MANY are familiar with the phrase ‘pay on the nail’, or when you pay your debts in full without delay. What many don’t know, however, is that the saying originates from a literal nail which emerged as a central part of Limerick’s history.
Tucked away for at least the past 109 years, the nail, more akin to a brass table, serves as a significant piece of what was the old Limerick Mayor’s Court.
It was customary to pay fines or other money transfers resulting from proceedings in the court directly on the large table, serving both a literal and symbolic point of transaction.
Matthew Potter, curator of the Limerick Museum and honorary fellow of the history department at the University of Limerick, explains that the phrase illustrates the importance of direct payments made at the nail, solidifying its role in the city’s commerce.
According to Mr Potter, the nail was a gift from Robert Smith, then Mayor in 1685, who “placed a pillar in the brass table, commonly called the ‘nail’, and engraved on it the following description: ‘Ex Dono Robert Smith Majoris Limeri—censis Civibe.’”
The Limerick Museum curator says the nail is traditionally regarded as the origin of the much-used phrase, ‘paid on the nail’, reflecting a practice vital to Limerick’s old marketplace known as the Limerick Exchange – though he notes that Bristol in the UK makes a similar claim.
The marketplace was built in 1673 and rebuilt in 1702 and again between 1777 and 1778 and was once a bustling centre for trade.
Now, the Tuscan arches of the old marketplace have become part of the grounds of Saint Mary’s Cathedral.
The significance of the nail’s relocation to the Henry Street museum is underscored by a report in the Weekly Observer which deemed it appropriate that the nail’s “position should be near the old Coat of Arms, which hangs on the wall of the Museum, and which, like the ‘nail,’ was presented to us by the Co. Borough Council.”
Although the Limerick Coat of Arms is now locked away due to health regulations, both it and the nail were once held in the old exchange.
The Weekly Observer author explains that the exchange was first built by Alderman William Yoke, the Mayor at the time, laying out £400 as he bestowed it to the ‘corporation’ (the city council).
“Of the Exchange itself, nothing now remains save the arched fronts with its seven columns in Tuscan order,” the paper noted.
“The ‘Nail’ and the Arms, after their migratory career, have found a haven of rest within the walls of the Limerick Museum on Henry Street, where they will remain as interesting links with Limerick’s past.”
