County: Limerick Site name: LIMERICK: Punch’s Row
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0851
Author: Avril Hayes, Ægis Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Structure
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 557062m, N 655559m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.649529, -8.634535
Pre-development test-trenching revealed the presence of seven foundation walls. The development area measured 37m by 42m and was located close to the present-day city centre. Maps locate the site between the 17th-century fortifications and the medieval Irishtown wall.
The stratigraphy on the site consisted of three distinct layers evident under a tarmac covering. A cobblestone layer was present in the northern and eastern area of the site. There was no evidence of cobbling to the south and west. The 1938 OS map reveals an open area or yard in the northern area of the development. A mixed layer of rubble containing brick, stone and mortar underlay the cobbling layer where it was present. This in turn overlay a deep layer of blackish brown silt containing post-medieval artefacts including clay pipe fragments and sherds of blackware pottery.
From the surviving historical, archaeological and cartographic evidence it seems likely that the walls found during the testing relate to post-medieval structures, probably developments associated with the New Town expansion of the city during the latter stages of the 18th century.
16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick
