The fine weather continued on our last full day in Limerick. We set out to visit King John’s Castle, The Frank McCourt Museum and to circumnavigate the town centre via the bridges spanning the River Shannon.
King John’s Castle is a 13th-century castle located on King’s Island next to the River Shannon. Although the site dates back to 922 when vikings settled on the island, the castle itself was built on the orders of King John in 1200. It is one of the best preserved Norman castles in Europe with walls, towers and fortifications remaining.
The interpretative centre you pass through before entering the castle was very interesting with a number of interactive exhibits in addition to the usual printed material and audio-visual presentations. The assistant who sold me the tickets suggested we should be able to whizz through in about one and a half hours… and three hours later we emerged having had lengthy interactive discussions with the stonemason, the silversmith from the royal mint, and one of the guards and the sheriff who were involved in a siege that occured in 1642.
The walls of the castle were severely damaged during the 1642 siege, the first of five sieges of the city in the 17th century. The castle was occupied by Protestants fleeing the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and was besieged by an Irish Confederate force under Garret Barry. Barry had no siege artillery so he undermined the walls by digging away their foundations. Those inside surrendered just before Barry collapsed the walls. However, such was the damage done to the wall’s foundations that a section of them had to be pulled down afterward.
The castle towers provide expansive views of Limerick and the River Shannon.
As we walked the river’s edge, Chris noted that Limerick hosted the largest collection of swans she had seen on our trip. Constrained by the vigorous flow of the river, they drifted in eddies and side channels.
I was both sadddened and uplifted by our visit to the Frank McCourt Museum in the afternoon. The museum is based in Frank’s former school (Leamy House) in the Georgian Quarter of Limerick. Two upstairs rooms have been recreated in the style of living conditions described in “Angela’s Ashes” while the downstairs school room remains as it was with desks, writing slates and walls adorned with maps of the period.
Memorabilia from Frank’s childhood and adult life have been added in addition to awards and photographs. The poverty and squalid conditions were evident in the photographs of the school children, many in ragged clothes and without shoes but most all with faces that looked much older than they reasonably should have been.
