Athlone — Loughnaskin,athlone,athlone AND Bigmeadow,golden Island

The following description of Athlone has been mainly taken from the Urban Survey of Co. Westmeath (Bradley et. al. 1985, 20-49). The town sits astride the River Shannon just south of Lough Ree and is located on top of a broad ridge which forms part of the glacial eskers which traversed the country from east to west serving as natural routeways. The placename Athlone is derived from the Irish, Áth Luain, meaning the ford of Luain, which is a reference to a fording point (WM029-042054-) over the River Shannon. The ford is located at the point where the river Shannon intersects with the glacial ridge running east-west (Murtagh 1994, 1). This indicates that the town of Athlone developed around a fording point over the River Shannon. By the close of the Early Historic period it is evident that the ford had acquired strategic importance as the main gateway between Leinster and Connacht. To the Anglo-Normans, Athlone was the entrance to Connacht and the importance of its position is evident from the fact that since the Middle Ages all routes linking the eastern provinces with the west, including the Dublin-Galway railway, have crossed here. The first evidence for settlement in Athlone is provided by five cross-inscribed slabs (WM029-042095-; WM029-042096-; WM029-042097-; WM029-042047-), four of which were found in the graveyard (WM029-042092-) of the Franciscan Friary (WM029-042001-) graveyard, dating from the mid-eighth to eleventh centuries (Fanning and Ó hÉailidhe 1980). Although there has been a suggestion that the slabs were removed from Clonmacnoise, they almost certainly indicate an Early Christian monastery (WM029-042050-) on the east bank of the River Shannon at Athlone. The quality of these cross-slabs, which include one apparently commemorating a King of Connacht, suggest that it was an important Early Christian monastery. There may also have been an early Christian church site on the Connacht side of the river (Stokes 1890-1, 181: Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 110) but the evidence is not clear cut. In 1001 the Annals of Ulster note that ‘the causeway of Ath-Luain [Athlone]’ was built by Mael Sechlainn, King of Midhe, and Cathal son of Conchobhar, King of Connacht (AU). Between 1128 and 1170, Athlone was the focus of intense activity because it formed the essential bridgehead into Midhe for Toirdhealbhach [Turlough] and Ruaidhri [Rory] Ua Conchobhar [O’Conor], the expansionist Kings of Connacht (Claffey 1970-1, 55). In 1120, Toirdhealbhach built a bridge (WM029-042004-) across the Shannon at Áth Luain and in 1129 he constructed a castle or earthwork fortification (WM029-042098-) there to defend it. Over the next forty years the Annals frequently record the destruction of the bridge and the fortification by the Ua Máel Sechlainn’s of Meath and their subsequent reconstruction by the Ua Conchobhars [O’Conor’s]. In 1168 the Annals of the Four Masters state that the ‘house (teach) of Ruaidhri Ua Conchobhair’ at Áth Luain was raided by the Cinél Eoghain with the comharba of Derry who took away ‘gold, raiment and many cows’(AFM). The implication of this reference suggests that the King of Connacht had a residence possibly in the form of an earth and timber fortification (WM029-042098-) at Athlone. In addition to the royal house or fortification of the O’Conor’s, the Cluniac priory (WM029-042033-) of Saints Peter and Paul was located on the west bank of the Shannon from c. 1158 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 110). The priory was located between Abbey Lane and Excise St. No trace of any medieval buildings survives with the exception of a possible fragment of the north-west nave return in Abbey lane. Medieval Athlone The Kingdom of Míde [Meath] was granted to Hugh de Lacy in 1172 (Mills and McEnery 1916, 177) and the process of sub-infeudation and settlement began soon afterwards but it is unlikely that any effective inroads were made as far west as Athlone for some time. The original Anglo-Norman grantee of Athlone seems to have been Geoffrey de Costentin who was granted a cantred in Connacht adjoining Athlone in 1200 (Cal. doc. Ire., no. 137; Orpen 1907, 259; Claffey 1970-1, 55). He was also probably responsible for the construction of a possible motte castle (WM020-042099-) at Athlone sometime between 1191 and 1199 (Orpen 1911-20, II, 129; Graham 1980, 53). The visit of King John to Ireland in 1210 marks a turning point in the development of Athlone. John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, was appointed justiciar of Ireland as part of John’s efforts to improve the administration of the colony and he appears to have recognized the strategic importance of Athlone as the gateway between the Anglo-Norman liberty of Meath and Connacht, still effectively in Irish hands (Orpen 1911-20, II, 281; Claffey 1970-1, 56). De Grey appears to have desired to establish Athlone as the joint seat (with Dublin) of English administration in Ireland (Claffey 1970-1, 56) and the first step in this plan was the construction of a new castle (WM029-042002-) and bridge (WM029-042004-) at Athlone in 1210. The castle was of stone and it is possible that the bridge was also stone-built. The new castle and bridge may have attracted further settlers and references to the vill and mills (WM029-042056-) of Athlone occur in 1225 and 1235 (Cal. doc. Ire., no’s. 1261, 2289). The precise date at which the settlement achieved borough status is unknown but half a burgage plot on the west bank of the river was granted to St. Mary’s Abbey, Dublin, in the early thirteenth century (Gilbert 1884, I, 224; cf. ibid. p.xxix). The importance of the settlement is further emphasised by the grant of an annual eight-day fair, to be held at the castle, by Henry III in 1221 (Cal. doc. Ire., no. 1010). It is noteworthy that the evidence for the early thirteenth century settlement refers mainly to the west bank of the Shannon. The earliest definite evidence for a settlement on the east bank is a reference to the ‘town of Athlone on both sides of the water’ in 1234 (35th Report Deputy Keeper Public Records Ireland, 37). In 1305 there is a reference to ‘the bridge’ between ‘the castle and the town’ which suggests that by this date the main settlement was on the east bank of the river but whether this was the case from the beginnings of the Anglo-Norman settlement is unclear (Cal. justic. Rolls, Ire. Edw. I, 65). The consecration of the church (WM029-042042-) of the Friars Minor of Athlone in 1241 by Albert of Cologne, archbishop of Armagh, suggests that it was not founded until c. 1240 (Ann. Conn.; AFM; Ann. Clon.; ALC). The friary was apparently destroyed in 1567-8 and its site was leased to Andrew Brereton of Monketon, Co. Meath, in 1570 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 243). A Franciscan residence was re-established in 1626 (Millett 1972-3, 161) and in the late seventeenth century, probably the 1680s, work began on a new friary church (WM029-042001-). This 1680s Franciscan friary church is to be seen on the south side of the town, where it is delimited by the lane at the south end of the graveyard (WM029-042092-), Abbey road and the back of the houses in Lucas Lane. Lee (1974-5, 225) has assembled the evidence for the existence of a medieval hospital (WM029-042033-) outside the walls of Athlone, to the east. The site of the medieval hospital would appear to have been in the vicinity of Sean Costello Street, where Mardyke Street meets Irishtown. Athlone received monies to build a town wall (WM029-042020-) in 1251 and this may indicate that its security was threatened (Cal. doc. Ire., no. 3159). With the accession of Edward I, however, greater attention was paid to strengthening the Anglo-Norman colony and large sums of money were spent on improving the castle defences of Athlone between 1273 and 1279 (Orpen 1907, 270-1; Claffey 1970-1, 57). An indication that the town was still an important seat of English administration comes from a petition of 1289 which notes that on the death of Stephen de