Library Forum

Would anyone be able to supply information on roads in the meelick coonagh cratloe area
in the pre-1830 period? As far as I know the road from Caherdavin to Lansdowne bridge
was completed in 1827. Up to the 1950s locals called it the New Line or the Ennis Line.
A new road from Kilkishen to Limerick via the Windy Gap and Gleann na gCros was completed in
1837.

I have a saved bit of information from the Parliamentary Papers for the time period prior to what you seek. Although the Reddan work was performed on a Tulla to Limerick road, which must have passed through or near Meelick, the accounting was for the upper end of the road, from Kilkishen to Tulla. However, this indicates that you may find the Parliamentary Papers (EPPI website) helpful for what you want. I don't have any explanation for the East India Company's involvement. I have this labeled as 1807.

Sharon Carberry

Google books also has lots of these parliamentary papers and is a more reliable website. I found a great amount of detail there about the construction of the Kilrush to Ennis road which I have posted elsewhere.

On the Clare library website, go to "Historical maps of Co. Clare". Select "Grand Jury maps 1787". Select how you want to view the maps and then select where you want to view. This will show the roads of Co. Clare as they were prior to 1787 and as surveyed by Henry Pelham. It is a fascinating document, well worth studying.

The road you describe as being from Kilkishen to Limerick in fact started in Tulla, and was constructed to bring farm produce to the Limerick markets. I think the road was opened to traffic in 1815. I have heard in Kilkishen the road being referrred to as the new line.

The route from Thomondgate via the Wood road from Meelick to Cratloe and on to Sixmilebridge and beyond has been in existence for centuries. It was formally constructed as a toll road in 1733 and went all the way to Tubber on the Clare/Galway border. I have a copy of the act of Parliament which authorised it.

The bridge in Bunratty was built in 1804 as a toll bridge. I think we can safely assume the road from Limerick via Landsdowne bridge to Bunratty was built prior to or at that time.

Be careful with Pelhams map, there are several errors

From an item in the Limerick Chronicle I note that Bunratty bridge was already there in March 1823.

The return Sharon gives is a presentment. The East India company is just a mistake. there is one page at the beginning.

I have used this presentment as as source as my own relatives are on it

Would any person know when the Limerick Ennis mail coach began to use
Bunratty bridge? I am assuming that, until the 1840s at least, it made its way through and
to Sixmilebridge, via Cratloe cross, across the western end of the Clare hills, without
crossing the Ratty river.

Hello Matthew,

See generally Brian Ó Dalaigh's essay, 'A history of Sixmilebridge, county Clare, 1603 - 1911' in Karina Holton, Liam Clare and Brian Ó Dalaigh (editors), "Irish villages: studies in local history" (Dublin, 2004) at pages 243 - 280. Ó Dalaigh has a section, Transport and communications at pp. 263 - 266. This discusses in detail the Cratloe - Sixmilebridge routes on the Limerick - Ennis road with dates.

Polycarp

Many thanks. I came to this topic in relation to Meelick.
My hypothesis is that in the 1820s, 1830s [and I think later] the mail coach road
came out over the Thomond Bridge, then past the present day Hassett's cross,
on up to Punchbowl cross roads in Meelick, and then over Meelick mountain.
At some point it took a less mountainy route, further west, along the western slopes
of the Cratloe hills.

My understanding -

The old road from Limerick to Galway went up via Punchbowl (passing Frost's house - which in the 19th century was a stopping point for Bianconi stagecoaches).. Uphill towards Fian Cross (an ancient stopping point for Na Fianna) and then further uphill towards Woodcock Hill.

At Woodcock Hill the road passed through the fording point of a mountain stream. It was at this location that Morrissey (the famed highway man) would ambush travelers and steal their possessions. A bridge was built at this ford in 1837 (coincidentally the same year as Sarsfield Bridge in Limerick was completed). A new plaque commemorating this will be installed on the bridge parapet in a few weeks time. The bridge is known as Barrly-Thomous Bridge. I have an 18th century map which shows a turnpike (toll charge) at the location of the stream.

Approximately 200 yards beyond the stream ford (Barrly-Thomous Bridge) which divides the Cratloe -Meelick parishes is an old stone house (Cherry's House). There are two stables / outhouses in the yard of this property. I understand that this was an inn for people travelling on the old road and horses would be stabled there overnight.

Beyond here I'm not too familiar with... But I'm pretty sure that the road continued from Gallow's Hill (Cratloe) down the steep hill towards the Gullet Cross in Sixmilebridge

Regards, Cathal Crowe

A project mooted in the Famine years was the joining of the Ennis and Kilkishen roads coming through Meelick, by the construction of a road through Creaghville. It was to start at the northern end of the present day link road/ Redgate road and emerge just before Castlepark at a point known as Blacksticks.
This road was opposed by local landlords [notably Dickson] and was never built. The road from Castlepark to the Clare boundary was improved
as a Famine relief project.

The Munster News of July 16, 1884 notes that Bunratty bridge has just been made free of tolls.