Limerick

Names prominent in this county include: Arthur, Brien, Brown, Browne, Casey, Clerihan, Collins, Condon, Crawford, Creagh, Culhane, De Lacy, Dinahan, Dinnahan, Donovan, Doyle, Eniry, Fitzgerald, Fitzgibbon, Fitzharris, Flannery, Grady, Gunning, Harold, Heffernan, Hely, Keogh, Kiely, Kineally, Kinealy, Kinneally, Kirby, Lomgan, MacEniry, MacKeogh, Mackesey, Mackesy, MacSheehy, McArthur, McCurtin, McEnery, McEniry, McKeogh, McSheehy, Mulcahy, Mulholland, Nee, Nestor, Neville, O'Brien, O'Casey, O'Clerihan, O'Collins, O'Conlan, O'Connell, O'Culhane, O'Donovan, O'Dinahan, O'Flannery, O'Grady, O'Gunning, O'Hea, O'Heffernan, O'Hurley, O'Kiely, O'Kinneally, O'Kirby, O'Lomgan, O'Mackesy, O'Mulholland, O'Nee, O'Scanlan, O'Sexton, O'Sheehan, Quinn, Roche, Russell, Sarsfield, Sexton, Sheehan, Sheehy, Troy, Wall, Woulfe, Woulfe

In the west of Ireland just north of Cork, Limerick is a city as well as a county. Once part of the historical Kingdom of North Munster (or Thomond), the city of Limerick was sacked --and settled-- by the Danes in the ninth century. (The River Shannon, which runs through the city of Limerick and is still navigable by modern ocean going vessels, made Limerick an easy target for Viking raiders.) Limerick’s agricultural wealth continued to attract invaders and settlers for the next nine centuries. Massive land seizures took place in the 12th, 13th, 14th and 16th centuries. In the century after the Cromwellian wars the city of Limerick’s fortifications were destroyed and several thousand (Protestant) refugees --who were fleeing the late 17th c. Palatinate Wars-- from the Rhineland were settled in the Rathkeale region of Limerick. Limerick later became a major source of American bound emigrants. The founders of the American Methodist Church included a handful of Limerick’s Palatine Germans. - notes by Sarah Nagle

One of a series of Irish District tartans designed (and copyrighted) by Polly Wittering of the House of Edgar in 1995. This is not an 'officially sanctioned' District tartan but has proven popular.