County: Limerick Site name: LIMERICK: Broad Street/George's Quay
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0581
Author: Edmond O'Donovan, Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 557956m, N 657465m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.666734, -8.621572
Monitoring of pre-development engineering site investigations associated with Limerick Main Drainage was carried out from 7 to 9 June 1998 by John Ó Néill and this writer. Three test-trenches were opened in areas where their location corresponded to the supposed location of the town defences. Two were dug at both ends of Baal's Bridge on Broad Street and George's Quay. The final trench was excavated at the foot of Creagh Lane on George's Quay.
All three trenches yielded evidence of the survival of masonry structures between 0.45m and 1.3m below the existing street level, under surviving road surfaces. At Baal's Bridge the masonry structures were interpreted as being portions of the gates on either side of the bridge. The trench at the foot of Creagh Lane on George's Quay revealed the location of the town wall running parallel to the river along the centre of the present road.
The trench depth never exceeded 1.4m below the present ground level, the specified depth limit in the engineering site investigations contract. Therefore, it was not possible to fully identify evidence of archaeological deposits, as there is a distinct potential for archaeological deposits to occur both inside and outside the town wall at a level below the bottom of the trial-pit trenches.
Eighteenth-century fill was identified outside (Abbey River side) of the 'town wall' along George's Quay. This suggests that an area of relatively low archaeological potential may lie outside the town wall, between it and the present quay.
Test excavations were carried out at Nos 4–5 George's Quay (C. O Rahilly, pers. comm.) A single trench was excavated into the deposits on the site, where 0.8m of demolition rubble was identified over two layers of black, sticky, silty clay. The clay and silt deposits are highly likely to be archaeologically derived. These deposits give an indication of the type and nature of the archaeological deposits inside the 'town wall' on George's Quay.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
