Abbey River, Limerick
Distributary of the Shannon in Limerick From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Distributary of the Shannon in Limerick From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Abbey River (Irish: Abhainn na Mainistreach) is a distributary arm of the River Shannon that flows around the northeastern, eastern, and southern shores of King's Island, Limerick before rejoining the Shannon at Hellsgate Island.[1][2] Hellsgate Island is only visible at low tide.[3] It is bridged by the Abbey Bridge, Baals Bridge, the Canal Bridge, Matthew Bridge, O'Dwyer Bridge, and the Sylvester O'Halloran Footbridge.
Abbey River | |
---|---|
Physical characteristics | |
Source | |
• location | Distributary of the River Shannon |
Mouth | |
• location | Atlantic Ocean as the River Shannon |
King's Island's encirclement by the Shannon and Abbey rivers made it a very defensible location, leading to the founding of Limerick as a Viking settlement in the ninth century.[4] The Abbey River has played a defensive role throughout the city's history, not least during the Cromwellian siege of 1650-51,[5] and the Williamite siege of 1691.[6] It is named after the former Franciscan Abbey located next to the river.
In the early 2000s, a number of historical artefacts were discovered when the river was drained. These included Limerick Port seal, intact mortar bombs from the 1690s and a Viking Age bronze artefact, circa AD 1000.[7]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.