County: Limerick Site name: LIMERICK: John Street, Custom House
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: B.J. Hodkinson, Limerick Corporation
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 558059m, N 657343m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.665646, -8.620034
Stage 1 of the site was reported in Excavations 1987 and Stage 2, the southern extension, was completed in February 1988.
In common with Stage 1, medieval features were few and consisted largely of pits and isolated postholes. An east-west row of stakeholes lying near the north section was the only possible structure uncovered and any return walls lay in the unexcavated/disturbed area between Stages 1 and 2. The pits were concentrated at the east end of the site and included at least one cess pit with another pit producing a quantity of leather offcuts. Pottery associated with these features was of 13th-14th-century date.
The garden soil noted in Stage 1 continued across the whole area and sealed all the medieval features.
Activity picked up again in the early 17th or possibly late 16th century. Features of this period include two corn drying kilns, part of a cellar, a small hearth, two groups of barrel pits and two other pits. The barrel pits at the west end of the site were burnt and their function is unknown, but those to the east had stone revetting around their tops and may have been used as soaking pits, possibly for corn. At the end of the 17th century there was a redevelopment of the area and Walsh's Lane was laid out along the southern edge of the site.
Looking at Stages 1 and 2 together it was possible to conclude that the whole site formed one plot throughout the medieval period. Subdivision of the site only began in the 17th century and by the end of that century the pattern seen prior to present redevelopment was established.
Planning Dept., Limerick Corporation, The Granary, Michael St., Limerick
