Plassey is an area of County Limerick on the River Shannon, near Castletroy and Limerick. Plassey was originally a large estate of land owned by Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, and named after the Battle of Plassey 1757, part of the British Conquest of India. Following Irish independence, these lands became state property. Apparently during the 1690 siege of Limerick, when the Williamites were nearing the Shannon in Corbally, Philip McAdam, who was supposedly employed as a fisherman had a plot to destroy the Irish defenses, by leading the enemy to the only safe place to cross the Shannon. McAdam “feigned sickness” and remained behind at the banks of the Shannon as the other fishermen on “fearing” the “cruelty of Williams soldiers”, had fled to Clare or to the woods in Cratloe. The Williamite army seeking the advantage of a suitable fording point at which to cross the Shannon, one of the cities natural defenses, approached McAdam with an offer, one account states that he was “handsomely rewarded for his treachery” against the Irish by receiving “a large tract of land in the vicinity” from the Williamites. While an alternative version of the tale sees McAdam in a more favourable light, in which he was forces into a decision of either show the Williamites the crossing point on the Shannon and receive “a keg of gold” or in refusal to face “a block and headsman’s axe”. Statistics Province: Munster County Town: Limerick Code: LK Area: 2,686 km² Population (2006) 183,863 (including Limerick City); 131,303 (without Limerick City) Website: www. ... The River Shannon (Irish: Sionainn, altenatively Sionna), Irelands longest river, divides the West of Ireland (mostly the province of Connacht) from the east and south (Leinster and most of Munster). ... Castletroy is a middle-class suburb of Limerick, Ireland. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 52. ... Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, meeting with Mir Jafar after Plassey, by Francis Hayman Major-General Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive of Plassey, KB (29 September 1725 - 22 November 1774), also known as Clive of India, was the soldier of fortune and commander who established the military supremacy of the... Combatants British East India Company Siraj Ud Daulah, Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, La Compagnie des Indes Orientales Commanders Colonel Robert Clive (later Governor of Bengal and Baron of Plassey) Mir Jafar Ali Khan, Commander-in-chief of the Nawab, M. Sinfray, French Secretary to the Council Strength 2... The British East India Company, sometimes referred to as John Company, was one of the first joint-stock companies. ... Territory of the Irish Free State Capital Dublin Language(s) Irish, English Government Constitutional monarchy Monarch  - 1922–1936 George V  - 1936–1936 George VI President of the Executive Council  - 1922–1932 W.T. Cosgrave  - 1932–1937 Eamon de Valera Legislature Oireachtas  - Upper house Seanad Éireann  - Lower house Dáil Éireann...

On choosing the former, he directed the enemy to the place known as Annaghbeg in Corbally, which was located opposite Plassey mill about two miles up from the city. At Annaghbeg there was a ford which until recently had been marked with “two short rows of rocks running parallel to the river bank”. Consequently, the Williamite troops crossed the Shannon at Annaghbeg and went on to sack the city.

When Philip McAdam died he was buried in his family grave in Kilquane churchyard in Parteen, the Abbey fishermen, who felt such vengeance against the man, had a shelter close to the church grounds, in which they would rest and eat. On stopping at this particular shelter they felt it their duty to visit the grave of McAdam spit on it and in other ways vandalize it. This grave was ritually desecrated for over two centuries until at least 1918, in an act de rigueur by the families of the fishermen who felt betrayed by McAdam.

The following poems were recited in relation to the betrayal the fisher folk felt,

1. Here lies the body of McAdam the Traitor,

Who lived a fisherman, and died a deceiver,

The devil came for him in flashes of thunder,

And now he is in hell and it is no wonder.

Here lies the grave of McAdam the traitor,

Who’s burning in hell with the thirst,

And anyone who don’t desecrate his grave,

I pray that their belly burst.

2. McAdams nose is long

McAdams nose is strong

It would be no disgrace

To McAdams face

If McAdams nose was gone.

One source claims that the community would take an annual pilgrimage of sorts to the headstone bearing his name and at this they would spit, throw stones, and dance on his grave, this ritual that I have already stated continues until at least 1918. The first two lines of poem number one, recorded above were etched into his tombstone, at sometime between 1839 when there was no mention of the inscription in the recording made by John O’Donovan The Antiquities of County Clare and 1866 when it was recorded by Maurice Lenihan in his History of Limerick, this inscription shows the ferocity with which this man was despised by the community involved. As “disrespect for the dead was not prominent” during the ninetieth and early twentieth centuries, in normal circumstances for Irish society and even less so in predominantly catholic communities the likes of which the fishermen belonged too, hence this man must have been extremely alienated from his society to warrant such an attack.

The historical truth of this story is that the Williamite army did in fact cross the Shannon at Annaghbeg on the morning of 10 August 1690 with out “opposition”. On the previous night of the 9 August 1690, a troop was sent to view the ford at Annaghbeg where the “enemy being thus posted so very advantageously that we expected to have met with great difficulties and opposition in passing the River, which is very Rapid, and the bottom stony, but the Enemy in the middle of the Night abandoned their Station with great precipitation”. I have found no reference to a man by the name of McAdam in any of the sources written at the time of the siege and quoted in the Old Limerick Journal 1690 Siege Edition.

Major Thomas Stannard McAdam a descendant of McAdam was asked about the tale and the receipt of the land by Maurice Lenihan during his compilation of his book on the history of Limerick, the Major produced papers to prove that his ancestors had rented the estate from the earl of Thomond long before the siege.

Another variation of this tale is that it was not in fact a Philip McAdam or an incident surrounding the siege of Limerick, which the Abbey fishermen refer to when speaking of the traitor or desecrating the McAdam grave but another man by the name of Thomas McAdam of Blackwater Co Clare, a possible descendant of the accused Philip McAdam, as both he and Philip’s actual descendant Thomas Stannard resided in Blackwater, Co. Clare. Thomas was a leaser of the Lax weir between 1818 and 1834, on one occasion during this period, on catching poachers on the weir he shot one of them, a fisherman, named John Hartigan in the eye, leading to Hartigan’s death a few months later. This may have seen as just cause to vandalize the McAdam grave. Although it is also possible that it was both men of the McAdam clan at whom the stories, poems and despoliation was aimed.

In conclusion the tale of McAdam the Traitor, although, not necessarily historically accurate played a pivotal role in the social structure of this fishing community and was a vital element in keeping the community together albeit by fear of the consequences of going against convention. The legends of this man, which was maintained through generations through the use of folklore alone, adapting as it went but the basic moral of the story, was ingrained in the tale, therefore no matter the teller or the method by which it was told, and the moral to this story remained the same, do not betray your community or eternal damnation will be yours.

The Black Bridge crosses the Shannon from Limerick (Mill side) into the Co. Clare. Children would stand in the middle of this bridge and claim they were in two counties at once!

Approaching Plassey as you cross the bridge you notice swans and a wonderful worn pathway lined with trees. To your left is the beautiful lock house ( Annabeg house ) owned by the Ryan Family. To your right fishermen cast their lines from a stony area of the river known as "Jim Stones". This is a very special spot for fishermen and is named after the late great Jim Ryan who lived in Annabeg House, Plassey until the 1980's. Jim and Delia had 7 children. The family still live here. Please note Annabeg House is a private property.

In the 1970's a technical college, which later became the University of Limerick, was built at Plassey. Thomond College of Education, Limerick was also located on the same campus and was later dissolved and integrated into the university. A National Institute for Higher Education (NIHE) was a category of higher education institution established in Ireland to provide higher level technical education above the standard of the then established Regional Technical College system but at university level. ... The University of Limerick (UL) was established in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick and became a university by statute in 1989 in accordance with the University of Limerick Act 1989. ... Thomond College of Education, Limerick (Coláiste Oideachais Thuamhurnhan, Luimneach in Irish) was established in 1973 in Limerick, Ireland as the National College of Physical Education to train physical education teachers. ...