© View of the Abbey Bridge
Welcome to St Mary's!
St Mary's parish is probably the oldest of the five original
parishes of Limerick City. It was in existence before the Synod of Rathbrassill
in 1111 AD. It was in this year that the then parochial Church of St
Mary's was raised to the level of a Cathedral by the Bishop of Limerick,
Gilbert. Nowadays, the parish contains King John's Island and includes
a part of Corbally. It was divided in 1991 when Bishop Jeremiah Newman
created the parish of St Nicholas' to accommodate the rising population
in the area. The population of St Mary's parish is around 6,000.
With the coming of the Reformation, the Cathedral became
the property of the Church of Ireland. Today, the Roman Catholic Cathedral
is located in St John's Parish.
Within the parish bounds is King John's Castle, which
was built between 1200 and 1210. Today the castle is a popular tourist
attraction.
If you wish to go to a particular section, click on the
buttons in the navigation panel on the left. Otherwise,
use the arrows on either side of the heading to navigate your way page-by-page
through the site.
Text-only version:
Click here for a text-only, accessible version of this parish history.
St Mary's parish today: Get more information on the Limerick Diocese website.
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