1998:580 - SLIGO: 8–9 Lower Abbey Street, Sligo

Pre-development assessment, carried out by Audrey Gahan in May 1998, revealed the presence of human bones and a stone deposit, possibly of early date, at the south-west corner of the site.

Monitoring by this writer of the mechanical removal of the overburden from this corner of the site in November 1998 revealed the survival of a large, potentially medieval limekiln and several post-medieval human burials. The limited area where these features survived was excavated over a one-week period.

A large limekiln was the earliest feature revealed. Its northern side was truncated by modern building activity. The kiln had a large, round bowl and originally had two flues set at right angles to each other. The north-eastern of the two was entirely removed by modern disturbance. The south-eastern flue ended in a large, stone-lined pit that extended outside the area of the site. It was not a slaking-pit as no lime occurred on its sides; it probably served to hold the hot ashes raked out of the kiln.

The kiln could date either to c. 1253, when the nearby abbey was built, or to c. 1416, when it was rebuilt after a disastrous fire. 14C dating of the timber fuel that survived in the base of the kiln will hopefully allow it to be dated with some accuracy.

Spreads of partly burnt stone occurred around the kiln; this was the deposit noted during the assessment.

After the kiln had been infilled the area appears to have been used for casual human burial. Three poorly preserved human inhumations were uncovered. The pottery associated with them suggests that they date to the 17th century. They were superseded by some slight evidence of 18th-century activity and finally by 19th- and 20th-century buildings.

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