Listed below are the most likely reasons behind each street name in the city, though some of the street names have changed through time and some of the original reasoning for certain names have been lost entirely. Many of these street names did not appear in Gerry Joyce’s ‘Limerick City Street Names‘.
Where possible a photograph of the street has been added as well as a link to the street in the 1911 census.
Streets beginning with:
A : B : C : D : E : F : G : H : I : J : K : L : M : N : O : P : Q : R : S : T : U : V : W : X : Y : Z :
Eden Terrace: 12 houses built in 1864, designed by William Fogarty (1833-1878) for Thomas Remington. Thomas Revington built and lived in Ardhu House, now part of the former Limerick Ryan Hotel, which closed its doors in 2003.
Edward Street (part 2) : is named after Lord Edward Fitzgerald (1763-1798) 5th son of the 1st Duke of Leinster and twentieth Earl of Kildare. He was Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the United Irishmen. Fitzgerald’s Cottages is also named after him.
Emley Street: Located in the Old Abbey area of the city.
Emmet Place: named after Robert Emmet, the Irish Patriot who was born in Dublin in 1778 and was executed in 1803.
Ellen Street: named after Ellen Arthur, a member of the famous Limerick family. Photograph of Ellen Street
Ennis Road: (also known as Lansdowne Road) its name comes from the fact that after the construction of the Wellesley Bridge (now Sarsfield Bridge), this road became the main thoroughfare from Limerick to Ennis. Old Limerick pictures name this road as Lansdowne Road, after The Marquis of Lansdowne, who was the principal property owner in the area.
Erson’s Lane: this lane connecting Anne Street and Catherine Street, named after William Erson, a corn merchant in Anne Street.
Exchange Street (formerly Exchange Lane) gets its name from the Old Exchange building, which has now been incorporated into St. Mary’s Cathedral grounds. The Exchange was originally built as a City Hall, and the Corporation held their meetings there over a period of two hundred years. The facade of this building can still be seen fronting Nicholas Street. Photograph of Exchange Street.
Street map of Limerick, 1912
