History of Athlone

Athlone (Irish: Baile Átha Luain, meaning 'town of Luan's ford') is a town on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree in Ireland.The currently visible battlements and cannon emplacements were installed to prevent a French fleet from sailing up the River Shannon and establishing a bridgehead in Lough Ree (likewise south of Athlone at Shannonbridge, near Clonmacnoise).During the wars that took place in Ireland during the seventeenth century, Athlone held a strategic position, holding the main bridge over the Shannon into Connacht.Forty years later, during the Williamite war in Ireland, the town was again of strategic importance, being one of the remaining Jacobite strongholds after they had retreated west following the Battle of the Boyne.[4] It is named after a Sergeant Custume who, during the 1691 Siege of Athlone, led a dozen volunteers (of whom 2 survived) out under the Dutch guns to tear down a wooden bridge.
The two mortars in front of the medieval donjon of Athlone Castle are believed to date to the Williamite wars , and were previously located outside the main entrance of Custume Barracks .
Irish soldiers marching across the bridge in Athlone for the handover of Custume Barracks, 1922.
River ShannonLough ReeCounty WestmeathCounty RoscommonAthloneford (river crossing point)Bronze AgeClonmacnoiseEsker RiadaAthlone CastleSiege of AthlonemortarsWilliamite warsCustume BarracksTairrdelbach Ua ConchobairAnglo-Normansmotte-and-baileyJohn de GraydonjonbattlementsgarrisonmuseumConnachtIrish Confederate WarsWilliamite war in IrelandJacobiteBattle of the BoyneRichard GraceKing William IIIIrish Defence ForcesJohn McCormackthe BawnSean's BarRecord of Monuments and PlacesNational Inventory of Architectural HeritageFamineworkhouseAnnals of InisfallenBrian, son of CennétigConnachtaMael SechnaillLeth CuinnEarl of AthloneEnnis baronetsAthlone (Parliament of Ireland constituency)Athlone (UK Parliament constituency)Dean Crowe Theatre & Arts CentreThe Little TheatreLuan GalleryAthlone campus (AIT)Athlone Community CollegeMarist CollegeSt. Aloysius CollegeAthlone GAAGarrycastle GAAAthlone Town A.F.C.Athlone Town A.F.C. LadiesBuccaneers RFCSt Mel's ParkAthlone Town Stadium