Limerick Civic Trust

The Georgian quarter in Limerick is often overlooked, as visitors gravitate towards the old medieval quarters of Englishstown and Irishtown to see King John’s Castle, St. Mary’s Cathedral and the walls of Limerick. However, our Georgian quarter has its own stories to tell. For example: the Crescent.

Nowadays the Crescent is the site of the O’Connell Monument but it was often a site of controversy. In 1855, the city’s unionist community wanted a memorial in the Crescent to commemorate John Charles Henry, Viscount FitzGibbon of Mount Shannon, Castleconnell. FitzGibbon had been killed on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War while partaking in the Charge of the Light Brigade. This met with objections from many nationalists in the city including Maurice Lenihan and a counter-campaign was launched to raise funds for a memorial to Daniel O’Connell. In October 1855 the Town Council then passed a resolution allowing construction of the O’Connell monument to go ahead. Fitzgibbon’s memorial was eventually placed on Wellesley (now Sarsfield) bridge.

Designed in 1856 by the sculptor John Hogan, the O’Connell Monument is made of bronze and was unveiled in 1857. The total cost was £1,300. O’Connell holds the Act of Catholic Emancipation in his hand and wears nineteenth-century clothing but also sports a toga in reference to the Classical world of Ancient Rome and Greece.

For many years, the Crescent remained a zone for political controversy. It has been a meeting place for political rallies and election meetings. In 1897 nationalists draped ‘The Monument’ in black flags as a statement against Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. During the First World War it was the site of recruitment drives by the British Army. Crowds gathered there in the 1920s to support striking workers from the Ardnacrusha power station. In the 1930s it was the scene of riots between republicans and Blueshirts.

Who would have thought that an ordinary street corner could be such a political hotspot?

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Bourke House and the Franciscan “Castle Friary”
While today only a single stone wall remains on the corner of Nicholas Street and Athlunkard Street on King’s Island, Bourke House has a much deeper and more dramatic history than its ruined state suggests.

Local tradition claims the building (or an earlier structure on the site) dates back to 1168, built by Domhnall Mór O’Brien, the King of Thomond. According to lore, after he donated his palace for the construction of St. Mary’s Cathedral, he built this fortified house nearby. While historians debate the exact date (the surviving structure is more likely 16th century), the story ties it deeply into Limerick’s ancient Gaelic roots.

The house gets its name from John Bourke, a wealthy Catholic merchant and alderman who owned it in the mid-17th century. William Bourke, described as an “Irish Papist” in the 1654 Cromwellian Civil Survey owned the house in the 1650s. But its most fascinating chapter came during the time of the Penal Laws in the 18th century. Between roughly 1730 and 1780, Bourke House operated as a Franciscan friary — which is why it was also known as Castle Friary.
In 1824 most of the house was then demolished during the construction of Athlunkard Street and only the wall we pass by each day now remains. The drinking fountain which can be seen at the base of the wall was inserted by the Malcolmson family as a gift to the city in the 1860s. Limerick Civic Trust carried out preservation work on the façade in 1989.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make the event such a great success.

A special thank you to for her insightful contribution, and to all our attendees whose enthusiasm and engagement made the day so memorable.

Before & after with