A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
Eas Géitine· Irish · main form · validated name
Askeaton· English · main form
Place & story
People & connections
The earls of Desmond's island stronghold
Askeaton Castle occupies a rocky site in the River Deel, at the centre of the town. It became a power base of the earls of Desmond after 1348 and resisted Sir Nicholas Malby's forces in 1579. Its surviving banqueting hall gives an unusually substantial impression of the ceremonial spaces of a medieval noble household. Fine windows and a decorated fireplace remain among the tower's ruined masonry, recording the attention paid to comfort and display within a formidable defensive setting.[2]
A Franciscan community through changing times
The friary lies farther north beside the Deel. Its foundation is generally attributed to Gerald Fitzgerald, third Earl of Desmond, although the details remain uncertain. Reforms took place in 1490 and 1513, and a provincial chapter assembled there in 1564. Malby's forces sacked and plundered the friary in 1579 during the Desmond rebellion. The community's history continued beyond that destruction: friars returned intermittently until 1714. Fitzgerald tombs within the buildings preserve another connection between the religious house and its aristocratic patrons.[3]
Carved stone and surviving painted plaster
The friary's cloister offers particularly rich evidence of medieval craftsmanship. Its pointed arcades group slender supports in threes, while a carved panel depicts St Francis. A Mass dial survives on the ambulatory wall. Upstairs, traces of painted decoration and consecration crosses remain in the plaster. The adjoining ranges contained the community's practical rooms, including a refectory and communal latrine. These details reveal how worship, meals and daily household routines were accommodated within a carefully organised complex beside the river.[3]
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
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Askeaton — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
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Askeaton, Limerick — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Askeaton, Limerick — Census town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
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Askeaton, Limerick — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Askeaton, Limerick
Published census settlement populations
1,137people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
placenames
