LIMERICK, a western county of the Irish Free State, prov ince of Munster, bounded north by the Shannon estuary and the counties of Clare and Tipperary, east by Tipperary, south by Cork and west by Kerry. The area is 680,842 acres, or about 1,064 sq.m. Pop. (1926) 100,244.
This is mainly a Carboniferous Limestone county, with fairly level land, broken by ridges of Old Red Sandstone. On the north east, the latter rock rises on Slievefelim, round a Silurian core, to 1,523 ft. In the south, Oid Red Sandstone rises above an enclosed area of Silurian shales at Ballylanders, the opposite scarp of Old Red Sandstone forming the Ballyhoura Hills on the Cork border. The Galtee mountains, which extend into Tipperary, attain in Galtymore a height of 3,015 ft. Volcanic ashes, andesites, basalts and intrusive sheets of basic rocks are well seen under Carrigo gunnell Castle, and in a ring of hills round Ballybrood. The coals in the west are not of commercial value. Lead-ore has been worked in places in the limestone.
The Shannon is navigable for large vessels to Limerick, above which are the rapids of Doonas and Castleroy, and a canal. Castleconnell is a fishing centre. The Maigne, which rises in the Galtees and flows into the Shannon, is navigable as far as the town of Adare.
Limerick was included in the kingdom of Thomond. After wards it had a separate existence under the name of Aine-Cliach. From the 8th to the nth century it was partly occupied by the Danes. (See LIMERICK, City.) Limerick is one of the twelve counties generally considered to owe their formation to King John. About 100,000 acres of the estates of the earl of Desmond, which were forfeited in 1586, were situated in the county, and other extensive confiscations took place after the Cromwellian wars. In 1709 a German colony from the Palatinate was settled by Lord Southwell near Bruff, Rathkeale and Adare.
There are remains of round towers at Ardpatrick and at Dysert ; another at Kilmallock is largely a reconstruction. There are remains of stone circles, pillar stones and altars at Loch Gur. In several places there are remains of old moats and tumuli. Besides the monasteries in the city of Limerick, the most important monastic ruins are those of Adare abbey, Askeaton abbey, Galbally friary, Kilflin monastery, Kilmallock and Monaster-Nenagh abbey.
Limerick includes the greater part of the Golden Vale, the most fertile district of Ireland, which stretches from Cashel in Tipper ary nearly to the town of Limerick. Along the banks of the Shannon there are fertile tracts of meadow land formed of de posits of calcareous and peaty matter. The soil in the moun tainous districts is mostly thin and poor, and incapable of im provement. The large farms are almost wholly devoted to grazing. All the crops (of which oats and potatoes are the principal) show a decrease, but there is a growing acreage of meadow land. Cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and poultry are all extensively reared. Coarse woollens are manufactured, and also paper, and there are many meal and flour mills. The flax-spinning and weaving industry is now practically extinct. Limerick is the headquarters of an im portant salmon-fishery on the Shannon. The Great Southern main line crosses the south-eastern corner of the county, with two branches to the city of Limerick from Limerick Junction and from Charleville, and lines from Limerick south-westward to Tralee in county Kerry, and to Foynes on the Shannon estuary. The administrative county of Limerick and the county borough of Limerick together return 7 members to Dail Eireann.