Adare

The village

Adare (Áth Dara in Irish, meaning “ford of the oak”) is a village in County Limerick, southwest of the city of Limerick, and it is designated a heritage town by the Irish government. The settlement forms around the eastern bank of the River Maigue, which is tidal as far as the village, overlooking the fording point that gives Adare its name. The country here is the Golden Vale in its proper form — rich pastureland rolling down to the river, with the village sitting at the crossing the way villages have sat there for a thousand years.

The history in the ground

The village is older than its buildings. A medieval annal — the Annals of Inisfallen — records that “the tree of Mag Adar was broken by Leth Cuinn”, an early reference to the country around the ford. Because the crossing mattered, the Desmond castle was built overlooking the site near Ardshanbally — the “high ground of the old town” — and it was first mentioned in 1226. The castle is said to have grown out of an ancient ringfort of the O’Donovans, the rulers of the region into the twelfth century, and the FitzGerald branch of Kildare who held it after may be responsible for most of the remains that stand today. Historically a market town, Adare held three monasteries in the Middle Ages, and the walk through the village is the walk that passes all of it.

What to do

The village does not ask for much: the walk along the Maigue, the castle, the monastic country, and the market town in the middle of it. The heritage designation means the place keeps its shape — the street, the banks, the buildings — which is the point of coming. Allow a morning, or an afternoon if the light is good on the river.

Practical

Adare is a short drive from the city and sits on the way between Limerick and the estuary villages. Pair it with Limerick city for a full day: the village in the morning, the city and the Shannon at the head of the estuary in the afternoon.