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County Limerick

Check out what's happening in Limerick City

St John's Castle in Limerick city and Adare Manor on the way to Kerry

Dubbed "stab city" by an unloved local judge and then immortalised as a place of child mortality by Frank McCourt in his memoirs Angela's Ashes, poor Limerick gets a bad press.

But Limerick people are resilient and humorous – the modern-day naysayers are a mere trifle to a city that has been under siege three times in the last 400 years, with battles inspiring the creation of everything from the Walls of Limerick dance to the noun describing a humourous five-line verse, the Limerick.

This county also counts behemoths of history among its forefathers – it was the seat of Brian Boru, the king of Thomond - the ancient land of counties Clare and Limerick.

And in modern times it is just as creative - The Cranberries, The Frames and media stalwarts Terry Wogan and Eamon Dunphy, the author Edna O'Brien, and the late actor Richard Harris all come from Limerick.

Not to mention one of Europe’s greatest rugby teams, Munster, who are based in the city’s Thomond Park and the Garryowen rugby club, after which the high rugby kick is named.

The city, on the banks of the rivers Shannon and Abbey, dates from a 9th century Viking settlement, but was developed by the Normans in the 12th century who were responsible for some of the city’s most notable architecture such as King John's Castle and St Mary's Cathedral, one of the oldest in Ireland at 800 years.

The city was a fortress of the region - the first wall was built around the medieval city that became known as English Town or King’s Island. The native Irish were moved across the Abbey river to Irishtown where the wall was extended in the 14th century.

It became a battleground in the 1650s when the invasion of Cromwell and his New Model Army led to the first siege of the city.

The walls protected it for 12 months and helped the fight against two more sieges – the first in 1690 when supporters of William of Orange who headed to Limerick, which was under the command of Patrick Sarsfield, after defeating King James II in the Battle of the Boyne.