Building in Englishtown,limerick City

Test excavations carried out at 48-50 Mary Street by Tracy Collins, Aegis Archaeology Ltd. under licence no. 00E0635, the results of which were summarised as following; 'This limited excavation was undertaken in advance of a proposed inner-city housing project on the medieval main street (now Mary Street) of the Englishtown of Limerick City. The site is bounded to the south by Fish Lane, to the east by the Northern Relief Road, to the west by Mary Street and to the north by the adjoining property. Owing to extensive cellaring at the site, a trenching brief was formulated by the city archaeologist, Celie O Rahilly, who also monitored the removal of site overburden prior to the excavation. Two trenches were excavated by hand. Trench A was orientated east–west and measured 15m by 4m, reducing to 2m depth. Trench B was orientated north–south and measured 30m by 4m, reducing with depth to 2m. Much of the archaeological stratigraphy of Trench A had been removed by later activities, but the east end of the trench did have in situ archaeological layers. These remains were interpreted as medieval dump deposits, with medieval pottery sherds providing dating evidence. A stone drain only could be identified as an in situ feature. The southern end of Trench B was found to have been disturbed by cellar activity, and all archaeological stratigraphy had been removed. Trench B also yielded several dump deposits, which included some timber planking and an in situ drain, once covered by wattle matting. At the northern end of a trench, a U-shaped cut was exposed, which contained three distinct fills. Because of the narrowness of the trench, it is difficult to interpret the feature, but it appears to be some sort of ditch or layer pit. At the centre of Trench B, two distinct features were excavated. C64 was an area of timber stakes that ran in a general east–west direction and has been tentatively identified as the burgage plot boundary. The second feature, C70, was a stone-lined drain, with timber stakes holding the lining in place and with an associated wattle matting tentatively identified as the drain cover. Finds from the excavation included post-medieval and medieval pottery, animal bone, timbers, mortar bomb fragments and one fragment of human skull. During the overburden clearance, the remains of an undercroft vault were uncovered, with several of its limestone springing stones in situ. The undercroft area measured 6.5m north–south by 10m. The thickness of the vault wall was 0.87m. A precise date has not yet been allocated to the feature, but it is likely to be 16th- or 17th-century in date' (www.excavations.ie). In 2002 a second excavation was carried out by Tracy Collins, Aegis Archaeology Ltd. under licence no. 00E0635 ext., the results of which were summarised as following; 'Part of this site was excavated in 2000 before development (Excavations 2000, No. 594; Collins 2002). The remainder of the site was tested in 2002 to see whether there were archaeological remains in that part and to investigate further an undercroft feature partially exposed during the 2000 excavation. Six trenches were opened on the site, which revealed the remainder of the first undercroft and the remains of two further limestone cellars. Architectural features recorded included corbels, niches and steps, as well as the remains of a red-brick arched passageway, which may be related to the ‘Dutch Billy’ houses that once stood on Mary Street. It was found that access to the undercrofts, averaging 6m wide and 20m long, could be gained from Mary Street to the west, with the northern and southern undercroft also having rear access. The central undercroft did not have rear access. Evidence of vaulting was found only in the northern undercroft. A number of architectural fragments were also recovered during testing. Owing to the lack of secure dating evidence, it is difficult to date the structures, but it appears that at least parts may date to the later medieval period. It was agreed with the developers that part of these features will remain exposed as a component of the new structure, with the remainder being reburied and not affected by the building (Collins 2004) (www.excavations.ie). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 20 December 2019