2004:1034 - RATHKEALE: Main Street/Fair Hill, Limerick

Nine test-trenches were excavated on a long narrow site which extended from the Main Street of Rathkeale north to Fair Hill. Topsoil and a light-brown subsoil overlay limestone bedrock in the majority of the trenches. The bedrock traversed the site in east-west ridges varying in depth from 0.18m to 0.65m. A deposit of limestone chips abutting the north face of the limestone ridge in Trench 7 suggests that the rock face had been quarried. Brick fragments recovered from the stone debris indicate a recent date for the quarrying.

It has been recommended that further archaeological testing should take place close to the Main Street street front when extant buildings are demolished.