Limerick's Life

Fannings Castle Kilrush Church Thatch in the City The Old Abbey Area. Building Collapses

The remnants of the last remaining tower house in Limerick city is that of Fanning’s castle, which is situated just off Mary Street. Although it is Fanning’s Castle in name it was not in fact a castle but a late medieval fortified town or tower house. Dominic Fanning, a former mayor of the city, reputedly built the tower for himself in approximately 1641. The walls of the tower were built of roughly squared limestone blocks of varying sizes.  This tower originally five storey high, the first storey now being at almost ground level, shows the remains of one flat-headed window divided by one mullion, two ogee windows are placed one floor above the other, and on the top floor is a single round-headed window. The doors on the upper levels suggest that at some point the tower would have had external balconies or stairs.  The tower house would have originally incorporated a turret staircase and battlements.

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Also called Old Church, St. Munchin's or St. Mainchin's Church.
This small Early Christian church is situated in the grounds of Old Church, near Barringtons Pier on the west side of the Shannon. It is first mentioned in 1201 but is generally believed to be much older, possibly dating from the tenth century and is listed in the Papal Taxation of 1302-7. It is a rectangular building with walls and gables almost intact. Inserted in the south wall is rectangular window said to have been taken from the Fransican Chapel in the City which is inscribed with Gothic lettering in false relief. The building was restored in the 1900 century.
It is now situated in a cul de sac just off the North Circular Road.

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Recently the galvanised roof was removed from two abandoned cottages on the Dublin Road, these would most likely have been some of the last traditionally thatched cottages within the city boundaries. These cottages have since been demolished.

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Some of the last remaining houses from the Abbey, this is Long Lane. The other street names from the Abbey area were, Sheep Street, Gaol Lane, Clancy Lane, Fish Street, Meat Market Lane, as well as many other smaller lanes.
May of the lanes of the old Abbey were demolished to make way for a new road bypassing the city centre. Others have been redeveloped during this redevelopment excavations took place the results of which can be read  Here

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Christina McNamara left her home on John Street for St. Mary’s chapel shortly after eight o’clock on the night of 18^th of February 1899. As she was walking down Broad Street a few minutes later, she would have watched as some boys who had gathered on the footpath blocking the way being ordered to move on by Acting Sergeant Doherty. She continued down Broad Street towards Ball’s bridge passing Mr Shine’s house when a loud crash was heard. The Acting Sergeant and others on the street turned suddenly round they saw a cloud of dust rising from the footpath where the girl had been. At the same time, bricks were seen falling from the wall of Mr Shine’s three-storey house. The roof, which had large flags on it, and upper portion of the house, had collapsed about forty feet to the ground.

It was after the dust cleared that the girl was spotted on the ground partly covered in debris with a large flagstone on her legs. It was thought at the time that she had died at the scene but she remained alive although unconscious until five o’clock the following morning. Three boys were also pulled from the rubble but their injuries were not thought to have been life threatening.

The house was at least a few hundred years old and seemed least likely of all the houses in the street to fall. A notice was sent to the occupiers of the house that the building was in a dangerous state but this letter was dated the 20^th of February two days after the accident. Mr. Shine lived in the portion of the house that collapsed; he rented it from a Miss Mary Griffin. Mr Shine stated that he did not feel that there was anything wrong with the roof apart from a leak and as Miss Griffin had replaced the rafters only thirteen years before he considered it safe.

A rider was issued during the inquest into the girls death stating; “that in view of the danger to lives of residents and the public generally having business in John street, Mungret street and Broad street and the old town generally, we beg to call attention to owners of property and other responsible officials of the insecure state of the same and their dilapidated condition in said area”.

Many of the houses on the street had used props to support the walls in the small lanes off the main street. It was believed that if these props were removed that the entire house, which it supported, would collapse. Some of these props were still in place in the 1950, as seen in the picture above.
Two years earlier in February 1897 a similar house on John Street completely collapsed in on itself.

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