County: Limerick Site name: LIMERICK: Thomond Gate
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 5:17 Licence number: 99E0407
Author: Edmond O'Donovan, Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 557206m, N 658117m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.672535, -8.632751
The medieval defences of the city included an extramural gate at the western end of Thomond Bridge, hence the etymology of the placename 'Thomond Gate'. The gate was on the bridge and has been illustrated on early maps of the town, including Hardiman's map, dated 1590. Speed's map, dated 1610, illustrates a star-shaped fort outside Thomond Gate. These post-medieval earthen fortifications are further illustrated on Greenville's map, c. 1640, and are likely to have been developed and altered to withstand the various 17th-century sieges of the city. The modern streetscape (Mass Lane, Castleview Avenue and Halloran's Lane) around Thomond Gate may reflect the line of elements of these earthworks. However, little consistency exists in the cartographic sources on the layout and exact location of the earthen defences around the Thomond Gate area.
Test excavation was carried out at Thomond Gate. Five test-trenches, 4–6m long, were excavated on the location of manhole shafts within the zone of archaeological potential at the western end of Thomond Bridge. River gravels or natural boulder clay was encountered in all of the trenches; no archaeological indicators were found above these deposits.
The assessment was limited to the construction corridor of the Main Drainage Scheme and as a result could not shed any further light on the nature of the post-medieval earthwork defences in the Thomond Gate area. It is proposed to monitor all construction work in the zone of archaeological potential.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
