County: Limerick Site name: KILMALLOCK: Lord Edward Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 47:22 Licence number: 01E1165 ext.
Author: Ken Wiggins
Site type: Town defences
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 561083m, N 627614m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.398670, -8.571847
Testing consisting of three mechanically excavated cuttings was carried out at the top end of the carpark to the rear of the Spar shop on Lord Edward Street, one of three blocks of a proposed development close to the line of the town wall of Kilmallock (see Nos 1193 and 1194, Excavations 2002, 01E1162 ext. and 01E1163).
Cutting 1 was 10.5m long, 1.1m wide and 1.63m deep. The excavation revealed part of the western slope and the base of a large ditch-like feature (Ditch 1) cut into the subsoil. The ditch contained a sterile, grey/brown clay fill, up to 1.1m thick. Cutting 2 was 6.5m long, 1m wide and 2.05m deep. Ditch 1 was revealed in this cutting to be c. 4.2m wide and up to 1.5m deep. No artefacts were noted in the grey/brown silty clay infill. Cutting 3 was 9.2m long, 1m wide and 1.83m deep. The cutting revealed evidence of the continuation of Ditch 1, but part of the southern side of a second ditch (Ditch 2) was also exposed. The excavated part of this feature contained a homogeneous, grey/brown, silty clay fill, up to 1.3m thick. Some pieces of bone were noted in the fill but no artefacts. Further evidence relating to Ditch 2, which is by far the larger of the two ditches, was revealed in the testing of the adjacent block of the development (No. 1193, Excavations 2002, Cutting 1).
The discovery of the substantial remains of urban defences directly outside the line of the town wall of Kilmallock will have a considerable bearing on the foundation design of the proposed development, and further testing, as well as full excavation of selected areas, may take place in 2003.
17 Vartry Close, Raheen, Co. Limerick
