1992:127 - LIMERICK: St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick

In advance of Phase 2 of the restoration, excavations were conducted at 7 points in and around St Mary's Cathedral between July and October. Work was funded by the Restoration Project Committee and by FÁS which provided the workforce as part of a training scheme.

Trench 1 lay in the north-west corner of the north transept. This corner was used for a burial vault of either late medieval or early modern date. It was cut into the subsoil and had thereby removed almost all earlier deposits, a narrow band remaining on the south side revealed no features of interest. The vault seems to have been entered and destroyed during the Victorian restoration of the building. There was evidence in the vault to suggest that the north wall of the transept was not the original north wall of the building, an observation confirmed by Trench 7 to the north of the transept wall.

Trench 2 lay outside the south transept. The main feature of the trench was a north-south foundation which continued the line of the east wall of the transept. It appears that the transept was remodelled and shortened and a late medieval date is suggested for this. The foundations of the later transept and vestry wall run over the top of the earlier foundation. A series of burials overlay all the foundations, and on coin evidence all of these can be dated to after 1660. It was not possible to excavate this trench down to subsoil.

Trench 3 lay against the pier at the north-west side of the crossing. The pier itself consists of 2 phases, an earlier square pillar against which the later transept arch was built. A large stone foundation projected southwards from the earlier phase of the pier, but its function is as yet unclear. A series of stratified deposits abutted the foundation and the lower layers ran under the foundations of the later phase. Unfortunately no features or finds of note were found in these deposits. A single skeleton was interred on the south side of the foundation in post-medieval times.

Trench 4 lay in the centre of the chancel. A large stone-filled intrusion was cut into the subsoil, but its purpose was obscured by 2 post-medieval stone-lined graves which had intruded into the underlying feature. The southern grave contained the remains of at least 12 burials, while the northern one contained 2. The base of a coffin in the latter grave provided a dendrochronological date of 1655±9 or later.

Trench 5 lay immediately to the south-west of Trench 4 at the south-east corner of the crossing. Here massive stepped foundations were revealed in a wide foundation trench.

Trench 6 lay at the west door. At the bottom of the trench was a series of pre-church layers containing no features of note. Above this were the remains of 15 burials which had been cut by the foundation trench for the west front. In amongst the burials were sherds of Rouen ware suggesting a late 13th-century date for the west front which is traditionally regarded as the earliest part of the building. The burials were separated from an upper series of burials by a thick earth deposit which was dumped behind the west wall to raise the floor level. The later burials all appear to be post-medieval in date.

Trench 7 lay outside the north transept. A pre-church retaining wall running north-south across the trench is tentatively interpreted as one side of an entrance-way to a sunken featured structure similar to those found at King John's Castle (Excavations 1990). Further to the west lay a large stone foundation which continued the line of the west wall of the transept across the trench. It appears that the north transept, like the south one, has been remodelled and shortened. There was little or no dating evidence from the trench.

The largest group of finds, after iron nails, is a fine collection of fragments of medieval floor rile, none, unfortunately, found in situ. There is a small but stratigraphically significant amount of medieval pottery, but the post-medieval pottery is much more abundant. Five coins were found but none of these seem to be medieval in date. Some fragments of cloth were found associated with the later burials, and there are c. 40 shroud pins from around the church but none were found with the early burials in Trench 6.

Gouig, Castleconnell, Co Limerick