Prof David Fleming Lecture

'Developing an eighteenth-century city: Edmund Sexton Pery and his new town'

In the second half of the eighteenth century, Limerick city doubled in size. Designed by an Italian architect, a new town was constructed on a formal linear grid; its large open streets contrasting with those of the older medieval city. Over a period of six decades Limerick was transformed into one of Ireland’s great Georgian cities, overseen by Edmund Sexton Pery, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. This lecture examines how Pery went about developing his new town, combining political acumen and economic advantage.