O'Briens Bridge is situated on the west side of the River Shannon between Lough Derg and the city of Limerick, it is a small village with one main street. Excellent fishing, boating, River walks, live music entertainment and good food in some bars and village bistro, well equipped camping site with good facilities right beside the river are all available.
History:
The Town gets it's name from the bridge that crosses the river from the east into the town.. Over a few centuries the bridge has been rebuilt a number of times due to disputes. In 1506 the first bridge was built, a wooden structure, by Turlough O'Brien the First Earl of Thomond who owned a manor here on the west bank of the Shannon. Turlough's brother, the Bishop of Killaloe was also involved in the construction. They were descendants of Brian Boru, who lost his life at the battle of Clontarf in 1014. The supreme wooden bridge only lasted four years as it was burnt to the ground in 1510 by Gearoid Mor, the great Earl of Kildare.during a war between Kings who were trying to be better each other. The brother's realised their mistake and sat about building what was known as the "Great Bridge". Towers of stone with walls 12 ft thick were constructed in the river to support another, this time, massive wooden bridge which was rose 15 ft above the water line.
In 1537 brother's Connor and Murrogh sons of Turlough O'Brien who owned land on both sides of the river, helped Silken Thomas in a rebellion against Henry VIII and the Lord Deputy, Leonard Gray, who attacked the bridge.
A seven day battle ended with the lose of the Great Bridge. Soon a new, all stone,Twelve arch, bridge spanned the Shannon, and is here to this day as you will see on some of the photos in this section.
*More information on photo pages*
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