Limerick Market, Norwegians and Hannah Parr

This piece on the Limerick market may be of interest, the Park Danes mentioned a number of times in the interviews were our Limerick Norwegian Vikings. They lived and farmed on the edge of the city. These close knit people traditionally supplied vegetables to the market and retained rights to fish for salmon. see lax weir. Some Norwegian family names and traditions remain, remarkably a method of riverside field marking or measurement used by the Park people is found in Norway and Iceland (D. Bourke -Jørn Olav Løset ) Of Hannah Parr interest, we know the 1868 visitors rambled around this market, the Counihan reported incident of a distressed Norwegian family accepting food occurred at the end of this street. http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0825/nationwide_av.html The Norwegian May 1868 incident would have occurred around the midweek Wednesday market. " Saturday May 16th 1868 as reported in the Munster News, Limerick & Clare Vindicator. "The sooner a fund is organised by benevolence for the poor amongst the strangers the better. Several seem to be in a state of distress, or they need not and probably would not accept alms, they are of an honest race, and if they had abundance would not go to beg, to the hospitality or sympathy of the householders, indeed by as example they, they that are enfeebled for food. A father and mother were seen on Wednesday last, and the fact can be testified beyond all question, thankfully accepting a dole of cold boiled potatoes at a door in this street, The mother had an infant in her arms and she must have known it was affected by hunger she could not intelligibly express, but she looked her thanks, and she at once peeled some of the cold tubers and fed her child. The Father received the remainder of the offering, and with some apparent feeling of shame scooped them into his pocket, probably the poor fellow had plenty once in his northern home, and only yielded to physical craving when he accepted the kind gratuity."