King John's castle is one of Limerick's iconic landmarks. Its
grey walls and towers dominate the River Shannon, once guarding
Thomond bridge nearby and all river traffic to and from the Shannon
Estuary. Across the bridge, opposite St. Munchin's Parish Church,
is Limerick's famous Treaty Stone on a limestone plinth beside the
river.
Limerick's growth as a city began with the arrival
of the Anglo-Normans in 1172. By 1195 they had taken control and in
1197 the Anglo-Norman King John, Lord of Ireland, gave Limerick its
city charter. The castle is built on King's Island, surrounded by a
loop of water known as the Abbey River. It is home to the part of
the city known as 'English Town'. The castle saw many bloody
conflicts, the most famous being the Sieges of 1642 and 1691. In
1642, the castle walls were severely damaged by Catholic
Confederate forces when they beseiged the Protestant settlers who
had taken up defensive positions there. In 1691, the castle came
under attack again, this time by the Protestant Williamite forces,
under Ginkell. Again the walls were badly damaged and many lives
were lost. The consequence of these hostilities was the Treaty of
Limerick, signed by Ginkell, the Williamite general and Patrick
Sarsfield, representing the Irish defenders. The treaty is reputed
to have been signed on the Treaty Stone, situated across the
river.
Nowadays, a visit to King John's Castle is a much
safer experience! The castle can be accessed via the entrance to
the tourist centre off Nicholas St. In front of the entrance there
is a partially pedestrianised plaza. The coordinates above are for
the statue of Michael Hogan, Bard of Thomond, at the end of the
plaza. Read the plaque in front and follow the first three
instructions:
Let the first two digits of his year of birth =
A
Let the house number in Carr St. = B
Let the house number in Mary St. = C
Finally, let the number of flagpoles outside the tourist
entrance = D
The code for the cache position is N52 40.B(D-5)(B-2) W008
37.(C+3)(A-11)
The cache is a small snap-lock container in a
transparent zip-loc bag. Remember, there can be a lot of tourist
traffic in the area, so stealth may be required. Please hide the
cache carefully afterwards.