Limerick City Ireland |
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Limerick, in Irish: Luimneach: Lom na nEach meaning the bare place i.e. open ground - of the horses is a city and the county seat of County Limerick in the province of Munster, in the midwest of the Republic of Ireland. The city lies on the River Shannon, with three main bridge crossings near the city centre. The bridges are Thomond Bridge, Sarsfield Bridge and the New Bridge. In 2010 a tunnel was opened west of the New Bridge connecting Limerick and Clare. Luimneach originally referred to the general area along the banks of the Shannon Estuary, which was known as Loch Luimnigh. Limerick city has its origins on and around the island of Inis Sibhton which was the original name in the annals for King's Island during the pre-Viking and Viking eras. King's Island was named for King John of England, 1199-1216, who, as Lord of Ireland, granted Limerick its first Charter in 1197. Kings Island was formed by the River Shannon and its tributary, the Abbey River and is known locally as The Island, St Mary's Parish or just the Parish. This island was also called Inis an Ghaill Duibh. There were early Christian settlements from the 5th. Century, the time of St. Patrick and the city patron saint, St. Munchin. Limerick itself dates from at least the Viking settlement in 812. who were dislodged eventually by the O'Brien's kings of Thomond and Munster. On the death of Donal Mor O'Brien in 1194 the Normans arrived and redesigned the city of Limerick. The Normans established a garrison and added much of the most notable architecture, such as King John's Castle and St Mary's Cathedral. The walled city of English town on the island and it's "neighbour", Irishtown on the southern side of the Abbey River grew and prospered through the following centuries up to the middle 1700's. During the civil wars of the 17th century, Limerick played a pivotal role, besieged by Oliver Cromwell in 1651 and twice by the Williamites in the 1690s. Limerick grew rich through trade in the late 18th century, but the Act of Union in 1800, and the famine caused a crippling economic decline broken only by the so-called Celtic Tiger in the 1990s. The late 1700's and the 1800's then saw the emergence of the "new city" with its fine streets, commercial and public buildings and its Georgian architecture. |
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