POSTED FROM

KNOCKADERRY

CO. LIMERICK · IE

Knockaderry
Cnoc an Doire, Co. Limerick

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 07 / 07

Cnoc an Doire · Co. Limerick

A long single-street village in west Limerick, with one pub and a parish older than the street it sits on.

Knockaderry sits on a rise in west Limerick, a long single street between Newcastle West and Rathkeale. The name comes from the Irish Cnoc an Doire - the hill of the oak wood - and an oak grove still stands near the village, the last of the wood that gave the place its name. The settlement is small. The parish it belongs to, Knockaderry-Cloncagh, is the older thing: an early Christian foundation said to go back to St Maedoc in the sixth century, with its ecclesiastical centre a mile off at Cloncagh.

The village you see is younger than the street suggests. Knockaderry burned to the ground in 1789 - the story locally is that a maid left a candle lighting, the straw caught, and the flames ran the length of the little street, though no lives were lost. The present Catholic church, St Munchin's, was built in 1840 under the parish priest Denis O'Brien, the same year the church at Cloncagh was rebuilt after the Night of the Big Wind tore the roof off the old mass house. Fairs were held here under a patent granted to John Jephson in 1711.

This is working west Limerick - farms, fields, a GAA field where the hurling, camogie and football are played, and rural depopulation that the locals will tell you about plainly. There is one pub, Hanley's Bar, long run by the Hanley family who kept a shop on the premises too. There are no restaurants, no hotels, no music venues. Newcastle West, ten minutes west, is where you go for those.

Come here if you are working the back roads of west Limerick and have an hour for an old graveyard and three holy wells. Come here if you are walking the Limerick Greenway nearby and want to see the country beyond the path. The village is itself - a quiet street on a rise, with the real interest a mile off at Cloncagh, and history deeper than the buildings.

Population

~513 (2016, electoral division)

Founded

Early Christian parish (St Maedoc, 6th century); village street rebuilt after 1789

Coords

52.4647° N, 8.9625° W

01 / 07

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The name

Cnoc an Doire - the hill of the oak wood.

The name is the land. An oak grove still stands near the village, the survivor of the wood that named the place. Knockaderry is one long street on a rise in west Limerick, three and a half miles from Newcastle West.

Stories & lore → 02 The parish

Knockaderry-Cloncagh, an early Christian foundation.

St Maedoc is said to have brought Christianity here in the sixth century. Cloncagh, a mile or so off, has an old graveyard, a great circular enclosure and three holy wells. The story is much older than the village.

Stories & lore →

02 / 07

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

Hanley's Bar

The one pub on the street

Village pub

Knockaderry has one pub, Hanley's Bar, long run by the Hanley family, who in their day kept a shop on the premises as well. This is a village local, not a destination bar - which in a place this size is the point. If you want choice, Newcastle West is ten minutes west. If you want a quiet pint on a single-street village in west Limerick, this is it.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Christianity, sixth century

St Maedoc and the parish of Cloncagh

Knockaderry belongs to the parish of Knockaderry-Cloncagh, and the older half of that name is where the story lives. St Maedoc (also written Maidoc) is said to have brought Christianity to the area in the sixth century, founding an abbey. Cloncagh - from the Irish Cluain Cath, the meadow of the battle - was the early ecclesiastical centre, and the old graveyard there holds headstones going back to the 1680s, including a wall inscription to the O'Sullivan family recorded by the antiquarian Westropp. Around the church site is a very large circular enclosure and three holy wells: St Patrick's Well, Lady's Well and Sunday's Well. It is the kind of place that asks you to slow down and read the ground.

A candle, some straw, one street

The fire of 1789

The village of Knockaderry was burned to the ground in 1789. The account passed down locally is plain: a maid carelessly left a candle lighting when she went to bed, the flame caught some straw in the room, and the fire spread fast along the little street, consuming all before it. No lives were lost. The single-street village you walk today is largely the one that was rebuilt afterwards, which is part of why so much of the deeper history sits not on the street but out at Cloncagh.

Built under Fr Denis O'Brien

St Munchin's, 1840

The present Catholic church in the village, St Munchin's, was built in 1840 while Denis O'Brien was parish priest. It was a busy year for church-building in the parish: the church at Cloncagh was rebuilt the same year after the old mass house there was wrecked in the storm of January 1839 - the Night of the Big Wind, the most violent storm in living Irish memory, which left damage across the whole island. Two churches in one parish, both dated to 1840, both the work of a community putting roofs back over its worship.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Cloncagh old graveyard and holy wells A mile or so from the village. The old graveyard at Cloncagh has headstones back to the 1680s, set within a large circular enclosure that marks the early church site. Three holy wells - St Patrick's, Lady's and Sunday's - are part of the same complex. Quiet, rural, and the real reason to come. Wear boots; this is field-edge ground, not a managed heritage park.

Short walk on sitedistance

45 minutestime

The oak grove The grove of oaks near the village is the surviving trace of the wood that named the place - Cnoc an Doire, the hill of the oak. Not signposted or ticketed; ask locally for the spot. More a thing to know than a thing to tour.

Shortdistance

20 minutestime

The Limerick Greenway (nearest access at Newcastle West) The Greenway runs on the old Limerick-Tralee railway bed through west Limerick, with the nearest proper trailhead at Newcastle West, ten minutes by car. Walk or cycle west toward Abbeyfeale or east toward Rathkeale. Knockaderry is off the path itself, but the Greenway is the regional walk and worth building a day around.

As far as you likedistance

Half a daytime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The country around is green and the oaks are coming into leaf. Best light for the Greenway and for the quiet of Cloncagh.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings and the GAA field in use. The Greenway near Newcastle West gets busy; the village stays quiet.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The honest season for west Limerick - the Greenway at its best, the oak grove turning, the back roads empty.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Rain, wind and short days. Cloncagh graveyard is muddy and the village is colder. Real, but not the easy visit.

◐ Mind yourself

06 / 07

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Expecting a heritage village

Knockaderry is a working rural village of around five hundred people with one pub and one church. There is no visitor centre, no cafe, no row of restored cottages. The interest is the parish history at Cloncagh, not a polished streetscape. Set the dial accordingly.

Looking for the old village

The street burned down in 1789 and was rebuilt, so the buildings you see are not the medieval village. The genuinely old layer - the circular enclosure, the graveyard, the wells - is out at Cloncagh, a mile off, not on the main street.

A night out

There are no hotels, restaurants or music venues here. One pub. For dinner, a bed or a session, drive the ten minutes to Newcastle West.

Getting there.

By car

Limerick city to Knockaderry is roughly 35 minutes via the N21 and local roads. Newcastle West is about ten minutes west, Rathkeale a similar distance north. The village sits on back roads off the N21 corridor; satnav helps.

By bus

No direct intercity service. Bus Eireann runs the N21 Limerick-Tralee corridor through Newcastle West and Rathkeale; Local Link Limerick Clare (based in Newcastle West) covers the rural routes around the area. Check current Local Link timetables for the nearest stop.

By train

No station. The nearest railhead is Limerick (Colbert) or Tralee, then car or taxi.

By air

Shannon Airport (SNN) is about an hour by car. Kerry Airport (KIR) is a similar distance west.