Limerick improvement projects

Englishtown (Wikipedia)

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Nicholas Street and Mary Street on the island formed the medieval city centre of Limerick and are perhaps the oldest streets in the city.

Samuel Lewis writing in 1837 in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland describes Limerick's old city of Englishtown as resembling the city of Rouen, Normandy with the housing built in Flemish fashion. Even by then though there is evidence the district was in decline as he describes the area as exhibiting a 'dirty & neglected appearance'. Following the development of Newtown Pery the city centre shifted south to the present day centre of the city and the Englishtown area lost its position as the fashionable area of the city. By the late 18th Century the old continental style cramped lofty Dutch & Flemish houses that once characterised the area were transformed into tenements and rented to Limerick's poorest.

Englishtown became characterised by poverty, slum living and squalor. All of the slums were cleared in the early to mid 20th Century, resulting in the loss of most of the area's historical built heritage such as the collection of Flemish townhouses, Ireton's Castle, the Exchange building, the Tholsel amongst much more.

In the late 20th century, corporation houses that were on the site of the modern-day King John's castle were demolished and an architectural excavation commenced, prior to its significant redevelopment. In the early 21st century, the Kings Island and Englishtown areas were redeveloped into a tourist spot, highlighting the significant historical elements behind the area and embracing the historic culture of the area.

@Cookiemunster

Yes, let's rebuild these buildings to remember the people living in poverty in the slums!

Come on, nobody remembers the potato famine when they are eating a bag of chips.

Yes, the Englishtown’s decline was a sad one, where necessity changed the use of those Dutch Gabled buildings by becoming overcrowded, cheap rental tenements.

The Georgian buildings at Arthurs Quay suffered a similar demise later too.

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Poverty is a good cue, I got married in the old Limerick Union Workhouse Building on the Shelbourne road.

The wedding ceremony took place in a small registrar’s office, packed with family, friends, it was a very jovial affair.

Personally, I was humbled by the history of the location but also very amused that the registrar’s office was adjoined to a geriatric ward, as the complex is part of a hospital.

Clearly civil marriages should take place in a Town Hall and not in a HSE facility.

The old Exchange Building that once stood on Nicholas Street if reconstructed would make a perfect location as a Registrar’s Office to perform civil weddings.

The areas highlighted in the image above highlights what exists today and by inserting a floor with six windows plus a roof, we would then have our Exchange restored to its original state.

However the site behind the façade is occupied by circa 20 graves.

I would suggest a reinterment of these graves within the cemetery.

This is obviously contentious but I believe it has been done elsewhere where . . .

A burial plot of the CBS Brothers was reinterned to another part of the Monastery grounds in the 1960s to accommodate the building of the Sexton Street Primary School.

A burial plot at the Good Shepard Convent was reinterned to Mount St. Lawrences Cemetery to accommodate the building of Resident Apartments plus the needs of the TUS Art College.

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The Acquisition of a new Town Hall Rutland Street

One of the most symbolic acts of the Reformed Corporation was the removal of the civic headquarters from the old city to Newtown Pery. By this time the old Exchange on Nicholas Street was considered to be to small, and to be situated in too peripheral a location for a municipal authority that now aspired to establish its control over Newtown Pery.

The old Exchange on Nicholas Street was abandoned by the Corporation and gradually fell into ruins. In 1884, it was purchased from the local authority by a wealthy member of the Church of Ireland named Robert Hunt who then presented it free of charge to St. Mary’s Cathedral. It was immediately demolished and the site was used to extend the burial ground surrounding the Cathedral. However, the colonnade at the front of the Exchange was salvaged and was incorporated into the wall of the burial ground.

(History of Limerick Corporation by Mathew Potter)

@Cookiemunster

Getting back to actual projects, rather than pie in the sky stuff . . .

Fair enough, but do you have any ideas yourself about improving the Englishtown?

Above is a birds eye view of a concert at the castle organized by Dolans.

It shows nicely the layout of the Castle with the Visitor Centre, the Castle Lane and the Alms Houses.

The Vistors Centre and Castle Lane is now some 27 years old or so.

I found an Irish Times article by Frank McDonald about their opening in 1998.

Historical pastiche a dubious tribute to Limerick's heritage (Irish Times)

Frank McDonald May 22nd 1998

Shannon Development rolled out the red carpet last weekend for the official opening of its latest flagship project, a £3.8 million tourism development involving the construction of a street beside King John's Castle and the refurbishment of its visitor centre.

Castle Lane contains "a blend of several different examples of Limerick's architectural heritage" - a mid-18th century granary, two early 18th century "Dutch Billy" gabled houses, a more humble urban labourer's cottage and a stone-fronted merchant's house with a 17th century appearance.

All beautifully built by Michael McNamara and Company, the complex is the end-product of market research commissioned by Shannon Development which identified the need for a "magnet tourism project" for Limerick that might transform it into an "international tourist destination".

The State's only regional development company had a problem. The grey metal-clad visitor centre at the castle, built in 1990, had never won public approval; Cllr John Gilligan, an independent member of Limerick Corporation, once invited "the entire populace" to throw stones at the offending structure.

Browbeaten by this continuing controversy, Shannon Development turned away from contemporary architecture towards quasi-historical pastiche when it came to building Castle Lane - despite strenuous objections from the Heritage Council, which felt such a solution would lack authenticity.

The National Monuments Service opposes the scheme because it meant building in the early 13th century castle moat, parallel to its southern wall. This involved abandoning earlier plans to line Castle Lane with "medieval" buildings, forcing Shannon Development to pick a later period for its project.

Murray O'Laoire, the award-winning architects' firm which designed the castle's visitor centre, believed a contemporary building would be the most appropriate solution. But its advice was rejected, although it was persuaded to stay on, at least, as project managers, leaving the design work for others.

Mr Hugh Murray, who heads the firm's Limerick office, said last weekend he was unhappy about a Shannon Development press release listing Murray O'Laoire as the architects. "I've always said that, no matter what happens, I'll be defending the visitor centre but I won't be defending [Castle Lane]."

To counter public loathing of the visitor centre, Event Ireland - which specialises in heritage projects - was commissioned to improve its appearance by fixing a series of full-height heraldic banners on both sides of the structure. These give the building a lift, making it look more festive.

The visitor centre forecourt has also been re-ordered, with the moat and bridge removed and steel handrails replaced by timber. Inside, the "complete refurbishment" includes covering up the main windows to provide space for wax dummies in full regalia of James II, William III and others involved in the Siege of Limerick.

As for the buildings on Castle Lane, the "mid-18th century" granary at the corner of Nicholas Street will be the new home of Limerick City Museum; it is relocating there from a real Georgian house on John's Square. The remaining buildings constitute a very large "themed pub".

The pair of Dutch Billys, nicely tuck-pointed and "authentic" in every detail, house the kitchen and toilets of the new Castle Lane Tavern; one entrance is a fire exit from the pub. And the humble labourer's house next door is also part of this "re-created early 18th century tavern".

Executed by McNally Design, responsible for numerous Irish "themed pubs" abroad, it has beams decorated with old carpenter's tools to evoke a workshop while upstairs visitors are seated at trestle tables in a room with painted trompe l'oeil blockwork on the walls and even the ceiling.

At both levels, the "labourer's cottage" opens out into the "17th century merchant's house", which contains a "gentry bar" with a stone-built fireplace on the ground-floor and an even larger one upstairs, where the high ceiling, supported by king-post trusses, is decorated in mid-19th century Gothic Revival style, after Pugin.

The piece de resistance is an oriel window in the corner, which offers a panoramic view over the River Shannon; otherwise, because the windows are relatively small and there are few of them, the building fails to capitalise on its location - though Castle Lane does link Nicholas Street with the riverside walk."

In essence, from an architectural viewpoint, the buildings which make up Castle Lane represent different examples of Limerick's built heritage of which some [notably the Dutch gables] are now largely lost to us," says Shannon Development. "They represent a tribute to an architectural legacy which is being increasingly destroyed."

This is part of the problem. While the new quasi-historical complex was clad in brick and stone salvaged from buildings demolished in Limerick, it is clear the city is failing to look after its real architectural heritage; a plethora of PVC windows deface the Crescent, centrepiece of Georgian Limerick.

Shannon Development is on firmer ground with its latest project at Bunratty Folk Park. This involved re-erecting a redundant Regency Gothic Church of Ireland parish church from Ardcroney, near Borrisokane, Co Tipperary. There are even plans to plant yew trees to make it look as if it has always been there.

Bunratty Folk Park also contains several invented buildings, and there is nothing wrong with that because they stand within a corral. But was it right to build quasi-historical buildings at Castle Lane in the heart of Limerick?