Moate

Moate Irish: An Móta
Westmeath
Main Street, Moate
Location
Grid reference:	N182383
Location:	53°23’44"N, 7°43’14"W
Data
Population:	2,763  (2016)
Post town:	Moate
Postcode:	N37
Dialling code:	090
Local Government
Council:	Westmeath
Dáil constituency:	Longford-Westmeath

Moate is a town in south-west Westmeath, close to the county border with Offaly. The name An Móta is derived from the term motte-and-bailey, as the Normans built an example of this type of fortification here. The earthwork is still visible behind the buildings on the main street.

The town later became an important marketplace and Quaker village. There are several extant examples of Quaker houses on the main street, which itself is typical of an Irish marketplace.

Location

Moate is on the Cloghatanny River, also known as the Moate Stream, which is a tributary of the River Brosna. The confluence between the Cloghatanny and Brosna is five miles to the south-east of Moate, and two miles west of Clara.

The town is on the R446 road between Kinnegad and Athlone. Before July 2008, this was the N6 road, a national primary route, and Moate was a serious traffic bottleneck. The new M6 motorway bypasses the town.

Amenities

Moate is a growing town with beautiful Amenity Park, a greenway running through the town, golf club, tennis courts, astro turf pitch, Pastoral Centre and Community Centre and many new businesses including a supermarket, hardware store, an internet café-computer shop, pizzeria, petrol station, post office, gift shop, bike shop, charity shops, credit union, library, hairdressers, fashion shops, bank, sports shop, chemists, coffee shops, restaurants, hotel and over twelve public houses. Many new building ventures have taken place in recent years including a complex of apartments and shops at the site of the old Convent of Mercy on Station Road. We have a medical centre in the town.

Culture and heritage

The local Gaelic football club is the Moate All Whites. The club's name and playing kit colours are based on the white religious habits worn by the Carmelite White Friars, a long established Moate institution.

Tuar Ard Arts Centre is a Community lead project which opened its doors in October 2000. The Centre strives to develop an awareness of and provide as broad a range of visual and performing art forms through creative artistic programming incorporating professional / non-professional activities so that the involvement of all age groups can be expanded and enriched through participation in and access to the arts. It holds a 173 tiered seating auditorium.

Dún na Sí Amenity and Heritage Park is a Community Park for all, encompassing ecology, play, heritage, arts and education. The park comprises the Scéal Exhibition in the Comhaltas Teach Cheoil, Heritage Trail and Vintage Museum, Pet Farm, Walking Trails, Native Irish Woodland, Turlough, Playground and Tea Rooms. Trace your Westmeath Roots in the Genealogy Centre. http://www.dunnasi.ie/

The former gaol, part of the old courthouse, now contains a small museum housing artefacts found in the area dating from the Stone Age through to the modern era. The main building of the old courthouse has been renovated into a state of the art library.

Transport

Bus

Bus Éireann and Irish Citylink operate Dublin–Galway bus routes that service Moate.

Dublin to Galway Cycleway

The Mullingar (West) to Garrycastle (Athlone East) section of the Dublin-Galway Greenway (cycleway) was opened on 3 October 2015 by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny In Moate. The cycleway links Moate to Athlone and Mullingar on a 3m wide 40 km long cycleway.

The disused Moate railway station was built by the Midland Great Western Railway to connect Dublin and Galway and opened on 1 August 1851. It closed for goods traffic on 2 December 1974, and closed for passenger traffic on 27 January 1987. Parts of the film The First Great Train Robbery (1979) were filmed on the local railway. The railway station depicted as "Ashford" is actually Moate Station.

Education

Moate has two primary schools: St Brigid's Primary School on Station Road, formerly known as Convent Primary School, is co-educational and was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1861. The other is St Oliver Plunkett Boys' Primary School on Lake Road.

The town secondary school is Moate Community School on Church Street. A new building opened in the school in 2002 containing a gymnasium, four new science laboratories, a home economics room, art room, lecture hall, technical drawing classroom and an oratory as well as general classrooms and offices. It has approximately 1,000 students (including Moate Business College) and a staff of 72. Moate Business College provides courses including performance arts and information technology.

Patrick Kelly Memorial Park

A memorial park opened in December 2008, named after the only Irish soldier to die in combat in Ireland since the end of the Irish Civil War. On 16 December 1983, Patrick Kelly, who was from Moate, was attempting to free American businessman Don Tidey, who had been kidnapped by the Irish Republican Army. Along with Garda recruit Gary Sheehan, he was killed in a shoot-out with IRA gunmen at Derrada Woods in Ballinamore, County Leitrim.

Notable people

• Joe Ward, boxer
• Abraham Boulger, Victoria Cross recipient
• T.R. Dallas, singer
• Colm Murray, sports broadcaster
• Ray Lynam, country singer.

References

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Moate)