Newtown Pery, Limerick

Newtown Pery is an area of central Limerick, Ireland, and forms the main city centre (or CBD) of the city. The district is known for its Georgian architectural heritage and is the core area of Limerick's Georgian Quarter. It is one of the three towns that make up modern-day Limerick City Centre, the other two being the older Englishtown & Irishtown which date from the medieval period. Newtown Pery houses the largest collection of Georgian townhouses in Ireland outside of Dublin. In 1837, Samuel Lewis in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland described Newtown Pery as ‘one of the handsomest towns in Ireland’.

Prior to the development of Newtown Pery, the historical City of Limerick was situated just north of the present day city centre, stretching from King John's Castle towards where St. John's Cathedral is today. The city was made up of two distinct towns; Englishtown (populated by Old English settlers) located on the historical island city and Irishtown (populated by natives) located on the southern bank of the Abbey River. The two towns were connected by one bridge Baal's Bridge over the Abbey River, while Thomond Bridge beside King John's Castle was a major crossing point of the River Shannon from Englishtown into modern-day County Clare. As with most cities of this time, Limerick was heavily fortified and walled and the streets were characteristically narrow, winding & cramped. Prior to the construction of Newtown Pery, Limerick was also beginning to exhibit some early Georgian styles within the old city. Examples surviving today include; the Old Bishop's Palace at Castle Street & at John's Square (Limerick's first example of fashionable architecture and civic spaces). Early photographs of the old city areas also show the old (pre-Georgian) continental & Dutch gabled styled townhouses as being altered somewhat to appear more Georgian. Very few of these survive today. Originally the land south of the medieval city that was to become Newtown Pery was owned by the Franciscans and known as South Priors Land. Following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII this land was granted to Edmund Sexton of whom Edmund Sexton Pery was a descendant and on whom much of Georgian Limerick is credited.

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