What is recorded here

Grey river clay and faint ditch marks still lie beneath Wolfe Tone Street, waiting for a shovel to prove what the town forgot. The Loobagh gave up its sediment while people lived elsewhere on higher ground, and the dug line may have marked the old borough before any wall rose. A clay floor and sooty silt appear later, suggesting homes finally claimed the low street in the nineteenth century. The ground keeps its own calendar, recording flood, boundary and residence long after names changed.

Archaeological test excavation was carried out by Ed O'Donovan under licence No. 97E0366 on a proposed development site on Wolfe Tone Street, Kilmallock, Co. Limerick. Four trenches were mechanically excavated on the site. The excavation did not reveal deep or complex archaeological deposits, but it did shed light on the development of the site in relation to its topography and the growth of the town. A deposit of relatively sterile grey clay was identified in all four trenches overlying the natural boulder clay. This consisted of a grey silty stony clay, with a low animal bone content. The deposit appeared to be natural in origin and may be related to sporadic flooding along the banks of the Loobagh River. It appears to date from the medieval period, when this portion of the town remained apart from areas of domestic habitation, which are likely to have been located on the high ground along Sarsfield Street and Lord Edward Street. 'Pits and ditches' were identified in Trenches 3 and 4. Little or no dating evidence was present in the features, although the absence of identifiable or datable finds suggests an early date (pre-1800). The 'ditch' identified in Trench 4 could be a continuation of a feature recorded on an assessment on an adjacent site (i.e. Trench 1 in site No. 346 above, 'ditch'). It is clear from the historical background that prior to the construction of the town wall a 'fosse' demarked the extent of the borough in the 13th century (see refs in No. 346 above). Trench 1 revealed the presence of a clay floor between 0.39m and 0.48m below the concrete floor along the street front. It is likely to date from the 19th century as a thin deposit of sooty silt immediately above it contained sherds of creamware delph. It would appear from the archaeological profile that domestic habitation on this portion of Wolfe Tone Street first occurred in the 19th century. The boundary at the rear of the site is located along the line of the town wall. No section of the original town wall appears to survive above ground level. No trace of the foundation courses of the demolished town wall was uncovered in Trench 4 (www.excavations.ie).

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