Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 2.djvu/605

Rh LIMERICK. 597 LIMERICK. cultural, and largo quantities of produce are exported. Pasture and dairy fanning are most cultivated, tillage being still in a backward condition, notwithstanding the extraordinary capabilities of the soil. It is said that in some seasons the heat of the summer's sun is scarcely powerful enough to ripen the heavy crops of grain, but in general the climate is remarkably good, and the weather less variable than in any other county oi Ireland an effect which has been much promoted by the drainage and cultivation of the bogs. The absence of hedgerows and timber trees, except in the immediate vicinity of gentlemen's seats, gives the country a very denuded appearance, notwithstanding its great fertility. The tillage, except on large farms, which are mostly in the hands of gentlemen, is generally conducted in a slovenly manner, and even the wealthier landholders are not exempt from the charge of negligence ; but much good appears to have been recently wrought in this part of the country by the operations of the Encum- bered Estates Act, which has transferred whole pro- perties from the hands of absentee landlords to indus- trious and enterprising capitalists. The estates are in general large. In some parts the land is much divided, and wretchedly exhausted by the impoverishing system of sub-letting. The condition of the larger farmers is generally good, and the cottages of the peasantry neat and well-kept. The chief crops are oats, wheat, barley, rye, potatoes, turnips, clover, peas, mangold-wurzel, carrots, &c. The only manufactures aro friezes, coarse woollens, paper, gloves, lace, flour, and meal. The net annual value of property in the county, under the Tene- ment Valuation Act, is 519,162. The population has for the last quarter of a century been on the decrease in 1851 it was 262,136, and in 1861, 217,277. For civil purposes the county is divided into 13 baronies. Clan- william, Conuello Lower and Upper, Coonagh, Coshlea, Coshma, Glenquin, Kenry, Kilmallock Liberties, North Liberty, Owneybeg, Pubblebrien, Shanid, and Small County, and contains 131 parishes and parts of parishes. The baronies of Glenquin, North Liberty, and Shanid have been recently constituted ; and that part of the county of the city without the new municipal boundary has been apportioned between Clanwilliam and Pubblebrien baronies, with the ex- ception of the portion N. of the Shannon, which has been made a distinct barony. The principal towns are Limerick city, the county and assize town, Rathkeale, Newcastle, and Askeaton, besides the market towns of Bruff, Kilfmane, Ballingarry, Glin, and Pallaskenry. The county returns four members to parliament two for the county at large, constituency in 1859, 6,481 ; and two for Limerick city, constituency 2,013. It is in the Munster circuit, and in the Cork military district. It is governed by a lieutenant, vice-lieutenant, 18 deputy- lieutenants, custos, sheriff, and about 125 magistrates. For ecclesiastical purposes it constitutes the dioceses of Limerick and Emly, with parts of Cashel and Killaloe, all within the province of Dublin. In 1850 there were 103 National schools, attended by 16,975 children. The county is traversed by about 20 miles of the Great Southern and Western railway of Ireland, which enters from Tippcrary by Oolla and Pallasgrean to Limerick. The roads are numerous and remarkably good, the prin- cipal lines radiating from Limerick to Dublin, through Annacott and Nenagh ; to Galway, through Bunratty ; to Traleo, through Adare and Rathkeale ; to Mallow and Cork, through Bruff and Kilmallock ; to Tipperary and Cashel, through Pallasgrcan and Oolla ; and to Pallaskenry, down the Shannon. The principal seats are Newcastle, of the Duke of Devonshire ; Shannon Grove, of the Earl of Charleville ; Mount Shannon, of the Earl of Clare ; Adare Castle, of the Earl of Dun- ii ; Eoxborough, of Viscount Gort ; Donerailo House, of Viscount Doneraile; Rockbarton, of Viscount Gillamore ; The Castle, of Lord Courtenay ; The Her- mitage, of Lord Massey ; Mount Trenchard, of Lord M nteagle ; Elm Park, of Lord Clarina ; Springfield, of Lord Muskerry ; Carrah, of Do Vere, Bart. ; Carass, of Boche, Bart. ; Knocknacreo, of Waller, Bart. ; besides VOL. II. numerous mansions belonging to private gentry. There aro numerous remains of antiquity in the county, in- cluding Druidic circles, cromlechs, &c., around Loch Gur, at Croom, Carrickgalla, the Grange, Knockfennel, &c. ; round towers with ruins of churches at Ardpatrick, Croom, and Kilmallock ; of abbeys and churches at Abbey feale, Adare, Askeaton, Ballingarry, Cahirconlish, Kilmallock, Kilshane, Manister-Nenagh, Mungret, and Rochestowu ; also of Danish ruths and baronial castles, of which there were above 100 in this county. LIMERICK, a maritime county of a city, municipal and parliamentary borough, seaport, and county town of co. Limerick, between which and co. Clare it is situated, in the prov. of Munster, Ireland, 51 miles N. of Cork, and 119i W.S.W. of Dublin by road, or 129 by the Great Southern and Western railway, on which it is a station. " It is also the terminus of the Waterford and Limerick railway. This ancient and important city is supposed by some antiquaries to have been the Seyia mentioned by Ptolemy, and the Rosse-de-Nuilleagh of the Annals of Multifernan, and is subsequently described under the name of Lumneach, whence its English desig- nation is supposed to have been derived. The first authentic notices of Limerick represent it as a Danish settlement, and one of their principal maritime stations. In the middle of the 9th century the Danes surrounded it with walls and towers, which enclosed the area now occupied by the English town. For nearly a century their power continued to increase, till Brien Boroimhe, King of Munster and Thomond, subjected it to a tribute of 365 tons of wine of 32 gallons each, to bo paid annually. In 1106 Murtogh removed to here the seat of royalty, and Limerick continued to be the residence of the kings of Thomond, or North Munster, until its conquest by the English in the reign of Henry II., who placed a garrison here. After Henry's departure Donald O'Brien, King of Thomond, regained possession of it ; but in 1175 it was retaken by Raymond le Gros, who obtained a great booty and secured it by a garrison. Upon the death of Earl Strongbow it was again eva- cuated by the English, and subsequently burned by order of Donald, who declared that it should no longer be a nest for foreigners. In 1179 it was granted, with the kingdom of Limerick, to Herbert Fitz-Herbert ; but he failed, as did likewise Philip de Braosa, to secure the conquest. In tho reign of John it received its first charter of incorporation, and was committed to the custody of William de Burgo, who formed a settlement which from that period set at defiance all the efforts of the Irish. A strong castle and bridge wore erected, and and by tho continued wars in tho surrounding country, especially among the O'Briens, De Burghs, De Clares, and Fitzgeralds, its progress in commercial prosperity appears to have been greatly checked. In 1316 Edward Bruce terminated his career of conquest southward at this place, and kept his court here until the following Easter. During tho 15th century the fortifications, which previously had enclosed only tho English town, were so extended as to include the portion on tho S. bank of the Shannon, called tho Irish Town, which was completed by the erection of St. John's Gate, in 1495. In 1467 a mint was established here, and in 1495 tho brotherhood of the guild of merchants was instituted. Parliaments were held here by Gerald, Earl of Kildare, in 1484, and by Sir Anthony St. Legor in 1543 in which latter divers important Acts were passed. During state of political commotion, sometimes in open revolt against the English sovereignty, and at others dis- tracted by local feuds resulting from the commercial ealousies between Limerick and Galway, which not unfrequently resulted in open hostilities. The steady adherence of Limerick, however, to the royal cause in ,he reign of Elizabeth greatly facilitated its progress, so and substantially built, with walls extending round a 4o
 * he whole of tho Tudor period tho country was in a
 * hat a contemporary writer describes it as a place well