The area bounded by Nicholas Street, Newgate Lane, Crosbie Row, and St. Augustine Place was, for the greater part of its recorded history, known simply as Bow Lane, and it was here that the Vicars Choral of St Mary's Cathedral once lived and worked. The name "College" attached to this part of the city is not incidental; it preserves, in ordinary street geography, the memory of an institution that served the cathedral for centuries.

The Vicars Choral were a body of lesser clergy whose primary function was to sing the divine office in the cathedral on behalf of the canons, who were often absent or otherwise occupied. They typically lived together in a collegiate arrangement, hence the term college, sharing accommodation and common facilities close to the church they served. In Limerick, this community was associated with St Mary's Cathedral, the city's great Romanesque church on King's Island, which dates to the late twelfth century. According to Brian Hodkinson, writing in 2010, the college occupied the western half of the block defined by those four present-day streets, in the area long called Bow Lane. The precise architectural remains of the college have not survived above ground in any obvious form, but the site itself is recorded as a national monument (LI005-017015-).

The area sits in the older fabric of Limerick city, close to the cathedral and within the historic core of the medieval settlement. There is little to see in the conventional sense; no ruin rises from the ground, and the streets themselves are modest. What makes the visit worthwhile is the exercise of reading the place against its history. St Mary's Cathedral is open to visitors and provides useful context for understanding the role the Vicars Choral played in the city's religious life. The street names in the immediate vicinity have shifted over time, so older maps, if you can find them, are a helpful companion for understanding how Bow Lane related to the medieval layout. The site is best approached on foot from the cathedral, taking in the density of historical layering that characterises this part of King's Island and its surroundings.