1988:38 - LIMERICK: The Linear Park, Irishtown, Limerick

The longest surviving stretch of the Medieval City Wall lies between Old Clare Street and New Road in Irishtown. It is proposed to upgrade and landscape the areas along either side of the wall in order to present the wall as an amenity of the so called Linear Park. In advance of this work, the currently accessible sections of the wall were stripped of vegetation and a number of trial trenches excavated to assess the archaeological implications of the proposed development.

At the northern end of the wall, the base of the north-east corner-tower was partially exposed and found to continue out into Old Clare St. Internal facing showed that part of the lower chamber still survives. Further south, the layout of a second tower, at the end of Quinn's Lane, was revealed. It was D-shaped, with the back of the tower projecting behind the line of the wall on a slightly different alignment to it. A tunnel runs from Quinn's Lane through the 1690 siege rampart to a door at the back of the tower. Inside, a flight of steps on the left leads up to the wall walk, while a now blocked opening leads straight into the tower. The tower itself has been chiselled off almost flush with the wall face and the full D-shape only survives below present ground level. Removal of the vegetation revealed an arch within the tower built on wicker centering and the remains of two flanking arrow-loops.

Approximately halfway between the two towers is a lintelled opening through the wall which is interpreted as an arrow loop.

The southern end of the wall rests directly on bedrock which has been quarried on the outside, in places to a depth of c. 1m. This quarrying is believed to be late in date, probably connected with the construction of outworks prior to one of the 17th century sieges. Further north the wall rests on foundations cut into the boulder clay. The base of the wall facing is c. 1m below present ground level at the south end, dropping to 2m at the north.

The 1690 stone-revetted siege rampart still survives against the central section of the wall. It is pierced by two tunnels, one of which has already been discussed. The second tunnel, marked 'Sallyport' on the O.S.maps, leads to a blocked opening through the wall. This has still to be investigated fully because access to the external face has not yet been obtained, although it is currently thought that this is not a medieval opening and that if it were a sallyport then it is likely to be of 17th-century date. Trial trenching at the southern end of the wall revealed that the revetment wall had continued out to New Road but had been almost totally robbed. At the same time as the revetment was removed the rampart itself was cut, removing approximately half of its width. The area was subsequently filled in with topsoil to create the smooth slope seen prior to the commencement of work in the area. At the north end, two trenches were opened to try to pick up a northern continuation of the revetment, but the results were inconclusive.

A rectified photography survey of the wall and ramparts was carried out at the end of the year.

Planning Dept., Limerick Corporation, The Granary, Michael St., Limerick