Montpelier () is a village and a

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

in east

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 ...

, on the east bank of the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( or archaic ') is the major river on the island of Ireland, and at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of I ...

. It is connected to

O'Briensbridge O'Brien's Bridge or O'Briensbridge () is a village in east County Clare, Ireland, on the west bank of the River Shannon, in a Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of the same name. It is named for the bridge across the Shannon at that point, ...

across the river in

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

by a 14-arch stone bridge. The first bridge across the river here was built in 1506 by Turlough O'Brien, First

Earl of Thomond Earl of Thomond was an hereditary title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created twice for the O'Brien dynasty which is an ancient Irish sept native to north Munster. History and background First creation Under the Crown of Ireland Act 1542, K ...

and his brother, the

Bishop of Killaloe The Bishop of Killaloe ( ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the town of Killaloe in County Clare, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bis ...

. This 16th-century bridge was in turn replaced or rebuilt c. 1750. The five arches on the west side of the bridge date from this period. The six arches on the east side were replaced by the Shannon Commissioners in 1842. The first arch on the west side was replaced by the present navigation arch when the Shannon Scheme was built downstream in 1925–29. The bridge carries the R466 roadway. The ancient river-crossing here is believed to be identical with ''Áth Caille'' (meaning "Ford of the Wood"): one of the three fords mentioned in the

Triads of Ireland The title ''Trecheng Breth Féne'' "A Triad of Judgments of the Irish", more widely known as "The Triads of Ireland", refers to a miscellaneous collection of about 256 Old Irish triads (and some numerical variants) on a variety of topics, such as ...

, the others being ''Áth Clíath'' (Dublin) and ''Áth Lúain'' (Athlone).

References

Towns and villages in County Limerick Populated places on the River Shannon {{Limerick-geo-stub

See also

References