol, part of the old courthouse, now contains a small museum housing artefacts found in the area dating from the Stone Age through to the modern era. The main building of the old courthouse has been renovated into a public library. A 17th Century ruined Quaker Meetinghouse stands in the centre of the town, the Church of St. Patrick serves as the
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
parish church and the Church of St. Mary is the local
Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...
church. A second Catholic Church, the Church of the Immaculate Conception, stands to the north of the town.


Transport


Bus

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 ...
and
Irish Citylink Irish Citylink is an Irish based subsidiary of Singaporean company ComfortDelGro, which provides bus services between some of Ireland's major cities and towns. History In 2010, Citylink contracted the running of its bus services to Callinan C ...
operate
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...
bus routes that service Moate.


Rail

The disused
Moate railway station Moate railway station is a former railway station which served the town of Moate in County Westmeath, Ireland. Previously a stop on the Midland Great Western Railway's main line to Galway and later on the main route between Dublin and stations i ...
was built by the
Midland Great Western Railway The Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) was the third largest Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland. It was incorporated in 1845 and absorbed into the Great Southern Railways in 1924. At its peak the MGWR had a network of , making it Irela ...
to connect Dublin and Galway and opened on 1 August 1851. It closed for goods traffic on 2 December 1974, and closed for passenger traffic on 27 January 1987. Parts of the film ''
The First Great Train Robbery ''The First Great Train Robbery'' (known in the United States as ''The Great Train Robbery'') is a 1978 Irish heist comedy film directed by Michael Crichton, who also wrote the screenplay based on his 1975 novel '' The Great Train Robbery''. ...
'' (1979) were filmed on the local railway. The crew of about 150 actors, extras, and production team, spent around two weeks in and around Moate filming. The cast of the movie stayed at the Royal Hoey Hotel during this time. The train station depicted as "Ashford" is actually Moate Station.


Dublin to Galway Cycleway

The Mullingar (West) to Garrycastle (Athlone East) section of the
Dublin-Galway Greenway The Dublin-Galway Greenway is a partially completed 'coast-to-coast' greenway and partial rail trail, in Ireland, funded by the Department of Transport, which is due to become the western section of EuroVelo EV2, a cycle route from Galway, Ire ...
(cycleway) was opened on 3 October 2015 by the
Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from ...
in Moate. The cycleway links Moate to Athlone and Mullingar on a 3m wide 40 km long cycleway.


Climate


Education

Moate has two primary schools: St. Brigid's Primary School on Station Road, formerly known as Convent Primary School, is
co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...
and was founded by the
Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...
in 1861. The other is St. Oliver Plunkett Boys' Primary School on Lake Road. The town's secondary school is Moate Community School on Church Street. A new building opened in the school in 2002 containing a gymnasium, four new science laboratories, a home economics room, art room, lecture hall, technical drawing classroom and an oratory as well as general classrooms and offices. It has approximately 1,250 students (including Moate Business College) and a staff of 130. The business college provides courses including performance arts and information technology.


Patrick Kelly Memorial Park

A memorial park opened in December 2008, named after the only Irish soldier to die in combat in Ireland since the end of the
Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...
. On 16 December 1983,
Patrick Kelly Patrick or Paddy Kelly may refer to: Politicians * Patrick Kelly (Irish politician) (1875–1934), Irish soldier, farmer and politician, Teachta Dála (TD) for Clare 1927–1932 * Patrick Kelly (Canadian politician) (1846–1916), Prince Edward I ...
, who was from Moate, was attempting to free American businessman Don Tidey, who had been kidnapped by the Irish Republican Army. Along with Garda recruit Gary Sheehan, he was killed in a shoot-out with IRA gunmen at Derrada Woods in
Ballinamore Ballinamore (, meaning "mouth of the big ford") is a small town in County Leitrim, Ireland. Etymology , corrupted ''Bellanamore'', means "town at the mouth of the big ford", so named because it was a main crossing (ford) of the Yellow River. T ...
,
County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; gle, Contae Liatroma) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the ...
.


Notable people

* Abraham Boulger,
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
recipient * T.R. Dallas, singer *
Patrick Kelly Patrick or Paddy Kelly may refer to: Politicians * Patrick Kelly (Irish politician) (1875–1934), Irish soldier, farmer and politician, Teachta Dála (TD) for Clare 1927–1932 * Patrick Kelly (Canadian politician) (1846–1916), Prince Edward I ...
, soldier * Ray Lynam, country singer *
Colm Murray Colm Murray (22 March 1952 – 30 July 2013) was an Irish broadcaster, newsreader, and sports journalist, best remembered for his reports on horse racing. Employed by RTÉ from 1978 until his death in 2013 after a three-year battle with motor neu ...
, sports broadcaster *
Lorcan Robbins Lorcan Robbins (also called Laurence and/or Robins) (born 16 May 1884 – 9 January 1939) was an Irish Sinn Féin activist and politician. He was the son of Laurence Dalton Robins, a farmer from Tullaghnageeragh near Moate in County Westmeath, ...
, (1884/85–1939), activist and politician * Nessa Robins, food writer * Joe Ward, boxer *
William Duckett White William Duckett White (1807–1893) was a squatter and politician in Queensland, Australia. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council. Early life William White was born into a large Quaker family on 5 October 1807 in Moate, County ...
(1807–1893), politician and member of the
Queensland Legislative Council The Queensland Legislative Council was the upper house of the parliament in the Australian state of Queensland. It was a fully nominated body which first took office on 1 May 1860. It was abolished by the Constitution Amendment Act 1921, which to ...


References


External links

{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Westmeath