Abbeyshrule

Not to be confused with Shrule Abbey in County Mayo.

Abbeyshrule Mainistir Shruthla
Village
The Royal Canal at Abbeyshrule
Abbeyshrule Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°35′00″N7°39′00″W / 53.583333°N 7.6500°W / 53.583333; -7.6500
Country	Ireland
Province	Leinster
County	County Longford
Elevation	82 m (269 ft)
Population
• Estimate  (2012) [1]	200
Time zone	UTC+0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-1 (IST (WEST))
Irish Grid Reference	N213572

Abbeyshrule (Irish : Mainistir Shruthla, meaning 'monastery of the river') ^[2] is a village in south-east County Longford, Ireland, on the River Inny and the Royal Canal. The village is in a civil parish of the same name.

History

The village takes its name from the Irish language word for a river or stream (sruth) and from the early medieval Cistercian abbey, the ruins of which still survive on the banks of the Inny. ^{[3] [4]} While the original medieval settlement built up around this religious site and the nearby fording point on the river, a number of archaeological finds (including of the Clonbrin Shield in 1906) indicate activity in the area from at least the Bronze Age. ^[3]

The building of the Royal Canal in the early nineteenth century, which required the construction of the Whitworth aqueduct across the Inny, ^[5] brought increasing trade to the village until the mid twentieth century.

Abbeyshrule won the 2012 National Tidy Towns Award with a total of 312 marks. The village also claimed the award for Ireland's Tidiest Village 2012. ^[6] Abbeyshrule subsequently won a Gold Medal Award at the European Entente Florale Competition. ^[7]

Notable people

The novelist, playwright and poet Oliver Goldsmith is believed to have been born in 1728 at Pallas, very near to the village, where his father resided as a local curate. ^[8] The location is marked by a replica of the Goldsmith statue found at the entrance to Trinity College Dublin.

John Graham, a prolific author and senior officer of the Orange Order, was born here.

Amenities

The village is located in the Irish midlands between Athlone, Longford and Mullingar.

The Abbeyshrule Aerodrome is located just outside the village, while the Royal Canal has been reopened to tourist water-borne traffic in recent years.^{[ when? ]}

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

References

1. "Welcome to Abbeyshrule: a tidy little town". irishtimes.com. Irish Times. 15 September 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
2. "Mainistir Shruthla / Abbeyshrule". logainm.ie. Irish Placenames Commission. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
3. "Abbeyshrule village website". abbeyshrule.com. Archived from the original on 1 May 2009.
4. Appendix 1E - Serviced Settlements (PDF). Longford County Development Plan 2015–2021 (Report). Longford County Council. 2015. p. 63. Abbeyshrule takes its name from the Gaelic word for stream or a river
5. "Whitworth Aqueduct, Drumanure, County Longford". buildingsofireland.ie. National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
6. "Co Longford's Abbeyshrule claims Tidy Town award for 2012". Irish Independent. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
7. "Abbeyshrule adds to the trophy cabinet with European award". thejournal.ie. Journal Media Ltd. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
8. Morris, Michael; Peter Harbison, Michael V. Duignan (1989). The Shell guide to Ireland (3 ed.). Gill and Macmillan. p. 63. ISBN   9780717115952 . Retrieved 19 January 2015.