old illustrations of limerick

Just 1 or 2 items relating to a few topics discussed over in the main Limerick forum recently.

O Connell Street 1959

The photograph below was taken shortly after the fire that destroyed Todds department store and its subsequent demolition.

Saxone Shoes can be seen on the far right, this is the building that collapsed back in November 1986. At the time of the collapse a man was working on a refurbishment job on the top floor, amazingly he escaped serious injury!

The magnificent facade and landmark clock of Cannock’s department store can just about be seen in the background.:(

[url=“http://www.limerickcity.ie/Museum/image/1987/19870393.jpg”]Full Size Image[/url]

Christie’s London

William Turner de Lond (fl. c. 1820 – c. 1837)

A View from Bank Place, Limerick: the New Bridge and George’s Quay, with the County Court House and St. Mary’s Cathedral behind

pencil and bodycolour, watermark Strasburg lily 171/8 x 22¼ in. (43.6 x 56.6 cm.)

Estimate (£25,000 – £35,000 Sterling)

During his visit to Ireland in the early 1820s, Turner de Lond executed two known views of Limerick, one from the North Strand (sold Christie’s London, 10 July 1984, lot 175, now in the Limerick Museum) and the present watercolour.

Turner de Lond’s attention to detail, both generally and topographically, is remarkable. He has chosen to depict the streets filled with the hubbub of daily life, illustrating the variety of citizenry, from the women washing their clothes in the river to the ladies riding in the elegant horse-drawn landau in the centre of the watercolour. The carriage is traditionally believed to be that of Standish O’Grady, 1st Viscount Guillamore (1766-1840) who served as Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland for a number of years.

The topography of the view has also been painstakingly recorded providing an accurate depiction of the townscape of Limerick in the 1820s. The neo-classical building in the centre of the watercolour is the County Court House, built in 1809 with a portico added in 1814. Until 1760 a medieval wall ran alongside the river but was replaced by George’s Quay, visible in the present watercolour on the far side of the river, along which stood various shops and dwellings, a number of which were refaced with red-brick facades, one with a Dutch-style gable. To the right of the watercolour can be seen the tower of St. Mary’s Cathedral, the oldest building in Limerick, founded in 1168 and built on the site of a palace that was donated to the people of the city by Donal Mor O’Brien, King of Munster.

Glin Castle has placed this painting with Christies for sale on the 7th may 2009. Sign of the times I suppose but a must aquirement for the Limerick Museum! I posted this before and the confusing thing is that the Limerick Museum speak of the artist as being attributed to Samuel Frederick Brocas. :confused:

@CologneMike wrote:

Glin Castle has placed this painting with Christies for sale on the 7th may 2009. Sign of the times I suppose but a must aquirement for the Limerick Museum!

. . . or the National Gallery, fabulous painting, worth every penny, screw the recession!

Haven’t seen his view of Limerick from the ‘North Strand’, didn’t notice it on their web-site, anyone got a copy?

@rumpelstiltskin wrote:

Well Limerick Museum have an advantage in that they can walk across the road and take another picture just the same. So they don’t really have to waste the taxpayers’ money on rubbish like this in an recession!

Something’s gone over your head there rumpel !

Arthur’s Quay 1860 ~ Charles Mills

Though I never seen Mills painting of Arthur’s Quay, I believe the painting is impressive in size and that nice details are captured like for example a steam engine train travelling from Ennis in the background around the Long Pavement area (see circled above Thomond Bridge). Below the steam engine train crossing the Shannon at Long Pavement. I wonder where can one see this painting today?

Painting. Landscape. Arthur’s Quay, Limerick, c. 1860, by Charles Mills ARHA. Oil on canvas. Depicts the River Shannon with small boats around the quay, with King John’s Castle, Thomond Bridge and Clare Hills in background. Turf creels on quayside.. Frame has applied repeating pattern of applied foliate plaster ornament and is painted gold.

Limerick Museum: see originals 1 2

@CologneMike wrote:

Rumpelstiltskin, you are mixing up your museums, it is the Hunt Museum that is across the road on Rutland Street. The Limerick Museum is located on Castle Lane.

Actually I was hoping some fairytale dwarf would come along and kick start his “spinning wheel” into action to fund this “rubbish” for us. :rolleyes:

This must be the one from the “North Strand” alas I find the detail to be somewhat on the blurred side.

Limerick Museum: see original

I’m not mixing up my museums, I was exaggerating for effect. As I used to work in the Hunt Museum I’m perfectly aware of what it’s called and where it is.

Sort of tangental but…………… I would be very pleased if anyone could show or point me in the direction of old photos/prints of the County Gaol.. I’m researching a hanging there in mid 1800’s, so one with the gallows would be great!
Thanks,
K.

Thanks CM,
Much appreciated.
K.

@CologneMike wrote:

@KeepAnEyeOnBob wrote:

Some interesting photos here. I think I’ll have to put those Limerick historical photo books on my wishlist.

Indeed a lot of interesting stuff published over the years!

• University of Limerick A Celebration ~ Begley Hutton
• Dowd’s History Of Limerick ~ Cian O’Carroll
• Remembering Limerick ~ David Lee
• Georgian Limerick ~ David Lee / Bob Kelly
• Made in Limerick Volume 1 ~ David Lee / Debbie Jacobs
• James Pain Architect ~ David Lee / Debbie Jacobs
• Limerick 100 Stories of the Century ~ Denis O’Shaughnessy
• How’s your Father Stories of Limerick ~ Denis O’Shaughnessy
• Stories Of Limerick ~ Denis O’Shaughnessy
• Limerick Boycott 1904 ~ Dermot Keogh / Andrew McCarthy
• Father Browne’s Limerick ~ E.E. O’Donnell
• Last Word by the Listener ~ Seamus O’Cinneide / Eoin Devereux
• The Sieges and Treaty of Limerick ~ Frank Noonan
• The Hunt Museum ~ Helen Armitage
• The Pery Square Tontine ~ James McMahon
• From out of Limerick ~ Jeremiah Newman
• The Limerick Anthology ~ Jim Kemmy
• The Limerick Compendium ~ Jim Kemmy
• Limerick Journals ~ Jim Kemmy & Co.
• Limerick in old picture postcards ~ Jim Kemmy / Larry Walsh
• The Building of Limerick ~ Judith Hill
• Anatomy of a Siege 1642 ~ Kenneth Wiggins
• King John’s Castle ~ Kenneth Wiggins
• Limerick Historical Reflections ~ Kevin Hannan
• Limerick Soviet ~ Liam Cahill
• Through Irish Eyes ~ Malachy McCourt
• Angela’s Ashes ~ Frank McCourt
• The Government and the People of Limerick ~ Mathew Potter
• Remember Jim Kemmy ~ Paul O’Reilly
• St. John’s Cathedral Conservation Project ~ Rev. T. Mullins
• In the Shadow of the Spire ~ Rev. W. Fitzmaurice / Kevin Hannon
• Limerick a stroll down Memory Lane Volumes 1 – 7 ~ Sean Curtin
• Limerick Images of a changed city ~ Sean Reynolds / Tony Hartnett
• The History of Limerick City ~ Sean Spellissy
• Limerick In Old Photographs ~ Sean Spellissy
• Limerick The Rich Land ~ Sean Spellissy
• Shannon Airport ~ Valerie Sweeny
• Ireland’s Shannon Story ~ Brian Callanan
• The Shannon Scheme ~ Andy Bielenberg
• High Tension Life on the Shannon Scheme ~ Michael McCarthy
• Bunratty Castle & Historical Park
• Ferrars History Of Limerick

Here more interesting stuff of local interest. Most of it is new, some of it very old.

• Limerick Handbook of Local History ~ Coiste Oideachais Múinteoirí Luimnigh
• Made in Limerick Volume 2 ~ David Lee / Debbie Jacobs
• Images of Sarsfield Barracks; ~ Denis Carroll
• Kemmy’s Limerick Miscellany ~ Denis O’Shaughnessy
• The Cromwellian Settlement of the County of Limerick ~ James Grene Barry
• Limerick Journal Volumes 1 – 43 ~ Jim Kemmy & Co.
• The Diocese of Limerick Ancient and Medieval ~ Rev. John Begley C.C.
• The Diocese of Limerick 16th and 17th Centuries ~ John Canon Begley
• Limerick Street Antiquities ~ Limerick Civic Trust
• The First 25 Years 1983 – 2008 ~ Limerick Civic Trust
• The Limerick We Don’t See no.1-3 ~ Limerick Civic Trust
• Georgian Limerick Vol 2 ~ Limerick Civic Trust
• First Citizens Of The Treaty City ~ Matthew Potter
• Foynes Flying Boat Museum ~ Maureen O’Hara Blair
• History of Limerick ~ Maurice Lenihan
• The Castles of County Limerick ~ Michael J Carroll
• The Architectural Heritage of Limerick City ~ NIAH
• A Clune’s Lane Fisherman ~ Pat Doran
• The Shannon Navigation ~ Ruth Delany
• Limerick a stroll down Memory Lane Vol 8-9 ~ Sean Curtin
• The Abbey Fishermen ~ Sharon Clancy
• The 1654-56 Civil Survey of Limerick City and County ~ Simmington
• The Knights of Glin. Seven centuries of Change ~ Tom Donovan

Broad Street ~ Campbell’s Bow

Bang on Gunter! That seems to be our Campbell’s Bow on Broad Street. See posts 243 and 242.

Clohesys No.11 appears also in post 348 on the right handside alas the link to the Getty-Images is not automatically displaying.

If it is not displaying then copy and paste the image link into your browser.

The no. of the shop M O’Donovan (your image) on the right is confusing . . . . it seems to be no. 10 but it should be no. 12?

Portrait of a city (Limerick Leader)

A fascinating new publication featuring paintings, sketches and the earliest detailed maps of Limerick will shed light on the development of the city and the events that shaped it, writes Jennifer Moore

HAVE you ever wondered why the heart of Limerick city today is not centred on its historic foundations at St Mary’s Cathedral as a Viking port in the tenth century?

Or why the city held such strategic importance in the seventeenth-century turmoil when Limerick citizens endured three sieges?

Or what the city may have looked like if its walls and gates were not taken down in the mid-eighteenth century?

The answers to all these questions, and more, can be found in the Royal Irish Academy’s latest publication, ‘Irish Historic Towns Atlas, No. 21, Limerick’ by Eamon O’Flaherty.

The publication offers a fascinating insight into the city’s development over the centuries and the major events that shaped it.

The atlas comes in two main parts: large loose sheets of maps and views of Limerick and a text section containing an essay describing the urban development of the city from its Viking foundations to the start of the 20th century.

Several thematic maps project Viking and medieval Limerick onto a modern map, pinpointing sites such as the original Viking longport near Athlunkard, the Frank House of Knight’s Templar, or the long since disappeared, St Nicholas’s Church.

There is also an extensive gazetteer of topographical information that breaks down into 22 sections that range from population, to the street names, factories, areas of primary production, hospitals, entertainment and residences, for example.

To accompany the text, and help bring Limerick’s urban history to life, there are 27 historical and reconstructed maps and 12 views and photographs of Limerick depicting its growth, shape and importance as a trading post and one of military significance.

This work on Limerick is the fruit of many years of research by author and Limerick man, Dr Eamon O’Flaherty, a former Crescent student who now lectures in UCD.

The atlas traces the complicated histories of Limerick’s three distinct urban cores: the Viking and Anglo-Norman Englishtown located on King’s Island; the medieval Irishtown off the axis of Broad Street and John Street; and the Georgian Newtown Pery where today’s city is concentrated.

Limerick is exceptionally well endowed in terms of illustrations, maps, plans and accounts of the city. The three earliest maps are from about 1590, pre-dating Dublin’s earliest known map by 20 years.

Each map, varying in style, captures Elizabethan Limerick and shows individual houses, gardens, as well as the defences and religious houses. The originals are to be found in Hunt Museum, Trinity College Dublin and the National Archives in London, so it is fascinating to be able to compare each of these cartographic wonders side by side.

Common to each is the characteristic hourglass shape of Limerick city that continues through to the late eighteenth century. On closer examination of the beautifully crafted Hardiman map (TCD), a windmill and a hound may be seen chasing a bird in Irishtown; such details as these will entrance history lovers.

When compared to the later eighteenth-century maps and plans, the development of the three urban cores in the city is quite apparent.

Other sources, such as the Civil Survey, commissioned by the Cromwellian government and completed in 1654, supplies the basis for a detailed reconstructed map of mid-seventeenth century Limerick.

It provides the reader with a snap shot of the city that highlights the different types of houses and cabins, and also positions the mills, forges and tan houses of early modern Limerick.

Much of the information from the early religious churches of the city have been taken from the famous Black Book of Limerick. It records churches such as St John’s dating back to 1200. The later thirteenth-century Dominicans, Augustinians and Franciscans built their substantial religious houses on the west side of King’s Island.

King John’s Castle has always featured prominently on the urban landscape of Limerick and has had many functions through its near 800 year history, and was even granted to the citizens for ten years in 1427.

The castle, while domineering at times, proved to be expensive for the crown to maintain with many enhancements added to it over the centuries, as it had to withstand many assaults, sieges and undermining.

The walls of Limerick, dating to c. 1175, have been vitally important to the protection of its citizens over the centuries. They were constantly being rebuilt, extended and strengthened up to the late seventeenth century when the city was famously besieged in 1690 and 1691.

Limerick was one of the last fortresses in Ireland to have its walls removed in the 1760s. The city was expanding and needed more space for its growing population.

It was at this point when a new town, adjacent to the medieval one, was planned out by Edmond Sexton Pery, a prominent politician.

He inherited vast tracts around the city and commissioned Christopher Colles to plan a new town on his land that became known as Newtown Pery.

This sparked a flurry of building on the grid system to specifications akin to the Georgian developments in Dublin and London, and still characteristic to Limerick today.

Important buildings, such as the Custom House (now the Hunt Museum), the Matthew Bridge and the canal were built on his land. All of which improved communication and transport to Newtown Pery.

Added incentives for people to move from Englishtown and Irishtown were lower taxes, better amenities, modern housing, drainage and entertainment facilities. The Newtown was even governed by a separate body for nearly 40 years, and Limerick became the second fastest growing city in Ireland after Belfast until about 1830.

In no other town in Ireland can the divide between medieval lanes and winding streets and the grid system be seen so clearly. Colles’s extraordinary plan of the city is reproduced in colour in the atlas and shows Limerick at the dawn of its greatest change – shifting the heart of the city from King’s Island to Pery’s land.

In terms of the various factories in the city, Limerick proved to be a bustling trading post. From mills dating back to 1,200 the city had countless granaries, stores and warehouses earning it the epithet ‘The granary of North Munster’.

The nineteenth century saw a number of bacon curing factories dotted around the city including Matterson’s and Shaw’s. Limerick also had many markets around the city, the first documented in 1108.

The printing trade is well represented in the city, the earliest known printer was established by 1673. However, it did not become a popular trade to enter until the later eighteenth century when large numbers of printers established newspapers and printing houses, notably on the corner of Bridge Street and Mary Street where John Ferrar’s Limerick Chronicle was founded in 1768, the Republic’s longest running newspaper. Indeed the Leader’s Office is recorded on a detailed insurance map of the city from 1897.

Longstanding Limerick institutions such as Cruises Hotel, and Todds and Cannock’s department stores feature in the atlas. Their histories are traced as drapery stores in the early nineteenth century to their expansive department stores by 1900.

In the entertainment section of the gazetteer, we learn of the numerous theatres, club houses and dance halls that were the social focal point for Limerick people from the eighteenth century.

The sporting element of the city was also present in the nineteenth century with numerous gymnasiums, tennis and ball courts, bicycle, athletics, rowing and tennis clubs all forming in the second half of the nineteenth century.

For more on the project see http://www.ria.ie/projects/ihta, or contact Irish Historic Towns Atlas,
Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2.

Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no. 21, Limerick by Eamon O’Flaherty is available in shops from the 6th of February and retails at €35.

Jennifer Moore is an editorial assistant with the Irish Historic Towns Atlas and also a Limerick historian.

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