Adare was controlled by the O’Donovans prior to the arrival of the Normans. The first reference to Adare is in 1226 when Geoffrey De Marisco, an Anglo-Norman lord, received a grant from King Henry 3rd to hold a Fair annually at his Manor of Adare during the eight days following the Feast of St. James.

De Marisco was one of the most powerful magnates in Ireland, acting several times as Chief Governor of the country.
It is likely that he built the Castle at Adare as a base to control the area. However, after 1228 he was out of favour with the crown, and Adare passed to the Fitzgeralds, the most powerful Norman family in Ireland.

Presently a Catholic church in Adare, County Limerick, Trinitarian Abbey was founded in 1230 by Geoffrey de Marisco as the order’s only Irish house. It was destroyed during the suppression of Henry VIII and was restored in the 19th century.

De Marisco fell out with the king and his allies in Ireland and ended his days in exile in France. De Marisco died in 1245.