County: Limerick Site name: LIMERICK CITY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: E. Shee, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: Religious house - Dominican friars
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 557960m, N 657844m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.670135, -8.621569
The site is in the grounds of the Mercy Convent. It is bounded on the E by the well-preserved remains of the city wall. All that survives above ground of the priory is the N wall of the church and a number of carved stones, mostly parts of the cloister arcade. The excavation was undertaken because of the proposal to build a road across the site.
Examination of the church wall shows traces of buildings which were attached to the wall on the N side. The gable ends of two buildings set at right angles to the wall and the line of the cloister or similar lean-to structure could be identified.
A trench 2m wide x 13m long was cut at right angles to the church wall in the interior of the church in the hope of determining the original width of the church. The S wall of the church was not recovered and it now seems likely that there was a transept to the S of the nave.
Three medieval slab-built graves were found in the lowest level in the church. The stratigraphy was greatly disturbed by the insertion of about 40 later burials, probably mainly in the 19th century. The old ground level was approximately 1.3m below the present turf line. Waterlogging made the excavation of the lowest layers difficult but a feature of this level was the occurrence of pieces of chert, some of which were utilised, and one of which had been made into a small scraper.
N of the church wall two trial cuttings were made towards the E end of the site and a trench across the area showed an artificially trunked up zone 1.5m deep which contained a mixture of modern pottery, iron, clay pipes and a large quantity of animal bones, particularly ox horn-cores and skull fragments.
In the main trench 10 skeletons were found lying E-W like those in the church. The only structures were (i) a low wall parallel with the church wall but, because of the concrete path, it was not possible to investigate this as fully as might be desired, and (ii) at 18-19m from the church wall a flimsy wall 10-15cm high, parallel with the church wall.
On the N side of the church wall a trench, 12m long x 1.2m wide, was cut between the concrete path and the wall. This was designed to reveal the thresholds of the two blocked up doorways. The sill of the westernmost door was found at 60cm below present ground level but that of the eastern door was 80cm lower. This difference in level was probably due to the natural slope of the ground which drops to the E. Two complete skeletons and four skulls were found buried in front of the N doorway. It is clear that the area N of the church had been completely levelled at some time, and then built up in the 19th century, perhaps as a parade ground for the nearby barracks.
Finds from the site included 13th/14th- century S.W. French green glazed ware, some late medieval wares from France and England, German and English stonewares, North Devon sgraffito ware and gravel tempered ware, a silver penny of Edward I, tiles, part of a shale bracelet; there were also large quantities of recent glass bottles, clay pipes and pottery.
