Friday, November 30, 2012

Street Art In Limerick City

Limerick - Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe (O'Connell Street)

Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe Limerick was the first of its kind in Ireland but I am fairly sure that i saw two during a recent visit to cork.

Take a walk down memory lane and be blown away by what this store has to offer!

Street Art In Limerick City

The Bitter End Pub On Henry Street - Limerick (Henry Street/Bedford Row)

The Bitter End, Bedford Row, Limerick. Open from 9am, serving Breakfast, Lunch from 12 - 4pm

Street Art In Limerick City

The People's Park, in Pery Square, is the principal park in Limerick City

Based on a description by the tour guide I expected this park to be much larger that it actually was. However, it is an attractive public space.

The People's Park, in Pery Square, is the principal park in Limerick City. It was formally opened in 1877, in memory of Richard Russell, a prominent local businessman.

Item of interest in the Park include the:
Drinking Fountain, provided by employees of Russell Flour Mills Former Carnegie Library, built on park ground, and now the City Art Gallery Children's Playground (toddlers - 10years old), provided in 2001 Remembrance Plaque, unveiled in 2002 Memorial to Thomas Spring Rice, M.P. for the city 1820-1832 Band Stand, erected by the Corporation of Limerick in 1895 Two Park Shelters, one of which was recently renovated under a Limerick Civic Trust/ Fas Environmental Project and the second of which is currently undergoing renovation.

The park has a large selection of mature, deciduous and evergreen trees such as, Ash, Beech, Birch, Elm, False Acacia, Flowering Cherry, Flowering Crab, Hawthorn, Holly, Hornbeam, Horse Chestnut, Lime, Maple, Mountain Ash, Oak, Ornamental Pear, Plane, Poplar, Walnut, Whitebeam and Willow plus, of course, a wonderful display of flowers during the summer months.

The parks opening hours are: 8am to dusk, and8am to 9pm from the 3rd week in April to the 4th week in August

The People's Park recently won the Best Local Park Special Category Award, 2003, in a new City Neighbourhood Competition run by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The competition, introduced in the 5 major cities of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Waterford, aims to replicate the success of Tidy Towns in a city context.

Street Art In Limerick City

Limerick City - The Sunflower Chinese Restaurant

Sunflower Take-Away
34 Nicholas Street, Limerick City, Co. Limerick

Limerick - India Restaurant "The Mogul Emperor"

This restaurant is on Henry Street in Limerick.

Henry Street is named after Edmund Henry Pery, the 1st Earl of Limerick, who had a house on this street.

This house is now occupied by the Hibernian Insurance Company

Limerick Junction Railway Station

Limerick Junction is an important railway station in South Tipperary, Ireland which was originally named "Tipperary Junction". Tipperary town is about two miles away to the south-east. Limerick Junction, with a cluster of pleasantly presented railway cottages and a pub, is a small hamlet. Because of its complex layout it has a special place in railway lore: it is the only remaining railway junction in Ireland where two lines cross at a near-90-degree angle. One route is the Dublin-Cork main line, while the other is the line from Limerick to Waterford. Trains from all four locations are served, some connecting to Ennis in County Clare and Tralee in County Kerry.

The layout consists of four platforms, but only two are in use, both north of the station building. The main line platform, number 1, is a through platform. The terminal platform, to the west of platform 1, is numbered 2 for part of its length and 3 for the rest, to distinguish between the two trains that may be there in the event of a Waterford train and a Limerick train being present at once. Access to platforms 2 and 3 for trains from anywhere other than Limerick requires reversing. A train coming from Waterford must cross the Dublin-Cork main line towards Limerick, reversing along the curve used by trains arriving from Limerick. It can then stop at the Limerick bay. The cumbersome procedure of trains to Waterford passing the station before reversing into platform 4 was ended in 2007 and trains to Waterford as well as trains to Limerick now depart from platforms 2 and 3. Other places in the Ireland that required some or all trains to reverse include:

* Kilkenny
* Killarney
* Athenry re-opened line from December 2009. Trains from Limerick to Galway presumably will reverse at Athenry

Until the 1960s trains on the main Dublin-Cork line, in both directions, also needed to reverse into the platforms if they were calling at the station (as almost all did); the main lines passing one or two tracks away from the platform and the points being arranged that trains in both directions needed to stop on the main line and then reverse over points into the platform. The tracks were rearranged in the mid-1960s to overcome this. What had always perplexed (and made Limerick Junction a centre of attention similar to the interest shown in the Listowel and Ballybunion monorail) is that there was always sufficient space for additional platforms, even to construct a "separate" (but linked) station on the Limerick to Waterford line, and certainly (as events proved) track alteration was feasible; the arrangement therefore seemed eccentric - certainly when main line trains between Cork and Dublin were required to reverse.

In 1967 a short curve was constructed just north of Limerick Junction allowing through main line trains between Limerick and Dublin without reversal at Ballybrophy or single (perhaps double) reversal around Limerick Junction itself. Trains using the direct curve cannot stop at Limerick Junction. The curve is only used by three trains each way per day since the timetable changes in December 2009.

Through running (without reversal) from Limerick to Mallow and Cork is possible.

The station opened on 3 July 1848.

Street Art In Limerick City

Culture

The Belltable Arts Centre on O'Connell Street hosts for local playwriting and drama. Mike Finn's numerous plays have been successful, including Pigtown, set around a century of the city's history, and Shock and Awe, an energetic retelling of Homer's Iliad. The new University Concert Hall provides a large venue for national and international acts to visit the city. Limerick is also the home of several "street theatre" companies, including "Janzo Street Arts" and "The Umbrella Project" street theatre companies.

The Limerick City Art Gallery on Pery Square is the city’s chief venue for contemporary art exhibitions. It is home to a permanent collection of Irish art, which shows works from the early 18th to 20th century. Limerick's major contemporary art event is EV+A (Exhibition of Visual+ Art) which invades the city annually, often in controversial ways. Established in 1977, EV+A has become one of Ireland's premier annual exhibitions of contemporary art. Selected each year by a new curator, it brings international artworks and art by Irish artists to Limerick. The centre of the exhibition is the Limerick City Art Gallery, but EV+A generally uses numerous other venues throughout the city.

Other active Limerick arts groups include Contact Studios, which provides individual studio spaces for visual artists; the Daghdha Dance Company, a contemporary dance company that has adopted a renovated church in John's Square, adjacent to St John's Cathedral, as a performance space); the Fresh Film Festival, which is held each spring, and includes films made by young people (7–18 years) from all over Ireland; Impact Theatre Company; and Limerick Printmakers Studio and Gallery, which provides printmaking facilities, a venue for exhibitions and events and an education programme. The Limerick Youth Theatre provides young people with an opening into acting and production. It received attention in the national media with its 2005 production of Romeo and Juliet, which made comparisons between the ongoing feud in the city with that of the Montagues and the Capulets in the play.

The city has an active music scene, which has produced bands such as The Cranberries and guitarist Noel Hogans' MonoBand, The Hitchers and many more. World-renowned electronic musician Richard D. James, more commonly known as Aphex Twin, was born in Limerick in 1971. The Limerick Art Gallery and the Art College cater for painting, sculpture and performance art of all styles. The Irish Chamber Orchestra and the Irish World Music Centre are both based in the University of Limerick. The University has a thousand-seat state-of-the-art concert hall that frequently hosts visiting performers. Limerick is also home to comedians The Rubberbandits , D'Unbelievables (Pat Shortt & Jon Kenny), Jimmy Carr and Karl Spain. Dolans Warehouse on the Dock Road has two venues specialising in live music; an upstairs venue which tends to accommodate comedians and folk and jazz acts, and a much larger warehouse venue holding 400, which tends to stage more popular (usually rock) acts, both national and international. Dance music is catered for at Baker Place which holds mainly local underground nights and Trinity Rooms which has regularly hosts big names like Hot Chip, Groove Armada, DJ Yoda and Jazzy Jeff alongside more cutting-edge names like Dan Le Sac, Christian Smith, and Missill.

The city is the setting for Frank McCourt's memoir Angela's Ashes and the film adaptation. It is the setting for the contemporary coming-of-age drama Cowboys & Angels and Robert Cunningham's Somebody's Daughter, which was shot in various locations around the city and had its premiere in King John's Castle in July 2004.

A limerick is a type of humorous verse of five lines with an AABBA rhyme scheme: the poem's connection with the city is obscure, however, the name is generally taken to be a reference to Limerick City or County Limerick. Sometimes particularly to the Maigue Poets, and may derive from an earlier form of nonsense verse parlour game that traditionally included a refrain that included "Will [or won't] you come (up) to Limerick?" The earliest known use of the name "Limerick" for this type poem is an 1880 reference, in a St. John, New Brunswick newspaper, to an apparently well-known tune.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Limerick City

Limerick City by infomatique
Limerick City, a photo by infomatique on Flickr.

Limerick is an interesting city

The city dates from at least the Viking settlement in 812. The Normans redesigned the city in the 12th century and added much of the most notable architecture, such as King John's Castle and St Mary's Cathedral.

During the civil wars of the 17th century the city played a pivotal role, besieged by Oliver Cromwell in 1651 and twice by the Williamites in the 1690s. This turbulent period earned the city its motto: Urbs antiqua fuit studisque asperrima belli (An ancient city well studied in the arts of war).

Although a lot of developments in Limerick have been concentrated in suburban areas there has been notable modern architectural developments and improvements in the appearance of city centre in recent years. Most developments have been along the banks of the river Shannon and are facing onto the river. The most prominent are the 60m high Riverpoint building and the 200 ft four star Clarion Hotel on Steamboat quay. Other developments include apartments and office blocks along the quays. Other developments in the city centre include the successful redevelopment of Bedford Row, Henry street, Thomas street and Catherine street.

www.streetsofdublin.com

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Limerick City

Limerick City by infomatique
Limerick City, a photo by infomatique on Flickr.

Limerick is an interesting city

The city dates from at least the Viking settlement in 812. The Normans redesigned the city in the 12th century and added much of the most notable architecture, such as King John's Castle and St Mary's Cathedral.

During the civil wars of the 17th century the city played a pivotal role, besieged by Oliver Cromwell in 1651 and twice by the Williamites in the 1690s. This turbulent period earned the city its motto: Urbs antiqua fuit studisque asperrima belli (An ancient city well studied in the arts of war).

Although a lot of developments in Limerick have been concentrated in suburban areas there has been notable modern architectural developments and improvements in the appearance of city centre in recent years. Most developments have been along the banks of the river Shannon and are facing onto the river. The most prominent are the 60m high Riverpoint building and the 200 ft four star Clarion Hotel on Steamboat quay. Other developments include apartments and office blocks along the quays. Other developments in the city centre include the successful redevelopment of Bedford Row, Henry street, Thomas street and Catherine street.

www.streetsofdublin.com