Shannon, County Clare facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Shannon
Irish: Sionainn
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Town
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View over Shannon, with the industrial area on the left and the housing on the right
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 Shannon
Location in Ireland
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| Country | Ireland | |
| Province | Munster | |
| County | County Clare | |
| Dáil constituency | Clare | |
| EU Parliament | South | |
| Population
(2022)
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| • Total | 10,256 | |
| Time zone | UTC±0 (WET) | |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (IST) | |
| Eircode routing key |
V14
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| Telephone area code | 061 | |
| Irish Grid Reference | R402624 | |
| Historical population | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1841 | 241 | — |
| 1851 | 196 | −18.7% |
| 1861 | 156 | −20.4% |
| 1871 | 147 | −5.8% |
| 1881 | 95 | −35.4% |
| 1961 | 234 | +146.3% |
| 1966 | 1,658 | +608.5% |
| 1971 | 3,657 | +120.6% |
| 1981 | 7,998 | +118.7% |
| 1986 | 8,005 | +0.1% |
| 1991 | 7,920 | −1.1% |
| 1996 | 7,940 | +0.3% |
| 2002 | 8,561 | +7.8% |
| 2006 | 9,222 | +7.7% |
| 2011 | 9,673 | +4.9% |
| 2016 | 9,729 | +0.6% |
| 2022 | 10,256 | +5.4% |
Shannon (Irish: Sionainn), also known as Shannon Town, is a town in County Clare, Ireland. It is named after the nearby River Shannon. Shannon became an official town on January 1, 1982.
The town is located close to the N19 road, which connects to the N18/M18 road between Limerick and Ennis. Shannon is famous for being home to Shannon Airport. This international airport serves the Clare and Limerick areas in western Ireland.
According to the 2022 census, Shannon has a population of 10,256 people. This makes it the second-largest town in County Clare.
Contents
History of Shannon
Shannon is a special kind of town called a new town. It was built from scratch in the 1960s. A person named Brendan O'Regan led the effort to create it. The town was built on marshland that was drained and prepared for construction.
Shannon was developed right next to Shannon Airport and the Shannon Free Zone Industrial park. The main idea was to create homes for the many people working at the airport and in the nearby factories and businesses. However, the town did not grow as quickly as planned at first. This was partly because people could easily live in nearby places like Ennis or Limerick city.
Early on, Shannon faced some challenges. It did not have enough facilities, and its shopping centre was not well designed. The shops faced open pedestrian malls, which meant wind and rain could bother shoppers. Some of the first homes built were also not the best quality.
Shannon was originally part of the Newmarket-on-Fergus church area. A priest from the airport first served the people living there. In 1966, St. Senan's School opened, and Mary Immaculate Church was built. On December 24, 1967, Shannon got its own church area, called the parish of Shannon.
Other churches in Shannon include the Adoration Chapel in Shannon Town Centre and the Shannon Airport Oratory. There are also Christian evangelical churches like Shannon Christian Church and New Life Christian Church.
The first school in Shannon was St. John's Church of Ireland School, opened in 1962.
From 1980 to 1986, Shannon was home to GAC Ireland. This company built almost all the buses for CIÉ, Ireland's main transport company at the time.
Modern Development
Shannon's population grew more quickly in the 1990s. Many new and modern housing areas were built. The town also saw improvements to its facilities. A second large supermarket, Lidl, opened. The main shopping centre was also made bigger with the addition of the "Skycourt" complex.
The main road through Shannon was updated after a new bypass opened around Newmarket-on-Fergus. New businesses continued to open in the industrial areas.
Education in Shannon
Shannon has six primary schools for younger students:
- St. Tola's
- St John's
- St Senan's
- Gaelscoil Donnacha Rua (a school where Irish is the main language)
- St. Conaire's (the largest primary school)
- St. Aidan's
For older students, there are two secondary schools:
- St. Patrick's Comprehensive School: This was Ireland's first comprehensive school, opening in 1966. It is planning an extension to hold over 900 students.
- St. Caimin's Community School
Shannon also has one college for higher education:
- Shannon College of Hotel Management: This college opened in 1951. Since 2015, it has been an official college of the National University of Ireland, Galway. It teaches students how to manage hotels.
Shannon's Economy
The Shannon Free Zone is a very important business area. It has the largest number of North American companies in Ireland. Since it started in 1959, more than 110 international companies have opened offices or factories in Shannon.
Some of the major companies located in Shannon include:
- Jaguar Land Rover
- Zimmer Biomet
- Element Six
- Symantec
- AXA Partners
- Lufthansa Technik
- Mentor Graphics
- RSA Security
- GE Capital
- Ingersoll Rand
- Intel
- Digital River
The head office of Eirjet, an airline, was also located at Shannon Airport.
Climate in Shannon
Shannon has a mild climate. This means there are not huge differences between the highest and lowest temperatures. It also gets a good amount of rain throughout the year. This type of climate is called an "Oceanic climate" or "Marine West Coast Climate."
The highest temperature ever recorded in Shannon was 32.0 degrees Celsius (89.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on June 28, 2018.
| Climate data for Shannon Airport, (1981–2010, extremes 1938–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 14.8 (58.6) |
15.5 (59.9) |
20.2 (68.4) |
23.5 (74.3) |
27.2 (81.0) |
32.0 (89.6) |
30.6 (87.1) |
30.0 (86.0) |
27.9 (82.2) |
23.0 (73.4) |
18.2 (64.8) |
16.2 (61.2) |
32.0 (89.6) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8.8 (47.8) |
9.2 (48.6) |
11.1 (52.0) |
13.3 (55.9) |
16.0 (60.8) |
18.3 (64.9) |
19.8 (67.6) |
19.6 (67.3) |
17.7 (63.9) |
14.3 (57.7) |
11.1 (52.0) |
9.0 (48.2) |
14.0 (57.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 6.0 (42.8) |
6.2 (43.2) |
7.8 (46.0) |
9.5 (49.1) |
12.1 (53.8) |
14.6 (58.3) |
16.4 (61.5) |
16.2 (61.2) |
14.2 (57.6) |
11.2 (52.2) |
8.3 (46.9) |
6.3 (43.3) |
10.7 (51.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 3.2 (37.8) |
3.2 (37.8) |
4.5 (40.1) |
5.7 (42.3) |
8.2 (46.8) |
10.9 (51.6) |
12.9 (55.2) |
12.7 (54.9) |
10.8 (51.4) |
8.2 (46.8) |
5.5 (41.9) |
3.6 (38.5) |
7.4 (45.3) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −11.9 (10.6) |
−9.8 (14.4) |
−7.8 (18.0) |
−4.6 (23.7) |
−1.7 (28.9) |
0.9 (33.6) |
4.4 (39.9) |
2.8 (37.0) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
−3.3 (26.1) |
−7.2 (19.0) |
−11.4 (11.5) |
−11.9 (10.6) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 102.3 (4.03) |
76.2 (3.00) |
78.7 (3.10) |
59.2 (2.33) |
64.8 (2.55) |
69.8 (2.75) |
65.9 (2.59) |
82.0 (3.23) |
75.6 (2.98) |
104.9 (4.13) |
94.1 (3.70) |
104.0 (4.09) |
977.6 (38.49) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 20 | 16 | 19 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 211 |
| Average snowy days | 2.3 | 2.3 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 8.0 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 80.5 | 74.6 | 70.5 | 64.4 | 63.3 | 65.1 | 68.0 | 68.2 | 69.2 | 75.2 | 80.5 | 83.1 | 71.9 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 49.6 | 65.0 | 99.2 | 153.0 | 179.8 | 156.0 | 139.5 | 139.5 | 117.0 | 89.9 | 60.0 | 43.4 | 1,291.9 |
| Mean daily sunshine hours | 1.6 | 2.3 | 3.2 | 5.1 | 5.8 | 5.2 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 3.5 |
| Source: Met Éireann | |||||||||||||
Twin Towns
Shannon is connected with another town through a "twin town" partnership:
Guingamp, France (since 1991)
Famous People from Shannon
Many notable people have connections to Shannon:
- Patrick Cassidy - a composer who writes music for orchestras, choirs, and films.
- Pat Cox - served as the President of the European Parliament from 2002 to 2004. He was also a journalist and TV presenter.
- Rachael English - an author and broadcaster.
- Ger Loughnane - a famous hurler (a player of a traditional Irish sport). He also managed the Clare hurling team and is a sports commentator. He used to teach in Shannon and lived there for many years.
See also
In Spanish: Shannon Town para niños
