Limerick on the Shannon
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etRe 'Ph.IACeIJe AssOcUto[:'Jon 'OU",. "" ,","" Vol. II No. III Jan. - Feb. 1952 EIRE PlULATELIC ASSOCIATION Pub. Bi-Honthly. 0~ol .. ""7" Neil Stack, Editor LIMERICK ON THE SHANNON AERIAL VIEW O F LIMERICK M, Connell-i/-lor!ley After a long southward course through the Central Plain, the Shan non cuts through the hills that hem in Lough Derg, issues from the narrows as a tidal river, B.nd turns definitely westward to the sea.At the end of the tideway, 50 miles from the Atlantic, B long hump-back ed island divides the river. Inis Sivton the ancients called it; but since Norman days it is more commonly known as the King's Isla.nd. A UNVEIL HEADSTONE TO thousand years ago Danish raiders saw the IRISH KING WHO possibilities of the place as a base from ROUTED RICHARD II which to raid the rich plains to the south in the glen of St. Hullins, near and east, and when Ivar and Harold and pilgrims gathered in a their fellow Vikings drew their boats Icelmel;er'v' to see a headstone un- ore by the rapids at Curra.gower, the h.is- iled in honor of a King. tory of Limerick began. Art N'Hurrough Kavanagh, King of The raiders met little opposition at first for 1.Le~mrcer in the late fourteenth disaster had just overtaken the Eoghanacht dyna early fifteenth centuries, is sty that had lorded over these plains since the there. Twice he routed days of st. Patrick. Yet the sway of the island the Second, of Engl~~d, Vikings was destined to be brief. Up the river battle and Richard's fruitless valley towards Lough Derg, the sept of the Dal cost him his crmm, Cais was emerging from obscurity. For a ge:nelrat,io:nl his life and changed the valley folk >Tere hunted and harried by the dynasty in England to the Limerick raiders, but they were to be amply aveng Im'u~·", of Lancaster. ed. Following Drian, their boy hero, the clansmen The memorial stone was erected entered to burn and sack the town. For Brian,able subscriptions raised hy St. and ambitious, this l~as merely a beginning. He Im.u.Je.l.I.",,' exiles in the United came to unite Ireland under his septre and to of America. It is cut in Danish power at Clontarf in 1014. For ~ tone tdth an interlaced century his descendants were candidates for t~e -1- . (Cont'd. on Pg .2) *E.P.A. QFFICERS* THE LlMERICK STORY teenth century put an end to Limerick's isol~ 'PRESIDENT - Dr. Thomas F. Armstrong,Jr. ation. To the north, Henry made lasting terms with the Gaelic chiefs of Clare; to the south Elizabeth utterly broke the Desmonds. Father H David Wolf, a native of the city, who was Pa A pal Nuncio to Ireland in Elizabeth's reign, P describes in a report that Limerick's walls P were made of marble blocks and the houses for Y the ·most part were hewn of blocks of black marble, built like castles. N THE SIEGE OF LIMERICK E In August 1690, Limerick was besieged by W \.,illiam I s army, fresh from the victory of the Boyne. A breach Has made in the walls near y St. John's Hospital but \,illiam's troops were E thrown bacl' under the brilliant leadership of A Patrick Sarsfield, afterward Earl of Lucan. R "GALLOPING HOGAN" i~~~~~~ The outstanding achIevement in connection ~ ~~~~~~~~.-,.>ith the siege deserves special mention, and THE STORY OF LIMERICK added interest to the "Galloping Hogan' coun- (Cont. fran Pg.l) try around Ballyneety, "here Patrick Sa,~"f'i high kingship. About 1100, Muirceartac, the and 500 men led by the rapacious "Galloping successful of them, abandoned the open Hogan", successfully ambushed and captured camp at Kincora for the greater security of Williamls entire artillery train. The Irish island town. At the same time, Bishop Gilbert, filled the siege guns "ith powder, stuck the the Popels Legate for the work of Irish Church muzzles into the ground, and fired the train reform, made Limerick the See of his new dio- of explosives. It is recorded that "the earth cese. St. Maryls Cathedral proba':Jly owes its rocked" and the sound of the explosion was foundation to the cooperation of the King and heard in Limerick, some seven miles away. Bishop. MODERN LIMERICK Donal Hor, one of Brian's race, ruled his In 1760, Limerick ceased to be a fortified kingdom of Thormond from Limerick "hen the garrison, and the demolition of the walls came. He held the city until his death, ceeded so merrily that they have left few his successor came to terms with the nel~- traces except in the vicinity of the 1690 br comers and retired behind the Shannon to the each near St. John's Hos pital. land of Clare. There the O'Briens ruled as The modern city is divided into three dis- kings until they agreed to accept English ti- tricts by the Shannon and its arm, the Abbey tIes in Tudor days. South of the city the Nor- River. The English to,rn is built on King's knights found an easy prey in the Wide Island; the Irisht010TJl and Newtown (Newtown plain Hhich the wars of Donal Hor had cleared on the southern bank, and Thomondgate and its native chieftains. In betl~een, the Lansdowne on the Clare side of the river. King's 1ialled town of Limerick led its bridges connect the districts. hostile to "Irish Enemy" and "English NEWTOWN Rebel" alike. A gro'.lp of merchant families He>r Limerick has wide streets crossing at sided over the affairs of the trading ri!,:ht anbles, many hotels and great business pr,of'3s~lirlg loyalty to a far away Crown as houses • The great artery of Neu Limerick is guarantee against turbulent neighbors. O'Connell Street, a well paved street with KING .WUN'S CASTLE Irish thoroughfares surpassing it. Like all the city end of the bridge that led to long streets it runs parallel to the river. stood the castle which King John had The eastern part is the shopping center and in the early days of the settlement. On across Bathew Bridge is English town. towers sentries \~ere kept "to watch toward The \~est end is mostly residential, stretch ITllOI'lnCmdl ". The "aIled town of John stood en- ing to the Crescent, where the bronze '''".r" ... v within King's Island, but in time an figure of O'Connell gazes benignly from a trading settlement grew beyond the Abbey granite pedestal. The statue and street na~e to t he south. Soon Ball's Bridge ~las are the town's tribute to the genial Libera to join the to,rns, and in the course of INDUSTRIES fifteenth century the Irishtown too was Bacon curing is the City's greatest in. al asset and is known the world over. Next in LIMERICK'S ISOLATION ENDS order are: flour milling, the manufacture of The growing pouer of the Crown in the six- shoes, condensed milk,tobacco, steel and lace IT ISN'T TOO EARLY TO THIl~ ABOUT AN IRISH VACATION PLAN !lCW FOR SPRING, SlJ}l!oIER OR FALL TAKE ADVANTAGE ,OF WiN COST AIR FARES TO IRELAND '- ~ FOR INFORMATION-WRITE IRISH TOURIST BUREAU St.-NEW YORK 22 N.Y. Dublin- "hich llere John 8. o..le8. ~.q • • occupied by British ," orces up to 1938 and >lere po.te Reat&nte, CROYDON. handed back after the Taoiseach Nr. de' Surre7. had concluded an agreement with Hr.Ne Chamberlain, then British Prime been renamed after three prominent m~mEr s l ,!a~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~;;~~~~~~~i~;~tlle Young toIrelan take d overMovement. the forts Mr. >lhende Valera the , a 1~~~~~~~Le~v~a~cuated them. carrying Colonel Charles Russell(Former ~ has been renamed Dun an of the Irish Free State Air Force) and Flight (Nitchel's Fort) after John Nit- Officer J. Summers, test pilot for Vickers >lho >las deported to Tasmania in 1845. Aviation,Ltd., builders of the plane, left Fort Carlisle will be known as Dun an Galway, Ireland for London on the first Ex- (Davis' Fort) after Thomas Davis, the perimental Air Hail Flight between the two lr".camCl ,triter-soldier. cities. The flight departed from Galway at The third fort, Fort Camden. becones Dun Ui 7 :30 A.H. and arrived at Croyden Aerodrome, (Heagher's Fort) after Thomas Francis near London at 11:35 A.H., having called at "Neagher of the Sword", another Young Baldonnel and Sealand, near LiverPool. Ir'91,mdler, <1ho was sentenced to deportation to There was no official flight prior to the Tasmania. experimental flight of Aug. 26,1929. Letters Fort Templebreedy, a fourth fort in Cork Har- for transmission by the Experimental Air Hail "ill be known by its Irish name Dun Tean- ,Iere received at the GalHay Post Office for Bride, (Brigid's Church Fort) after the some days prior to the flight and it may be IL'U,~U~U Church erected in honor'of the sixth that some of the letters ,rere date stamped in ,Irish saint. This church is 1n the error at Galway prior to August 26, 1929. It is of interest to note that the cover in possession, and shown above, is dated two Hith the national folk music days prior to this flight, August 24, 1929. has had its premiere in Dublin. A plausible explanation for the date is the was written in conjunction with Nr. Seamus possibility that it ·"as originally expected of the Irish Folklore Commis s ion, by Hr.