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swamps in many places, and the remains of several continue to this 

 day — leading into cluans, wells, old churches, and castles, &c. ; and the 

 great road which ran from Tara, and that which divided Ireland, was 

 in several places of this character. Our annals contain many notices 

 of tohers, some of which give names to townlands, parishes, and other 

 localities. 



In 1120, Turloch 0' Conor built the bridges {Drochad) of Ath-Luan, 

 Lanesborough, and Ballinasloe. — See Annals of Eoyle, and the Eour 

 Masters. Again, under the date A. D. 1129, it is stated — "The 

 Castle and Bridge \_Drochad~\ of Athlone were built by Turloch 0' Conor 

 in the summer, i. e. the summer of drought." This apparent ana- 

 chronism may be explained by supposing that the works were completed 

 in the latter year. This bridge was not of long duration, for in 1130 

 "the bridge and castle of Athlone were demolished by Murogh O'Me- 

 laghlin, and by Tiernan O'Rorke." 



In 1140, Turlogh O'Conor erected a CUalh drochad, or wooden bridge, 

 at Athlone; but in 1153 it was torn down by Meloughlin, and its 

 castle burned. It appears that the bridge and castle were connected ; 

 and, in our own day, several mills and houses stood on the bridge at 

 either end. 



The Connaughtmen, however, wishing to have access to the fat land 

 and rich castles of Leinster, made another attempt to have a passage 

 over the Shannon ; and we read that, in 1 1 53, a fleet of boats was brought 

 by Turloch O'Conor, "and the wicker bridge of Ath-Luan was made 

 by him for the purpose of making incursions into Meath." — See Annals 

 of the Eour Masters. But, in the same year, Donal O'Meloughlin de- 

 stroyed and burned it and its fortress. 



In 1159, Roderick O'Conor erected a Cliabh drochad, or wicker 

 bridge at Ath-Luan, "for the purpose of making incursions into 

 Meath." 



The next reference is of rather a tragical nature : in 1170, O'Conor 

 executed at Athlone (and tradition says, upon the bridge), the hostages 

 of Dermod Mac Morragh, viz., Conor, his son, and Donnal Cavanagh, 

 his grandson, and O'Kelly, his foster-brother. Eor many years it was 

 supposed that the fresco painting on Knockmoy Abbey, in the county 

 of Gal way, and of which we possess a fac simile in the Academy, illus- 

 trated that event ; but I have recently shown that it refers to the mar- 

 tyrdom of St. Sebastian. — See Museum Catalogue, page 315. 



These notices lead us to believe that a stone bridge and a castle were 

 erected at Athlone prior to the date of the English invasion, although 

 the contrary has been stated by writers upon the architecture and civi- 

 lization of Ireland. Many other stone and mortar structures were also, 

 in all probability, erected about that time by the Irish. Yet the last 

 historian of Athlone, Mr. Isaac Weld, writing in 1832, states in his 

 Statistical Survey of the county of Eoscommon : — " As to the state of 

 the passage across the river, prior to the erection of this bridge in the 

 days of Elizabeth, no very distinct information appears to exist." 



E. I. A. PEOC. VOL. VIII. 2 X 



