1996:246 - ST. FRANCIS'S ABBEY, King's Island, Limerick, Limerick

This site is one of a number that will be affected by the construction of the Northern Relief Road through this part of Englishtown. Trial-trenching in 1988 had indicated the presence of walls and human bone. The site has long been associated with the Franciscan friary founded in 1267. It lies just outside the eastern part of the town wall, and to the south lies Long Lane. The structures of the friary went gradually into ruin after its dissolution between 1540 and 1548. What remained was removed when the county courthouse was built on the site c. 1732. It was demolished in the middle of the last century.

Twelve trenches were opened along the rake of the new road, and archaeological material was found in eight of these. This can be divided into five main phases.

Pre-friary activity
This consisted of a series of organic deposits, 1.5m deep.

From these came a relatively large amount of animal bone and occasional sherds of local and imported medieval pottery.

Near the base of these deposits was a cobbled surface.

The friary
The organic deposits were covered by a silty clay layer, 0.25m thick, laid down to seal the underlying material. The western end of the nave and part of a southern aisle were found. These were constructed predominantly of brown sandstone. A 13m section of the southern aisle wall was found, consisting of five blind arches, each c. 1.5m wide. This wall, together with the western and southern walls of the friary, had been badly truncated by the building of the courthouse walls on top of them. A fortunate survival was a virtually intact in situ column base for a compound pier on its plinth, which had survived by being buried within a later wall. A possible second plinth and a stone moulding were found 5m to the east. The width of the aisle is 4.5m and the width of the nave is 8.5m. Very little remained of the floor levels within the building owing to the severe truncation caused by the burials.

No evidence was found for the location of the domestic range to the north of the site, despite the opening of several trenches there. In the northernmost area of the site part of a structure was found whose style of construction is quite similar of that of the church. It consisted of a 5m section of wall with a small chamber, 1.4m by 1.5m, attached to its northern side. This had been truncated by post-medieval activity to the west. If any of the domestic range survives, it may lie further to the east.

The burials
A total of 465 articulated human burials were uncovered, along with a considerable amount of disarticulared bone. Virtually all of these came from within the church. Some are likely to be medieval in date, but the bulk of them of them date from the late sixteenth to early eighteenth century. Phases of burials were separated from each other by deposits deliberately introduced to seal the preceding burials. Male, female and infant burials are present, with a noticeable concentration of the latter inside the northern wall of the nave. Most of those buried were wrapped in shrouds, as numerous shroud-pins were found. Traces of coffins were found in some of the later graves. Several burials lying outside the aisle were lying face down and/or were aligned north-south.

Four stone-lined graves were uncovered. From one of these came part of a lead coffin with an incised cross on its lid. The lower half of the coffin had been truncated by one of the courthouse walls. A virtually intact timber coffin was also found,

Industrial activity
A linear kiln was uncovered south of the church, associated with two phases of stake-holes and two stone-packed post-holes.

The county courthouse
The construction of this building removed or masked most of the earlier structures and used the church walls as a foundation. Numerous pieces of cut stone were recovered from these later walls.

8 Marina Pk, Victoria Rd. Cork