Limerick City: Home of Colleen Bawn

An Ancient City - Experienced in the Rigors of War' - so reads the motto of the City of Limerick. And indeed neither the city's antiquity nor the hardy character for which its citizens have become famous are open to question. Limerick first appears on a map in the year 130CE, when Greek geographer Ptolemy noted a city at the mouth of Ireland's Shannon River called 'Regia'. Since then it has weathered no fewer than 11 sieges, and has contributed disproportionately to its size in almost every possible way. 

Actor Richard Harris was a proud child of the 'Treaty City', as was rock star Dolores O'Riordan (of Cranberries fame). Likewise Bill Whelan - creator of Ireland's famous folk opera Riverdance.

But perhaps the most poignant and endearing person Limerick ever produced was Ellen Hanley - the beautiful Colleen Bawn, murdered at the tender age of 16 by the ruthless John Scanlan.

Listen to me as I relate to you her story, and show you through the streets and laneways of this remarkable town. Our trek will take in the oldest Cathedral in Ireland, one of the best preserved castles in all of Europe and also the renowned Treaty Stone (1691) - a symbol on the one hand of the tenacity of the people of Limerick, but also ultimately of the betrayal of the old Gaelic order.