1993:146 - KING JOHN'S CASTLE, Limerick, Limerick

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Limerick Site name: KING JOHN'S CASTLE, Limerick

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 93E0082

Author: Kenneth Wiggins

Site type: Castle - Anglo-Norman masonry castle

Period/Dating: Multi-period

ITM: E 557659m, N 657743m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.669209, -8.625997

A programme of research and training excavation began in the castle this year, sponsored jointly by Shannon Heritage Ltd. and FÁS. The first season's work lasted from June to November.

The castle, a major tourist attraction in the centre of Limerick, is of the enclosure type, with a large, nearly square ground-plan. The courtyard area, defined by the standing curtain walls and corner towers, allows plenty of room for archaeological investigation to take place.

The digging this year aimed to address a couple of specific issues about the interior of the castle. The first of these concerned the nature of any structural remains at the rear of the gate-house; the second the surviving extent of an underground chamber known to exist by the western wall of the castle, next to the river Shannon.

The first cutting was opened adjacent to the old gate of the castle, now no longer in use, on the northern side of the yard. The cutting measured 14m north-south by 11m east-west. The excavated material spanned a broad timescale from the 12th-18th centuries.

The primary occupation levels, pre-dating the construction of the castle, indicated considerable activity on the site, in the form of dense arrangements of pits, postholes, stakeholes etc. The most significant feature was part of a dwelling-like structure in the Hiberno-Norse tradition, with a sunken floor and internal decayed timberwork. This compares closely with three handsome structures in this class found during the 1990 excavation of the eastern side of the castle (Excavations 1990, 43).

The most important discovery contemporary with the castle was of two strongly-built limestone walls projecting from the back of the twin gate-towers flanking the entrance itself. These appear to define what would have been a square tower-like structure with a vaulted ceiling, permitting passage in and out of the yard in the medieval period. The upper level of this was probably accessible from the second storey of the main part of the gate-house.

The most unusual find in Cutting 1 was of a burial pit, within which lay the crowded remains of several victims of the Confederate siege of the castle in 1642. A broad, deep pit dug between the two entrance walls may date to the same siege.

The southern half of the cutting contained a number of solid limestone foundations relating to the northern wing of the infantry barracks erected in the courtyard in 1751. However, the construction trenches for these were very narrow, so that disturbance to the surrounding medieval stratigraphy resulting from insertion of the walls was minimal.

The second cutting, by the western curtain wall, was designed to reveal the remains of the great hall of the castle, dating to the 13th century. The undercroft of the building had been backfilled in the 19th century with vast quantities of heavy rubble following the demolition of the hall by the British military. Most of this rough infill was mechanically excavated. What emerged in the course of the work was the well-preserved basement of the hall, measuring 24m north-south by 15m east-west by up to 5m in depth below the courtyard.

The main part of the chamber was defined on the eastern and southern sides by a wide access corridor, not fully revealed as yet, which also led to the postern gate (sallyport) of the castle. In the 19th century the sallyport corridor underwent major reconstruction, and a new passage was created, skirting the western curtain wall and extending due south. Many of the limestone steps and part of the vaulted ceiling of this newer work still survive.

The interesting features of the chamber itself include four impressive splayed windows overlooking the river; a large doorway in the northern wall, leading into an as yet unexcavated ante-chamber; and another fine splayed window in the eastern wall, next to a blocked doorway. The chamber was divided longitudinally by the addition of a limestone partition of indifferent quality, possibly built in the 18th century.

At present, much of the floorspace of the chamber awaits manual excavation, and it is intended to proceed with this as well as further recording and conservation work in the course of the 1994 season.

13 Aisling Heights, Raheen, Co. Limerick