County: Limerick Site name: ASKEATON
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 11:92 Licence number: —
Author: Celie O Rahilly, Planning Dept., Limerick Corporation
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 534064m, N 650345m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.600367, -8.973324
This development involved Phase 2 of an extension to a school within the town of Askeaton. Phase 1 was carried out in 1994 (Excavations 1994, 55). Five cuttings were opened along the line of the proposed foundations. The first three were parallel and aligned north-south. At the southern end of Cuttings 1 and 2 there was a shallow linear feature cut into the boulder clay immediately below the sod/soil overburden. It was aligned east-west and measured 1.65m wide by 0.7m deep in Cutting 1 and 1.1m wide by 0.65m deep in Cutting 2.
Cuttings 4 and 5, aligned at right angles, were located at the southern end of the development, and what was thought to be a continuation of the cutfeature, measuring 1.6m deep by 1.8m wide, was identified at the western end of Cutting 4. The feature contained a fine powdery brown soil. Apart from some animal bone in Cutting 1, there were no finds associated with it. Based on the position of the cutfeature in the three cuttings, it was concluded that there may have been an enclosure of rectangular plan, and further archaeological investigation was recommended. This was subsequently carried out by B.J. Hodkinson (see Excavations 1996, No. 231).
City Hall, Limerick
