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History of Limerick

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   City of Limerick
   Cathair Luimhnigh
           Coat of arms of City of Limerick
     Urbs antiqua fuit studiisque asperrima belli
   "An ancient city well versed in the arts of war"
   Location

   Location of City of Limerick
   Map highlighting City of Limerick

                         WGS-84 ( GPS) Coordinates:
                           52.6652° N 8.6238° W

   Statistics
       Province:     Munster
        County:      County Limerick
         Area:       20.79 km²
   Population (2002) 54,023
   Website: www.limerickcity.ie

   The history of Limerick ( Irish: Luimneach), the fourth largest city in
   the Republic of Ireland and one of Ireland's major cultural and
   industrial centres, stretches back to its establishment by the Vikings
   as a walled city on "King's Island" (an island in the River Shannon) in
   812, and its charter in 1197. A great castle was built on the orders of
   King John in 1200. It was besieged three times in the 17th century,
   resulting in the famous Treaty of Limerick and the flight of the
   defeated Catholic leaders abroad. Much of the city was built during the
   following Georgian prosperity, which ended abruptly with the Act of
   Union in 1800. The depression was to last nearly two centuries, through
   famine, war, and emergency, until the boom times of the 1990s. The city
   now boasts a rich and growing multicultural population.

Viking origins

   The earliest provable settlement dates from 812; however, history
   suggests the presence of earlier settlements in the area surrounding
   King's Island, the island at the historical city centre. Antiquity's
   map-maker, Ptolemy, produced in 150 the earliest map of Ireland,
   showing a place called "Regia" at the same site as King's Island.
   History also records an important battle involving Cormac Mac Airt in
   221 and a visit by St. Patrick in 434 to baptise an Eoghanacht Chief,
   Carthann the Fair. [Spellissy 98] The name Luimneach dates from at
   least 561, and probably derives from Loimeanach, meaning a bare marsh.

   The Viking sea king, Thormodr Helgason, built the first permanent
   Viking stronghold on King's Island (Inis Sibhtonn) in 922. He used the
   base to raid the length of the River Shannon from the lake of Lough
   Derg to the lake of Lough Ree, pillaging ecclesiastical settlements. In
   937 the Limerick Vikings clashed with those of Dublin on the lake of
   Lough Ree and were defeated. In 943 they were defeated again when the
   chief of the local Dalcassian clan joined with Ceallachan, king of
   Munster, and the Limerick Vikings were forced to pay tribute to the
   clans. The power of these Norsemen never recovered, and they reduced to
   the level of a minor clan; however, they often played pivotal parts in
   the endless power struggles of the next few centuries.
   King John's Castle, built in the 13th century, lies alongside the River
   Shannon. Thomond Bridge also still stands, seen on the left of this
   photograph.
   Enlarge
   King John's Castle, built in the 13th century, lies alongside the River
   Shannon. Thomond Bridge also still stands, seen on the left of this
   photograph.

   The arrival of the Normans to the area in 1173 changed everything.
   Domhnall Mór Ó Briain burned the City to the ground in 1174 in a bid to
   keep it from the hands of the new invaders. The Normans finally
   captured the area in 1195, under King John. In 1197, local legend
   claims Limerick was given its first charter and its first Mayor, Adam
   Sarvant. A castle, built on the orders of King John and bearing his
   name, was completed around 1200.

   Under the general peace imposed by Norman rule, Limerick prospered as a
   port and trading centre. By this time the city was divided into an area
   which became known as "English Town" on King's Island, while another
   settlement, named "Irish Town", had grown on the south bank of the
   river. A 1574 document prepared for the Spanish ambassador attests to
   its wealth:

     Limerick is stronger and more beautiful than all the other cities of
     Ireland, well walled with stout walls of hewn marble...there is no
     entrance except by stone bridges, one of the two of which has 14
     arches, and the other 8 ... for the most part the houses are of
     square stone of black marble and built in the form of towers and
     fortresses.

Siege and treaty

   Limerick was besieged several times in the 17th century. The first was
   in 1642, when the Irish Confederates took the King John's Castle from
   its English garrison. The city was besieged by Oliver Cromwell's army
   under Henry Ireton in 1651. The city had supported Confederate Ireland
   since 1642 and was garrisoned by troops from Ulster. The Confederates
   supported the claims of Charles II to the English throne, and the
   besiegers fought for a parliamentary republic. Famine and plague lead
   to the death of 5,000 residents before heavy bombardment of Irishtown
   led to breach and surrender in late October of that year.
   Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan.
   Enlarge
   Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan.

   In the Williamite war in Ireland, following the Battle of the Boyne in
   1690, French and Irish forces (numbering 14,000) regrouped in behind
   Limerick's walls. Time and war had led to a terrible decay of the once
   proud fortifications. The occupying armies are recorded as claiming
   that the walls could be knocked down with rotten apples. The Williamite
   besiegers, while numbering 20,000, were hampered by the loss of their
   heavier guns to an attack by Patrick Sarsfield. In fierce fighting, the
   walls were breached on three occasions, but the defenders prevailed.
   Eventually the Williamites withdrew to Waterford.

   William's forces returned in August 1691. Limerick was now the last
   stronghold of the Catholic Jacobites, under the command of Sarsfield.
   The promised French reinforcement failed to arrive from the sea, and
   following the massacre of 850 defenders on Thomond Bridge, the city
   sued for peace. On 3 October 1691 the famous Treaty of Limerick was
   signed using a large stone set in the bridge as a table. The treaty
   allowed the Jacobites to leave under full military honours and sail to
   France. Two days later French reinforcements finally arrived. Sarsfield
   was urged to continue the fight but refused, insisting on abiding by
   the terms of the treaty. Sarsfield sailed to France with 19,000 troops
   and formed the Irish Brigade (see also the Flight of the Wild Geese).
   After these forces had left the treaty was repudiated by the
   Williamites, a point of bitterness in the city to this day.

The famine

   While the 18th century saw the gradual introduction of repressive penal
   laws, banning Catholics from public office, buying land or voting,
   Limerick's position as the main port on the western side of Ireland
   meant that the city, and the Protestant upper class, began to prosper.
   The British version of mercantilism required a great deal of
   trans-Atlantic trade, and Limerick profited somewhat by this. Many
   significant public buildings and infrastructure projects were paid for
   with local trade taxes. The House of Industry was built on northern
   bank of the river in 1774, in part as a poorhouse and infirmary. A
   basic sewer system was built in the Newtownpery in the time of George
   III by simply closing over the gutters. St. Joseph's Psychiatric
   Hospital was completed in the south-side by 1826. Wellesley Bridge
   (later, Sarsfield Bridge) and new wet docks were also built during this
   time. Chief imports through the port included timber, coal, iron and
   tar. Exports included beef, pork, wheat, oats, flour and emigrants
   bound for North America. Exports of food continued during the Great
   Famine, often requiring the deployment of troops to protect the port.

   No statistics exist on how many people in the Limerick area died during
   the famine. Nationally, the population declined by an average of 20%,
   half of whom died and half emigrated. While the Great Famine reduced
   the population of County Limerick by 70,000, the population of the City
   actually rose slightly, as people fled to the workhouses.

The "Limerick Pogrom"

   Grave of an unknown Jewish person in Castletroy
   Enlarge
   Grave of an unknown Jewish person in Castletroy

   Having fled from persecution in Lithuania, a small number of Jewish
   tradespeople began arriving in Limerick in 1878. They initially formed
   an accepted part of the city's retail trade, centred on Collooney St.
   The community established a synagogue and a cemetery in the 1880s.
   Easter Sunday of 1884 saw the first of what were to be a series of
   sporadic violent anti-Semitic attacks and protests. A Jewish woman was
   injured and her house damaged by an angry crowd. In 1892 two families
   were beaten.

   In 1904 a young Catholic priest, Father John Creagh, of the
   Redemptorist order, delivered a fiery sermon castigating Jews for their
   rejection of Christ, being usurers and allies of the Freemasons then
   persecuting the Church in France, taking over the local economy,
   selling shoddy goods at inflated prices, to be paid for in
   installments. He urged Catholics "not to deal with the Jews." The
   Limerick Pogrom was the economic boycott waged against the small Jewish
   community for over two years. Limerick's Protestant community, many of
   whom were also traders, supported the Jews throughout the pogrom, but
   ultimately Limerick's Jews fled the city.

   Many went to Cork, intending to embark on ship from Cobh to travel to
   America. The people of Cork welcomed them into their homes. Church
   halls were opened for the refugees, many of whom remained. Gerald
   Goldberg, a son of this migration, became Lord Mayor of Cork in 1977.

Struggle for independence

   The IRA and the independence movement of Sinn Féin gained popular
   support in Limerick following the repressions and executions of 1916.
   Royal Irish Constabulary carried out violent raids on the homes of
   suspected Sinn Féin sympathisers. Prisoners were interned without trial
   in Frongoch camp in North Wales. Following the arrest and death of
   Robert Byrne, a local republican and trade unionist, most of Limerick
   city and a part of the county were declared a "Special Military Area
   under the Defence of the Realm Act". Special permits, to be issued by
   the RIC, would now be required to enter the city. In response, the
   Limerick Trades and Labour Council called for a general strike and
   boycott of the troops. A special strike committee was set up to print
   their own money and control food prices. The Irish Times referred to
   this committee as a Limerick Soviet ; however, the high degree of
   involvement of the Catholic Church shows that it was in fact quite
   different from the recent Bolshevik uprising. An American army officer
   arriving in Limerick had to appear before the permits committee in
   order to get a lift to visit relatives outside Limerick, following
   which he said,

          I guess it is some puzzle to know who rules these parts. You
          have to get a military permit to get in and be brought before a
          committee to get a permit to leave.

   After 14 days the strike ended with a compromise on the permits issue.

   Open conflict erupted on Roches Street in April 1920 between the Royal
   Welch Fusiliers and the general population, involving bayonets on the
   one side and stones and bottles on the other. The troops fired
   indiscriminately, killing a publican and an usherette from the Coliseum
   Cinema. The British Government organised a new force to quell the
   population. The Black and Tans, known as "the sweepings of English
   jails", were formed of ex-servicemen. On the night of March 6, 1921,
   Limerick's Mayor, George Clancy, and his wife were shot in their home
   by three Tans. On the same night the previous Mayor, Michael
   O'Callaghan, was shot in similar circumstances. These assassinations
   became known as the Curfew Murders. IRA reprisals included the
   unsuccessful attack on six RIC men leaving a pub on Mungret Street and
   the murder of a Black and Tan on Church Street. A truce between the IRA
   and the British forces came into effect on July 9, 1921.

The Free State

          Monument to the 1916 Rising, Sarsfield Bridge

          Enlarge
          Monument to the 1916 Rising, Sarsfield Bridge

   On December 5, 1921 Eamon de Valera gave a speech (in what is now
   Jury's Hotel on the Ennis Road) cautioning against optimism in the
   peace process. A few hours later in London, Michael Collins signed the
   Anglo-Irish Treaty, granting limited independence to the southern
   portion of Ireland as the Irish Free State, while retaining Ulster. The
   treaty also gifted the ports of Berehaven, Cobh and Lough Swilly to the
   United Kingdom as UK sovereign bases, while annuities would continue to
   be paid to the British government in lieu of money loaned to Irish
   tenants under various land acts. De Valera and others virulently
   opposed the treaty's compromises. The scene was set for the civil war.

   In Limerick, the first signs of trouble came when the British forces
   withdrew early in the New Year. Three separate Irish factions rushed in
   to fill the vacuum: The pro-Treaty Claremen of the First-Western
   Division under General Michael Brennan, who was asked by the new
   Free-State government to occupy the city because of doubts about the
   loyalty of Liam Forde's Mid-Limerick Brigade. In the event the Brigade
   split into pro- and anti-Treaty factions, the latter lead by Forde.
   William St. became a battle zone by 7 p.m. on 11 July 1921, when the
   Free Staters opened fire on the Republican garrison holding the
   Ordnance Barracks. In the chaos, Roches Stores, which still stands on
   Sarsfield St, was looted. On 17 July, Eoin O'Duffy arrived in the city
   as part of a nationwide offensive, in command of 1,500 Free State
   re-inforcements equipped with artillery. The Free Staters brought up an
   18-pounder gun on the 19th and flattened the Ordnance Barracks. The
   Castle Barracks was captured the following day. The Republicans then
   abandoned the city. Limerick Prison, designed to hold 120, contained
   800 prisoners by November. The Civil War ended the following May in
   victory for the Free State. De Valera and the Republicans would refuse
   take their seats in the new Dáil Éireann until 1927.

   The Free State government set about rebuilding the county in the spirit
   of the times, with grand plans and schemes. The Shannon Scheme, the
   plan to build a Hydroelectric power station utilising the energy of
   Ireland's largest river, was begun in 1925. The German electric company
   Siemens-Schuckertwerke (today Siemens AG) was awarded the 5.2m pound
   contract, providing employment for 750 people. The Electricity Supply
   Board set up to manage the project gradually oversaw the
   electrification of rural Ireland.

The Emergency

   Almost from the moment that de Valera and his new Fianna Fáil party
   were elected in 1932, Ireland was plunged into a series of
   "emergencies". De Valera fulfilled an election promise to suspend the
   payment of land annuities to Britain, and Britain retaliated by raising
   import duties on agricultural products to 40%. De Valera swept through
   the Dáil the "Emergency Imposition of Duties order" imposing reciprocal
   taxes. Economic War had begun.
   Éamon de Valera (1882-1975)
   Enlarge
   Éamon de Valera (1882-1975)

   Limerick's farm-based economy was reduced to a state of barter. This
   was the period during which Ireland's interventionist, control economic
   style was developed. The Laissez-faireism of the 1920s was abandoned in
   the face of skyrocketing unemployment, poverty and emigration. The
   state set up non-agricultural industries such as Turf Development Board
   (Later Bord na Móna) and Aer Rianta (airports authority). In 1935
   Charles Lindbergh was consulted on the building of an airport on the
   Shannon Estuary at Rineanna (later renamed Shannon Airport), and in
   1937 Foynes was developed as a stopping point on the flying boat route
   across the Atlantic. During this time, the de Valera government
   introduced several emergency laws to suppress the IRA and General Eoin
   O'Duffy's fascist Blueshirt army.

   This first Emergency ended in 1938 with the Anglo-Irish Free Trade
   Agreement, when Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy allowed a
   climb down. The UK would end economic sanctions and return the treaty
   ports in exchange for a once-off payment of £10m.

   The following year, the outbreak of World War II forced the
   introduction of the Emergency Powers Act to control prices and imports.
   Ireland, with no native merchant fleet, and no coal, gas, or oil
   supplies faced hard times indeed. An army officer named Captain McKenna
   described it as the day "Realisation dawned on Ireland that the country
   was surrounded by water, and that the sea was of vital importance to
   her." Towards the end of the war, shortages of rubber and petrol
   particularly ended all non-emergency motorised transport, including
   rail, to and within the city. Lord Adare restarted a four-horse
   stagecoach route to his hotel in Co. Limerick, a sight not seen since
   the 19th century.

   The army was expanded massively to over 300,000 in preparation for the
   expected invasion by either Germany, attempting a stepping-stone
   approach to the invasion of Britain, or Britain herself, seeking use of
   the ports. Knockalisheen barracks (later Knockalisheen Refugee Camp)
   was built near Limerick at Meelick to house the new defence forces.

Post war

   O'Connell St, c1960's
   Enlarge
   O'Connell St, c1960's

   The economy of the Limerick area was largely neglected in the post war
   period and the city and county became characterised by extremely high
   emigration and unemployment. With the exception of Shannon Airport and
   a few related businesses and a few clothing factories, Limerick had no
   industry. The economy was based on farming and services, fueled in no
   insignificant part by remittances from the extensive diaspora. A few of
   the many who left became successful abroad, including the actor Richard
   Harris the BBC presenter Terry Wogan, and the school teacher turned
   memoirist, Frank McCourt.

   Limerick also had a few famous visitors during this time. In 1963
   Irish-American US President John F. Kennedy visited Limerick as part of
   his tour of Ireland. He was presented with a locally produced
   christening robe made of Limerick Lace. From 1956, about 500 Hungarian
   refugees were housed in Knockalisheen, near Meelick a few kilometers
   from the city, following the failed uprising in their country. A few
   settled, but the majority moved on within a few years to new lives in
   the UK and North America due to the bad economic situation in Limerick.

   Shannon airport also attracted a varied crowd. At this time nearly all
   transatlantic flights stopped at the airport, the most westerly in
   Europe, to refuel. Irish Times journalist Arthur Quinlan who was based
   at Shannon boasts at having interviewed every US president from Harry
   Truman to George H. W. Bush and many Soviet leaders, including Andrey
   Vyshinsky and Andrei Gromyko. He also famously taught Fidel Castro how
   to make an Irish coffee and is the only western journalist to have
   interviewed Che Guevara. On March 13^th, 1965, Guevara suddenly arrived
   at the airport when his flight from Prague to Cuba developed mechanical
   problems, and Quinlan was on hand to interview him. Guevara talked of
   his Irish connections through the name Lynch and of his grandmother's
   Irish roots in Galway. Later, Che, and some of his Cuban comrades, went
   to Limerick city and adjourned to the Hanratty's Hotel on Glentworth
   Street. According to Quinlan, they returned that evening all wearing
   sprigs of shamrock, for Shannon and Limerick were preparing for the St.
   Patrick's Day celebrations. ( Scotsman Newspaper, The night Che Guevara
   came to Limerick, Sun 28 Dec 2003)

   In 1968, the government published the Buchanan Report on the regional
   dimension to economic planning which had largely been ignored. The
   report recommended on the social and economic sustainability of
   industry in the regions, which gradually lead to investment and
   improvement in the Limerick area.

Celtic Tiger

   Riverpoint
   Enlarge
   Riverpoint

   The seemingly sudden economic growth of the 1990s, termed the Celtic
   Tiger, making Ireland one of the richest countries in the world, had
   deep foundations stretching back through the 1980s and 1970s. Shipping
   in Shannon estuary was developed extensively during the period with
   over 2bn pounds investment. A tanker terminal at Foynes and an oil
   jetty at Shannon Airport were built. In 1982 a massive Alumina
   Extraction Plant was built at Aughinish. 60,000-ton cargo vessels now
   carry raw bauxite from West African mines to the plant, where it is
   refined to alumina. This is then exported to Canada where it is further
   refined to aluminium. 1985 saw the opening of a huge power plant at
   Moneypoint, fed by regular visits by 150,000-tonne tankers. EEC funding
   was poured into infrastructure. Industrial estates at Raheen and
   Plassey ( Castletroy), and energetic government intervention, brought
   in numerous foreign firms, notably Analog Devices, Wang Laboratories
   and Dell Computers. A science and engineering focused third-level
   college called NIHE, Limerick, elevated since 1992 to university status
   as the University of Limerick, and the establishment of Limerick
   Institute of Technology, furthered the area's reputation as Ireland's
   Silicon Valley. Thomond College of Education, Limerick was a successful
   teacher training college and was integrated into the university in
   1991.

   In 1996 the city had a brief moment of world attention when the Irish
   writer Frank McCourt published Angela's Ashes. The book tells of the
   author's childhood in a rundown and dirty slum of the 1930s and 40s.
   The book won the Pulitzer prize and was made into a feature film in
   1999. The slums spoken of in the book had long since been removed, and
   local people were embarrassed by the sudden unflattering discussion of
   the city. When McCourt wrote the book's sequel, 'Tis, it was answered
   with the locally written Tisn't, which painted a better face on the
   city.

   The appearance of the city has been undergoing a gradual face-lift: two
   new bridges over the Shannon, and soon a tunnel to complete the orbital
   road; many of the older buildings have been replaced, some
   controversially such as the ancient Cruises Hotel (see Architecture of
   Limerick). City architect, Jim Brown, led the way in turning Limerick
   around to face the river. Ireland's third tallest building, the 58m
   Riverpoint, completed in 2006, near Steamboat Quay, an area of
   fashionable restaurants overlooking the Shannon. The new wealth not
   only halted the high levels of emigration chronic through the 1980s,
   but led to the first large-scale immigration for centuries. The City
   now boasts a Russian delicatessen, a Chinese supermarket and several
   South Asian, African and Caribbean food shops. Near the Crescent
   Shopping Centre, and down the road from the Mormon church, is
   Limerick's first Mosque.
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