Walls of Limerick
Limerick is the Republic of
Ireland's third largest city
and was founded
by the Vikings in the early 9th century.When the Anglo-Normans
finally captured Limerick in
1195,their
first task was to
fortify it. King John's
castle was completed
around
1200 and work began on
enclosing
the city with a wall.By the
end of the fourteenth century Limerick city became
known as Englishtown
and was
well protected, having two main gates
at
Thomond Bridge
and
Baal's Bridge and nine
lesser gates.
When the Normans first arrived in Limerick many of the original natives
moved across the Abbey river
to an area called
Irishtown. This
became an important enclave and it was also walled. The
work was
slow and went on through the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries. The Citadel
complex was completed,
towards the end of the 1590's the main features of which
are
thankfully still preserved. The
gate house and inner gate can be seen in the grounds of
St.
John's hospital.
The old city walls took over 200 years to build and were
approximately three miles long.The walls were fortified with many towers and gates. In total
there were 17 gates-five
in the Irish town and twelve in
the
English
town.
Limerick city's status was changed in 1760 and the famous walls which
existed for 100's of
years were finally knocked down. Some
of the remnants of the walls of Limerick can still be
seen-in the vicinity
of Lelia Street and St. John's Hospital and also
along the
Island
Road and in the grounds of Limerick City Hall next to Castle
Lane.
Contact details
John Delaney limerickhistory@hotmail.com