1997:346 - KILMALLOCK: Wolfe Tone Street, Limerick

An archaeological assessment was carried out as part of a planning submission for a new access road at Wolfe Tone Street, Kilmallock. The site was located within the medieval walled town on the south-eastern side of the street and stretched from the street front to the rear of the site, across the line of the town wall and beyond to a new Health Board Day Care Centre. Test excavation and an inspection of the rear boundary wall (thought to contain elements of the medieval town wall) were carried out on the site.

The establishment and organisation of the medieval town can be referenced to a small collection of deeds dating from the end of the 13th century which are preserved in the Black Book of Limerick (J. MacCaffrey, The Black Book of Limerick (Dublin, 1907)). These reveal that the street-plan of the present town was established in the 13th century, and the earliest references to the town defences describe the ‘communal fosse’ as a boundary marker (ibid., 74). In 1308 a grant was set up ‘to the burgesses of Kylmehallock….murage for three years for the purpose of enclosing and strengthening their town’ (Calendar of Justiciary Rolls, III, 5). In 1374 the town received another grant to collect murage for ten years in order to enclose the town with a stone wall (Chartae, priviligia et immunitates, 68) and this was followed by a similar grant in 1409 (Calendar of the Patent and Closed Rolls of Chancery in Ireland, I, 42). The walls were obviously being constructed and repaired from the late 13th century to the 15th century. The surviving remains are thought to belong mostly to the 14th and 15th centuries.

Four distinct phases of building of the town wall are evident in the eastern carpark boundary wall. The earliest phase of the wall has been demolished across most of its length. However, 1.15m of it extends onto the south-western corner of the site. This wall is likely to be medieval in date. It was replaced by the Phase II stretch of walling. The wall was only visible on its inner face as the external face was obscured by dumped material. No date was established for this portion of walling, although it is likely to be post-medieval.

In the third phase, the top of the Phase II wall was heightened with the addition of limestone wall, bonded with a concrete-like mortar. The final phase consists of a concrete cavity block wall at the north-eastern end of the eastern carpark boundary wall.

In the excavation Trenches 3 and 5 revealed evidence that the site was scarped (c. 0.8m) during the construction of the carpark. Trenches 1, 2 and 4 uncovered several archaeological features below the disturbed layer. It was difficult to date these features as they did not yield datable material (pottery etc.), although the absence of finds suggests an early date (medieval). The function of the pits is uncertain, but they may relate to medieval domestic activity as it was common for refuse-pits to be located at the rear of buildings (Wolfe Tone Street was originally a medieval street).

The ‘ditches’ uncovered in Trenches 1, 6 and 8 could represent early boundaries or drainage ditches contemporary with or earlier than the town wall. It is clear from the historical background that prior to the construction of the town wall a ‘fosse’ demarked the extent of the borough in the 13th century. It is also evident that 17th-century defences were constructed outside the town wall to fortify it. Consequently, neither the function nor date of the ditch is certain, although it is almost certainly of some antiquity.

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