Work and Industry

Colour Print

Image · 11 July 2026

This variation of a colour print depicts Adare Manor beside the River Maigue in Adare, County Limerick. The imposing Gothic Revival residence is shown within landscaped grounds, reflected in the calm water and framed by mature trees. Often described as a calendar house, the manor is associated with 365 windows and 52 chimneys, representing the days and weeks of the year. Published in Francis Orpen Morris’s A Series of Picturesque Views of Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, the image celebrates the architecture, setting, and aristocratic character of one of County Limerick’s most recognisable historic…

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Pery Square

Image · 10 July 2026

Around 1900, Pery Square presented one of Limerick’s most elegant urban settings, facing the newly opened People’s Park and framed by distinctive Georgian terraces. The celebrated Tontine Buildings, built between 1835 and 1838 as a speculative venture, gave the square a story as unusual as its architecture. Their shares, tied to named lives in the so-called Life and Death Lottery, were still gaining value as horse-drawn traffic, pedestrians, gas lamps, and civic buildings animated the street. The tontine was finally won in 1913 by Sophia Vanderkiste, closing a remarkable chapter in Limerick’s local social and architectural history.

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Street Limerick

Image · 15 July 2026

In 1900, George Street, now O’Connell Street, formed the commercial heart of Edwardian Limerick. Its broad thoroughfare was lined with elegant Georgian buildings, busy shops, hotels and offices, while horse-drawn carts, carriages and pedestrians filled the roadway. Street traders added colour and activity to the city’s principal avenue. Among its notable establishments were the Cruises Royal Hotel, MacMahon’s Temperance Hotel and respected merchants such as O’Mahony & Company. The street reflected Limerick’s growing prosperity at the opening of the twentieth century, combining refined architecture with energetic daily commerce and serving as a central meeting place for residents, visitors and travellers…

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Frank McCourt

Image · 3 August 2026

Frank McCourt was born in New York in 1930 but grew up amid severe poverty in Limerick, whose streets and hardships shaped his writing. After returning to America, he served in the United States Army and became a teacher in New York. His memoir Angela’s Ashes transformed memories of childhood hardship into an internationally successful narrative, winning the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle prize. He continued his life story in ’Tis and Teacher Man, describing emigration, education and classroom experiences. McCourt’s vivid storytelling brought worldwide attention to twentieth-century Limerick while provoking discussion about memory, poverty, family and representation.

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Monument Gathering

Image · 16 July 2026

This reconstructed image depicts the Treaty Stone in Limerick as it may have appeared around 1880, standing on its substantial stepped pedestal as a powerful emblem of the city’s past. Groups of townspeople, including men, women and children in period clothing, gather around the monument in a lively public setting. In the background, traditional buildings, stone walls and the nearby tower reinforce the historic atmosphere of the riverside area. Long associated with the Treaty of Limerick of 1691, the stone remained an important civic landmark, meeting place and symbol of memory, identity and local heritage in nineteenth-century Limerick.

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Treaty Childhood

Image · 3 August 2026

During the 1940s, children gathered around the Treaty Stone, transforming one of Limerick’s most historic landmarks into an informal playground. Perched above the River Shannon near Thomond Bridge, the stone was already deeply associated with the signing of the Treaty of Limerick in 1691. For local youngsters, however, it was also part of their everyday neighbourhood, a familiar place for games, conversation and adventure. Their presence captures a gentler side of city life during a difficult decade, showing how history and childhood naturally shared the same streets. The scene preserves a lively memory of community life beside the Shannon waterfront.

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Monasteranenagh Abbey

Image · 16 July 2026

Founded in 1148 by Toirdelbhach mac Diarmaida Ua Briain, Monasteranenagh Abbey became one of County Limerick’s most important Cistercian foundations. This reconstruction imagines the monastery during its earliest years, with newly completed stone buildings, steep roofs, narrow lancet windows, timber doors, and monks moving quietly through the surrounding grounds. The austere architecture reflects the Cistercian ideals of simplicity, discipline, prayer, and communal labour. Supported by the O’Brien dynasty, the abbey later expanded under Domnall Mór Ua Briain. Though centuries of conflict and collapse reduced it to ruins, its surviving walls remain a powerful monument to medieval Irish faith and craftsmanship.

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Storm Jpeg

Image · 3 August 2026

Gerald Griffin, born in Limerick in 1803, became one of Ireland’s most admired nineteenth-century novelists, poets and dramatists. Raised in a prosperous brewing family, he later moved to London, where he pursued journalism and literature. His best-known novel, The Collegians, drew upon the notorious murder of Ellen Hanley, remembered as the Colleen Bawn. In 1838, Griffin abandoned literary life, destroyed many unpublished manuscripts and joined the Christian Brothers in Cork. He died of typhus in 1840, aged thirty-six. Limerick proudly continues to honour him through prominent street names, schools, literary awards and the Gerald Griffins GAA club in west Limerick.

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Vanished Junction

Image · 5 August 2026

This 1975 view captures the junction of Lower Henry Street and Sarsfield Street before the creation of Liddy Street transformed the surrounding cityscape. The photograph preserves a moment when traffic, shopfronts and older buildings still defined this busy corner of central Limerick. Lower Henry Street connected the commercial heart of the city with the Shannon quays, while Sarsfield Street formed an important route towards Sarsfield Bridge. The later development of Liddy Street altered movement through the area and removed part of the earlier streetscape. Today, the image offers a valuable record of a vanished junction and changing daily urban life.

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Suits Jpeg

Image · 3 August 2026

Tom O’Donnell and Paschal O’Grady, Limerick’s celebrated comedy duo, are pictured visiting Westport House in October 1967. Known simply as Tom and Paschal, they entertained Irish audiences nationwide for nearly five decades with sharp humour, memorable characters and remarkable stage chemistry. In 1961, they became the first comedy act to appear on Telefís Éireann’s opening-night broadcast. Their popular “Cashy and Noni” routines and annual Christmas Crackers revues made them beloved local favourites. Beyond entertainment, they toured towns and villages raising funds for schools, GAA clubs and churches, leaving an enduring legacy of laughter, generosity and affection throughout Limerick and beyond.

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