Limerick - By the Shannon and the Stone
A warm Irish city song about Limerick, where Shannon water, Treaty Stone, castle walls, cathedral bells and Georgian streets come together in the living memory of the Treaty City.
County Limerick • Place song
Limerick in Song
Limerick is a riverside city on the River Shannon, known as the Treaty City and shaped by King John's Castle, the Treaty Stone, St Mary's Cathedral, Georgian streets, markets, museums and living local culture.
✦One river.✦One stone.✦One song.
Place Story
About Limerick
Limerick is a western Irish city on the River Shannon, where river water meets the seawater of the Shannon Estuary. Its story is layered: Viking settlement, medieval walled town, Norman fortress, Treaty City, Georgian streets and modern cultural life all meet along the river.
The Medieval Quarter is anchored by King John's Castle and St Mary's Cathedral. Across the Shannon from the castle stands the Treaty Stone, linked with the Treaty of Limerick in 1691 and the city's name as the Treaty City. Nearby, the old city opens into Georgian Newtown Pery, riverside walks, museums, galleries and the everyday movement of a working city.
Limerick is not only a place of monuments. The Milk Market, the Three Bridges Walk, the Hunt Museum, Limerick City Gallery of Art and the streets around the river show a city still lived in, walked, worked, heard and remembered. It is a place where stone history and Shannon water remain part of daily life.
LOCAL MEMORY
The memory behind the Limerick song
Limerick is still experienced first through the Shannon. The river is not just scenery; it shapes how people walk the city, how the Medieval Quarter is seen, and how the castle, cathedral, quays and Treaty Stone speak to one another. The Three Bridges Walk gives visitors and locals a simple way to understand Limerick on foot: the city appears as water, bridge, wall, tower, street and sky.
The local memory of Limerick is layered rather than single. One person may meet the city through King John's Castle and the Treaty Stone, another through St Mary's Cathedral, another through the Georgian streets of Newtown Pery, another through the Milk Market on a weekend morning. Together these are not museum fragments, but everyday ways the city remembers itself.
The Treaty Stone gives Limerick a name, but the city is more than its treaty. Limerick's living identity also comes from market stalls, river walks, contemporary art, old church bells, students, families, music, sport, working streets and the changing light on the Shannon. For listeners, Limerick should feel like a real Irish city of river, stone and continuing life.
LYRICS
Lyrics from “Limerick - By the Shannon and the Stone”
By Shannon water, by Treaty stone,
Limerick calls the river home,
Castle wall and cathedral bell,
Old city, rise and tell.
Where the Shannon widens to the tide,
The city stands by the river side,
Quay and bridge in morning rain,
Old streets waking soft again.
Not only castle, not only name,
But working doors and window flame,
A market voice, a riverside,
A living heart the stones still hide.
And the river remembers,
And the old stones know,
The quiet streets of Limerick
Where deep songs grow.
Limerick, Limerick, by Shannon's flow,
Where castle walls and church bells glow,
By Treaty Stone and western rain,
Your living heart sings on again.
Limerick, Limerick, through light and storm,
In Georgian streets and hearth still warm,
From King's Island to the quay,
Ireland hears your song in me.
On King's Island the towers still stand,
King John's Castle by the strand,
Eight hundred years of river air,
Stone keeps watch in silence there.
St Mary's rises, old and still,
Where royal ground met holy will,
Since eleven sixty-eight in prayer,
Bells have crossed the Shannon air.
Limerick, Limerick, by Shannon's flow,
Where castle walls and church bells glow,
By Treaty Stone and western rain,
Your living heart sings on again.
Limerick, Limerick, through light and storm,
In Georgian streets and hearth still warm,
From King's Island to the quay,
Ireland hears your song in me.
Across the river stands the stone,
Sixteen ninety-one is known,
The Treaty City keeps its name,
Through river mist and evening flame.
Newtown Pery streets were drawn,
In Georgian lines of brick and dawn,
Pery Square and city light,
Holding centuries in sight.
Not every strength is loud or proud,
Some lights shine softly through the cloud,
Christ-light under cathedral stone,
Mercy keeping hearts at home.
By work and prayer, by loss and grace,
The river gives the city space,
And every bridge from shore to shore
Remembers those who crossed before.
The Milk Market wakes with voices bright,
Fresh bread, flowers, morning light,
Three Bridges carry steps along,
Where Shannon water shapes the song.
At Hunt old treasures keep their place,
In galleries new colours wake,
Through art and street and river rain,
Limerick sings itself again.
Limerick, Limerick, by Shannon's flow,
Where castle walls and church bells glow,
By Treaty Stone and western rain,
Your living heart sings on again.
Limerick, Limerick, through light and storm,
In Georgian streets and hearth still warm,
From King's Island to the quay,
Ireland hears your song in me.
By Shannon water, by Treaty stone,
No old name stands alone,
Castle, market, bell and rain,
Limerick sings her name again.
Limerick, Limerick, river-born,
Through evening light and morning storm,
By stone and song, by bridge and flame,
Ireland remembers your name.
By Shannon water, by Treaty stone,
Limerick still calls her children home.
Song Page
Limerick — Song Coming Soon...
This page is prepared as the future home for the Limerick song, music video, lyrics and local story. When the final song is ready, the YouTube video and approved lyrics will be added here.
Explore the project
More ways to follow this place in song
From here you can return to the full Songs by Place directory, suggest another Irish place through Request a Song, or send local corrections and memories through the Contact page.
KEYWORDS
Community
Reviews
Share your thoughts about this place, its story, the song, or your own visit.
Be the first to share your experience of this place and its song.
