County: Limerick Site name: LIMERICK: Barrington’s Hostel, George’s Quay/ Mary Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 5:17 Licence number: 02E1429
Author: Colm Moloney, Headland Archaeology Ltd, 67 Rosary Place, Midleton, Co. Cork.
Site type: Town
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 557995m, N 657505m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.667097, -8.621001
An assessment was carried out of a site proposed for development at the corner of George’s Quay and Mary Street in Limerick city, in support of a planning application for a guesthouse and office development.
Two trenches were excavated, one close to Mary Street and the other parallel to George’s Quay. In the Mary Street trench a number of stone- and brick-built walls and foundations were uncovered underneath deep levelling deposits. The substantial stone walls in this location are thought to relate to the large, classically influenced building called the Mont de Piété. Built in 1836 and demolished in 1892, this large building ranked among the more remarkable in 19th-century Limerick. It originally functioned as a charitable pawnshop and later became a police station. The other trench, on the George’s Quay side, identified buildings dating from the late 18th or early 19th century with large cellars. Any archaeology pre-dating the 18th century on this frontage had been destroyed by the construction of the cellars.
