County: Limerick Site name: LIMERICK: Sir Harry's Mall
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 5:19 Licence number: 98E0577
Author: Edmond O'Donovan, Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 558120m, N 657573m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.667712, -8.619161
The Franciscan abbey in Limerick is in the south-eastern corner of King's Island, immediately outside the town wall. The De Burgo family founded the abbey in 1267. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries (c. 1540) the abbey is recorded as consisting of a church, dormitory, cloister, hall, kitchen, three chambers and a garden of one acre. A substantial building is indicated on Phillips's map of 1685 on the site of the abbey, along with an illustration of what may be the precinct walls enclosing the land of the friars. The Englishtown wall wraps around the south-western edge of the abbey, suggesting that this portion of the town wall was constructed respecting the extent of the property after it was founded in 1267. In addition, the map illustrates a boundary wall/ditch south of, and parallel to, the present alignment of Meat Market Lane and River Lane. This would appear to be the northern boundary that survived up to the end of the 17th century. The Abbey River acted as the northern boundary of the site.
Four test-trenches were excavated to the east of the site along the Abbey River on Sir Harry's Mall. The trenches were aligned on proposed manholes. The test excavation uncovered a uniform deposit profile indicating that the Mall was constructed on land reclaimed from the river. The test excavation did not reveal any evidence for the precinct wall of the abbey, which is likely to be further west, under the existing houses fronting onto Sir Harry's Mall.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin.
