Harbour & City Limerick Engraved for Fit, Gerald & & W. Gregors History of Simerick Published by Gee McKern. Limerick. THE HISTORY, TOPOGRAPHY, AND ANTIQUITIES, OF THE COUNTY AND CITY OF LIMERICK; WITH A PRELIMINARY VIEW OF THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES BY THE REV. P. FITZGERALD, VICAR OF CAHIRCORNEY, IN THE DIOCESE OF EMLY, PRINTED FOR GEORGE M‘KERN, LIMERICK. SOLD BY M. KEENE, C. P. ARCHER, R. MILIKEN, M. N. MAHON, ALSO BY BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY, PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON. 1827. PREFACE. THE utility of Local History and Topography, in a national point of view, is now so universally acknowledged, as to render argument on the subject nearly superfluous. As all generals are composed of particulars, so the real state of a nation can only be collected from the circumstances of its divisions and subdivisions faithfully and accurately delineated. The wants and the resources of a people are thus fully displayed, and the task of the Statesman and Political Economist, whose duty it is to endeavour to supply the former by making the latter available, is considerably facilitated. In the sister island, not only every county and city, but almost every village and hamlet has its history, and the benefit of such publications has been extensively felt; they have contributed not a little to the prosperity of that highly favoured country. This means of advancing the best interests of a nation, has been hitherto scarcely tried in Ireland. Not more than four Local Histories have been published within the last forty years. The traveller, biassed by foreign prejudices has pretended, by a rapid glance as he passed along, to discover all our blessings, our wants, and our vices-the collector of tales and legends has sought to amuse his readers with exaggerated details of the follies and eccentricities of Irishmen, or to disgust them by recitals of their ignorance and superstition; while, with the few exceptions we have stated, no sober pen has been employed to make the world acquainted with the real state of things in any county, city, or town of Ireland. The claims of a History of Limerick on public attention, are of no ordinary kind. The whole Empire has been more than once deeply interested in transactions in which Limerick filled the principal station. Limerick has been intimately associated with the Annals of our Island from the days of the Great Boiromhe, whom she is proud to call her own, to her last surrender. A fortress of formidable strength, it was a prize contended for by every successive aspirant to the dominion of Ireland; the possession of this place, so important from its situation, being deemed absolutely necessary to the security of his other conquests. After resisting the English arms for more than twenty years under its native prince, the gallant Donald-More, its submission after his death, gave a degree of stability to the authority of the invaders, which it had not hitherto possessed; and its fidelity to the Government during |