Sixmilebridge (Irish: Droichead Abhann Ó gCearnaigh, meaning 'bridge of the river of O'Kearney')[2] is a large village in County Clare, Ireland.

Located midway between Ennis and Limerick city, the village is a short distance away from the main N18 road.

[3] Sixmilebridge partly serves as a dormitory village for workers in the Limerick city, Ennis and Shannon region, with a number of modern housing developments having been built to accommodate demand.

[citation needed] Evidence of prehistorical settlement in the area dates to the Bronze Age, and a number of ringforts, mounds, enclosures and wedge tombs are located in the parish.

Coolmeen Lake, located in a valley in the hills east of Sixmilebridge, played an important part in the 13th-century "Wars of Turlough".

During the fighting, Lochlainn MacNamara and his nephew were given safe conduct by the Norman De Clares, their rivals, to enter their castle without being harmed.

The following passage is from The History and Topography of the County of Clare, by James Frost: Immediately after Ludlow returned to Limerick, the Clare forces, under David Roche, son of Lord Fermoy, sent a message from Quin, by a woman, to Hugh O’Neill, Commander-in-Chief of the Garrison of Limerick, to the effect that they were about to come to his aid, and that they would wait at Sixmilebridge to learn from him how they could best render assistance.

The woman was intercepted by the English at Thomondgate, and being conducted into the presence of one of their generals whom she was taught to believe to be O’Neill, she delivered her message.

The information she possessed being extracted from the poor creature, they hanged her, "for fear of giving further intelligence", as they said.The account goes on to tell that the garrison at Sixmilebridge were to move to Limerick when a light would be exhibited from "the mountain of Glenagross", i.e. Woodcock Hill, on 31 July.

By the end of the 17th century development was tied to the industrialisation of the area as people of Dutch origin found the river very suitable for milling.

This ended abruptly with the building of a toll bridge on the river by Henry D'Esterre (Ó Dálaigh 2004).

D'Esterre's construction gained a profit from people crossing the river but halted the trading done with Holland.

On 22 July 1852, a magistrate and eight soldiers of the 31st Regiment escorted 18 tenants of the Marquess of Conyngham to Sixmilebridge to vote for Colonel Vandeleur in the Clare county constituency at the general election.

A crowd of protesters, including two Catholic priests, was gathered near the ballot office, and an affray began between them and the voters' party.

[8] An article in the Anglo-Celt accused the regiment of "willful and deliberate murder", and the editor was jailed for libel.

Arguably the oldest church in the parish is that of Ballysheen, reputedly built in the 12th century by Saint Finaghta.

[citation needed] A decorated 'duck inn' on the O'Garney River is occupied by a thriving population of ducks.