WALKING LIMERICK

 LIMERICK
♫ Oh, I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more, just to be the one that walked 1000 miles to Irish sites and more. ♫

After today’s excursion, we’re certainly racking up thousands of steps, day after day.  Avoiding rush hour traffic by heading out just after 9:00 a.m., we headed to Limerick to tramp the old city. 

Limerick, situated on the Shannon river not far from the west coast of Ireland, was founded in the early 10th century by the Vikings, as evidenced by archaeological evidence in the area.  In 1165, the Normans invaded and captured Limerick. King Henry II began to be uncomfortable with the power his Earl’s in Ireland were showing and sent his son John to be Lord of Ireland and cement the idea that Ireland was under the control of the English King. Lord John began construction of King John’s Castle in 1200 on the banks of the river Shannon and walls were built to separate “English” town and “Irish” town.  The arrival of the Normans changed everything for the Irish and the next several hundred years have been marked by violence and war in the struggle for control. An Irish rebellion under Garret Barry laid siege to the castle in 1642. Having no siege equipment, the rebels used the technique of undermining to collapse the castle walls.  Exactly as it sounds, the rebels used a house close to the castle to begin digging a trench under the walls of the castle, using timbers to support the tunnels. This would weaken the wall and cracks would begin to form. They would then set fire to the timbers which could collapse the tunnel and the wall. The castle guards and inhabitants were plagued by illness and lack of reinforcements from the long siege and did not have a defensive force. Though they attempted to counter-mine and flood the rebels tunnel, they were not successful in deterring the undermining.  Seeing the large cracks forming in the castle wall, the English surrendered before the wall was collapsed. The wall had to be pulled down anyway, due to its instability. In later centuries, the English re-took the castle and it was under siege on and off until King John signed the Magna Carta and it was finally abandoned. Eventually, a significant portion of the castle was restored for tourism. It is a very interesting display with lots of interactive displays explaining the history of Ireland. You can go under the castle to see where it was undermined and climb your way all the way to the top for a spectacular view of the city.  A large courtyard area showed different activities that would have been done at the time.  I was put into the stocks for some unexplained reason. 

I struggle with these landmarks. While in awe of the amazing feats of engineering, craftsmanship, and construction, I am continually appalled by the ruling class everywhere, but especially England. There is no reason to venerate, honour, or value royalty. They were just a bunch of brutal, ruthless psychopaths that cared about nothing but power and do not deserve respect for what they achieved through genocide and straight-up murder.   I cannot respect that and respect myself at the same time. So much culture, language and self-governing law was lost to the English invasion of Ireland.  For example, Ireland was a land of sophisticated education, craftsmen and legal system. Then along came the English and Christianity and set it all back. For example, under Brehon law, women were equals, with equal rights. Women’s rights are still fighting to recover from those in power who chose to use politics and religion to subjugate women and those they considered "lower class" - treating them like possessions and no better than animals fit only to serve and use. Disappointing that in this "enlightened" age, there is still so much evidence of it in society. 

The next stop on the tour was St. Mary’s Cathedral. Lisa greeted us with a map of the church and we had a great conversation with her. The original church on that site was a wooden church, with the stone church being constructed in the 1200s.  We marveled at the incredible structure which again astounds you with its massive, beautiful construction in a day when there were only basic tools and muscle.  Again, I struggle between awe at the beauty and construction and knowing that it was put there to serve the ego of the rich, the wealthy, and the powerful.  Like armies, religion was used to control and suppress in the pursuit of power.  You could literally buy your way into heaven. Hypocrisy at its best. Humanity is all the politics and religion I have any use for. I don’t care about your opinions about how to run the country. I don’t care what faith you practice. I care how you treat people. Period. End of story. So in the face of these marvelous cathedral creations, I have to let my eyes drink in the incredible beauty and think of the many common hands, talented craftsmen and patient faith that went into its construction. Mind-boggling. 

After a lengthy conversation and directions from Mike at the Cathedral, we felt well-armed to continue our old-town tour. Carrying on down the street, we stopped at the Milk Market and ordered a coffee and a dessert before sitting down to eat our picnic sandwiches. The Milk Market is the equivalent of a permanent farmer’s market, with local art and craft stores, coffee shops, ice cream shops, etc. Not quite in full swing yet, but will get much busier when tourist season is in full swing.

Following a stroll around the Milk Market, we headed for the Hunt Museum.  The Hunt Museum, I can get behind.  John and Gertrude Hunt spent a lifetime collecting antiques, artefacts and art and formed the Hunt Museum Trust containing the outstanding collection and a building to house it on behalf of the people of Ireland. Throwing themselves into learning about history and culture across the world, their collections included thousands of artefacts, art, sculpture and history from all kinds of eras.  John Hunt was fascinated with archaeology and participated in the excavation of Lough Gur, where we visited a few days ago. He also created the first replica of a neolithic house in Ireland and was instrumental in the restoration of Bunratty Castle, which is now a major tourist attraction in Shannon, Ireland.  Want to see an axe from the stone age, or the iron age, or bronze age? Hunt Museum.  Want to see original works by Picasso, Renoir, Gaugin, Moore?  Hunt Museum. Want to marvel at a genuine medieval cauldron or the torques of Irish kings? Hunt Museum.  Want to stand in awe of early Roman and Grecian sculptures? Japanese pottery?  Trace the history of jewelry fads?  You got it – Hunt Museum!  In hindsight, I almost wish this was the first place we stopped rather than the last. It deserved more time and energy than I had by that point.  Put it on your bucket list – it deserves to be there.

By the end of the day, we were both worn out, with sore feet and full heads. Fortunately it was a short drive back home and we had leftovers for dinner!  So much more ahead. I’m thinking we better pace ourselves or we’ll crash.