Limerick

Limerick, a county of the province of Munster, in Ireland, separated by the Shannon on the N. from Clare, and bounded E. by Tipperary, S. by Cork, and W. by Kerry. Its extreme length is 35 miles, its extreme breadth 54 miles; area, 680,842 acres, or 1063 sq. m. Pop. (1841) 330,029; (1861) 217,223; (1881) 180,632; (1891) 158,912, seven-eighths Catholics. It is an undulating plain, except on its extremities, north and south. The soil in general is fertile, especially the district called the Golden Vale, which comprises upwards of 150,000 acres, and a portion beside the Shannon below Limerick. Of the entire area 578,240 acres are in cultivation; 61 per cent. is grass-land, whilst barren soil and bogs cover only 6 per cent. Potatoes and oats are the principal crops, wheat and clover occupying the second place. Dairy-farming flourishes; woollens, flour, and paper are manufactured. The county returns two members to the House of Commons. Limerick is the only town of any size. The county formed part of the territory of Thomond, the principality of the O'Briens. After the English invasion it fell, after many vicissitudes, in great part to the Desmond Fitzgeralds—the confiscated estates of the last earl (1586) in Limerick containing 96,165 acres. Limerick is more than usually rich in antiquities, both ecclesiastical and civil, of the Celtic as well as the Anglo-Norman period. There are a great number of monastic ruins at Adare, Askeaton, &c. See the county history by Fitzgerald and M'Gregor (2 vols. Dublin, 1826–27).