The Abbey River ( ga, Abhainn na Mainistreach) is a distributary arm of the River Shannon that flows around the northeastern, eastern, and southern shores of King's Island,

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

before rejoining the Shannon at ''Hellsgate Island''. ''Hellsgate Island'' is only visible at low tide. It is bridged by the Abbey Bridge, Baals Bridge, the Canal Bridge, Matthew Bridge, O'Dwyer Bridge, and the Sylvester O'Halloran Footbridge. King's Island's encirclement by the Shannon and Abbey rivers made it a very defensible location, leading to the founding of Limerick as a Viking settlement in the ninth century. The Abbey River has played a defensive role throughout the city's history, not least during the

Cromwellian Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in History of England, English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 ...

siege of 1650-51, and the

Williamite A Williamite was a follower of King William III of England (r. 1689–1702) who deposed King James II and VII in the Glorious Revolution. William, the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, replaced James with the support of English Whigs. O ...

siege of 1691. It is named after the former Franciscan Abbey located next to the river. In the early 2000s, a number of historical artefacts were discovered when the river was drained. These included Limerick Port seal, intact mortar bombs from the 1690s and a Viking Age bronze artefact, circa AD 1000.

Notes

{{Limerick, state=autocollapse Rivers of County Limerick Tributaries of the River Shannon