Irishtown () is an area of central

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The area along with Englishtown and Newtown Pery forms Limerick City Centre. Broad Street, John Street and Mungret Street are the main streets in the district. St. John's Square, a prized early

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

development is located here as is St. John's Cathedral and the Milk Market which is located off Mungret Street. Irishtown is one of the oldest districts in Limerick dating from the Middle Ages. The district evolved on the southern banks of the Abbey River as the City of Limerick, located on the southern part of King's Island as an island city from the time of its foundation, grew beyond its boundaries. The Irishtown area was populated mainly by native Irish in contrast to the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

settlement on King's Island. The 2 areas of Limerick had their distinct characteristics and customs and were connected by one bridge; Baal's Bridge over the Abbey River. The citadel is located in Irishtown and today is located in the grounds of St. John's Hospital. It was here during the Siege of Limerick (1690) that 4.000 of William of Orange's troops were blown to bits during the massed assault on the Black Battery on the Walls of Limerick at Irishtown. Today, very little of the historical urban fabric remains in Irishtown despite being one of the oldest areas of Limerick and located close to the present day city centre. Following the construction of Newtown Pery the houses were converted into tenements and rented to the city's poorest residents. The houses were very poorly maintained and for a time the peoples lived in

slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...

conditions particularly in the laneways off the main streets. The slums were cleared in the mid 20th Century and the Irishtown area literally crumbled with (in some cases) only the outline of the streets remaining such was the dereliction of the area at the time. The area was rebuilt in the early 1990s.

References

{{Limerick Limerick (city)

See also

References