Bruff

History

Historical artefacts found around the area date back to the Stone Age, with various buildings up to the early Christian era still extant. In the sixteenth century, Bruff was granted to the Standish family, from whom it passed by inheritance to the Hartstonge Baronets, and ultimately to the Earl of Limerick. The town was the site of heavy fighting in the Battle of Killmallock during the Irish Civil War. Near the Catholic Church, there is a large statue of Sean Wall, commander of the East Limerick Irish Republican Army and chairman of Limerick County Council until his death on 6May 1921 during the War of Independence. The former seat of the O'Grady family, Kilballyowen, is near Bruff. Bruff is also the hometown of the American missionary and bishop John Joseph Hogan (1829–1913). The US President John F. Kennedy was a descendant of the Fitzgeralds of Bruff. His daughter, Caroline Kennedy, visited the town in 2013.