Sarsfield Street is a street in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The street commences at Sarsfield Bridge (which crosses the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( or archaic ') is the major river on the island of Ireland, and at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of I ...

) and continues in a south east direction forming a crossroads junction with Liddy Street (to the north) and Henry Street (to the south). The street continues towards its junction with

O'Connell Street O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, running north from the River Liffey. It connects the O'Connell Bridge to the south with Parnell Street to the north and is roughly split into two sections bisected by Henry ...

where it ends. Sarsfield Street along with William Street forms an overall thoroughfare that bisects Limerick City Centre from west to east.

in turn bisects the city centre from north to south. The street prior to the construction of the Limerick Southern Ring Road and the Shannon Bridge was the start of the main N18 road between Limerick (and the south & south east) and

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. The street was originally known as Brunswick Street until the early 20th century. It was renamed after

Patrick Sarsfield Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan ( 1655 – 21 August 1693) was an Irish army officer. Killed at Battle of Landen, Landen in 1693 while serving in the French Royal Army, he is now best remembered as an Irish patriot and military hero. Born ...

the first Earl of Lucan and who was the Irish Jacobite leader in the

Siege of Limerick (1690) Limerick, a city in western Ireland, was besieged twice in the Williamite War in Ireland in 1689–1691. On the first occasion, in August to September 1690, its Jacobite defenders retreated to the city after their defeat at the Battle of th ...

. Sarsfield arranged the subsequent

Treaty of Limerick The Treaty of Limerick (), signed on 3 October 1691, ended the Williamite War in Ireland, a conflict related to the Nine Years' War (1688–1697). It consisted of two separate agreements, one with military terms of surrender, signed by commander ...

. In the early 21st century, Sarsfield Street saw a number of shop closures.

Dunnes Stores Dunnes Stores is an Irish multinational retail chain that primarily sells food, clothes and household wares. It was founded by Ben Dunne (businessman, born 1908), Ben Dunne in 1944. In addition to its main customer base in Ireland, the chain al ...

, which had a large shopping complex on the street, closed in 2008 and moved to nearby Henry Street.

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain that operated in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark, as well as franchised locations across Europe and the Asia Pacific. The company was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and gr ...

(formerly

Roches Stores Roches Stores was a national chain of department stores in Ireland, that was owned by the Roche family. Roches Stores was founded in Cork in 1901 by William Roche, the son of a farmer from north County Cork, who had worked in Cash's in Cork ci ...

) closed in 2020 due to the company entering liquidation and closing all of its Irish stores. As of 2024, the street has seen a boost of mixed retail, hospitality and planned accommodation. In May 2019, the

University of Limerick University of Limerick (UL) () is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972, as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in Septemb ...

purchased the former

building on the street from the retail company for €8 million. In 2021, the university redeveloped the building to house its new 'FabLab' and city centre campus, followed by a further facelift in 2022. In 2023, Limerick City and County Council granted planning permission to UL to rezone the former Dunnes Stores building from retail to educational use.

References

{{Limerick Shopping districts and streets in Ireland Streets in Limerick (city)