Patrick Comerford
I missed the lauunch of Denis O’Shaughnessy’s new book on the history of Athlunkard Street, Limerick, which was launched in Limerick last month while I was in Crete. The book marks the bicentenary of the opening of the street and as part of the Athlunkard Street 200th anniversary celebrations.
The Story of Athlunkard Street 1824-2024 by Denis O’Shaughnessy (Limerick: 2024) was launched in Saint Mary’s RFC clubhouse by Councillor Conor Sheehan on Friday 19 April 2024. The evening included readings and music. The book sells at €15 in Saint Mary’s Credit Union office and in McMahons Butcher. Proceeds are going to Saint Mary’s Branch Vincent de Paul.
My four-page contribution to this new resource on local history in Limerick is:
Bourke’s House
Patrick Comerford
Local lore says that Bourke House (top of Athlunkard Street) is as old as Saint Mary’s Cathedral, and that it was built ca 1168 by Domhnall Mór O Brien, after he donated his palace as the site for Saint Mary’s Cathedral.
However, the name of the house and its remains date from a much later period. Bourke House probably received its name from John Bourke, a Roman Catholic alderman who owned the house and lived there in 1641. The house was listed in 1654 in the Cromwellian ‘Civil Survey’ of Limerick City as the house of William Bourke of Limicke [sic] Irish Papist. During the Penal Laws, Bourke House was used as a Franciscan friary from 1730 to 1780, so that the house was also known as the Castle Friary.
Much of the original mediaeval house was demolished in 1824 to allow the construction of Athlunkard Street. The name Athlunkard comes from the Irish Ath an Longphuirt, ‘the town of the naval fortress.’ After the demolition of the Walls of Limerick in 1760, the new bridge became an economic and social necessity with demands to expand the city into the surrounding countryside.
The new street and new bridge were improvements that were much needed in Limerick in the first decades of the 19th century. The project followed immediately after Wellesley Bridge – now known as Sarsfield Bridge – and opened up new sites for housing development.
Athlunkard Bridge opened another route from the city into Co Clare. It was the first of the Limerick bridges designed by the Pain brothers, and was soon followed by Baal’s Bridge, replacing an older bridge in 1829, and Thomond Bridge in 1838. Only one wall of Bourke House survived this major development in town planning in Limerick, with the internal façade facing onto Athlunkard Street. Work began on laying out Athlunkard Street on 26 April 1824. The new road cut through two mediaeval houses on Mary Street that had been built in the style of fortified tower houses. One of these houses was fully demolished, while only the north gable of Bourke House remained.
Athlunkard Street by-passed Sir Harry’s Mall and George’s Quay and opened up a direct route into Newtown Pery through Bridge Street and the New Bridge that was rebuilt in 1844-1846 as Mathew Bridge.
In 1860, a Gothic-style drinking fountain was inserted into the façade of the building as a gift to the city by the Malcolmson family. A section of Bourke House survives to this day with the interior of the house gable facing onto Athlunkard Street. Preservation work on the house was carried out by Limerick Civic Trust through a FAS Teamwork Scheme in 1989.
Another view
Seamus O Cinneide, historian and columnist in the Limerick Leader, wrote a series in that newspaper headed Photonotes of Old Limerick. In the edition of 20/11/1982, he traced the history of Bourke’s Castle or House, portion of which is still extant at the top of Athlunkard Street, as follows:
The remains are of a medieval castle, which according to the Civil Survey of 1651, was the residence of Alderman John Bourke, of St. Mary’s Parish, Limerick City. The ruins today are seen between Devane’s Pub and Pal Electronics premises at the head of Athlunkard Street. While the historic site is popularly called Bourke’s Castle, the medieval building was really a tower town house – a fortified residence.
From its many robistic handsome fortified medieval residences of this type, Limerick was called “Limerick of the Castles. ”They were the residences of Limerick’s urban aristocrats or rich merchants after the 1169 invasion of the Normans to the Treaty of 1691.
Citizens of lesser ranks lived in wickerwork and clay plaster type dwellings known in Gaelic as ciseachs. Both types are listed in the Civil List of 1641. (Ciseach is closely related to the Gaelic word cisean: a wickerwork basket).
The Bourkes or Burkes came as de Burgos with the Normans in 1169 in Limerick City. Herbert de Burgho (who died in 1250) was a distinguished bishop of Limerick. He was one of the “Six Prelates” buried at St Saviour’s great Dominican Priory on the King’s Island of the city. He was commemorated in a Latin verse on a sepulchral monument at that medieval priory.
The de Burgh’s became Gaelicised as de Burca’s. They were Lords of Catleconnell. Becoming “more Irish than the Irish”, the de Burca’s, Lords of Claonghlas (now Springfield) near Dromcollogher, in West Limerick, were patron hosts of a Bardic School of Poets. Their most famous “Poet Laureate” was Daithi O Bruadair who idolized General Patrick Sarsfield who defended Limerick against the English Williamite forces.
The de Burca’s were mostly faithful to the Catholic Faith after the Reformation. Sir John Burke of Brittas Castle near Murroe was hanged in Limerick for sheltering a Catholic priest in Elizabethan times.
In 1824 a road to link Limerick City with the “salubrious suburbs of Corbally”, as described by Maurice Lenihan, the famous historian, who described that “across the Abbey River area was cut through the mediaeval Roche castle at the head of what’s now Athlunkard Street.
The façade is of exceptional interest to students of historical architecture. The “v” shaped corbels – which supported the floor beams of the mediaeval residcence – can be seen high up on the façade.
In the romantic conservationist 19 th century manner the corbels – flagged by flag stones - support an assembly of surplus stones from the original building.
Typical medieval recesses can also be seen. There is a large one at the extreme right lower end.
A delightful (sadly inoperational) water fountain was erected into the wall of the castle, a relic of the times before Limerick citizens had a Corporation water supply. An inscription says it was erected in 1860 and adds an appeal “to protect what is erected for your benefit.” The arch around the water fountain is coruscated as is the upper arch. Above the upper arch’s keystone another inscription tells us “This drinking fountain erected AD 1860.”
A final reminder, it’s the inside wall if a medieval tower house you see at the head of Athlunkard Street. Also, about twenty years ago, during work to install new machinery at Tubridy’s Bakery premises (now occupied by Pal Electronics) some vaulted medieval cellars – with broken wine bottle fragments of the same era – were uncovered. The medieval wine bottle fragments – thought to be of French type – weren’t surprising as Limerick (like other Irish coastal cities) shipped its wine in from continental European cities like Bordeaux.
