Athlone does not have a particularly distinguished architectural heritage, nevertheless there are a number of distinguished buildings which are worthy of attention. The most distinguished being Athlone Castle.

Town Walls (St. Francis Tce. / St. Brigid's Tce.)
In medieval times Athlone was a walled town. The street-names Northgate Street and Dublingate Street identify the main points of entry (and exit) to the town. The earliest town wall was built in 1251 but the remaining portions of the town wall, most likely, date from the last quarter of the seventeenth century.







St. Mary's Church of Ireland (Church Street).
This church marks the site of the medieval parish church. The present church was built in the 1820s to replace an earlier structure (of 1622) of which only the free-standing bell-tower survives. Inside the church are several relics of old Athlone. These include the mearing stone which stood in the middle of the Elizabethan bridge marking the boundary between Westmeath and Roscommon. Also a number of fine memorial tablets were salvaged from the earlier church and re-erected here. The bells of St. Mary's are not without their stories. One bears the inscription 'This is for the Church of St. Mary in Athlone, T.C. 1683'. This is the bell which was sounded by General Ginkle to give the signal for the final assault on Athlone during the siege of 1691. The smaller bell came from the Tholsel or Market House which was demolished in the 1830's.



St. Peter's formerly a Church of Ireland Church(off Pearse Street)
This rather plain Gothic hall served as a Church of Ireland from 1840 - 1941. Later it served as a parochial hall before being converted into a Catholic Church where the traditional Tridentine rites are observed.



St. Mary's Catholic Church (St. Mary's Square)
This fine gothic church to the design of John Bourke was completed in 1862. Inside the porch, on the right, is a memorial tablet to Fr. Kieran Kilroe the person responsible for building the church. This tablet was designed by John Hogan Jnr.

St. Anthony's Franciscan Church (Friary Lane)
This church in Hiberno-Romanesque style was designed by Kelly & Jones of Dublin and completed in 1931. The stained glass comes from the Harry Clarke Studios and the Craftworkers of Dublin. The Clarke windows include: St. Francis; St. Louis; St. Anthony of Padua; St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Clare of Assisi. The stations of the cross (in opus-sextile) are by Ethel Rhind, while the opus-sextile work on the faade is by Catherine O'Brien. In the apse, there is a copy of the San Damiano, crucifix, executed by Muriel Brandt.









The Wesleyan Methodist Church (Northgate Street).
Built to the design of Alfred G. Jones and completed in 1865 this beautiful church has a rather austere exterior.









Athlone Workhouse (Northgate Street)
One of over a hundred Irish Workhouses built to the common plan of George Wilkinson. The Athlone Workhouse was completed in 1841 and was designed to accommodate 800 paupers but during the Famine this number was greatly exceeded and auxiliary Workhouses were used to accommodate the overflow.

Custume Barracks (off Grace Road or Accommodation Road)
The present large complex has evolved from a barrack-building programme of the 1690's. It is probably the oldest occupied barracks in these islands and also enjoys the unique distinction of being the only known barrack named in honour of a non-commissioned officer. It takes its name from Sergeant Custume, a sergeant of dragoons, who bravely defended the bridge of Athlone during the siege of 1691. The barracks served as a British military post until February 1922 when it was taken over by Commandant-General Sean MacEoin of the Irish Republican Army.





Court Devenish House (Court Devenish)
The only remnant of a seventeenth-century town house in Athlone is the ruined faade of Court Devenish house. Built in the 1620's, it suffered damage during the Confederate Wars and was rebuilt later ruined during the Williamite assault on Athlone in 1691.

Shannon Bridge
This low and elegant bridge was built as part of the extensive Shannon navigation works of the 1840's. It replaced the Elizabethan bridge of 1566. Until the building of the Athlone Relief Road in 1991 it was the only road bridge across the Shannon at Athlone.

The Railway Bridge
This spectacular bridge, of which T.P. O'Connor claimed that 'of all the prospects he had seen in Europe, the sight dearest to him was the graceful railway bridge over the Shannon at Athlone', was built in 1850. The bridge is over 540 feet in length and had an opening central span of 120 feet. For its time, the building of this bridge was an amazing feat of engineering. The iron-work was shipped to Limerick and from there was brought to Athlone by barge. The entire job took less than eighteen months to complete. The engineer in charge of the construction was G. W. Hemans and the contractors were Fox and Henderson.





Great Southern and Western Railway Station (now Athlone Railway Station)
This fine station building to the design of George Wilkinson was completed c1859. For many years the two railway stations operated independently but merged in the mid-1920s. After this merger, this station became a goods station while the other station enjoyed the monopoly of all the passenger traffic. The Station was renovated in the 1980s and re-opened as Athlone Railway Station in January 1985.



Midland Great Western Railway Station.
This station is a good example of early Irish railway architecture. It was designed by J.S. Mulvany who also designed the Broadstone Station in Dublin. The first public train stopped here on August 1st, 1851, and the last on January 13th 1985 when Athlone Railway Station was transferred to the newly renovated 'Southern Station' on the Leinster side of Athlone.