Adare

Adare is regularly called Ireland's prettiest village and the description is fair, but the prettiness is designed: the thatched cottages along the main street were built in the 1820s and 30s by the third Earl of Dunraven as model estate housing, in a deliberate picturesque style, and they are an exercise in landscape taste rather than vernacular survival. Around them is real medieval fabric - a Trinitarian friary of 1230, now the Catholic church, an Augustinian friary of 1316, now the Church of Ireland, a Franciscan friary of 1464 standing in the golf course, and Desmond Castle on the Maigue, a thirteenth-century fortress shown by guided tour in season. Adare Manor, the Dunraven house, is now a luxury hotel that hosted the Ryder Cup. A bypass is being built and is due in 2027; until it opens, through traffic still runs down the main street.

History

The name means "ford of the oak", for the crossing of the Maigue, which is tidal as far as here, and the Annals of Inisfallen record for 982 that "the Tree of Mag Adar was broken". A fortress is said to have been built first within an ancient ring-fort by the O'Donovans, rulers of the region into the 12th century, and it later passed to the Kildare branch of the FitzGeralds, who may have built most of what remains (Wikipedia, Adare).

What you'll find

• The thatched cottages - 1820s model estate housing in picturesque style.
• The three friaries - Trinitarian, Augustinian and Franciscan, all medieval.
• Desmond Castle - the thirteenth-century fortress on the Maigue.
• Adare Manor - the Dunraven house, now a hotel and golf resort.

When to go

April to October; Desmond Castle tours are seasonal and must be booked. The village is busy with coach traffic through summer. Half a day covers the village and one friary.

Things to know

The cottages are a nineteenth-century design exercise, not surviving vernacular building. Desmond Castle is guided-tour only and seasonal. The Franciscan friary stands on a private golf course. Prices in the village are high.

Nearby

Limerick city is north-east; Lough Gur and Kilmallock are south-east.

Key facts