Excavation

An assessment carried out by Celie O Rahilly in July 1998, on behalf of Limerick County Council, recommended that the corner site at Orr Street/Wolfe Tone Street should be tested once demolition of the standing buildings had occurred. A test excavation by Sarah McCutcheon under licence No. 01E0300 was subsequently undertaken on the footprint of the development. Archaeological remains were discovered in three trenches and the licence was upgraded to excavation. The foundations for the buildings, which had been demolished, were deep and had scarped much of the medieval material. The foundations consisted of stone walls, which may have supported earlier buildings than those demolished. The layers abutting the stone walls contained a mix of post-medieval and modern material and appeared to have been infilled. The surviving medieval features were patchy and survived best where the underlying boulder clay sloped down towards Orr Street. Seven pits and five shallow gullies were recorded. One of the gullies was covered by a wattle screen. The foundation course of a stone wall extending north-west/south-east and supported by timber piles was also excavated. Orr Street is a medieval lane within the town wall, leading to the Collegiate Church of SS Peter and Paul. The presence of refuse pits close to the street frontage may indicate an alignment onto Wolfe Tone Street for the medieval plots' (www.excavations.ie).