"The Quays"of Limerick -- The 19th century saw a great surge of new building in Limerick. Fine tall houses of handsome proportions were built along the bank of the Shannon, with a view of the riverside scene. The Georgian architecture rivaled that of Dublin in distinction if not in extent. But, as happened also in Dublin and Cork, the passage of time brought about a change in the pattern of housing. The merchants and other wealthier inhabitants moved away from the river, further from the city center, and to houses with more in the way of modern facilities. The grand old houses were bought up by landlords and subdivided into tenement flats or single rooms By the 20th century, many families were crowded into these building, living in conditions of appalling squalor and degradation. An account by Dorothy McCALL, "A Visit to Limerick in 1938." -- "A few scattered villas and a brand-new electricity house warned me we were approaching Limerick. Past some dull terraces and suddenly we seemed back in the eighteenth century. Only the raw bricks of a Jesuit college warned me that the Crescent we were now entering was not a dream, that I should not be seeing patches and powder on the pavements. Down the long continuous thoroughfare of Patrick and Rutland Street to Charlotte Quay we went, between rows of lovely Georgian houses of dark red brick, built apparently to one pattern. Even the porticoes are uniform. A pair of Ionic pillars above a stately flight of stone steps supports each beautiful fanlight, and with few exceptions the windows with their twelve or sixteen panes remain intact. But the houses themselves are sadly ravaged, glass out of a fanlight here, a broken step there. And when we reached Charlotte Quay I was appalled at the squalor. Swarms! of ragged children ran in and of out of the great doors, for these palatial houses have now become a hive of tenement houses occupied by the poorest of the poor." Round the corner are the Old Custom House with its riverside garden, and other quays, their tall houses all showing the same sad face. And past them flows the strong tide of the Shannon from which the Atlantic breezes blow, fresh and cleansing." Where government had nothing to offer, and charity was both insufficient and cold-hearted, the people at the bottom of the heap had to rely on one another. Areas like the Lanes of Limerick or the Liberties of Dublin were looked on with horror by people who lived elsewhere as the abodes of dirt and crime. Within these close-packed streets there was an enduring spirit of community and mutual help, despite all the frictions and hardships. Of there was little they do, but simply a words, a gesture, or a cup of tea could help to maintain the self-respect of someone even worse off. >From homes that were intolerably cramped and crowded, the children came out whenever they could to play in the streets. They did not have toys, but they did not lack amusements. Stones, pieces of wood or rope, all could be turned into playthings. The windows of the little shops, packed with items they could rarely afford, were a source of endless interest. They played the same games, and chanted the same rhymes, all across the country: "I've a pain in me belly," Says Doctor Kelly. "Rub it with oil," Says Doctor Boyle, "A very good cure," Says Doctor Moore." Per Paul MALONE, "Memories of Picquet Lane,", Old Limerick Journal. "But we all retained one common goal in life and that was to leave school at fourteen years, get into long pants, find a job as a messenger boy on a bike and have a few bob to spend -- after we had given the wages to our mothers."