Sixmilebridge
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Sixmilebridge An Droichead Abhann Uí gCearnaigh
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| Town | |
Limerick Road, Sixmilebridge
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 Sixmilebridge
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| Coordinates: 52°44′35″N 8°46′23″W / 52.743°N 8.773°WCoordinates: 52°44′35″N 8°46′23″W / 52.743°N 8.773°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Munster |
| County | County Clare |
| Elevation | 8 m (26 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Urban | 2,507 |
| Irish Grid Reference | R474664 |
| Website | www |
Sixmilebridge (Irish: Droichead Abhann Uí gCearnaigh, meaning "Bridge of the River of O'Kearney") is a small town in County Clare, Ireland. Located midway between Ennis and Limerick city, the town is a short distance away from the main N18 road, being located on the old "back road" between the two. The village of Kilmurry (Irish: Cill Mhuire) is also part of the Sixmilebridge parish.
Sixmilebridge partly serves as a dormitory town for workers in the Limerick city, Ennis and Shannon region, with hundreds of modern housing units having been built to accommodate demand in recent years. The commercial core of Sixmilebridge has effectively tripled in size in recent years too, with many new retail units and businesses choosing to locate in the village.
There is evidence for prehistorical settlement in the area, dating at least back to the Bronze Age. A number of ringforts, mounds, enclosures and wedge tombs are present in the parish.
In antiquity, the name of the village was Cappagh (that name still present in local townlands), chiefly on the west side of the river, and Ballyarilla on the east. The name Cappagh is an anglicized form of an Irish word meaning a cultivated field, while Ballyarilla is named after the castle that once stood before Mount Ievers Court was built. An ancient name of the river appears to be Raite, today anglicised into Ratty; as the river flows past Bunratty Castle into the Shannon Estuary, it is still known as the Ratty. Kilfinaghty seemed to always be the name of the parish of Sixmilebridge. The village was under the Lordship of Thomond, especially the McNamaras and the O'Briens. It is assumed that the original local lords were the O'Garneys, but there is little reference to them in the histories. It is possible that the O'Ahernes were also ruling lords at a different time.
Coolmeen Lake, located in a valley in the hills east of Sixmilebridge, played an important part in the 13th-century "Wars of Turlough". During the fighting, Lochlainn MacNamara and his nephew were given safe conduct by the Norman De Clares, their rivals, to enter their castle without being harmed. But that was merely a trap, and the Irish were captured, marched from the Bunratty Castle to Coolmeen Lake, and executed there. Soon after, the De Clares were defeated at the Battle of Dysert O'Dea. The lake has since enjoyed a somewhat sinister reputation, with numerous legends of monstrous eels, witch-hares, and bottomless pits associated with the lake.
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Wikipedia