Ardagh () is a village and

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The village is situated round the junctions of the R523 and R521 roads. The nearest town is

Newcastle West Newcastle West () or simply Newcastle (''An Caisleán Nua'', formerly anglicised Castlenoe) is a town in west County Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the largest town in the county, excluding Limerick city. It is also the county t ...

, to the south. Primary level education for the village and its surroundings is provided by St Molua's National School. The parish is bounded to the west by Athea, to the north by the parish of Coolcappa, to the east

Rathkeale Rathkeale () is a town in west County Limerick, in Ireland. It is 30 km (18 mi) southwest of Limerick city on the N21 road to Tralee, County Kerry, and lies on the River Deel. The town is in a townland and civil parish of the same n ...

and to the south by Newcastle West. The local

GAA Gaa may refer to: * Gaa language, a language of Nigeria * gaa, the ISO 639 code for the Ga language of Ghana GAA may stand for: Compounds * Glacial (water-free), acetic acid * Acid alpha-glucosidase, also known as glucosidase, alpha; acid, an e ...

club is St. Kierans which represents both the parish of Ardagh-Carrigkerry as well as Coolcappagh-Kilcolman.

History and archaeology

On 5 March 1867, in the

Fenian Rising The Fenian Rising of 1867 (, ) was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). After the suppression of the ''Irish People'' newspaper in September 1865, disaffection among Irish radical n ...

, an unsuccessful attempt was made by local Fenian supporters to capture the local

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. A sep ...

(RIC) barracks. The attack was led by local carpenter William Upton. Many of the Fenians were subsequently arrested, though Upton himself eventually escaped to America. In 1868, the Ardagh Hoard, including the 8th century Ardagh Chalice, was found in Reerasta rath near Ardagh. The chalice is held in the

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland () is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has three branches in Dublin, the arch ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Tourism

The Great Southern Trail, a stretch of countryside in West Limerick/North Kerry, runs through Ardagh as it follows the route of the former Limerick-Tralee railway line (which opened in 1867/1880 and closed in 1975/1977). Bathrooms, picnic tables, and a seasonal food truck are available at the restored Ardagh Station House.

People

William Smith O'Brien William Smith O'Brien (; 17 October 1803 – 18 June 1864) was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican who, in the course of Ireland's Great Famine (Ireland), Great Famine, had been converted to the cause of Irish nationalism, national i ...

Irish nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cult ...

Member of Parliament (MP) and leader of the

Young Ireland Young Ireland (, ) was a political movement, political and cultural movement, cultural movement in the 1840s committed to an all-Ireland struggle for independence and democratic reform. Grouped around the Dublin weekly ''The Nation (Irish news ...

movement, had his residence in Cahermoyle House which is a mile from Ardagh village.

References

{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Limerick Civil parishes of County Limerick