- Annacotty
Infobox Irish Place| name = Annacotty
gaeilge = Áth na Coite
map
pin coords = left: 99px; top: 30px
north coord = 52.4002
west coord = 8.3159
irish grid = R574572
county =County Limerick
dailconstituency = Limerick East
stdcode = 061-33****
population = 1,839
census yr = 2006
province =Munster
|Annacotty ("Áth na Coite", the ford of the angling cots, in Irish) is a town on the outskirts of
Limerick , Ireland, 7km from the centre of the city. It is situated where the old N7 main road between Limerick and Dublin crosses the Mulkear River, 1km upstream of where it flows into theRiver Shannon .The village originally grew up around the grain mills which harnessed the water power of the Mulkear. One was beside the bridge itself and has now been restored as bar and restaurant and the second was 1km upstream at Ballyclough. Annacotty Co-Operative Society was founded in the 1890s and butter was made at the creamery up to the 1960s when it was taken over by Black Abbey Co-operative of
Adare (which, after a succession of mergers, became part of the Dairygold Co-op). The creamery, which has been transformed into a hardware store, remains a focal point of the town.With the expansion of
Limerick from 1990, Annacotty has been swallowed up into the rapidly growing suburb ofCastletroy . The N7, which originally ran though the main street, bypassed the village as it was then, in 1980 when a new bridge was built over the Mulkear 100m downstream. That, in turn, was superseded by the building of the Limerick Southern Ring Road which crossed the river 1km upstream at Ballyclough.Annacotty Industrial Estate was built on the former site of the Ferenka factory. Opened in March 1972 by the AKZO Group to manufacture steelcord, it achieved notoriety when its Dutch managing director
Tiede Herrema was kidnapped by IRA Volunteers Eddie Gallagher andMarion Coyle in October 1975 and freed four weeks later following a protracted siege inMonasterevin ,County Kildare . After sustaining continuing losses and experiencing numerous industrial disputes from the day it opened, the factory closed down in December 1977 with the loss of over 1,400 full-time jobs.Annacotty is the birthplace of the renowned Limerick hurler
Jackie Power and a statue of him of him stands on the main street. Former Irish rugby internationalPeter Clohessy also comes from the town.Transport
Annacotty railway station opened on
8 August 1858 , but finally closed on9 September 1963 . [cite web | title=Annacotty station | work=Railscot - Irish Railways | url=http://www.railscot.co.uk/Ireland/Irish_railways.pdf | accessdate=2007-09-08]References
ee also
*List of towns in Ireland
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