LIMERICK, a county borough, port and the chief town of Co. Limerick, Ireland, occupying both banks and an island (King's Island) of the river Shannon, at the head of its estuary, 129 m. W.S.W. of Dublin by rail. Pop. (1926) 39,69o.
Limerick is said to have been the Regia of Ptolemy and the Rosse-de-Nailleagh of the Annals of Multifernan. It is first authentically known as a settlement of the Danes, who sacked it in 812 and afterwards made it the principal town of their king dom of Limerick, but were expelled from it towards the close of the loth century by Brian Boroimhe. From 1106 till its con quest by the English in 1174 it was the seat of the kings of Thomond or North Munster. Richard I. granted it a charter in 1197. By King John it was entrusted to William de Burgo, who founded English Town, and erected a strong castle. The city was frequently besieged in the 13th and 14th centuries. In the 15th century its fortifications were extended to include Irish Town. In 1651 it was taken by Ireton. The dismantling of its fortifications began in 1760, but fragments of the old walls re main.
In 1609 it received a charter constituting it a county of a city, and also incorporating a society of merchants of the staple, with the same privileges as the merchants of the staple of Dublin and Waterford. The powers of the corporation were remodelled by the Limerick Regulation Act of 1823. The prosperity of the city dates chiefly from the foundation of Newtown Pery in 1769 by Edmund Sexton Pery (d. 1806), speaker of the Irish House of Commons. Under the Local Government Act of 1898 Limerick became one of the six county boroughs having a separate county council. The city is divided into English Town (on King's Island), Irish Town and Newtown Pery, the first including the ancient nucleus of the city, and the last the principal modern streets. The
main stream of the Shannon is crossed by Thomond Bridge and Sarsfield or Wellesley Bridge. The first is commanded by King John's Castle, on King's Island, a Norman fortress fronting the river. At the west end of the bridge is preserved the Treaty Stone, on which the Treaty of Limerick was signed in 1691. The cathe dral of St. Mary, also on King's Island, was originally built in 1142-1180, and exhibits some Early English work. The modern Roman Catholic cathedral of St. John is in early pointed style. The churches of St. Munchin (to whom is attributed the founda tion of the see in the 6th century) and St. John, Whitamore's Castle and a Dominican priory, are of interest.
Communication with the Atlantic is open and secure, while inland navigation is facilitated by a canal avoiding the rapids above the city. Quays extend for about 1,60o yd. on each side of the river, and vessels of 600 tons can moor alongside at spring tides. There is a graving dock with a length of 428 ft., a breadth of 46 ft. and a depth of 17 ft. The wet dock has a length of 83o ft., a breadth of 465 ft. and a depth of 20 ft. The principal im ports are grain, sugar, timber and coal. The exports consist mainly of fish and agricultural produce. The principal industrial estab lishments include flour-mills (Limerick supplying most of the west of Ireland with flour), factories for bacon-curing and for con densed milk and creameries. Some brewing, distilling and tanning are carried on, and the manufacture of lace is maintained at the Convent of the Good Shepherd ; but a formerly important textile industry has lapsed. The salmon fisheries of the Shannon, for which Limerick is the headquarters of a district, are the most valuable in Ireland.