King’s Island & King John’s Castle

King’s Island, between the main Shannon and the Abbey River, is where the Vikings settled in 922 and where King John ordered a castle in 1200. The castle still guards the crossing at Thomond Bridge and is open daily, with exhibitions, a café and wide views from the walls. Boats see it from a distance: the navigation takes the Abbey River round the island’s eastern side, while the main channel below the castle tumbles over the Curragower Falls. Across Thomond Bridge, rebuilt with seven arches in 1836, the Treaty Stone recalls the Treaty of Limerick of 1691, and the Curragower bar on Clancy’s Strand looks straight over the water at the castle. To visit, moor at the Custom House pontoons in the city and walk up through the old Englishtown past St Mary’s Cathedral: it is a short walk.