Plassey, County Limerick

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Robert Clive was awarded an Irish peerage in 1762, being created Baron Clive of Plassey, County Clare; he bought lands in County Limerick and County Clare, Ireland, naming part of his lands near Limerick city, Plassey. Following Irish independence, these lands became state property. In the 1970s a technical college, which later became the University of Limerick, was built at Plassey. Plassey is an area of Limerick City, about 5km upstream on the River Shannon from Limerick City centre. It is located near the suburbs of Castletroy and Monaleen. The University of Limerick has its main campus in the area, which is the site of Plassey House, a country house that serves as the University's administrative centre. The University's other main campus is located across the River Shannon, with the two campuses connected by two bridges.

The area is named after the Battle of Plassey, which was fought in Bengal in June 1757 between the East India Company and the Mughal Empire. The East India Company, led by Clive, won a decisive victory against the Mughals, enabling the EIC to become the dominant power in the Bengal region. East India Company control in Bengal would last until the Indian Mutiny, where the EIC was forcibly dissolved and the Indian subcontinent coming under direct Crown control.

The Black Bridge in the grounds of Plassey House crosses the Shannon from Limerick (Mill Side) into County Clare.^[1]

Plassey House at the University of Limerick

Another building, Plassey House, passed through the hands of several Limerick families including the Maunsells, the Russells and the Baileys before it was acquired in 1933 by Patrick Keating, a Clareman who had made his fortune in China. On Patrick Keating's death the estate was purchased by the Rehabilitation Institute of Ireland from whom the new National Institute for Higher Education acquired it in 1970.^[2]

In the 1970s 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.

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