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A List of Famous Limerick Visitors

Posted on March 24, 2013March 13, 2019 by Sharon Slater

The following are some of the famous visitors who visited Limerick over the centuries. If there are any missing please leave a comment below.


Visitor: Hermann von Puckler-Maskau  (Prussian socialite who came in search of a rich wife)

Visited: 1828

View of City: Limerick is “the kind of city I like, old and venerable, adorned with Gothic churches and moss-covered ruins, with dark narrow streets, and curious houses of various date; a broad river flowing through its whole length and crossed by several antique bridges, lastly, a busy market-place and cheerful environs.”


Visitor: William Wordsworth (Poet)

Visitor: 1829

View of City: “It is raining hard now, and has done so all day”


Visitor: Catherine McAuley (Founder of the Sisters of Mercy)

Visited: 1838

View of City: “The house is surrounded by trees and walking ground, and all enclosed by fine old walls entirely lined with ivy.”


Visitor: Franz Liszt (Composer)

Visited: 1841

View of City: Stayed at Cruise’s Hotel and performed two Grand Concert.


Visitor: Frederick Douglass (former American Slave turned abolitionist)

Visited: 1845


Visitor:  Thomas Carlyle (Writer)

Visited: 1849

View of City: “Wet chief street of Limerick, glimpse of harbour, with poor turf-craft, mainly thro’ an opening on the other side”


Visitor: Charles Dickens (Writer)

Visited: 1858

View of City: “This is the oddest place – of which nobody in any other part of Ireland seems to know anything”


Visitor:  P. T. Barnum & General Tom Thumb (Entertainers)

Visited: 1859

View of City: Performed in the Atheanaeum Limerick.


Visitor: Eamon De Valera (President)

Visited: Multiple times

View of City:” I had a grand journey to Limerick by train. Of course I was dolled up before starting out! One of the problems was the boots: apparently they didn’t pass muster. A solution was found – they found that my aunt’s button boots would fit me”


Visitor: Zigfried Sassoon (war poet)

Visited: 1918


Visitor: Robert Graves (Poet)

Visited: 1919

View of the City: “Limerick was a Sinn Fein stronghold, and there were constant clashes between the troops and young men of the town, yet little ill-feeling”


Visitor: John Gibbons (Writer)

Visited: 1935

View of the City: “Limerick is the most ‘priestly’ city that I have yet met in my travels – and I know Rome”


Visitor: Sean O’Faolain (Writer)

Visited: 1940

View of the City: “There is a dignity in Limerick, a place bearing vestiges of history, marching and counter-marching, worn smooth by being in the track of the history of Europe for its little space”


Visitor: Rock Hudson & Barbara Rush (actor)

Visited: 1954


Visitor: John Fitzgerald Kennedy (President USA)

Visited: 1963


Visitor: Ted Kennedy (Politician USA)

Visited: 1964


Visitor: Richard Nixon (President USA)

Visited: 1970


Visitor: Roy Orbinson (Musician)

Visited: 1970


Visitor: Dick Emery (Comedian)

Visited: 1977


Visitor: Eric Clapton (Musician)

Visited: 1979


Visitor: Pope John Paul II

Visited: 1979


Visitor: Bill Clinton (President USA)

Visited: 1998 & 2012


Visitor: Mike Tyson (Boxer)

Visited: 2012


Visitor: Billy Connelly (Comedian)

Visited: 2013

 

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This website is a personal project of Sharon Slater, born from a passion for Limerick and its history. It has been maintained, updated and contributed to it independently and voluntarily. If you'd like to buy me a coffee to keep Limerick's history online, please know that all donations will go directly into the costs of hosting the website and the time and travel to research and write the articles found on the site.

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